Sacchidananda is indeed the highest plane of consciousness in terms of the hierarchical arrangement. It is also the One Infinite and Eternal that is everywhere and in everything.
But the One Sacchidananda has become this manifold creation with endless differentiation. We may ask how? Well, the One Sacchidananda has three poises. The first is a poise of undifferentiated oneness where all kinds of Infinite possibilities are there waiting to emerge.
In the next poise of the same One Sacchidananda, there arises the ‘urge’ to become Many. Hence, there emerges within the One the power of differentiation, to become Many, each expressing something of the infinity of Sacchidananda, an endless diversity held in a kind of cosmic order. This Knowledge and Power and Bliss and Love, the Omniscience and Omnipotence of the One Sacchidananda is the Supermind.
Thus, to discover Sacchidananda is to be free from creation. But to discover the Supermind is to align and transform earthly life into the Life Divine. Those who go into the Sacchidananda go into the Beyond but lose contact with earthly life. Those who go to the Sacchidananda as the Supramental participate in earthly life and work towards divinising it. The Supramental is the same Sacchidananda with the power of differentiation, which is necessary for creation. It has the secret of creation, the truth of each and the omniscient omnipotent power to release this truth completely. That is why the Isha Upanishad tells us.
‘अन्धं तमः प्रविशन्ति येऽविद्यामुपासते ।
ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उ विद्यायां रताः ॥९॥
9) Into a blind darkness they enter who follow after the Ignorance, they as if into a greater darkness who devote themselves to the Knowledge alone.
अन्यदेवाहुर्विद्यया अन्यदाहुरविद्यया ।
इति शुश्रुम धीराणां ये नस्तद् विचचक्षिरे ॥१०॥
10) Other, verily,9 it is said, is that which comes by the Knowledge, other that which comes by the Ignorance; this is the lore we have received from the wise who revealed That to our understanding.
विद्याञ्च अविद्याञ्च यस्तद् वेदोभयं सह ।
अविद्यया मृत्युं तीर्त्वा विद्ययामृतमश्नुते ॥११॥
11) He who knows That as both in one, the Knowledge and the Ignorance, by the Ignorance crosses beyond death and by the Knowledge enjoys Immortality.
अन्धं तमः प्रविशन्ति येऽसम्भूतिमुपासते ।
ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उ सम्भूत्यां रताः ॥१२॥
12) Into a blind darkness they enter who follow after the Non-Birth, they as if into a greater darkness who devote themselves to the Birth alone.
अन्यदेवाहुः सम्भवादन्यदाहुरसम्भवात् ।
इति शुश्रुम धीराणां ये नस्तद् विचचक्षिरे ॥१३॥
13) Other, verily, it is said, is that which comes by the Birth, other that which comes by the Non-Birth; this is the lore we have received from the wise who revealed That to our understanding.
सम्भूतिञ्च विनाशञ्च यस्तद् वेदोभयं सह ।
विनाशेन मृत्युं तीर्त्वा सम्भूत्यामृतमश्नुते ॥१४॥
14) He who knows That as both in one, the Birth and the dissolution of Birth, by the dissolution crosses beyond death and by the Birth enjoys Immortality.
हिरण्मयेन पात्रेण सत्यस्यापिहितं मुखम् ।
तत् त्वं पूषन्नपावृणु सत्यधर्माय दृष्टये ॥१५॥
15) The face of Truth is covered with a brilliant golden lid; that do thou remove, O Fosterer,10 for the law of the Truth, for sight.’
(Ref. https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/17/isha-upanishad#p17)
That is why the Rishi invokes the One to remove the golden lid (the lid covering the Supramental, the face of Truth).
Affectionately,
Alok Da
