BERGSON AND EVOLUTION

Bergson was perhaps the first philosopher of the
west to understand the dimensional difference
between thought and intuition. He rightly
compared life to a running river. Thought is like
a map of that river showing us only its landmark
static points on its course. By looking at the
map one cannot understand what a river is. On
the contrary if one is immersed in the river and
is taken along the course of it by its drift, then
he could understand the full meaning of it by
directly experiencing it. This direct experiencing
of it, Bergson calls duration. The exact amount
of experiences and their full implications cannot
be measured or shown by the clock, only heart
or intuition by being a part of the experience
can know it.
Bergson was right in his argument but only
partially right. There are two differences
between his point of view and that of Vedanta.
First, intuition can be of two centres, of thought
as well as pure intelligence. For one true intuition
of truth there are millions of false intuitions
given by thought. Following these false leads,
thousands of lives of scientists have been
wasted; all minor poets and minor philosophers
have followed these false leads to their graves.
Even with true intuition there is a danger. A
lot of energy is consumed by a single flash of
intuition and man cannot withstand too many.
The human body is too fine a filament of copper
not to be fused and go burst against such a
torrent of current.
As long as the subject, the ego, the experiencer
is there, this defect and danger will be there.
Vedanta says, “Become the river Experience
without the experiencer”. This is the state of
Samadhi and sahaja Samadhi
Then what happens? You become not only
the river but you also go beyond it. You are
at the same time the river and the witnessing
consciousness as though from above with
an aerial view. For you become the absolute
consciousness.
The river is a part of cosmos. You become the
cosmos. You stay forever in the state of Krishna,
the consciousness of Vishwa rupa dharshan.
Arjuna got frightened of that state and wanted
to come back to his everyday consciousness
because, the experiencer, the subject, was not
extinguished in him. To attain the level of Krishna
is meant by the absolute consciousness. Then
there is only the self always witnessing as well
as taking part in the functioning of the cosmos.
Reality is a perpetual flow; Bergson understood
rightly. Unless you are a participant in it, you
can never understand it. This is experiencing
of duration. This is also okay. However there
is something more which Bergson and all the
other western philosophers were not able to
understand. The participant at the same time
can also be a witnessing consciousness or self
beyond reality. For man is both prakriti and
atman. Reality is only the prakriti. Upanishad
says, there are two birds on the tree. One is
always eating the fruits. The other is always
witnessing. The first is prakriti. The second is
the witnessing consciousness. Both together
constitute man.
Life (élan vital of Bergson) is also in the flow
changeable, having birth and death. Only spirit
is unchanging, eternal. Bergson was right in
stating that life is motion in time that can be
understood only by intuition. On the other hand
spirit is beyond time and intuition. Intuition acts
only as a flash, a lightning and then it is gone.
Perhaps one can say that the highest level of
thought or its purity is intuition. However spirit
is beyond intuition. It is a changeless condition.
It has nothing to do with factors of change, with
instruments of change like body and time, for
both are of prakriti. Self is pure consciousness
untainted by any changing, decaying factor of
prakriti.
Every experience or level of experience can be
understood only by its corresponding centre
of consciousness. Intuition is only one centre
like thought of a divided consciousness. Self
is total consciousness, pervading not only the
physical body but also the whole of cosmos,
the Brahman-consciousness. This centre in
us must be activated. For that to happen, all
centres of analysis and fragmentation, like
thought, body, and individual sense of ego must
go. Then total being with its whole energy can
come into operation. Self is total energy, total
consciousness. Anything that divides it even by
an iota will deter us from attaining the state of
advaita, the oneness with creation.

I Have Taken From Book : The Science of Enlightment and Immortality Magazine
Author: Kuppusamy R
For Full Download : http://www.vallalarfiles.com/file/zzbxb/none/12182570.pdf