2018-11-09, 06:38 PM
Sri Aurobindo's Cosmology - The Seven Planes
Quote:Aurobindo's writing style, like that of other esotericists like Blavatsky and Steiner, is heavy and repetitious. This is unfortunate, as the poor style veils a cosmology of great comprehensiveness and profundity.
Of great relevance book is his detailed map of states of consciousness. Influenced by such diverse sources as the Theosophical idea of seven planes of consciousness and existence, the "Hindu" (Vaishvanite) Puranas with their poorly defined idea of seven Lokas or "Worlds", and the early Taittiriya Upanishad (700 B.C.E.), which refers to an ascending series of five "selves" (atma) - Food (anna), Life (prana), Mind (manas), Consciousness (Vijnana), and Bliss (Ananda); Aurobindo postulated seven planes of being. But these are not equivalent to the Theosophical ones. The higher four are totally transcendent planes of infinite Consciousness and Bliss. The lower three - the physical, vital, and mental - are the planes of finite existence. Beyond all the planes was the Supreme or Absolute.