What is Life?
By Karmayogi
I know I have a life. Each man has
a life. We say social life, human life. What is it? The lives of all people in
the society together is social life. But there is more. I breathe, everyone
breathes. Air is inhaled and exhaled. The atmosphere of earth is covered by
air. We don't see it, but feel it. We speak of the atmosphere of the
earth. The atmosphere is different from the air. There is light all over the
earth. We feel the heat or cold. Gravitation is a force. Electricity is in the
atmosphere. We see it as lightning. As magnetism, air, light, heat, moisture,
electricity, and gravitation are in the atmosphere, they are all in life and
all of life together. Life is a plane of force enveloping earth. Life has a
personality. It is not inert. It is alive and acts.
At the railway station someone steps on your foot. We quarrel with him, feel
hurt, protest. As he is timid, the hero in us rears its head. We assert a
little more than necessary. The pride in us pricks up. Something in us is
pleased. It is an occasion to feel fulfilled. We go home. There is a news
waiting for us. Our son arrived by a taxi. The taxi driver was a rough fellow. He
demanded more than the meter reading. The boy protested. Raising his voice, we
are told, the driver threatened him vulgarly. The family gave the money
unreasonably asked by him and sent him away. The driver and all of us are part
of life. What we did at the railway station is reflected at home. Life is ever
present. Its personality is all-pervasive. It has standards, rules, etc.
It requires a subtle sense to know of life, to feel its presence and respect
its power. Life is not moral, but it is sensitive. Man is one formation of
life. As the waves on the sea are a formation of seawater, Man is one formation
of life, and the animal is another formation of life. Matter itself is a hard
formation dense to our touch. It is life that created man; or God has created
Man in the plane of life, through the force of life. It is usual that people
who come to the Ashram hear the word consciousness very often. Any book they
read employs that word copiously. It is part of their vocabulary. A senior
engineer with an arts and engineering degree came here and took to Mother with
zest and enthusiasm. After about a year he raised the question.
‘‘What is consciousness?'' Life that we live often
escapes our comprehension when we set about thinking seriously. It is necessary
to know it, as we have to live it.