INSTITUTE FOR INTEGRAL YOGA PSYCHOLOGY

(a project of Mirravision Trust, Financed by Auroshakti Foundation)

 
Chapters
Chapter I
Chapter II - Part 1
Chapter II - Part 2
Chapter II - Part 3
Chapter II - Part 4
Chapter III - Part 1
Chapter III - Part 2
Chapter III - Part 3
Chapter III - Part 4
Chapter III - Part 5
Chapter III - Part 6
Chapter IV - Part 1
Chapter IV - Part 2
Chapter IV - Part 3
Chapter IV - Part 4
Chapter V-Part 1
Chapter V - Part 2
Chapter V - Part 3
Chapter V - Part 4
Chapter V - Part 5
Chapter VI - Part 1
Chapter VI - Part 2
Chapter VI - Part 3
Chapter VI - Part 4
Chapter VI - Part 5
Chapter VII - Part 1
Chapter VII - Part 2
Chapter VII - Part 3
Chapter VII - Part 4
Chapter VII - Part 5
Chapter VIII - Part 1
Chapter VIII - Part 2
Chapter VIII - Part 3
Chapter VIII - Part 4
Chapter IX - Part 1
Chapter IX - Part 2
Chapter X - Part 1
Chapter X - Part 2
Chapter X - Part 3
Chapter X - Part 4
Chapter X - Part 5
Chapter X - Part 6
Chapter XI - Part 1
Chapter XI - Part 2
Chapter XI - Part 3
Chapter XI - Part 4
Chapter XII - Part 1
Chapter XII - Part 2
Chapter XII - Part 3
Chapter XII - Part 4
Chapter XII - Part 5
Chapter XIII - Part 1
Chapter XIII - Part 2
Chapter XIV - Part 1
Chapter XIV - Part 2
Chapter XIV - Part 3
Chapter XIV - Part 4
Chapter XIV - Part 5
Chapter XV - Part 1
Chapter XV - Part 2
Chapter XV - Part 3
Chapter XV - Part 4
Chapter XV - Part 5
Chapter XV - Part 6
Chapter XV - Part 7
Chapter XV - Part 8
Chapter XV - Part 9
Chapter XVI - Part 1
Chapter XVI - Part 2
Chapter XVI - Part 3
Chapter XVI - Part 4
Chapter XVI - Part 5
Chapter XVI - Part 6
Chapter XVI - Part 7
Chapter XVI - Part 8
Chapter XVI - Part 9
Chapter XVI - Part 10
Chapter XVI - Part 11
Chapter XVI - Part 12
Chapter XVI - Part 13
Chapter XVII - Part 1
Chapter XVII - Part 2
Chapter XVII - Part 3
Chapter XVII - Part 4
Chapter XVIII - Part 1
Chapter XVIII - Part 2
Chapter XVIII - Part 3
Chapter XVIII - Part 4
Chapter XVIII - Part 5
Chapter XVIII - Part 6
Chapter XVIII - Part 7
Chapter XVIII - Part 8
Chapter XVIII - Part 9
Chapter XVIII - Part 10
Chapter XIX - Part 1
Chapter XIX - Part 2
Chapter XIX - Part 3
Chapter XIX - Part 4
Chapter XIX - Part 5
Chapter XIX - Part 6
Chapter XIX - Part 7
Chapter XX - Part 1
Chapter XX - Part 2
Chapter XX - Part 3
Chapter XX - Part 4
Chapter XX - Part 4
Chapter XXI - Part 1
Chapter XXI - Part 2
Chapter XXI - Part 3
Chapter XXI - Part 4
Chapter XXII - Part 1
Chapter XXII - Part 2
Chapter XXII - Part 3
Chapter XXII - Part 4
Chapter XXII - Part 5
Chapter XXII - Part 6
Chapter XXIII Part 1
Chapter XXIII Part 2
Chapter XXIII Part 3
Chapter XXIII Part 4
Chapter XXIII Part 5
Chapter XXIII Part 6
Chapter XXIII Part 7
Chapter XXIV Part 1
Chapter XXIV Part 2
Chapter XXIV Part 3
Chapter XXIV Part 4
Chapter XXIV Part 5
Chapter XXV Part 1
Chapter XXV Part 2
Chapter XXV Part 3
Chapter XXVI Part 1
Chapter XXVI Part 2
Chapter XXVI Part 3
Chapter XXVII Part 1
Chapter XXVII Part 2
Chapter XXVII Part 3
Chapter XXVIII Part 1
Chapter XXVIII Part 2
Chapter XXVIII Part 3
Chapter XXVIII Part 4
Chapter XXVIII Part 5
Chapter XXVIII Part 6
Chapter XXVIII Part 7
Chapter XXVIII Part 8
Book II, Chapter 1, Part I
Book II, Chapter 1, Part II
Book II, Chapter 1, Part III
Book II, Chapter 1, Part IV
Book II, Chapter 1, Part V
Book II, Chapter 2, Part I
Book II, Chapter 2, Part II
Book II, Chapter 2, Part III
Book II, Chapter 2, Part IV
Book II, Chapter 2, Part V
Book II, Chapter 2, Part VI
Book II, Chapter 2, Part VII
Book II, Chapter 2, Part VIII
Book II, Chapter 3, Part I
Book II, Chapter 3, Part II
Book II, Chapter 3, Part III
Book II, Chapter 3, Part IV
Book II, Chapter 3, Part V
Book II, Chapter 4, Part I
Book II, Chapter 4, Part II
Book II, Chapter 4, Part III
Book II, Chapter 5, Part I
Book II, Chapter 5, Part II
Book II, Chapter 5, Part III
Book II, Chapter 6, Part I
Book II, Chapter 6, Part II
Book II, Chapter 6, Part III
Book II, Chapter 7, Part I
Book II, Chapter 7, Part II
Book II, Chapter 8, Part I
Book II, Chapter 8, Part II
Book II, Chapter 9, Part I
Book II, Chapter 9, Part II
 

