{"id":2649,"date":"2013-07-13T01:42:59","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2649"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:42:59","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:42:59","slug":"15-the-vertical-system-supermind-to-subconscient-vol-28-letters-on-yoga-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/28-letters-on-yoga-i\/15-the-vertical-system-supermind-to-subconscient-vol-28-letters-on-yoga-i","title":{"rendered":"-15_The Vertical System Supermind to Subconscient.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
<p align="center" style="line-height: 150%; <\/p>\n

\n\tSection Three <\/font><\/b>
\n\t<p align="center" style="line-height: 150%; <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tThe Vertical System:
\n <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tSupermind to Subconscient
\n  
\n   <\/font><\/b> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n

<p align="center" style="line-height: 150%; <\/p>\n

\n\tChapter One <\/font><\/b>
\n\t<p align="center" style="line-height: 150%; <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tThe Planes or Worlds
\n <\/font><\/b> <\/p>\n

\n\tof Consciousness
\n <\/font><\/b> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tThe System of Planes or Worlds
\n\t<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What we speak of are planes of consciousness
\n\u2014the physical is the lowest, above it the ordinary vital, above it the emotional
\n(heart), above it the mental, above the mental are other planes. There is a psychic plane behind the emotional which influences
\nall the others. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

* <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

The physical is not the only world; there are others that we become aware of through dream records, through the subtle
\nsenses, through influences and contacts, through imagination, intuition and vision. There are worlds of a larger subtler life than
\nours, vital worlds; worlds in which Mind builds its own forms and figures, mental worlds; psychic worlds which are the soul’s
\nhome; others above with which we have little contact. In each of us there is a mental plane of consciousness, a psychic, a vital, a
\nsubtle physical as well as the gross physical and material plane. The same planes are situated in the consciousness of general
\nNature. It is when we enter or contact these other planes that we come into connection with the worlds above the physical.
\nIn sleep we leave the physical body, only a subconscient residue remaining, and enter all planes and all sorts of worlds. In each
\nwe see scenes, meet beings, share in happenings, come across formations, influences, suggestions which belong to these planes.
\nEven when we are awake, part of us moves in these planes, but their activity goes on behind the veil; our waking minds are not
\naware of it. Dreams are often only incoherent constructions of our subconscient, but others are records (often much mixed and
\ndistorted) or transcripts of experiences in these supraphysical  <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\n

\n

planes. When we do sadhana, this kind of dream becomes very common; then subconscious dreams cease to predominate. <\/p>\n

The forces and beings of the vital world have a great influence on human beings. The vital world is on one side a world
\nof beauty, \u2014the poet, artist, musician are in close contact with it; it is also a world of powers and passions, lusts and desires,
\n\u2014our own lusts and desires, and passions and ambitions can put us into connection with the vital worlds and their forces
\nand beings. It is again a world of things dark, dangerous and horrible. Nightmares like
\nX<\/i>‘s are contacts with this side of the
\nvital plane. Its influences are also the source of much in men that is demoniac, dirty, cruel and base. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

* <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

It is good that you were able to overcome the difficulty and have
\na good meditation. Your observation that the difficulty is only in the head and throat and mainly in the latter is very significant.
\nThese are the mental centres and it is evident therefore that the difficulty comes from the physical mind. The higher part of
\nthe mind belongs to the thinking mind proper, the buddhi, that which understands and observes and guides; the throat is the
\ncentre of the externalising mind, that which deals with outer and physical things and responds to them. Its activity is always
\none of the chief difficulties of the sadhana. If it is quiet it is easier, as you have seen, for the whole being to be quiet. <\/p>\n

The last of the four experiences, that of the being within arranged in layers one under the other like the steps of a ladder,
\nis also very significant and very true. It is so that inner consciousness is arranged. There are five main divisions of this ladder. At
\nthe top above the head are layers (or as we call them planes) of which we are not conscious and which become conscious to us
\nonly by sadhana \u2014those above the human mind \u2014that is the higher consciousness. Below from the crown of the head to the
\nthroat are the layers (there are many of them) of the mind, the three principal being one at the top of the head communicating
\nwith the higher consciousness, another between the eyebrows where is the thought, sight and will, a third in the throat which is
\n <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

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\n

the externalising mind. A second division is from the shoulders
\nto the navel, these are the layers of the higher vital presided over by the heart centre where is the emotional being with the
\npsychic hidden behind it. From the navel downwards is the rest of the vital being containing several layers. From the bottom of
\nthe spine downward are the layers of the physical consciousness proper, the material, and below the feet is the subconscient which
\nhas also many levels. <\/p>\n

The experience of the splitting of the forehead from the
\nmiddle and the pouring out of light signified the opening of the centre of thought, will and vision there. When this opens, there
\nis the opening of the inner mind consciousness through which the light of the higher can pour out
\n\t\u2014here it is the Mother’s
\nwhite light that was pouring out through the opening. <\/p>\n

The lights you saw were the many lights (powers, forces full
\nof light) of the higher consciousness, the Truth consciousness or divine consciousness. Their pouring down was preceded and
\nmade possible by the appearance of the moon, the spiritual light. It is when the spiritual light is there that the presence of the
\nMother is revealed and her action brings down the powers of the Truth, the Divine and she gives them to the sadhak. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

