The Self of Knowledge, the Supramental Being - Sri Aurobindo.

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25/03/2020.
Sri Aurobindo translates Taittiriya Upanishad, Brahmananda valli, Chapter 4 (part 2) : 
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1.

“Now there is yet a second and inner self which is other than this which is of Mind and it is made of Knowledge.  And the Self of Knowledge filleth the Self of Mind.  Now the Knowledge-Self is made in the image of a man; according as is the human image of the other, so is it in the image of the man.  Faith is the head of him, Law is his right side, Truth is his left side; Yoga is his spirit which is the self of him; Mahas (the material world) is his lower member whereon he resteth abidingly.  Whereof this is the Scripture.”
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2.

The Upanishad continues its systematic explication of the subtle sheaths that make up the complexity of the human being.  More subtle than the mind is the “Knowledge-sheath” or vijnanamaya kosa.  The mind operates by separation and division, piecing together its form of knowledge through accumulating and organizing information received through the sense-organs.  This process is subject to limitation and error.  The Knowledge-consciousness operates beyond the mind through a direct and complete comprehension based in the truth of existence.  Sri Aurobindo terms this the supramental consciousness.
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3.

Sri M. P. Pandit observes:  “It is only a greater Faculty with a larger and other sweep of Vision and Power that can possess the Knowledge and the Secret of the Manifestation.  And there is, says the Upanishad, such an active Principle, Vijnana, and the Supreme Being expressing and governing it is the Vijnanamaya Purusa..”
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4.

He continues:  “The Vijnana is the term for a yet higher principle in the cosmic manifestation; not even mind at its highest, it is above mind.  This is what is called the Mahas in the ancient literature and the Supermind by Sri Aurobindo.  The Mind is only a derivation of the Vijnana which is a principle of Truth-Knowledge.”
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5.

Sri Pandit cites Sri T.V. Kapaly Sastry from his Lights on the Fundamentals:  “Vijnana, the principle of the world of Mahas, is neither the intellect, buddhi, nor knowledge of the intellectual kind, the mind.  It is Knowledge indeed, but Knowledge proper to a higher grade of the Spirit’s Being in its Self-extension in the supernal altitudes of Self-projection, a Knowledge immense with Power, or it is something that is at once Knowledge and Power or Knowledge that is Power.  This is the Purusha, Vijnanamaya, the Supramental Person.”
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6.

Sri Pandit notes further:  “Of this Self, the Upanishad says in a shining image, Satya, Truth of Being, is one side and Rita, Truth of Action, the other; Faith, an invincible Truth-certitude is the head and the Mahas, the Vast Light, its base.  Yoga, union, a constant and spontaneous union with the heart of things is the spirit of its being.  This is the vijnanamaya purusa which the Upanishad goes on to describe as He whose Knowledge-Power renders all activity, all sacrifice most widely effective….”
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