{"id":997,"date":"2013-07-13T01:31:51","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:31:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=997"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:31:51","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:31:51","slug":"07-planes-and-parts-of-the-being-vol-22-letters-on-yoga-volume-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/22-letters-on-yoga-volume-22\/07-planes-and-parts-of-the-being-vol-22-letters-on-yoga-volume-22","title":{"rendered":"-07_Planes and Parts of The Being.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\nS<\/font>ECTION<\/font>
\nF<\/font>IVE<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\nPlanes and Parts of The Being<\/b><\/font><\/span> <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/p>\n

M<\/font>en do not know
\nthemselves and have not learned to distinguish the different parts of their
\nbeing; for these are usually lumped together by them as mind, because it is through
\na mentalised<\/span> perception and understanding that they
\nknow or feel them; therefore they do not understand their own states and
\nactions, or, if at all, then only on the surface. It is part of the foundation
\nof yoga to become conscious of the great complexity of our nature, see the
\ndifferent forces that move it and get over it a control of directing knowledge.
\nWe are composed of many parts each of which contributes something to the total
\nmovement of our consciousness, our thought, will, sensation, feeling, action,
\nbut we do not see the origination or the course of these impulsions; we are
\naware only of their confused and pell-mell results on the surface upon which we
\ncan at best impose nothing better than a precarious shifting order.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The remedy can
\nonly come from the parts of the being that are already turned towards the
\nLight. To call in the light of the Divine Consciousness from above, to bring
\nthe psychic being to the front and kindle a flame of aspiration which will
\nawaken spiritually the outer mind and set on fire the vital being, is the way
\nout.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Each part of the being has its
\nown nature or even different natures contained in the same part.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Consciousness is not, to my
\nexperience, a phenomenon dependent on the reactions of personality to the
\nforces of Nature and amounting to no more than a seeing or interpretation of
\nthese reactions. If that were so, then when the personality becomes silent and
\nimmobile and gives no reactions, as there would be no <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 233<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

seeing or interpretative action,
\nthere would therefore be no consciousness. That contradicts some of the
\nfundamental experiences of yoga, e.g., a silent and immobile consciousness
\ninfinitely spread out, not dependent on the personality but impersonal and
\nuniversal, not seeing and interpreting contacts but motionlessly self-aware,
\nnot dependent on the reactions, but persistent in itself even when no reactions
\ntake place. The subjective personality itself is only a formation of
\nconsciousness which is a power inherent, not in the activity of the temporary
\nmanifested personality, but in the being, the Self or Purusha. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Consciousness is
\na reality inherent in existence. It is there even when it is not active on the
\nsurface, but silent and immobile; it is there even when it is invisible on the
\nsurface, not reacting on outward things or sensible to them, but withdrawn and
\neither active or inactive within; it is there even when it seems to us to be
\nquite absent and the being to our view unconscious and inanimate. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Consciousness is
\nnot only power of awareness of self and things, it is or has also a dynamic and
\ncreative energy. It can determine its own reactions or abstain from reactions;
\nit can not only answer to forces, but create or put out from itself forces.
\nConsciousness is Chit but also Chit Shakti.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Consciousness is
\nusually identified with mind, but mental consciousness is only the human range
\nwhich no more exhausts all the possible ranges of consciousness than human
\nsight exhausts all the gradations of colour<\/span> or human
\nhearing all the gradations of sound \u2013 for there is much above or below that is
\nto man invisible and inaudible. So there are ranges of consciousness above and
\nbelow the human range, with which the normal human has no contact and they seem
\nto it unconscious, \u2013 supramental or overmental<\/span> and submental<\/span> ranges.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When Yajnavalkya
\nsays there is no consciousness in the Brahman state, he is speaking of
\nconsciousness as the human being knows it. The Brahman state is that of a
\nsupreme existence supremely aware of itself, svayamprakāśa<\/i><\/span>, \u2013 it is
\nSachchidananda, Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. Even if it be spoken of as
\nbeyond That, parātparam<\/i><\/span>,
\nit does not mean that it is a state of Non-existence or Non-consciousness, but
\nbeyond even the <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 234<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

highest spiritual substratum (the
\n\u201cfoundation above\u201d in the luminous paradox of the Rig Veda) of cosmic existence
\nand consciousness. As it is evident from the description of Chinese Tao and the
\nBuddhist Shunya<\/span> that that is a Nothingness in which
\nall is, so with the negation of consciousness here. Superconscient and subconscient<\/span> are only relative terms; as we rise into the
\nsuperconscient we see that it is a consciousness greater than the highest we
\nyet have and therefore in our\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>normal
\nstate inaccessible to us and, if we can go down into the subconscient<\/span>,
\nwe find there a consciousness other than our own at its lowest mental limit and
\ntherefore ordinarily inaccessible to us. The Inconscient itself is only an
\ninvolved state of consciousness which like the Tao or Shunya<\/span>,
\nthough in a different way, contains all things suppressed within it so that
\nunder a pressure from above or within all can evolve out of it \u2013 \u201can inert Soul
\nwith a somnambulist Force.\u201d
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The gradations
\nof consciousness are universal states not dependent on the outlook of the
\nsubjective personality; rather the outlook of the subjective personality is
\ndetermined by the grade of consciousness in which it is organised according to
\nits typal<\/span> nature or its evolutionary stage. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It will be
\nevident that by consciousness is meant something which is essentially the same
\nthroughout but variable in status, condition and operation, in which in some
\ngrades or conditions the activities we call consciousness can exist either in a
\nsuppressed or an unorganised<\/span> or a differently
\norganised state; while in other states some other activities may manifest which
\nin us are suppressed, unorganised<\/span> or latent or else
\nare less perfectly manifested, less intensive, extended and powerful than in
\nthose higher grades above our highest mental limit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It all depends upon where the
\nconsciousness places itself and concentrates itself. If the consciousness
\nplaces or concentrates itself within the ego, you are identified with the ego \u2013
\nif in the mind, it is identified with the mind and its activities and so on. If
\nthe consciousness puts its stress outside, it is said to live in the external
\nbeing and becomes oblivious of its inner mind and vital <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 235<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

and inmost psychic; if it goes
\ninside, puts its centralising stress there, then it knows itself as the inner
\nbeing or, still deeper, as the psychic being; if it ascends out of the body to
\nthe planes where self is naturally conscious of its wideness and freedom it
\nknows itself as the Self and not the mind, life or body. It is this stress of
\nconsciousness that makes all the difference. That is why one has to concentrate
\nthe consciousness in heart or mind in order to go within or go above. It is the
\ndisposition of the consciousness that determines everything, makes one
\npredominantly mental, vital, physical or psychic, bound or free, separate in
\nthe Purusha or involved in the Prakriti.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Consciousness has no need of a
\nclear individual \u201cI\u201d to dispose variously the centralising stress, \u2013 wherever
\nthe stress is put the \u201cI\u201d attaches itself to that, so that one thinks of oneself
\nas a mental being or physical being or whatever it may be. The consciousness in
\nme can dispose its stress in this way or the other way \u2013 it may go down into
\nthe physical and work there in the physical nature keeping all the rest behind
\nor above for the time or it may go up into the overhead level and stand above
\nmind, life and body seeing them as instrumental lower forms of itself or not
\nseeing them at all and merged in the free undifferentiated Self or it may throw
\nitself into an active dynamic cosmic consciousness and identify with that or do
\nany number of other things without resorting to the help of this much overrated
\nand meddlesome fly on the wheel which you call the clear individual \u201cI\u201d. The
\nreal \u201cI\u201d \u2013 if you want to use that word \u2013 is not \u201cclear individual,\u201d that is, a
\nclear-cut limited separative ego, it is as wide as the universe and wider and
\ncan contain the universe in itself, but that is not the Ahankar<\/span>,
\nit is the Atman. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Consciousness is
\na fundamental thing, the fundamental thing in existence \u2013 it is the energy, the
\nmotion, the movement of consciousness that creates the universe and all that is
\nin it \u2013 not only the macrocosm but the microcosm is nothing but consciousness
\narranging itself. For instance, when consciousness in its movement or rather a
\ncertain stress of movement forgets itself in the <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 236<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

action it becomes an apparently
\n\u201cunconscious\u201d energy; when it forgets itself in the form it becomes the
\nelectron, the atom, the material object. In reality it is still consciousness that
\nworks in the energy and determines the form and the evolution of form. When it
\nwants to liberate itself, slowly, evolutionarily, out of Matter, but still in
\nthe form, it emerges as life, as animal, as man and it can go on evolving
\nitself still farther out of its involution and become something more than mere
\nman. If you can grasp that, then it ought not to be difficult to see further
\nthat it can subjectively formulate itself as a physical, a vital, a mental, a
\npsychic consciousness \u2013 all these are present in man, but as they are all mixed
\nup together in the external consciousness with their real status behind in the
\ninner being, one can only become fully aware of them by releasing the original
\nlimiting stress of the consciousness which makes us live in our external being
\nand become awake and centred within in the inner being. As the consciousness in
\nus, by its external concentration or stress, has to put all these things behind
\n\u2013 behind a wall or veil, it has to break down the wall or veil and get back in
\nits stress into these inner parts of existence \u2013 that is what we call living
\nwithin; then our external being seems to us something small and superficial, we
\nare or can become aware of the large and rich and inexhaustible kingdom within.
\nSo also consciousness in us has drawn a lid or covering or whatever one likes
\nto call it between the lower planes of mind, life, body supported by the
\npsychic and the higher planes which contain the spiritual kingdoms where the
\nself is always free and limitless, and it can break or open the lid or covering
\nand ascend there and become the Self free and wide and luminous or else bring
\ndown the influence, reflection, finally even the presence and power of the
\nhigher consciousness into the lower nature.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now that is what
\nconsciousness is \u2013 it is not composed of parts, it is fundamental to being and
\nitself formulates any\u00a0 <\/span>parts it chooses
\nto manifest \u2013 developing them from above downward by a progressive coming down
\nfrom spiritual levels towards involution in Matter or formulating them in an
\nupward working in the front by what we call evolution. If it chooses to work in
\nyou through the sense of ego, you think that it is the clear-cut <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 237<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

