mind in the direction of an object, whatever it be in life, is different from the motive
force that is behind it. And if the motive force is absent, the activity will cease
immediately—just as when a force is absent, movement will not be possible. This
peculiar feature of movement, activity or externalised projection gets mixed up with
the force behind it, and then we have the feeling ‘we are’, or ‘I am’.
Therefore, this ‘I am-ness’, or the sense of being, is a confusion that has taken place.
The existence aspect of our assertion, ‘I exist’, belongs to a realm which is different
from the realm of purposes for which it is employed—namely, the mind, the desire
and the actions.
The sense of individuality is, therefore, a combination of the principle of Pure Being
and the principle of externality. When we assert or feel ‘I am’, we have a phenomenal
sense of ‘I am-ness’. It is not the consciousness of existence as it is, because this
existence is present everywhere—it is in me, it is in you, it is in everything. Why don’t
we feel that everything ‘is’? Why is it that there is a peculiar feeling of ‘I am,
independent of others’? The pure universal character of existence is restricted in its
operation, localised by the distracting activity of the mind that is an aspect of
existence drawn into activity. Only a phase of this existence is made to be felt in our
sense of personality, so that we have a feeling of localised being, and not a sense of
All-being.
This feeling of localised being is brought about for a purpose. The purpose is the
fulfilment of the urges mentioned, these tendencies with which we are born—the
frustrated desires, we may say, the samskaras, the vasanas, the impressions, etc.—
which have been the cause of our birth in this world. Why are we born in this world?
We are born for a purpose. The purpose is nothing but the fulfilment of these
tendencies with which we are born. They will not keep quiet unless they are fulfilled,
and they require a medium of action. There can be no fulfilment unless there is an
instrument through which that fulfilment can be achieved. The instrument is this
body.
This body is an organisation of certain sensations—a grouping-up of various powers
of sense, which the mind employs for the purpose of this fulfilment of its wishes. The
individual sense, or asmita, has a desire to see objects; then, eyes come out
immediately. The moment there is a desire to see, the power of seeing is projected.
When there is a desire to hear, ears are projected. When there is a desire to grasp,
hands are projected. Likewise, the different sense organs get manifested on account
of the intense urge to come in contact with objects in various ways. Fortunately for
us, the mind has thought of projecting itself only in five ways; otherwise, we would
have millions of hands, ears and eyes. We do not know how many instruments it
would have manufactured if it wanted. Thank God, we have only five senses—not
more. If there were more senses, there will be more desires, more ways of
employment of the very same urge in various ways. These senses, therefore, are the
instruments of contact. That is the desire of the mind. It wants to contact objects, and
it cannot do that unless there is a method by which it can do this work. This method
is projected by the sensations. This body which is an instrument is, as I mentioned,
an organisation of certain forces, like an army that it has brought about for its own
purposes. It has placed the whole army in the field of action, and it can use any part
of that army at any time, as the occasion may demand. That particular part of the
force it employs is the particular organ of sense.