{"id":1205,"date":"2013-07-13T01:33:15","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1205"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:33:15","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:33:15","slug":"13-the-psychology-of-self-perfection-vol-21-the-synthesis-of-yoga-volume-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/21-the-synthesis-of-yoga-volume-21\/13-the-psychology-of-self-perfection-vol-21-the-synthesis-of-yoga-volume-21","title":{"rendered":"-13_The Psychology of Self-Perfection.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n
\nChapter III<\/span><\/font><\/b> <\/font><\/p>\n

The
\nPsychology of Self-Perfection<\/font><\/span><\/b> <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nE<\/font><\/b>SSENTIALLY<\/font>
\nthen this divine self-perfection is a conversion of the human into a likeness
\nof and a fundamental oneness with the divine nature, a rapid shaping of the
\nimage of God in man and filling in of its ideal outlines. It is what is
\nordinarily termed sādŗśya<\/i><\/span>-mukti<\/i>, a liberation into the divine
\nresemblance out of the bondage of the human seeming, or, to use the expression of
\nthe Gita, sādharmya-gati<\/i><\/span>,
\na coming to be one in law of being with the supreme, universal and indwelling
\nDivine. To perceive and have a right view of our way to such a transformation
\nwe must form some sufficient working idea of the complex thing that this human
\nnature at present is in the confused interminglings<\/span>
\nof its various principles, so that we may see the precise nature of the conversion
\neach part of it must undergo and the most effective means for the conversion.
\nHow to disengage from this knot of thinking mortal matter the Immortal it
\ncontains, from this mentalised vital animal man the happy fullness of his
\nsubmerged hints of Godhead, is the real problem of a human being and living.
\nLife develops many first hints of the divinity without completely disengaging
\nthem; Yoga is the unravelling<\/span> of the knot of Life’s
\ndifficulty. <\/p>\n

First of all we
\nhave to know the central secret of the psychological complexity which creates
\nthe problem and all its difficulties. But an ordinary psychology which only
\ntakes mind and its phenomena at their surface values, will be of no help to us;
\nit will not give us the least guidance in this line of self-exploration and
\nself-conversion. Still less can we find the clue in a scientific psychology
\nwith a materialistic basis which assumes that the body and the biological and
\nphysiological factors of our nature are not only the starting-point but the
\nwhole real foundation and regards human mind as only a subtle development from
\nthe life and the body. That may be the actual truth of the animal side of human\n<\/p>\n

 <\/font>Page \u2013 597<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

nature and of the human mind in
\nso far as it is limited and conditioned by the physical part of our being. But
\nthe whole difference between man and the animal is that the animal mind, as we
\nknow it, cannot get for one moment away from its origins, cannot break out from
\nthe covering, the close chrysalis which the bodily life has spun round the soul,
\nand become something greater than its present self, a more free, magnificent
\nand noble being; but in man mind reveals itself as a greater energy escaping
\nfrom the restrictions of the vital and physical formula of being. But even this
\nis not all that man is or can be: he has in him the power to evolve and release
\na still greater ideal energy which in its turn escapes out of the restrictions
\nof the mental formula of his nature and discloses the supramental form, the
\nideal power of a spiritual being. In Yoga we have to travel beyond the physical
\nnature and the superficial man and to discover the workings of the whole nature
\nof the real man. In other words we must arrive at and use a psycho-physical
\nknowledge with a spiritual foundation. <\/p>\n

Man is in his
\nreal nature, \u2013 however obscure now this truth may be to our present
\nunderstanding and self-consciousness, we must for the purposes of Yoga have
\nfaith in it, and we shall then find that our faith is justified by an increasing
\nexperience and a greater self-knowledge, \u2013 a spirit using the mind, life and
\nbody for an individual and a communal experience and self-manifestation in the
\nuniverse. This spirit is an infinite existence limiting itself in apparent
\nbeing for individual experience. It is an infinite consciousness which defines
\nitself in finite forms of consciousness for joy of various knowledge and
\nvarious power of being. It is an infinite delight of being expanding and
\ncontracting itself and its powers, concealing and discovering, formulating many
\nterms of its joy of existence, even to an apparent obscuration and denial of
\nits own nature. In itself it is eternal Sachchidananda, but this complexity,
\nthis knotting up and unravelling<\/span> of the infinite in
\nthe finite is the aspect we see it assume in universal and in individual
\nnature. To discover the eternal Sachchidananda, this essential self of our
\nbeing within us, and live in it is the stable basis, to make its true nature evident
\nand creative of a divine way of living in our instruments, supermind, mind,
\nlife and body, the active principle of a spiritual perfection. <\/p>\n