individual \u201cI\u201d that does
\neverything \u2013 if it begins to release itself from that limited working, you
\nbegin to expand your sense of \u201cI\u201d till it bursts into infinity and no longer
\nexists or you shed it and flower into spiritual wideness. Of course, this is
\nnot what is spoken of in modern materialistic thought as consciousness, because
\nthat thought is governed by science and sees consciousness only as a phenomenon
\nthat emerges out of inconscient Matter and consists of certain reactions of the
\nsystem to outward things. But that is a phenomenon of consciousness, it is not
\nconsciousness itself, it is even only a very small part of the possible
\nphenomenon of consciousness and can give no clue to Consciousness the Reality
\nwhich is of the very essence of existence. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That is all at
\npresent. You will have to fix yourself in that \u2013 for it is fundamental \u2013 before
\nit can be useful to go any further.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Consciousness is made up of two
\nelements, awareness of self and things and forces and conscious-power.
\nAwareness is the first thing necessary, you have to be aware of things in the
\nright consciousness, in the right way, seeing them in their truth; but
\nawareness by itself is not enough. There must be a Will and a Force that make
\nthe consciousness effective. Somebody may have the full consciousness of what
\nhas to be changed, what has to go and what has to come in its place, but may be
\nhelpless to make the change. Another may have the will-force, but for want of a
\nright awareness may be unable to apply it in the right way at the right place.
\nThe advantage of being in the true consciousness is that you have the right awareness
\nand its will being in harmony with the Mother’s will, you can call in the
\nMother’s Force to make the change. Those who live in the mind and the vital are
\nnot so well able to do this; they are obliged to use mostly their personal
\neffort and as the awareness and will and force of the mind and vital are
\ndivided and imperfect, the work done is imperfect and not definitive. It is
\nonly in the supermind that Awareness, Will, Force are always one movement and
\nautomatically effective. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 238<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\n  
\nII<\/b><\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

Sachchidananda is the One with a
\ntriple aspect. In the Supreme the three are not three but one \u2013 existence is
\nconsciousness, consciousness is bliss, and they are thus inseparable, not only
\ninseparable but so much each other that they are not distinct at all. In the
\nsuperior planes of manifestation they become triune \u2013 although inseparable, one
\ncan be made more prominent and base or lead the others. In the lower planes
\nbelow they become separable in appearance, though not in their\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>secret reality, and one can exist phenomenally
\nwithout the others so that we become aware of what seems to us an inconscient
\nor a painful existence or a consciousness without Ananda. Indeed, without this
\nseparation of them in experience pain and ignorance and falsehood and death and
\nwhat we call inconscience could not have manifested themselves \u2013 there could
\nnot have been this evolution of a limited and suffering consciousness out of
\nthe universal nescience of Matter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Supermind is between the Sachchidananda
\nand the lower creation. It alone contains the self-determining Truth of the
\nDivine Consciousness and is necessary for a Truth-creation.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One can of
\ncourse realise Sachchidananda in relation to the mind, life and body also \u2013 but
\nthen it is something stable, supporting by its presence the lower Prakriti, but
\nnot transforming it. The supermind alone can transform the lower nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is the supramental Power that
\ntransforms mind, life and body \u2013 not the Sachchidananda consciousness which supports
\nimpartially everything. But it is by having experience of the Sachchidananda,
\npure existence-consciousness-bliss, that the ascent to the supramental and the
\ndescent of the supramental become (at a much later stage) possible. For first
\none must get free from the ordinary limitation by the mental, vital and
\nphysical <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 239<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

formations, and the experience of
\nthe Sachchidananda peace, calm, purity and wideness gives this liberation. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The supermind
\nhas nothing to do with passing into a blank. It is the Mind overpassing<\/span>
\nits own limits and following a negative and quietistic<\/span>
\nway to do it that reaches the big blank. The Mind, being the Ignorance, has to
\nannul itself in order to enter into the supreme Truth \u2013 or, at least, so it
\nthinks. But the supermind being the Truth-Consciousness and the Divine
\nKnowledge has no need to annul itself for the purpose. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the supramental consciousness,
\nthere are no problems \u2013 the problem is created by the division set up by the
\nMind. The supramental sees the Truth as a single whole and everything falls
\ninto its place in that whole. The supramental is also spiritual, but the old yogas<\/span> reach Sachchidananda through the spiritualised mind
\nand depart into the eternally static oneness of Sachchidananda or rather pure Sat
\n(Existence), absolute and eternal or else a pure Non-existence, absolute and
\neternal. Ours having realised Sachchidananda in the spiritualised mind plane
\nproceeds to realise it in the supramental plane.<\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

The supreme supracosmic<\/span> Sachchidananda is above all. Supermind may be
\ndescribed as its power of self-awareness and world-awareness, the world being
\nknown as within itself and not outside. So to live consciously in the supreme
\nSachchidananda one must pass through the supermind. If one is in the supracosmic<\/span> apart from the manifestation, there is no place
\nfor problems or solutions. If one lives in the transcendence and the cosmic
\nview at the same time, that can only be by the supramental consciousness in the
\nsupreme Sachchidananda consciousness \u2013 so why should the question arise? Why
\nshould there be a difference between the supreme Sachchidananda version of the
\ncosmos and the supermind’s<\/span> version of it? Your
\ndifficulty probably comes from thinking of both in terms of the mind. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The supermind is
\nan entirely different consciousness not only from the spiritualised Mind, but
\nfrom the planes above spiritualised Mind which intervene between it and the <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 240<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

supramental plane. Once one passes
\nbeyond overmind to supermind, one enters into a consciousness to which the
\nnorms of the other planes do not at all apply and in which the same Truth, e.g.
\nSachchidananda and truth of this universe, is seen in quite a different way and
\nhas a different dynamic consequence. This necessarily results from the fact
\nthat supermind has an indivisible knowledge, while overmind proceeds by union
\nin division and Mind by division taking division as the first fact, for that is
\nthe natural process of its knowledge. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In all planes
\nthe essential experience of Sachchidananda, pure Existence, Consciousness,
\nBliss is the same and Mind is often contented with it as the sole Truth and
\ndismisses all else as part of the grand Illusion, but there is also a dynamic
\nexperience of the Divine or of Existence (e.g. as One and Many, Personal and
\nImpersonal, the Infinite and Finite, etc.) which is essential for the integral
\nknowledge. The dynamic experience is not the same in the lower planes as in the
\nhigher, in he intermediate spiritual planes and in the supramental. In these
\nthe oppositions can only be put together and harmonised, in the supermind they
\nfuse together and are inseparably one; that makes an enormous difference.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The universe is
\ndynamism, movement \u2013 the essential experience of Sachchidananda apart from the
\ndynamism and movement is static. The full dynamic truth of Sachchidananda and
\nthe universe and its consequence cannot be grasped by any other consciousness
\nthan the supermind, because the instrumentation in all other (lower) planes is
\ninferior and there is therefore a disparity between the fullness of the static
\nexperience and the incompleteness of the dynamic power, knowledge, result of
\nthe inferior light and power of other planes. This is the reason why the
\nconsciousness of the other spiritual planes, even if it descends, can make no
\nradical change in the earth-consciousness, it can only modify or enrich
\nit.\u00a0 <\/span>The radical transformation needs the
\ndescent of a supramental power and nature. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One cannot speak
\nof two classes of Sachchidananda, for Sachchidananda is the same always \u2013 but
\nthe knowledge of Sachchidananda and the universe differs according to the
\ndegree of the consciousness which has the experience. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 241<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