A Psychological Approach to Sri Aurobindo's

The Life Divine

 
Chapter XXIII Part 5


The Double Soul in Man

The Psychic Being –The true soul secret in us

The surface personality revolves around the desire-soul which is a “pseudo-psychic entity” and regrettably, we mistake its misinterpretations of Truth “for true soul-stuff and wealth of spiritual experience”. (The Life Divine, pg.241) The true soul within us is the psychic being in the soul-space behind the inner or subliminal being that itself is poised behind the surface personality or outer being.

The psychic being itself is a projection of the Jivatman, the unborn and unmanifest self that upholds our being. The Jivatman at first projects a divine spark or soul at the centre of each being. The psychic being is formed progressively around this divine centre through innumerable life-times and a time comes when it becomes fully formed and awakened and becomes capable to replace the desire-soul as the leader of the being.

[Sri Aurobindo uses the term psychic being for the soul-principle. In conventional parlance, the psychic is used either to represent the desire-soul or paranormal phenomena. However paranormal phenomena like materialization and dematerialization occur not due to soul-action but represent abnormal actions of occult subtle-physical energies (Ibid, pg.241footnote)]

Characteristics of the Psychic Being

Sri Aurobindo described the characteristics of the psychic being, the fourth dimensional, beyond-ego soul principle: (a) It is a “flame of the Godhead always alight within us, inextinguishable even by that dense unconsciousness …which obscures our outward nature.”(Ibid,pg.239)

(b) It is “the concealed Witness and Control, the hidden Guide, the Daemon of Socrates, the inner light or inner voice of the mystic.” (Socrates’ daemon has always been considered as an internal oracle or Divine Entity that gave recommendations without imposition)(Ibid)

(c) It is that “which endures and is imperishable in us from birth to birth, untouched by death, decay or corruption, an indestructible spark of the Divine”. (Ibid)