 <\/font>Page \u2013 598<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

Supermind,
\nmind, life and body are the four instruments which the spirit uses for its
\nmanifestation in the workings of Nature. Supermind is spiritual consciousness
\nacting as a self-luminous knowledge, will, sense, aesthesis, energy, self-creative
\nand unveiling power of its own delight and being. Mind is the action of the
\nsame powers, but limited and only very indirectly and partially illumined.
\nSupermind lives in unity though it plays with diversity; mind lives in a
\nseparative action of diversity, though it may open to unity. Mind is not only
\ncapable of ignorance, but, because it acts always partially and by limitation,
\nit works characteristically as a power of ignorance: it may even and it does
\nforget itself in a complete inconscience, or nescience, awaken from it to the
\nignorance of a partial knowledge and move from the ignorance towards a complete
\nknowledge, \u2013 that is its natural action in the human being, \u2013 but it can never
\nhave by itself a complete knowledge. Supermind is incapable of real ignorance;
\neven if it puts full knowledge behind it in the limitation of a particular
\nworking, yet all its working refers back to what it has put behind it and all
\nis instinct with self-illumination; even if it involves itself in material
\nnescience, it yet does there accurately the works of a perfect will and
\nknowledge. Supermind lends itself to the action of the inferior instruments; it
\nis always there indeed at the core as a secret support of their operations. In
\nmatter it is an automatic action and effectuation of the hidden idea in things;
\nin life its most seizable form is instinct, an instinctive, subconscious or
\npartly subconscious knowledge and operation; in mind it reveals itself as
\nintuition, a swift, direct and self-effective illumination of intelligence,
\nwill, sense and aesthesis. But these are merely irradiations of the supermind
\nwhich accommodate themselves to the limited functioning of the obscurer
\ninstruments: its own characteristic nature is a gnosis superconscient to mind,
\nlife and body. Supermind or gnosis is the characteristic, illumined,
\nsignificant action of spirit in its own native reality. <\/p>\n

Life is an
\nenergy of spirit subordinated to action of mind and body, which fulfils itself
\nthrough mentality and physicality and acts as a link between them. It has its
\nown characteristic operation but nowhere works independently of mind and body. All\n<\/p>\n

 <\/font>Page \u2013 599<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

energy of the spirit in action
\nworks in the two terms of existence and consciousness, for the self-formation
\nof existence and the play and self-realisation of consciousness, for the
\ndelight of existence and the delight of consciousness. In this inferior
\nformulation of being in which we at present live, the spirit’s energy of life
\nworks between the two terms of mind and matter, supporting and effecting the
\nformulations of substance of matter and working as a material energy,
\nsupporting the formulations of consciousness of mind and the workings of mental
\nenergy, supporting the interaction of mind and body and working as a sensory
\nand nervous energy. What we call vitality is for the purposes of our normal
\nhuman existence power of conscious being emerging in matter, liberating from it
\nand in it mind and the higher powers and supporting their limited action in the
\nphysical life, \u2013 just as what we call mentality is power of conscious being
\nawaking in body to light of its own consciousness and to consciousness of all
\nthe rest of being immediately around it and working at first in the limited
\naction set for it by life and body, but at certain points and at a certain
\nheight escaping from it to a partial action beyond this circle. But this is not
\nthe whole power whether of life or mentality; they have planes of conscious
\nexistence of their own kind, other than this material level, where they are
\nfreer in their characteristic action. Matter or body itself is a limiting form
\nof substance of spirit in which life and mind and spirit are involved,
\nself-hidden, self-forgetful by absorption in their own externalising<\/span>
\naction, but bound to emerge from it by a self-compelling evolution. But matter
\ntoo is capable of refining to subtler forms of substance in which it becomes
\nmore apparently a formal density of life, of mind, of spirit. Man himself has, besides
\nthis gross material body, an encasing vital sheath, a mental body, a body of
\nbliss and gnosis. But all matter, all body contains within it the secret powers
\nof these higher principles; matter is a formation of life that has no real
\nexistence apart from the informing universal spirit which gives it its energy
\nand substance. <\/p>\n

This is the
\nnature of spirit and its instruments. But to understand its operations and to
\nget at a knowledge which will give to us a power of leverage in uplifting them
\nout of the established groove in which our life goes spinning, we have to
\nperceive that <\/p>\n