The personal realisation of the
\nDivine may be sometimes with Form, sometimes without Form. Without Form, it is
\nthe Presence of the living Divine Person, felt in everything. With Form, it
\ncomes with the image of the One to whom worship is offered. The Divine can
\nalways manifest himself in a form to the bhakta<\/span> or
\nseeker. One sees him in the form in which one worships or seeks him or in a
\nform suitable to the Divine Personality who is the object of the adoration. How
\nit manifests depends on many things and it is too various to be reduced to a
\nsingle rule. Sometimes it is in the heart that the Presence with the form is
\nseen, sometimes in any of the other centres<\/span>,
\nsometimes above and guiding from there, sometimes it is seen outside and in
\nfront as if an embodied Person. Its advantages are an intimate relation and
\nconstant guidance or if felt or seen within, a very strong and concrete
\nrealisation of the constant Presence. But one must be very sure of the purity
\nof one’s adoration and seeking\u2014for the disadvantage of this kind of embodied
\nrelation is that other Forces can imitate the Form or counterfeit the voice and
\nthe guidance and this gets more force if it is associated with a constructed
\nimage which is not the true thing. Several have been misled in this way because
\npride, vanity or desire was strong in them and robbed them of the finer psychic
\nperception that is not mental and can at once turn the Mother’s light on such misleadings<\/span> or errors.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. I mean by the
\nsupracosmic<\/span> Reality the supreme Sachchidananda who is
\nabove this and all manifestation, not bound by any, yet from whom all
\nmanifestation proceeds and all universe. <\/p>\n

2. The
\nsupramental and the supracosmic<\/span> are not the same. If
\nit were so there could be no supramental world and no descent of the
\nsupramental principle into the material world \u2013 we would be brought back to the
\nidea that the divine Truth and Reality can only exist beyond and the universe \u2013
\nany universe \u2013 can only be half-truth or an illusion of ignorance. <\/p>\n

3. I mean by the
\nsupramental the Truth-Consciousness whether above or in the universe by which
\nthe Divine knows not only his own essence and being but his manifestation also.
\nIts <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 242<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

fundamental character is
\nknowledge by identity, by that the Self is known, the Divine Sachchidananda is
\nknown, but also the truth of manifestation is known, because this too is That \u2013
\nsarvam<\/i><\/span> khalvidam<\/span> brahma<\/span>, vāsudevah<\/span> sarvam<\/span><\/i>, etc. Mind is an instrument of the Ignorance
\ntrying to know \u2013 supermind is the Knower possessing knowledge, because one with
\nit and the known, therefore seeing all things in the light of His own Truth,
\nthe light of their true self which is He. It is a dynamic and not only a static
\nPower, not only a Knowledge, but a Will according to Knowledge \u2013 there is a
\nsupramental Power or Shakti which can manifest direct its world of Light and
\nTruth in which all is luminously based on the harmony and unity of the One, not
\ndisturbed by a veil of Ignorance or any disguise. The supermind therefore does
\nnot transcend all possible manifestation, but it is above the triplicity<\/span> of mind, life and Matter which is our present
\nexperience of this manifestation. <\/p>\n

4. The overmind
\nis a sort of delegation from the supermind (this is a metaphor only) which
\nsupports the present evolutionary universe in which we live here in Matter. If
\nsupermind were to start here from the beginning as the direct creative Power, a
\nworld of the kind we see now would be impossible; it would have been full of
\nthe divine Light from the beginning, there would be no involution in the
\ninconscience of Matter, consequently no gradual striving evolution of
\nconsciousness in Matter. A line is therefore drawn between the higher half of
\nthe universe of consciousness, parārdha<\/i><\/span>, and the lower half, aparārdha<\/i><\/span>. The higher half
\nis constituted of Sat, Chit, Ananda, Mahas<\/span> (the
\nsupramental) \u2013 the lower half of mind, life, Matter. This line is the
\nintermediary overmind which, though luminous itself, keeps from us the full
\nindivisible supramental Light, depends on it indeed, but in receiving it,
\ndivides, distributes, breaks it up into separated aspects, powers, multiplicities
\nof all kinds, each of which it is possible by a further diminution of
\nconsciousness, such as we reach in Mind, to regard as the sole or the chief
\nTruth and all the rest as subordinate or contradictory to it. To this action of
\nthe overmind may be applied the words of the Upanishad, \u201cThe face of the Truth
\nis covered by a golden Lid\u201d, or those of the Vedic rtena<\/i><\/span> rtam apihitam<\/span><\/i>. Here there is the working
\nof a sort of <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 243<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

vidyā-avidyāmayī<\/i><\/span> māyā<\/span><\/i>
\nwhich makes possible the predominance of avidyā<\/i><\/span>. It is by this
\nprimitive divisional principle that the Mind is enabled to regard, for example,
\nthe Impersonal as the Truth, the Personal as only a mask or the personal Divine
\nas the greatest Truth and impersonality as only an aspect; it is so too that
\nall the conflicting philosophies and religions arise, each exalting one aspect
\nor potentiality of Truth presented to Mind as the whole sufficient explanation
\nof things or exalting one of the Divine’s Godheads above all others as the true
\nGod than whom there can be no other or none so high or higher. This divisional
\nprinciple pursues man’s mental knowledge everywhere and even when he thinks he
\nhas arrived at the final unity, it is only a constructed unity, based on an
\nAspect. It is so that the scientist seeks to found the unity of knowledge on
\nsome original physical aspect of things, Energy or Matter, Electricity or
\nEther, or the Mayavadin<\/span> thinks he has arrived at the
\nabsolute Adwaita by cutting existence into two, calling the upper side Brahman
\nand the lower side Maya. It is the reason why mental knowledge can never arrive
\nat a final solution of anything, for the aspects of Existence as distributed by
\novermind are numberless and one can go on multiplying philosophies and
\nreligions for ever. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the overmind
\nitself there is not this confusion, for the overmind knows the One as the
\nsupport, essence, fundamental power of all things, but in the dynamic play
\nproper to it it<\/span> lays emphasis on its divisional power
\nof multiplicity and seeks to give each power or Aspect its full chance to
\nmanifest, relying on the underlying Oneness to prevent disharmony or conflict.
\nEach Godhead, as it were, creates his own world, but without conflict with
\nothers; each Aspect, each Idea, each Force of things can be felt in its full
\nseparate energy or splendour<\/span> and work out its values,
\nbut this does not create a disharmony, because the overmind has the sense of
\nthe Infinite and in the true (not spatial) Infinite many concording<\/span>
\ninfinities are possible. This peculiar security of overmind is however not
\ntransferable to the lesser planes of consciousness which it supports and
\ngoverns, because as one descends in the scale the stress on division and
\nmultiplicity increases and in the Mind the underlying oneness becomes vague,
\nabstract, indeterminate and indeterminable and the only apparent
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 244<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

concreteness is that of the
\nphenomenal which is by its nature a form and representation \u2013 the self-view of
\nthe One has already begun to disappear. Mind acts by representations and
\nconstructions, by the separation and weaving together of its constructed data;
\nit can make a synthetic construction and see it as the whole, but when it looks
\nfor the reality of things, it takes refuge in abstractions \u2013 it has not the
\nconcrete vision, experience, contact sought by the mystic and the spiritual
\nseeker. To know Self and Reality directly or truly, it has to be silent and
\nreflect some light of these things or undergo self-exceeding and
\ntransformation, and this is only possible either by a higher Light descending
\ninto it or by its ascent, the taking up or immergence of it into a higher Light
\nof existence. In Matter, descending below Mind, we arrive at the acme of
\nfragmentation and division; the One, though secretly there, is lost to
\nknowledge and we get the fullness of the Ignorance, even a fundamental
\nInconscience out of which the universe has to evolve consciousness and
\nknowledge.
\n <\/p>\n

5. If we regard Vaikuntha<\/span> or Goloka<\/span> each as the
\nworld of a Divinity, Vishnu or Krishna, we would be naturally led to seek its
\nplace or its origin in the overmind plane. The overmind is the plane of the
\nhighest worlds of the Gods. But Vaikuntha<\/span> and Goloka<\/span> are human conceptions of states of being that are
\nbeyond humanity. Goloka<\/span> is evidently a world of Love,
\nBeauty and Ananda full of spiritual radiances (the cow is the symbol of
\nspiritual Light) of which the souls there are keepers or possessors, Gopas<\/span> and Gopis<\/span>. It is not
\nnecessary to assign any single plane to this manifestation \u2013 in fact, there can
\nbe a reflection or possession of it or of its conditions on any plane of
\nconsciousness \u2013 the mental, vital or even the subtle physical plane. The
\nexplanation of it which you mention is not therefore excluded, it is quite
\nfeasible.
\n <\/p>\n

6. It is not
\npossible to situate Nirvana as a world or plane, for the Nirvana push is to a
\nwithdrawal from world and world-values; it is therefore a state of
\nconsciousness or rather of super-consciousness without habitation or level.
\nThere is more than one kind of Nirvana (extinction or dissolution) possible.
\nMan being a mental being in a body, manomaya<\/i><\/span> purusa<\/i>,
\nmakes this attempt at retreat from the cosmos through the spiritualised <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

mind, he cannot do otherwise and
\nit is this that gives it the appearance of an extinction or dissolution, laya<\/i><\/span>, nirvāna<\/span><\/i>;
\nfor extinction of the mind and all that depends on it including the separative
\nego in something Beyond is the natural way, almost the indispensable way for
\nsuch a withdrawal. In a more affirmative yoga seeking transcendence but not
\nwithdrawal there would not be this indispensability, for there would be the way
\nalready alluded to of self-exceeding or transformation of the mental being. But
\nit is possible also to pass to that through a certain experience of Nirvana, an
\nabsolute silence of mind and cessation of activities, constructions,\u00a0 <\/span>representations, which can be so complete
\nthat not only to the silent mind but also to the passive senses the whole world
\nis emptied of its solidity and reality and things appear only as unsubstantial
\nforms without any real habitations or else floating in Something that is a
\nnameless infinite: this infinite or else something still beyond is That which
\nalone is real; an absolute calm, peace, liberation would be the resulting
\nstate. Action would continue, but no initiation or participation in it by the
\nsilent liberated consciousness; a nameless power would do all until there began
\nthe descent from above which would transform the consciousness, making its
\nsilence and freedom a basis for a luminous knowledge, action, Ananda. But such
\na passage would be rare; ordinarily a silence of the mind, a liberation of the
\nconsciousness, a renunciation of its belief in the final value or truth of the
\nmind’s imperfect representations or constructions would be enough for the
\nhigher working to be possible. <\/p>\n

