2) Where exactly does the purushottama of the Gita fall in this scheme? If I understood correctly, he should be the same as the “Supreme”, right?
3) You said the overmind gods are reflections of the 4-fold Divine, so are they the reflections of “tat” “sat” “aditi” and “satchitananada” or reflections of the four aspects of satchitananda (“sat” “chit” “tapas” “ananda”)
Mother says at various points that the time is coming where humanity will directly worship the divine (I am assuming that she is referring to the “supreme” )and not the overmind gods, but how is that to be done without any name form or personality to relate to? Further, the possibility that gods like Lord Shiva, Krishna, Durga are not truly Supreme has been harming my bhakti towards them. Can you please clarify why they are to be worshipped and their actual position a bit more?
Would I be correct in understanding that from the “undefinable supreme” come out the absolutes “tat”, “sat”, “aditi,” and “satchitananda” ( the last one brought about by Aditi)?
Yes. There are four Absolutes.
Tat. It is the Supreme, Paratpara, Parabrahman, containing all but limited by nothing and none. It is the indefinable Reality, Truth that can be described neither by negations, neti neti, nor by affirmations, iti iti.
Sat. It is infinite Existence containing within itself infinite Consciousness with infinite Ananda uniting the two, Sacchidananda, OM, with all the four states as one, as well as the dual principle of He and She.
Aditi, the indivisible infinite consciousness, force, ananda of the Supreme, the Divine Mother who brings out Sacchidananda out of the Supreme. She is the Adya Shakti of the Tantra, the Parabrahman of Vedanta.
Parameshwara or the Purushottama of the Gita, the Parameshwari of the Tantra.
They are aspects of Sacchidananda, Sat, Chit, Tapas, and Ananda. Infinite Existence is Brahma, infinite Consciousness is Vishnu, infinite Force is Shiva, infinite Ananda is Krishna.
In the Supermind, these are fused and united in the One Infinite Eternal. In the Overmind, the differentiation and distinctiveness of each of the four begins.
This truth has always been known to ancient Indian mystics, though its deepest sense is lost. That is why we have the famous dictum, Gurur Brahma, Gurur Vishnu, Gurur devo Maheswara, Guru sakshat Parabrahman, tasmaye Sri Guruve Namah. All these great gods reside in the Soul of man and one who has fully realised this truth has become inwardly one with That becomes the name and form to facilitate the concentration. In addition, each Avatar, which is the Supreme Divine as Sacchidananda, assumes the name and form in each Age to unlock the doors of the new possibility. One can concentrate upon them if one is fortunate enough. This concentration eventually leads to the concrete experience of the Divine Presence within, who is beyond Name and Form yet assumes these names and forms to lead humanity.
The way we have worshipped the gods is in their inferior forms and partial aspects. When we worship the Supreme, then the gods are already included in their highest aspect. At the same time, each of these Four Original Gods can lead us to the Supreme if we do not get distracted by the lower and lesser gifts that they can also bestow. The advice, therefore, is to have bhakti with the awareness that they are all aspects of the Divine, children of the Divine Mother who has brought them out of the Unmanifest.
Please feel free to clarify further if need be.
Affectionately,
Alok da
Reference:
Metaphysical Cosmology of Sri Aurobindo | RE 191 | Reflections by Dr Alok Pandey
YT Link: https://youtu.be/g1BFKWgdq8E