(d) It should be distinguished from the unborn Self or unevolving Spirit that is always aware of its universality and transcendence, but “is yet its deputy in the forms of Nature, the individual soul, the caitya purusha, supporting mind, life and body, standing behind the mental, the vital, the subtle physical being in us and watching and profiting by their development and experience”. (Ibid, pg.239-240)

(e) It is “the true original Conscience in us deeper than the constructed and conventional conscience of the moralist, for it is this which points always towards Truth and Right and Beauty, towards Love and Harmony and all that is a divine possibility in us, and persists till these things become the major need of our nature”. (Ibid, pg.240)

(f) It “puts forward a psychic personality which changes, grows, develops from life to life; for this is the traveller between birth and death and between death and birth, our nature parts are only its manifold and changing vesture”.(Ibid) (g) It “ can first exercise only a concealed and partial and indirect action through the mind, the life and the body, since it is these parts of Nature that have to be developed as its instruments of self-expression. Missioned to lead man in the Ignorance towards the light of the Divine Consciousness, it takes the essence of all experience in the Ignorance to form a nucleus of soul-growth in the nature; the rest it turns into material for the future growth of the instruments.”(Ibid)

(h) It can “come forward into the front and, replacing the desire-soul, govern overtly and entirely and not only partially and from behind the veil this outer nature of mind, life and body, then these can be cast into soul images of what is true, right and beautiful and in the end the whole nature can be turned towards the real aim of life, the supreme victory, the ascent into spiritual existence”. (Ibid, pg.241)

The psychic being carries the most memorable impressions of our life –impressions that have a superconscient or divine source, impressions that are intuitive, supra-cognitive or deeply experiential. It is these impressions that are carried as memory traces beyond the life-span to influence and shape future lives.

Beyond the Psychic Being

However, the psychic being alone is not indispensable for our spiritual progress. The coming of the psychic being forward to replace the desire-soul and be the leader of the human march is the first step. For a further growth in consciousness, a second step is needed – the light from the Supermind has to descend into our mortal life. The psychic being can “open to the hidden diviner ranges of our being and receive and reflect their light and power and experience, but another, a spiritual transformation from above is needed for us to possess our self in its universality and transcendence.”(Ibid) Different trajectories of the Psychic Being

Sri Aurobindo also cautions that though psychic being can actively lead the human march after replacing the ego and be an effective player in the cosmic consciousness, it has also the possibility of lapsing into a passive mode. It can separate itself from the world-movement or it can identify with the static self behind the cosmos, “but separate inwardly from the world-movement, losing its individuality in its Source, it might return to that Source and have neither the will nor the power any further for that which was its ultimate mission here, to lead the nature also towards its divine realisation”(Ibid, pg.242) This is not surprising as by “the law of the Infinite”, it is inseparable from the Divine Whole –in a way it is also a poise of the Divine Whole. It can therefore awaken to that reality to plunge into “apparent extinction” or merging of itself with the Source. Our Nature is an ignorant mass that has arisen from the Inconscience. The psychic being is a projection of the Superconscience as a “small nucleus”. As it has not arisen from the Inconscience, it is free from ignorance, falsehood, suffering and mortality. It has been figuratively described in the Upanishad as “no bigger than a man’s thumb” which can “by the spiritual influx enlarge itself and embrace the whole world with the heart and mind in an intimate communion or oneness. Or it may become aware of its eternal Companion and elect to live forever in His presence, in an imperishable union and oneness as the eternal lover and the eternal Beloved, which of all spiritual experiences is the most intense in beauty and rapture”.(Ibid) Yet these splendid achievements are not the consummation. The supramental light has to descend to perfect the spiritual odyssey.

Table:

Jivatman
(Unevolving Self)
------------------ Psychic Being ------------------ Desire-soul
(Pseudo-psychic entity)

The Psychic Being can travel forward to actively replace the desire-soul. It may however travel back to the Self and be in a passive mode or align with it in eternal love

Date of Update: 20-Jun-19

- By Dr. Soumitra Basu

 

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