7. Now about the
\ncosmic consciousness and Nirvana. Cosmic consciousness is a complex matter. To
\nbegin with, there are two sides to it, the experience of the Self free,
\ninfinite, silent, inactive, one in all and beyond all, and the direct
\nexperience of the cosmic Energy and its forces, workings and formations, this
\nlatter experience not being complete till one has the sense of being
\ncommensurate with the universe or pervading, exceeding and containing it. Till
\nthen there may be direct contacts, communications, interchanges with cosmic
\nforces, beings, movements, but not the full unity of mind with the cosmic Mind,
\nof life with the cosmic Life, of body and physical consciousness with <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

the cosmic material Energy and its
\nsubstance. Again, there may be a realisation of the Cosmic Self which is not
\nfollowed by the realisation of the dynamic universal oneness. Or, on the
\ncontrary, there may be some dynamic universalising of consciousness without the
\nexperience of the free static Self omnipresent everywhere, \u2013 the preoccupation
\nwith and pleasure of the greater energies that one would thus experience would
\nstop the way to that liberation. Also the identification or universalisation
\nmay be more on one plane or level than on another, predominantly mental or
\npredominantly emotional (through universal sympathy or love) or vital of
\nanother kind (experience of the universal life forces) or physical. But in any
\ncase, even with the full realisation and experience it should be evident that
\nthis cosmic play would be something that one would finally feel as limited,
\nignorant, imperfect from its very nature. The free soul might regard it
\nuntouched and unmoved by its imperfections and vicissitudes, do some appointed
\nwork, try to help all or be an instrument of the Divine, but neither the work
\nnor the instrumentation would have anything like the perfection or even the
\nfull light, power, bliss of the Divine. This could only be gained by an
\nascension into higher planes of cosmic existence or their descent into one’s
\nconsciousness \u2013 and, if this were not envisaged or accepted, the push to
\nNirvana would still remain as a way of escape. The other way would be the
\nascent after death into these higher planes \u2013 the heavens of the religions
\nsignify after all nothing but such an urge to a greater, luminous, beatific
\nDivine Existence. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But, one might
\nask, if the higher planes or if the overmind itself were to manifest their
\nconsciousness with all their power, light, freedom and vastness and these
\nthings were to descend into an individual consciousness here, would not that
\nmake unnecessary both the cosmic negation or the Nirvanic<\/span>
\npush and the urge towards some Divine Transcendence? But in the result though
\none might live in a union with the Divine in a luminous wide free consciousness
\nembracing the universe in itself and be a channel of great energies or
\ncreations, spiritual or external, yet this world here would remain
\nfundamentally the same \u2013 there would be a gulf of difference between the Spirit
\nwithin and its medium and stuff on which it acted, between the inner
\nconsciousness and the <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 247<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

world in which it is working. The
\nachievement inner, subjective, individual might be perfect, but the dynamic
\noutcome insufficient, disparate, a mixture, not a perfect harmony of the inner
\nand the outer, a new integral rhythm of existence here that could be called
\ntruly divine. Only a consciousness like the supramental, unconditioned and in
\nperfect unity with its source, a Truth-Consciousness empowered to create its own
\nfree determinations would be able to establish some perfect harmony and rhythm
\nof the higher hemisphere in this lowest rung of the lower hemisphere. Whether
\nit is to do so or not depends on the significance of the evolutionary
\nexistence; it depends on whether that existence is something imperfect in its
\nvery nature and doomed to frustration \u2013 in which case either a negative way of
\ntranscendence by some kind of Nirvana or a positive way of transcendence,
\nperhaps by breaking the shining shield of overmind, hiranmaya<\/i><\/span> pātra<\/span><\/i>, into what is above it, would
\nbe the final end of the soul escaping from this meaningless universe; unless
\nindeed like the Amitabha Buddha one were held by compassion or else the Divine
\nWill within to continue helping and sharing the upward struggle towards the
\nLight of those here still in the darkness of the Ignorance. If, on the
\ncontrary, this world is a Lila of spiritual involution and evolution in which
\none power after another up to the highest is to appear, as Matter, Life and
\nMind have already appeared out of an apparent indeterminate Inconscience, then
\nanother culmination is possible.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The push to
\nNirvana has two motive forces behind it. One is the sense of the imperfection,
\nsorrow, death, suffering of this world \u2013 the original motive force of the
\nBuddha. But for escape from these afflictions Nirvana might not be necessary,
\nif there are higher worlds into which one can ascend where there is no such
\nimperfection, sorrow, death or suffering. But this other possibility of escape
\nis met by the idea that these higher worlds too are transient and part of the
\nIgnorance, that one has to return here always till one overcomes the Ignorance,
\nthat the Reality and the cosmic existence are as Truth and Falsehood, opposite,
\nincompatible. This brings in the second motive force, that of the call to
\ntranscendence. If the Transcendent is not only supracosmic<\/span>
\nbut an aloof Incommunicable, avyavahāryam<\/i><\/span>, which one <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

cannot reach except by a negation
\nof all that is here, then some kind of Nirvana, an absolute Nirvana even is
\ninevitable. If, on the other hand, the Divine is transcendent but not
\nincommunicable, the call will still be there and the soul will leave the chequered<\/span> cosmic play for the beatitude of the transcendent
\nexistence, but an absolute Nirvana would not be indispensable; a beatific union
\nwith the Divine offers itself as the way before the seeker. This is the reason
\nwhy the Cosmic Consciousness is not sufficient and the push away from it is so
\nstrong, \u2013 it is only if the golden lid of the overmind is overpassed<\/span>
\nand opened and the dynamic contact with the supermind and a descent of its
\nLight and Power here is intended that it can be otherwise.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Divine is everywhere on all
\nthe planes of consciousness seen by us in different ways and aspects of His
\nbeing. But there is a Supreme which is above all these planes and ways and
\naspects and from which they come.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Divine can be and is
\neverywhere, masked or half-manifest or beginning to be manifest, in all the
\nplanes of consciousness; in the Supramental it begins to be manifest without
\ndisguise or veil in its own svarūpa<\/i><\/span>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do not think exact correlations
\ncan always be traced between one system of spiritual and occult knowledge and
\nanother. All deal with the same material, but there are differences of
\nstandpoint, differences of view-range, a divergence in the mental idea of what
\nis seen and experienced, disparate pragmatic purposes and therefore a
\ndifference in the paths surveyed, cut out or followed; the systems vary, each constructs
\nits own schema and technique.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the ancient
\nIndian system there is only one triune supernal, Sachchidananda. Or if you
\nspeak of the upper hemisphere as the supernal, there are three, Sat plane, Chit
\nplane and Ananda <\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

plane. The supermind could be
\nadded as a fourth, as it draws upon the other three and belongs to the upper
\nhemisphere. The Indian systems did not distinguish between two quite different
\npowers and levels of consciousness, one which we can call overmind and the
\nother the true supermind or Divine Gnosis. That is the reason why they got
\nconfused about Maya (overmind-Force or Vidya-Avidya<\/span>),
\nand took it for the supreme creative power. In so stopping short at what was
\nstill a half-light they lost the secret of transformation \u2013 even though the Vaishnava<\/span> and Tantra yogas<\/span> groped
\nto find it again and were sometimes on the verge of success. For the rest,
\nthis, I think, has been the stumbling-block of all attempts at the discovery of
\nthe dynamic divine Truth; I know of none that has not imagined, as soon as it
\nfelt the overmind lustres<\/span> descending, that this was
\nthe true illumination, the Gnosis, with the result that they either stopped
\nshort there and could get no farther, or else concluded that this too was only
\nMaya or Lila and that the one thing to do was to get beyond it into some
\nimmovable and inactive silence of the Supreme. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Perhaps, what
\nmay be meant by supernals<\/span> is rather the three fundamentals <\/i>of the present
\nmanifestation. In the Indian system, these are Ishwara, Shakti and Jiva, or
\nelse Sachchidananda, Maya and Jiva. But in our system which seeks to go beyond
\nthe present manifestation, these could very well be taken for granted and,
\nlooked at from the point of view of the planes of consciousness, the three
\nhighest \u2013 Ananda (with Sat and Chit resting upon it), supermind and overmind
\nmight be called the three Supernals<\/span>. Overmind stands
\nat the top of the lower hemisphere, and you have to pass through and beyond
\novermind, if you would reach supermind, while still above and beyond supermind
\nare the worlds of Sachchidananda.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You speak of the
\ngulf below the overmind. But is there a gulf \u2013 or any other gulf than human
\nunconsciousness? In all the series of the planes or grades of consciousness
\nthere is nowhere any real gulf, always there are connecting gradations and one
\ncan ascend from step to step. Between the overmind and the human mind there are
\na number of more and more luminous gradations; but, as these are superconscient
\nto human mind (except one or two of the lowest of which it gets some direct
\ntouches), it is apt to
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