 <\/font>Page \u2013 600<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

the Spirit has based all its
\nworkings upon two twin aspects of its being, Soul and Nature, Purusha and
\nPrakriti. We have to treat them as different and diverse in power, \u2013 for in
\npractice of consciousness this difference is valid, \u2013 although they are only
\ntwo sides of the same reality, pole and pole of the one conscious being.
\nPurusha or soul is spirit cognizant of the workings of its nature, supporting
\nthem by its being, enjoying or rejecting enjoyment of them in its delight of
\nbeing. Nature is power of the spirit, and she is too working and process of its
\npower formulating name and form of being, developing action of consciousness
\nand knowledge, throwing itself up in will and impulsion, force and energy,
\nfulfilling itself in enjoyment. Nature is Prakriti, Maya, Shakti. If we look at
\nher on her most external side where she seems the opposite of Purusha, she is
\nPrakriti, an inert and mechanical self-driven operation, inconscient or conscient<\/span> only by the light of Purusha, elevated by various
\ndegrees, vital, mental, supramental, of his soul-illumination of her workings.
\nIf we look at her on her other internal side where she moves nearer to unity
\nwith Purusha, she is Maya, will of being and becoming or of cessation from
\nbeing and becoming with all their results, apparent to the consciousness, of
\ninvolution and evolution, existing and non-existing, self-concealment of spirit
\nand self-discovery of spirit. Both are sides of one and the same thing, Shakti,
\npower of being of the spirit which operates, whether superconsciously<\/span>
\nor consciously or subconsciously in a seeming inconscience, \u2013 in fact all these
\nmotions coexist at the same time and in the same soul, \u2013 as the spirit’s power
\nof knowledge, power of will, power of process and action, j\u00f1āna-śakti<\/i><\/span>, icchā-śakti<\/span>,
\nkriyā-śakti<\/span><\/i>. By this power the spirit
\ncreates all things in itself, hides and discovers all itself in the form and
\nbehind the veil of its manifestation. <\/p>\n

Purusha is able
\nby this power of its nature to take whatever poise it may will and to follow
\nthe law and form of being proper to any self-formulation. It is eternal soul
\nand spirit in its own power of self-existence superior to and governing its manifestations;
\nit is universal soul and spirit developed in power of becoming of its existence,
\ninfinite in the finite; it is individual soul and spirit absorbed in
\ndevelopment of some particular course of its becoming, in appearance mutably
\nfinite in the infinite. All <\/p>\n

 <\/font>Page \u2013 601<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

these things it can be at once,
\neternal spirit universalised<\/span> in cosmos, individualised<\/span> in its beings; it can too found the
\nconsciousness rejecting, governing or responding to the action of Nature in any
\none of them, put the others behind it or away from it, know itself as pure
\neternity, self-supporting universality or exclusive individuality. Whatever the
\nformulation of its nature, soul can seem to become that and view itself as that
\nonly in the frontal active part of its consciousness; but it is never only what
\nit seems to be; it is too the so much else that it can be; secretly, it is the
\nall of itself that is yet hidden. It is not irrevocably limited by any
\nparticular self-formulation in Time, but can break through and beyond it, break
\nit up or develop it, select, reject, new-create, reveal out of itself a greater
\nself-formulation. What it believes itself to be by the whole active will of its
\nconsciousness in its instruments, that it is or tends to become, yo<\/i><\/span> yacchraddhah<\/i> sa eva sah<\/i>: what it believes it can be and has full faith in
\nbecoming, that it changes to in nature, evolves or discovers. <\/p>\n

This power of
\nthe soul over its nature is of the utmost importance in the Yoga of
\nself-perfection; if it did not exist, we could never get by conscious endeavour
\nand aspiration out of the fixed groove of our present imperfect human being; if
\nany greater perfection were intended, we should have to wait for Nature to
\neffect it in her own slow or swift process of evolution. In the lower forms of
\nbeing the soul accepts this complete subjection to Nature, but as it rises
\nhigher in the scale, it awakes to a sense of something in itself which can
\ncommand Nature; but it is only when it arrives at self-knowledge that this free
\nwill and control becomes a complete reality. The change effects itself through
\nprocess of nature, not therefore by any capricious magic, but an ordered
\ndevelopment and intelligible process. When complete mastery is gained, then the
\nprocess by its self-effective rapidity may seem a miracle to the intelligence,
\nbut it still proceeds by law of the truth of Spirit, \u2013 when the Divine within
\nus by close union of our will and being with him takes up the Yoga and acts as
\nthe omnipotent master of the nature. For the Divine is our highest Self and the
\nself of all Nature, the eternal and universal Purusha. <\/p>\n

Purusha may
\nestablish himself in any plane of being, take any principle of being as the
\nimmediate head of his power and <\/p>\n

