This would bring us to the cosmological question: ‘What existed before the big bang?’ There have been many hypothetical speculations but the string theory seems to support the idea of a cyclical universe. It would not be surprising if new matter and energy spring into existence at intervals. It has been suggested that this can happen at gaps of trillions of years when two extra-dimensional membranes collide in a zone outside the universe. However it may happen, it reminds of the continuous phenomenon of creation and dissolution forwarded by Vedic and Upanishadic seers.
In Aurobindonian terms, one would say that Consciousness antedated the Big Bang and that each creative cycle is pre-programmed in a Creative Consciousness that Sri Aurobindo names as the Supermind principle. The beauty of the Supermind-principle is that it not only puts forward an Intelligence but also sets in motion an in-built energy for working out the Intelligence and that the Supermind itself is present, incipient and hidden at every stage, level and form of creation with the capacity to emerge through a graded evolutionary manifestation. The essence of creation is unitary but the phenomenon of creation is multiplicity though each integer in the multiplicity reflects the unity in creation. ‘Consequently, the triple world that we live in, the world of Mind-Life-Body, is triple only in its actual accomplished evolution. Life involved in Matter has emerged in the form of thinking and mentally conscious life. But with Mind, involved in it and therefore in Life and Matter, is the Supermind, which is the origin and ruler of the other three, and this also must emerge’ (Ibid).
In other words, Life, that appears to be a turbulent episode replete with dramatics and culminating in what appears to be death actually carries within its breath and bosom the supreme creative principle. Death might not be an end but an episode in the flow of Life. Life is not to be despised but a field to work out that creative artistry of the Supermind.
Date of Update:
25-May-17
- By Dr. Soumitra Basu
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