regard them as a superior
\nInconscience. So one of the Upanishads speaks of the Ishwara consciousness as susupti<\/i>, deep Sleep, because it is only
\nin Samadhi that man usually enters into it, so long as he does not try to turn
\nhis waking consciousness into a higher state. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are in
\nfact two systems simultaneously active in the organisation of the being and its
\nparts: one is concentric, a series of rings or sheaths with the psychic at the
\ncentre; another is vertical, an ascension and descent, like a flight of steps,
\na series of superimposed planes with the supermind-overmind as the crucial
\nnodus of the transition beyond the human into the Divine. For this transition,
\nif it is to be at the same time a transformation, there is only one way, one
\npath. First, there must be a conversion inwards, a going within to find the
\ninmost psychic being and bring it out to the front, disclosing at the same time
\nthe inner mind, inner vital, inner physical parts of the nature. Next, there
\nmust be an ascension, a series of conversions upwards and a turning down to
\nconvert the lower parts. When one has made the inward conversion, one psychicises<\/span> the whole lower nature so as to make it ready
\nfor the divine change. Going upwards, one passes beyond the human mind and at
\neach stage of the ascent, there is a conversion into a new consciousness and an
\ninfusion of this new consciousness into the whole of the nature. Thus rising
\nbeyond intellect through illuminated higher mind to the intuitive
\nconsciousness, we begin to look at everything not from the intellect range or
\nthrough intellect as an instrument, but from a greater intuitive height and
\nthrough an intuitivised<\/span> will, feeling, emotion,
\nsensation and physical contact. So, proceeding from Intuition to a greater
\novermind height, there is a new conversion and we look at and experience
\neverything from the overmind consciousness and through a mind, heart, vital and
\nbody surcharged with the overmind thought, sight, will, feeling, sensation,
\nplay of force and contact. But the last conversion is the supramental, for once
\nthere \u2013 once the nature is supramentalised, we are beyond the Ignorance and
\nconversion of consciousness is no longer needed, though a farther divine
\nprogression, even an infinite development is still possible. <\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

There is a world of Ignorance,
\nthere are worlds also of Truth. Creation has no beginning and no end. It is
\nonly a particular creation that can be said to have a beginning and an end.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You must remember that there are
\nreflections of the Higher worlds in the lower planes which can easily be
\nexperienced as supreme for that stage of the evolution. But the supreme Sachchidananda
\nis not a world, it is supracosmic<\/span>. The Sat (Satyaloka<\/span>) world is the highest of the scale connected with
\nthis universe.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That is the original Tapoloka<\/span> in which the principle is Chit and its power of
\nTapas, but there are other worlds of Tapas on the other planes below. There is
\none in the mental, another in the vital range. It is one of these Tapas worlds
\nfrom which the being you saw must have come.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is a vital plane
\n(self-existent) above the material universe which we see; there is a mental
\nplane (self-existent) above the vital and material. These three together, \u2013 mental,
\nvital, physical, \u2013 are called the triple universe of the lower hemisphere. They
\nhave been established in the earth-consciousness by evolution \u2013 but they exist
\nin themselves before the evolution, above the earth-consciousness and the
\nmaterial plane to which the earth belongs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If we regard the gradation of
\nworlds or planes as a whole, we see them as a great connected complex movement;
\nthe higher precipitate their influences on the lower, the lower react to the
\nhigher and develop or manifest in themselves within their own formula something
\nthat corresponds to the superior power and its action. The material world has
\nevolved life in obedience to a pressure from the vital plane, mind in obedience
\nto a pressure <\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

from the mental plane. It is now
\ntrying to evolve supermind in obedience to a pressure from the supramental
\nplane. In more detail, particular forces, movements, powers, beings of a higher
\nworld can throw themselves on the lower to establish appropriate and
\ncorresponding forms which will connect them with the material domain and, as it
\nwere, reproduce or project their action here. And each thing created here has,
\nsupporting it, subtler envelopes or forms of itself which make it subsist and
\nconnect it with forces acting from above. Man, for instance, has, besides his
\ngross physical body, subtler sheaths or bodies by which he lives behind the
\nveil in direct connection with supraphysical<\/span> planes
\nof consciousness and can be influenced by their powers, movements and beings.
\nWhat takes place in life has always behind it pre-existent movements and forms
\nin the occult vital planes; what takes place in mind presupposes pre-existent
\nmovements and forms in the occult mental planes. That is an aspect of things
\nwhich becomes more and more evident, insistent and important, the more we
\nprogress in a dynamic yoga.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But all this
\nmust not be taken in too rigid and mechanical a sense. It is an immense plastic
\nmovement full of the play of\u00a0
\n<\/span>possibilities and must be seized by a flexible and subtle tact or sense
\nin the seeing consciousness. It cannot be reduced to a too rigorous logical or
\nmathematical formula. Two or three points must be pressed in order that this
\nplasticity may not be lost to our view. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

First, each
\nplane, in spite of its connection with others above and below it, is yet a
\nworld in itself, with its own movements, forces, beings, types, forms existing
\nas if for its and their own sake, under its own laws, for its own manifestation
\nwithout apparent regard for the other members of the great series. Thus, if we
\nregard the vital or the subtle physical plane, we see great ranges of it, (most
\nof it), existing in themselves, without any relation with the material world
\nand with no movement to affect or influence it, still less to precipitate a
\ncorresponding manifestation in the physical formula. At most we can say that
\nthe existence of anything in the vital, subtle physical or any other plane
\ncreates a possibility for a corresponding movement of manifestation in the
\nphysical world. But something more is needed to turn that <\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

static or latent possibility into
\na 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 on
\nthe physical existence entering into touch with a supraphysical<\/span>
\npower or world or part of it and moved to bring it down into the earth-life. Or
\nit may be an impulse in the vital or other plane itself, e.g., a vital being
\nmoved to extend his action towards the earth and establish there a kingdom for
\nhimself or the play of the forces for which he stands in his own domain. Or it
\nmay be a pressure from above; let us say, some supramental or mental power
\nprecipitating its formation from above and developing forms and movements on
\nthe vital level as a means of transit to its self-creation in the material
\nworld. Or it may be all these things acting together, in which case there is
\nthe greatest possibility of an effective creation. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Next, as a
\nconsequence, it follows that only a limited part of the action of the vital or
\nother higher plane is concerned with the earth-existence. But even this creates
\na mass of possibilities which is far greater than the earth can at one time
\nmanifest or contain in its own less plastic formulas. All these possibilities
\ndo not realise themselves; some fail altogether and leave at the most an idea
\nthat comes to nothing; some try seriously and are repelled and defeated and,
\neven if in action for a time, come to nothing. Others effectuate a half
\nmanifestation, and this is the most usual result, the more so as these vital or
\nother supraphysical<\/span> forces come into conflict and have
\nnot only to overcome the resistance of the physical consciousness and of
\nmatter, but their own internecine resistance to each other. A certain number
\nsucceed in precipitating their results in a more complete and successful
\ncreation, so that if you compare this creation with its original in the higher
\nplane, there is something like a close resemblance or even an apparently exact
\nreproduction or translation from the supraphysical<\/span> to
\nthe physical formula. And yet even there the exactness is only apparent; the
\nvery fact of translation into another substance and another rhythm of
\nmanifestation makes a difference. It is something new that has manifested and
\nit is that that makes the creation worth while. What for instance would be the
\nutility of a supramental creation on
\n <\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

earth if it were just the same
\nthing as a supramental creation on the supramental plane? It is that, in
\nprinciple, but yet something else, a triumphant new self-discovery of the
\nDivine in conditions that are not elsewhere. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

No doubt, the
\nsubtle physical is closest to the physical, and most like it. But yet the
\nconditions are different and the thing too different. For instance, the subtle
\nphysical has a freedom, plasticity, intensity, power, colour<\/span>,
\nwide and manifold play (there are thousands of things there that are not here)
\nof which, as yet, we have no possibility on earth. And yet there is something
\nhere, 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
\nlast result justifies the labour.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Most things happen in the vital
\nbefore they happen in the physical, but all that happens in the vital does not
\nrealise itself in the physical, or not in the same way. There is always or at least
\nusually a change in the form, time, circumstances due to the different
\nconditions of the physical plane.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These perceptions are correct on the whole.
\nEach plane is true in itself but only in partial truth to the supermind. When
\nthese higher truths come into the physical they try to realise themselves
\nthere, but can do so only in part and under the conditions of the material
\nplane. It is only the supermind that can overcome this difficulty.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The heavenly worlds are above the
\nbody. What the parts of the body correspond to are planes \u2013 subtle physical,
\nhigher, middle and lower vital, mental. Each plane is in communication with
\nvarious worlds that belong to it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 Page \u2013 255<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