* <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

If we regard the gradation of worlds or planes as a whole, we
\nsee them as a great connected complex movement; the higher precipitate their influences on the lower, the lower react to the
\nhigher and develop or manifest in themselves within their own formula something that corresponds to the superior power and
\nits action. The material world has evolved life in obedience to a pressure from the vital plane, mind in obedience to a pressure
\nfrom the mental plane. It is now trying to evolve supermind in obedience to a pressure from the supramental plane. In more
\ndetail, particular forces, movements, powers, beings of a higher world can throw themselves on the lower to establish appropriate and corresponding forms which will connect them with the material domain
\nand, as it were, reproduce or project their action here. And each thing created
\nhere has, supporting it, <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\n

\n

subtler envelopes or forms of itself which make it subsist and connect it with forces acting from above. Man, for instance,
\nhas, besides his gross physical body, subtler sheaths or bodies by which he lives behind the veil in direct connection with supra
\nphysical planes of consciousness and can be influenced by their powers, movements and beings. What takes place in life has
\nalways behind it preexistent movements and forms in the occult vital planes; what takes place in mind presupposes preexistent
\nmovements and forms in the occult mental planes. That is an aspect of things which becomes more and more evident, insistent
\nand important, the more we progress in a dynamic Yoga. <\/p>\n

But all this must not be taken in too rigid and mechanical a
\nsense. It is an immense plastic movement full of the play of possibilities and must be seized by a flexible and subtle tact or sense in
\nthe seeing consciousness. It cannot be reduced to a too rigorous logical or mathematical formula. Two or three points must be
\npressed in order that this plasticity may not be lost to our view. <\/p>\n

First, each plane, in spite of its connection with others above
\nand below it, is yet a world in itself, with its own movements, forces, beings, types, forms existing as if for its and their own
\nsake, under its own laws, for its own manifestation without apparent regard for other members of the great series. Thus, if
\nwe regard the vital or the subtle physical plane, we see great ranges of it (most of it) existing in themselves, without any
\nrelation with the material world and with no movement to affect or influence it, still less to precipitate a corresponding
\nmanifestation in the physical formula. At most we can say that the existence of anything in the vital, subtle physical or any
\nother plane creates a possibility for a corresponding movement of manifestation in the physical world. But something more is
\nneeded to turn that static or latent possibility into a dynamic potentiality or an actual urge towards a material creation. That
\nsomething may be a call from the material plane, e.g. some force or someone in the physical existence entering into touch with a
\nsupraphysical power or world or part of it and moved to bring it down into the earth life. Or it may be an impulse in the vital or
\nother plane itself, e.g. a vital being moved to extend his action   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\n

\n<p align="left" style="line-height: 150%; 131<\/i> <\/p>\n

towards the earth and establish there a kingdom for himself or the play of the forces for which he stands in his own domain. Or
\nit may be a pressure from above, let us say some supramental or mental power precipitating its formation from above and
\ndeveloping forms and movements on the vital level as a means of transit to its self-creation in the material world. Or it may be
\nall these things acting together, in which case there is the greatest possibility of an effective creation. <\/p>\n

Next, as a consequence, it follows that only a limited part of the action of the vital or other higher planes is concerned with
\nthe earth-existence. But even this creates a mass of possibilities which is far greater than the earth can at one time manifest or
\ncontain in its own less plastic formulas. All these possibilities do not realise themselves; some fail altogether and leave at the most
\nan idea that comes to nothing; some try seriously and are repelled and defeated and, even if in action for a time, come to nothing.
\nOthers effectuate a half manifestation, and this is the most usual result, the more so as these vital or other supraphysical forces
\ncome into conflict and have not only to overcome the resistance of the physical consciousness and of matter, but their own
\ninternecine resistance to each other. A certain number succeed in precipitating their results in a more complete and successful
\ncreation, so that if you compare that creation with its original in the higher plane,
\nthere is something like a close resemblance
\nor even an apparently exact reproduction or translation from the supraphysical to the physical formula. And yet even there
\nthe exactness is only apparent; the very fact of translation into another substance and another rhythm of manifestation makes a
\ndifference. It is something new that has manifested and it is that that makes the creation worth while. What for instance would
\nbe the utility of a supramental creation on earth if it were just the same thing as a supramental creation on the supramental plane?
\nIt is that, in principle, but yet something else, a triumphant new self-discovery of the Divine in conditions that are not elsewhere. <\/p>\n

No doubt, the subtle physical is closest to the physical, and most like it. But
\nyet the conditions are different and the thing too different. For instance, the
\nsubtle physical has a freedom,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\n

\n

plasticity, intensity, power, colour, wide and manifold play (there are thousands of things there that are not here) of which as yet
\nwe have no possibility on earth. And yet there is something here, a potentiality of the Divine which the other in spite of its greater
\nliberties has not, something which makes creation more difficult, but in the last result justifies the labour. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

* <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Each plane of consciousness contains the others in itself in principle. In the physical consciousness there is a physical mind, a vital force and action which we call the vital physical, and the
\nphysical proper or material. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

* <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Mind has its own realms and life has its own realms just as matter has. In the mental realms life and substance are entirely
\nsubordinated to Mind and obey its dictates. Here on earth there is the evolution with matter as the starting point, life as the
\nmedium, mind emerging from it. There are many grades, realms, combinations in the cosmos
\n\u2014there are even many universes.
\nOurs is only one of many. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe Planes and the Body
\n<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The heavenly worlds are above the body. What the parts of the body correspond to are planes
\n\u2014subtle physical, higher, middle
\nand lower vital, mental.. Each plane is in communication with various worlds that belong to it. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

* <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

The appearance of the being in other planes is not the same
\nnecessarily as that of the physical body. Very often the form taken by the vital or psychic or mental being is very different
\nfrom the physical form. Even when they resemble on the whole, there is always some difference.
\n   <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage <\/font>\u2013
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