 <\/font>Page \u2013 602<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

live in the working of its proper
\nmode of conscious action. The soul may dwell in the principle of infinite unity
\nof self-existence and be aware of all consciousness, energy, delight,
\nknowledge, will, activity as conscious form of this essential truth, Sat or
\nSatya. It may dwell in the principle of infinite conscious energy, Tapas, and
\nbe aware of it unrolling out of self-existence the works of knowledge, will and
\ndynamic soul-action for the enjoyment of an infinite delight of the being. It may
\ndwell in the principle of infinite self-existent delight and be aware of the
\ndivine Ananda creating out of its self-existence by its energy whatever harmony
\nof being. In these three poises the consciousness of unity dominates; the soul
\nlives in its awareness of eternity, universality, unity, and whatever diversity
\nthere is, is not separative, but only a multitudinous aspect of oneness. It may
\ndwell too in the principle of supermind, in a luminous self-determining
\nknowledge, will and action which develops some coordination of perfect delight
\nof conscious being. In the higher gnosis unity is the basis, but it takes its
\njoy in diversity; in lower fact of supermind diversity is the basis, but it
\nrefers back always to a conscious unity and it takes joy in unity. These ranges
\nof consciousness are beyond our present level; they are superconscious to our
\nnormal mentality. That belongs to a lower hemisphere of being. <\/p>\n

This lower
\nbeing begins where a veil falls between soul and nature, between spirit in
\nsupermind and spirit in mind, life and body. Where this veil has not fallen,
\nthese instrumental powers are not what they are in us, but an enlightened part
\nof the unified action of supermind and spirit. Mind gets to an independent idea
\nof its own action when it forgets to refer back to the light from which it
\nderives and becomes absorbed in the possibilities of its own separative process
\nand enjoyment. The soul when it dwells in the principle of mind, not yet
\nsubject to but user of life and body, knows itself as a mental being working
\nout its mental life and forces and images, bodies of the subtle mental
\nsubstance, according to its individual knowledge, will and dynamis modified by
\nits relation to other similar beings and powers in the universal mind. When it
\ndwells in the principle of life, it knows itself as a being of the universal
\nlife working out action and consciousness by its desires under similar modifying
\nconditions <\/p>\n

 <\/font>Page \u2013 603<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

proper to a universal life-soul
\nwhose action is through many individual life-beings. When it dwells in the principle
\nof matter, it knows itself as a consciousness of matter acting under a similar
\nlaw of the energy of material being. In proportion as it leans towards the side
\nof knowledge, it is aware of itself more or less clearly as a soul of mind, a
\nsoul of life, a soul of body viewing and acting in or acted upon by its nature;
\nbut where it leans towards the side of ignorance, it knows itself as an ego
\nidentified with nature of mind, of life or of body, a creation of Nature. But
\nthe native tendency of material being leads towards an absorption of the soul’s
\nenergy in the act of formation and material movement and a consequent self-oblivion
\nof the conscious being. The material universe begins from an apparent
\ninconscience. <\/p>\n

The universal
\nPurusha dwells in all these planes in a certain simultaneity and builds upon
\neach of these principles a world or series of worlds with its beings who live
\nin the nature of that principle. Man, the microcosm, has all these planes in his
\nown being, ranged from his subconscient<\/span> to his
\nsuperconscient existence. By a developing power of Yoga he can become aware of
\nthese concealed worlds hidden from his physical, materialised mind and senses
\nwhich know only the material world, and then he becomes aware that his material
\nexistence is not a thing apart and self-existent, as the material universe in
\nwhich he lives is also not a thing apart and self-existent, but is in constant
\nrelation to the higher planes and acted on by their powers and beings. He can
\nopen up and increase the action of these higher planes in himself and enjoy
\nsome sort of participation in the life of the other worlds, \u2013 which, for the
\nrest, are or can be his dwelling-place, that is to say, the station of his
\nawareness, dhāma<\/i>, after death or
\nbetween death and rebirth in a material body. But his most important capacity
\nis that of developing the powers of the higher principles in himself, a greater
\npower of life, a purer light of mind, the illumination of supermind, the
\ninfinite being, consciousness and delight of spirit. By an ascending movement
\nhe can develop his human imperfection towards that greater perfection. <\/p>\n

But whatever
\nhis aim, however exalted his aspiration, he has <\/p>\n

 <\/font>Page \u2013 604<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

to begin from the law of his
\npresent imperfection, to take full account of it and see how it can be
\nconverted to the law of a possible perfection. This present law of his being
\nstarts from the inconscience of the material universe, an involution of the
\nsoul in form and subjection to material nature; and, though in this matter life
\nand mind have developed their own energies, yet they are limited and bound up
\nin the action of the lower material, which is to the ignorance of his practical
\nsurface consciousness his original principle. Mind in him, though he is an
\nembodied mental being, has to bear the control of the body and the physical
\nlife and can only by some more or less considerable effort of energy and
\nconcentration consciously control life and body. It is only by increasing that
\ncontrol that he can move towards perfection, \u2013 and it is only by developing
\nsoul-power that he can reach it. Nature-power in him has to become more and
\nmore completely a conscious act of soul, a conscious expression of all the will
\nand knowledge of spirit. Prakriti has to reveal itself as Shakti of the
\nPurusha.<\/p>\n

 <\/font>Page \u2013 605<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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