It is the external consciousness,
\nthe inner consciousness, the superconscient that are meant.1<\/sup> The
\nterms waking, dream, sleep are applied because in the ordinary consciousness of
\nman the external only is awake, the inner being is mostly subliminal and acts
\ndirectly only in a state of sleep when its movements are felt like things of
\ndream and vision; while the superconscient (supermind, overmind, etc.) is
\nbeyond even that range and is to the mind like a deep sleep.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But why do you want to connect
\nthese things with the soul? These four names2<\/sup>\u00a0 <\/span>are given to four conditions of transcendent
\nand universal Brahman or Self, \u2013 they are merely conditions of Being and
\nConsciousness \u2013 the Self that supports the waking state or sthūla<\/i><\/span> <\/i>consciousness, the Self that supports the Dream State or subtle consciousness,
\nthe Self that supports the Deep Sleep State or Causal consciousness, kārana<\/i><\/span>,<\/i> and the Self in the supracosmic<\/span> consciousness. The individual of course
\nparticipates, but these are conditions of the Self, not the Self and soul. The
\nmeaning of these expressions is fixed in the Mandukya Upanishad.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These two sets of three names
\neach mean the same things. Visva<\/span> or Virat = the
\nSpirit of the external universe, Hiranyagarbha or Taijasa<\/span>
\n(the Luminous) = the Spirit in the inner planes, Prajna<\/span>
\nor Ishwara=the Superconscient Spirit, Master of all things and the highest Self
\non which all depends. The Mental cannot be Ishwara.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Virat is the outer manifestation
\nand if we take all that as Brahman without knowing what is behind the
\nmanifestation we shall fall into the intellectual error of Pantheism, not
\nrealising that the Divine is more than this outer manifestation and cannot be
\nknown by it alone. In the vital we may fall into the error of accepting what is
\ndark and imperfect on the same terms as that which makes for the light and
\ndivine perfection. There may be many other consequent errors also.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1<\/sup> Vaiśvānara<\/i><\/span>, Taijasa<\/span> and Prāj\u00f1a<\/i><\/span> <\/i>in the
\nMandukya Upanishad.<\/p>\n

2<\/sup> Vaiśvānara<\/i><\/span>, Taijasa<\/span>, Prāj\u00f1a<\/i><\/span> and Kūtastha<\/i><\/span>.  <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 256<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nIII<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By the supermind is meant the
\nfull Truth-Consciousness of the Divine Nature in which there can be no place
\nfor the principle of division and ignorance; it is always a full light and
\nknowledge superior to all mental substance or mental movement. Between the supermind
\nand the human mind are a number of ranges, planes or layers of consciousness \u2013 one
\ncan regard it in various ways \u2013 in which the element or substance of mind and
\nconsequently its movements also become more and more illumined and powerful and
\nwide. The overmind is the highest of these ranges; it is full of lights and
\npowers; but from the point of view of what is above it, it is the line of the
\nsoul’s turning away from the complete and indivisible knowledge and its descent
\ntowards the Ignorance. For although it draws from the Truth, it is here that
\nbegins the separation of aspects of the Truth, the forces and their working out
\nas if they were independent truths and this is a process that ends, as one
\ndescends to ordinary Mind, Life and Matter, in a complete division,
\nfragmentation, separation from the indivisible Truth above. There is no longer
\nthe essential, total, perfectly harmonising and unifying knowledge, or rather
\nknowledge for ever harmonious because for ever one, which is the character of
\nsupermind. In the supermind, mental divisions and oppositions cease, the
\nproblems created by our dividing and fragmenting mind disappear and Truth is
\nseen as a luminous whole. In the overmind there is not yet the actual fall into
\nIgnorance, but the first step is taken which will make the fall inevitable.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The supermind is the One Truth
\ndeploying and determining the manifestation of its Powers \u2013 all these Powers
\nworking as a <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 257<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

multiple Oneness, in harmony, without
\nopposition or collision, according to the One Will inherent in all. The
\novermind takes these Truths and Powers and sets each working as a force in
\nitself with its necessary consequences \u2013 there can be harmony in their action,
\nbut it is rather synthetic and mostly partial than inherent and inevitable and
\nas one descends from the highest overmind, separation, collision and conflict
\nof forces increase, separability<\/span> dominates, ignorance
\ngrows, existence becomes a clash of possibilities, a mixture of conflicting
\nhalf-truths, an unsolved and apparently unsolvable riddle and puzzle.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If the supermind were not to give
\nus a greater and completer truth than any of the lower planes, it would not be
\nworth while trying to reach it. Each plane has its own truths. Some of them are
\nno longer true on a higher plane; e.g. desire and ego were truths of the
\nmental, vital and physical Ignorance \u2013 a man there without ego or desire would
\nbe a tamasic automaton. As we rise higher, ego and desire appear no longer as
\ntruths, they are falsehoods disfiguring the true person and the true will. The
\nstruggle between the Powers of Light and the Powers of Darkness is a truth here
\n\u2013 as we ascend above, it becomes less and less of a truth and in the supermind
\nit has no truth at all. Other truths remain but change their character,
\nimportance, place in the whole. The difference or contrast between the Personal
\nand Impersonal is a truth of the Overmind \u2013 there is no separate truth of them
\nin the supermind, they are inseparably one. But one who has not mastered and
\nlived the truths of overmind cannot reach the supramental Truth. The
\nincompetent pride of man’s mind makes a sharp distinction and wants to call all
\nelse untruth and leap at once to the highest truth whatever it may be \u2013 but
\nthat is an ambitious and arrogant error. One has to climb the stairs and rest
\none’s feet firmly on each step in order to reach the summit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do not understand. The Personal
\nDivine does not mean the <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 258<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

Avatar. What I said was that the
\nscission between the two aspects of the Divine is a creation of the overmind
\nwhich takes various aspects of the Divine and separates them into separate
\nentities. Thus it divides Sat, Chit and Ananda, so that they become three
\nseparate aspects different from each other. In fact in the Reality there is no
\nseparateness, the three aspects are so fused into each other, so inseparably
\none that they are a single undivided reality. It is the same with the Personal
\nand Impersonal, the Saguna and Nirguna<\/span>, the Silent
\nand the Active Brahman. In the Reality they are not contrasted and incompatible
\naspects; what we call Personality and what we call Impersonality are
\ninseparably fused together into a single Truth. In fact \u201cfused together\u201d even
\nis a wrong phrase, because there they were never separated so that they have to
\nbe fused. All the quarrels about either the Impersonal being the only true
\ntruth or the Personal being the only highest truth are mind-created quarrels
\nderivative from this dividing aspect of the overmind. The overmind does not
\ndeny any in the aspects as the Mind does, it admits them all as aspects of the
\nOne Truth, but by separating them it originates the quarrel in the more
\nignorant and more limited and divided Mind, because the Mind, cannot see how
\ntwo opposite things can exist together in one Truth, how the Divine can be nirguno<\/i><\/span> gunī<\/span><\/i>; \u2013 having
\nno experience of what is behind the two words it takes each in an absolute
\nsense. The Impersonal is Existence, Consciousness, Bliss, not a Person, but a
\nstate. The Person is the Existent, the Conscious, the Blissful; consciousness,
\nexistence, bliss taken as separate things are only states of his being. But in
\nfact the two (personal being and eternal state) are inseparable and are one
\nreality.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is hardly possible to say what
\nthe supermind is in the language of Mind, even spiritualised Mind, for it is a
\ndifferent consciousness altogether and acts in a different way. Whatever may be
\nsaid of it is likely to be not understood or misunderstood. It is only by
\ngrowing into it that we can know what it is and this also cannot be done until
\nafter a long process by which mind
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 259<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

heightening and illuminating
\nbecomes pure Intuition (not the mixed thing that ordinarily goes by that name) and
\nmasses itself into overmind; after that overmind can be lifted into and
\nsuffused with supermind till it undergoes a transformation.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the supermind
\nall is self-known self-luminously, there are no divisions, oppositions or
\nseparated aspects as in Mind whose principle is division of Knowledge into
\nparts and setting each part against another. Overmind approaches this at its
\ntop and is often mistaken for supermind, but it cannot reach it \u2013 except by
\nuplifting and transformation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is (sometimes directly,
\nsometimes indirectly) by the power of the overmind releasing the mind from its
\nclose partitions that the cosmic consciousness opens in the seeker and he
\nbecomes aware of the cosmic spirit and the play of the cosmic forces. It is
\nfrom or at least through the overmind plane that the original pre-arrangement
\nof things in this world is effected; for from it the determining vibrations
\noriginally come. But there are corresponding movements on all the planes, the
\nmind, the vital, the physical even and it is possible in a very clear or
\nillumined condition of the lower consciousness to become aware of these
\nmovements and understand the plan of things and be either a conscious
\ninstrument or even, to a limited extent, a determinant Will or Force. But the
\nstuff of the lower planes always mixes with the overmind forces when they
\ndescend and diminishes or even falsifies and perverts their truth and power.
\n <\/p>\n

It is even
\npossible for the overmind to transmit to the lower planes of consciousness
\nsomething of the supramental Light; but, so long as the supermind does not
\ndirectly manifest, its Light is modified in the overmind itself and still
\nfurther modified in the application by the needs, the demands, the
\ncircumscribing possibilities of the individual nature. The success of this
\ndiminished and modified Light, e.g. in purifying the physical, cannot be
\nimmediate and absolute as the full and direct supramental action would be; it
\nis still relative, conditioned by the individual nature and the balance of the
\nuniversal forces, resisted by adverse powers, baulked of its perfect
\nresult by the unwillingness of the lower workings to cease, limited either in
\nits scope or in its efficacy by the want of a complete consent in the physical
\nnature. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 260<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The
\novermind has to be reached and brought down before the supermind descent is at
\nall possible \u2013 for the overmind is the passage through which one passes from
\nMind to supermind. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIt is from the overmind that all these different arrangements of the creative
\nTruth of things originate. Out of the overmind they come down to the Intuition
\nand are transmitted from it to the Illumined and Higher Mind to be arranged
\nthere for our intelligence. But they lose more and more of their power and
\ncertitude in the transmission as they come down to the lower levels. What energy
\nof directly perceived Truth they have is lost in the human mind; for to the
\nhuman   <\/span>intellect they present themselves
\nonly as speculative ideas, not as realised Truth, not as direct sight, a dynamic
\nvision coupled with a concrete undeniable experience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There
\nare different planes of the overmind. One is mental, directly creative of all
\nthe formations that manifest below in the mental world \u2013 that is the mental
\novermind. Above is the overmind intuition. Still above are the planes of
\novermind that are more and more connected with the supermind and have a partly
\nsupramental character. Highest in the overmind ranges is the supramental
\novermind or overmind gnosis. But these are things you cannot understand until
\nyou get a higher experience. You cannot do it at present. Only those who have
\ngot fully into cosmic consciousness can do it and even they cannot do it at
\nfirst. One must first go fully through the experience of higher mind and
\nillumined mind and intuition before it can be done. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 261<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

It is
\nnot so simple as that \u2013 but it [the overmind] can for convenience be divided
\ninto four planes \u2013 mental overmind and the three you have written (intuitive
\novermind, true overmind and supramental overmind), but there are many layers in
\neach and each of these can be regarded as a plane in itself.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That
\nis not impossible \u2013 it is perfectly possible on any of the larger planes \u2013
\ninfinity is everywhere, once one breaks the individual limits. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThere are many stages in the transition from mental overmind to supramentalised
\novermind and from there to supermind. Do not be in a hurry to say, \u201cThis is the
\nlast highest overmind.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What
\nyou call supramental overmind1<\/sup> is still Overmind \u2013 not a part of the
\ntrue supermind. One cannot get into the true supermind (except in some kind of
\ntrance or Samadhi) unless one has first objectivised the overmind truth in life,
\nspeech, action, external knowledge and not only experienced it in meditation and
\ninner experience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At the
\ntime when the last chapters of The Synthesis of Yoga were written in the
\nArya<\/span>, the name \u201covermind\u201d had not been found, so there is no mention of
\nit. What is described in those chapters is the action of the supermind when it
\ndescends into the overmind plane and takes up the overmind workings and
\ntransforms them. The highest supermind or Divine gnosis existent in itself, is
\nsomething that lies beyond still and quite above. It was intended in latter
\nchapters to show how difficult even this was and how many levels there were
\nbetween the human mind and supermind and how even supermind descending could get
\nmixed with<\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

1<\/span><\/sup>This expression is a misnomer
\nsince overmind cannot be supramental: it can at most receive some light and
\ntruth from the higher source.<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 262<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

the
\nlower action and turned into something that was less than the true Truth. But
\nthese latter chapters were not written.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\ndistinction [between the overmind and the supermind] has not been made in the Arya<\/i><\/span> because at that time what I
\nnow call the overmind was supposed to be an inferior plane of the supermind. But
\nthat was because I was seeing them from the Mind. The true defect of overmind,
\nthe limitation in it which gave rise to a world of ignorance is seen fully only
\nwhen one looks at it from the physical consciousness, from the result (Ignorance
\nin Matter) to the cause (overmind division of the Truth). In its own plane
\novermind seems to be only a divided, many-sided play of the Truth, so can easily
\nbe taken by the Mind as a supramental province. Mind also when flooded by the
\novermind lights feels itself living in a surprising revelation of divine Truth.
\nThe difficulty comes when we deal with the vital and still more with the
\nphysical. Then it becomes imperative to face the difficulty and to make a sharp
\ndistinction between overmind and supermind \u2013 for it then becomes evident that
\nthe overmind Power (in spite of its lights and splendours) is not sufficient to
\novercome the Ignorance because it is itself under the law of Division out of
\nwhich came the Ignorance. One has to pass beyond and
\nsupramentalise<\/span> overmind so that mind and all the rest may undergo the
\nfinal change.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nProbably what he calls overmind is the first \u201cabove-mind\u201d layers of
\nconsciousness. Or it may be experiences from the larger Mind or Vital ranges. To
\nthe human mind all these are so big that it is easy to take them for overmind or
\neven supermind. One can get indirect overmind touches if one opens into the
\ncosmic consciousness, still more if one enters freely into that consciousness.
\nDirect overmind experience cannot come unless part of the being at least is
\nseated in the wideness and peace. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 263<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

 Intuition
\nis above illumined Mind which is simply higher Mind raised to a great luminosity
\nand more open to modified forms of intuition and inspiration.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nIntuition is the first plane in which there is a real opening to the full
\npossibility of realisation \u2013 it is through it that one goes farther \u2013 first to
\novermind and then to supermind.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIntuition sees the truth of things by a direct inner contact, not like the
\nordinary mental intelligence by seeking and reaching out for indirect contacts
\nthrough the senses etc. But the limitation of the Intuition as compared with the
\nsupermind is that it sees things by flashes, point by point, not as a whole.
\nAlso in coming into the mind it gets mixed with the mental movement and forms a
\nkind of intuitive mind activity which is not the pure truth, but something in
\nbetween the higher Truth and the mental seeking. It can lead the consciousness
\nthrough a sort of transitional stage and that is practically its function. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mental
\nintuitive knowledge catches directly some aspect of the truth but without any
\ncompleteness or certitude and the intuition is easily mixed with ordinary mental
\nstuff that may be erroneous; in application it may easily be a half-truth or be
\nso misinterpreted and misapplied as to become an error. Also, the mind easily
\nimitates the intuition in such a way that it is difficult to distinguish between
\na true or a false intuition. That is the reason why men of intellect distrust
\nthe mental intuition and say that it cannot be accepted or followed unless it is
\ntested and confirmed by the intellect. What comes from the overmind intuition
\nhas a light, a certitude, an effective force of Truth in it that the mental
\nintuition at its best even has not.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 264<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

There
\nare mental, vital, subtle physical intuitions as well as intuitions from the
\nhigher and the illumined Mind.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\n[the identification of buddhi <\/i>with vij\u00f1āna<\/i><\/span> <\/i>and intuition] is the error that came with the excessive
\nintellectualism of the philosophers and commentators. I don’t think buddhi <\/i>includes intuition as something
\nseparate in kind from intellect \u2013 the intellectualists considered intuition to
\nbe only a rapid process of intellectual thought \u2013 and they still think that. In
\nthe Taittiriya<\/span> Upanishad the sense of vij\u00f1āna<\/i><\/span> <\/i>is very clear \u2013 its essence is rtam, the spiritual Truth; but
\nafterwards the identification with buddhi<\/i>
\nbecame general. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do
\nnot suppose they mean expressly intuition; they regard
\nbuddhi <\/i>as the means of knowledge, so they include all knowledge in it, and
\nas the vij\u00f1ānamaya<\/i><\/span> kosa<\/span><\/i> is the
\nKnowledge sheath, they think it must mean
\nbuddhi.
\n<\/i>Obviously it doesn’t. The description you have quoted evidently means
\nsomething much higher than buddhi<\/i>. It
\nis the satyam rtam brhat <\/i>of the
\nUpanishad \u2013 the truth-consciousness of the Veda.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIV<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nphrase \u201ccentral being\u201d in our yoga is usually applied to the portion of the
\nDivine in us which supports all the rest and survives through death and birth.
\nThis central being has two forms \u2013 above, it is Jivatman, our true being, of
\nwhich we become aware when the higher self-knowledge comes, \u2013 below, it is the
\npsychic being which stands behind mind, body and life. The Jivatman is above the
\nmanifestation in life and presides over it; the psychic being stands behind the
\nmanifestation in life and supports it.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe natural attitude of the psychic being is to feel itself as the Child, the
\nSon of God, the Bhakta; it is a portion of the <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 265<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\nDivine, one in essence, but in the dynamics of the manifestation there is always
\neven in identity a difference. The Jivatman, on the contrary, lives in the
\nessence and can merge itself in identity with the Divine; but it too, the moment
\nit presides over the dynamics of the manifestation, knows itself as one centre
\nof the multiple Divine, not as the Parameshwara<\/span>. It is
\nimportant to remember the distinction; for, otherwise, if there is the least
\nvital egoism, one may begin to think of oneself as an Avatar or lose balance
\nlike Hridaya<\/span>
\nwith Ramakrishna.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nword Jiva has two meanings in the Sanskritic<\/span> tongues \u2013
\n\u201cliving creatures\u201d1 <\/sup>and the spirit individualised<\/span>
\nand upholding the living being in its evolution from birth to birth. In the
\nlatter sense the full term is Jivatma<\/span> \u2013 the Atman,
\nspirit or eternal self of the living being. It is spoken of figuratively by the
\nGita as \u201can eternal portion of the Divine\u201d \u2013 but the word fragmentation (used by
\nyou) is too strong, it could be applicable to the forms, but not to the spirit
\nin them. Moreover the multiple Divine is an eternal reality antecedent to the
\ncreation here. An elaborate description of the Jivatma<\/span>
\nwould be: \u201cthe multiple Divine manifested here as the
\nindividualised<\/span>
\nself or spirit of the created being.\u201d The Jivatma<\/span> in
\nits essence does not change or evolve, its essence stands above the personal
\nevolution; within the evolution itself it is represented by the evolving psychic
\nbeing which supports all the rest of the nature.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe Adwaita Vedanta (Monism) declares that the Jiva has no real existence, as
\nthe Divine is indivisible. Another school attributes a real but not an
\nindependent existence to the Jiva \u2013 it is, they say, one in essence, different
\nin manifestation, and as the manifestation is real, eternal and not an illusion,
\nit cannot be called unreal. The dualistic schools affirm the Jiva as an
\nindependent category or stand on the triplicity<\/span> of
\nGod, soul and Nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1<\/span><\/sup>In Bengal when one is about to kill a small animal,
\npeople often protest saying, \u201cDon’t kill \u2013 it is Krishna’s Jiva (his living
\ncreature).\u201d<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 266<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\n <\/span>Jīvātmā<\/i><\/span> <\/i>is not the psychic being \u2013 we have fixed
\non caitya purusa<\/i> as the equivalent in
\nSanskrit of the psychic being. Jivatma<\/span>
\nis the individual Self \u2013 the central being. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe central being is that which is not born, does not evolve, but presides over
\nall the individual manifestation. The psychic is its projection here \u2013 for the
\npsychic being is in the evolution and from within supports our whole evolution;
\nit receives the essence of all experience and by that develops the personality
\nGodward. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

The Self is at once one in all and many \u2013 one in its
\nessence, it manifests also as the individual self which may be described as in
\nNature an eternal portion of the Divine; in spirit a centre of the
\nmanifestation, individual but extending its universality and rising into
\ntranscendence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By
\nJivatma<\/span>
\nwe mean the individual self. Essentially it is one self with all others, but in
\nthe multiplicity of the Divine it is the individual self, an individual centre
\nof the universe \u2013 and it sees everything in itself or itself in everything or
\nboth together according to its state of consciousness and point of view.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nself, Atman is in its nature either transcendent or universal (Paramatma<\/span>, Atma<\/span>). When it individualises<\/span> and
\nbecomes a central being, it is then the Jivatman. The Jivatman feels his oneness
\nwith the universal but at the same time his central separateness as a portion of
\nthe Divine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nsoul, representative of the central being, is a spark of the Divine supporting
\nall individual existence in Nature; the psychic being is a conscious form of
\nthat soul growing in the evolution \u2013 in the persistent process that develops
\nfirst life in Matter, mind in life, until finally mind can develop into overmind
\nand <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 267<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\novermind into the supramental Truth. The soul supports the nature in its
\nevolution through these grades, but is itself not any of these things. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe lower Nature, aparā<\/i><\/span> prakrti<\/span><\/i>, is
\nthis external objective and superficial subjective apparent Nature which
\nmanifests all these minds, lives and bodies. The supreme Nature, parā<\/i><\/span> prakrti<\/span><\/i>,
\nconcealed behind it is the very nature of the Divine \u2013 a supreme
\nConsciousness-Force which manifests the multiple Divine as the Many. These Many
\nare in themselves eternal selves of the Supreme in his supreme Nature, parā<\/i><\/span> prakrti<\/span><\/i>. Here
\nin relation to this world they appear as the Jivatmas<\/span>
\nsupporting the evolution of the natural existences, sarva-bhūtāni<\/i><\/span>, in the mutable
\nBecoming which is the life of the Kshara<\/span>
\n(mobile or mutable) Purusha. The Jiva (or Jivatma<\/span>) and
\nthe creatures,
\nsarva-bhūtāni<\/i><\/span>, are not the same thing. The
\nJivatmas<\/span> really stand above the creation even though concerned in it; the
\nnatural existences, sarva-bhūtāni<\/i><\/span>, are
\nthe creatures of Nature. Man, bird, beast, reptile are natural existences, but
\nthe individual Self in them is not even for a moment characteristically man,
\nbird, beast or reptile; in its evolution it is the same through all these
\nchanges, a spiritual being that consents to the play of Nature. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nWhat is original and eternal for ever in the Divine is the Being, what is
\ndeveloped in consciousness, conditions, forces, 
\n<\/span>forms, etc., by the Divine Power is the Becoming. The eternal Divine is
\nthe Being; the universe in Time and all that is apparent in it is a Becoming.
\nThe eternal Being in its superior nature, Para Prakriti, is at once One and
\nMany; but the eternal Multiplicity of the Divine when it stands behind the
\ncreated existences,
\nsarva-bhūtāni<\/i><\/span>, appears as (or as we say, becomes) the
\nJiva,
\nparā<\/span> prakrtir jīvabhūtā<\/span><\/i>.
\nIn the psychic, on the other hand, there are two aspects, the psychic existence
\nor soul behind and in front the form of individuality it takes in its evolution
\nin Nature.
\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe soul or psyche is immutable only in the sense that it contains all the
\npossibilities of the Divine within it, but it has to evolve them and in its
\nevolution it assumes the form of a developing psychic individual evolving in the
\nmanifestation the individual Prakriti and taking part in the evolution. It is
\nthe spark of the Divine Fire that grows behind the mind, vital and physical <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 268<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

by
\nmeans of the psychic being until it is able to transform the Prakriti of
\nIgnorance into a Prakriti of Knowledge. This evolving psychic being is not
\ntherefore at any time all that the soul or essential psychic existence bears
\nwithin it; it temporalises<\/span>
\nand individualises<\/span> what is eternal in potentiality,
\ntranscendent in essence, in this projection of the spirit.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe central being is the being which presides over the different births one
\nafter the other, but is itself unborn, for it does not descend into the being
\nbut is above it \u2013 it holds together the mental, vital and physical being and all
\nthe various parts of the personality and it controls the life either through the
\nmental being and the mental thought and will or through the psychic, whichever
\nmay happen to be most in front or most powerful in nature. If it does not
\nexercise its control, then the consciousness is in great disorder and every part
\nof the personality acts for itself so that there is no coherence in the thought,
\nfeeling or action.
\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe psychic is not above but behind \u2013 its seat is behind the heart, its power is
\nnot knowledge but an essential or spiritual feeling \u2013 it has the clearest sense
\nof the Truth and a sort of inherent perception of it which is of the nature of
\nsoul-perception and soul-feeling. It is our inmost being and supports all the
\nothers, mental, vital, physical, but it is also much veiled by them and has to
\nact upon them as an influence rather than by its sovereign right of direct
\naction; its direct action becomes normal and preponderant only at a high stage
\nof development or by yoga. It is not the psychic being which, you feel, gives
\nyou the intuitions of things to be or warns you against the results of certain
\nactions; that is some part of the inner being, sometimes the inner mental,
\nsometimes the inner vital, sometimes, it may be, the inner or subtle physical
\nPurusha. The inner being \u2013 inner mind, inner vital, inner or subtle physical \u2013
\nknows much that is unknown to the outer mind, the outer vital, the outer
\nphysical, for it is in a more direct contact with the secret forces of Nature.
\nThe psychic is the inmost being of all; a perception of truth which is inherent
\nin the deepest substance of the consciousness, a sense of the good, true,
\nbeautiful, the Divine, is its privilege. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 269<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

The
\ncentral being \u2013 the Jivatman which is not born nor evolves but presides over the
\nindividual birth and evolution \u2013 puts forward a representative of himself on
\neach plane of the consciousness. On the mental plane it is the true mental
\nbeing, manomaya<\/i><\/span> purusa<\/i>, on the vital plane the true vital being, prānamaya<\/i><\/span> purusa<\/i>, on the physical plane the true
\nphysical being,
\nannamaya<\/i><\/span> purusa<\/i>. Each being, therefore is, so
\nlong as the Ignorance lasts, centred round his mental, vital or physical
\nPurusha, according to the plane on which he predominantly lives, and that is to
\nhim his central being. But the true representative all the time is concealed
\nbehind the mind, vital and physical \u2013 it is the psychic, our inmost being.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/span>When the inmost knowledge begins to come, we
\nbecome aware of the psychic being within us and it comes forward and leads the
\nsadhana. We become aware also of the Jivatman, the undivided Self or Spirit
\nabove the manifestation of which the psychic is the representative here.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\ntrue inner being \u2013 the true mental, the true vital, the true physical represent
\neach on its plane and answer to the central being, but the whole of the nature
\nand especially the outer nature does not, nor the ordinary mental, vital or
\nphysical personality. The psychic being is the central being for the purposes of
\nthe evolution \u2013 it grows and develops; but there is a central being above of
\nwhich the mind is not aware, which presides unseen over the existence and of
\nwhich the psychic being is the representative in the manifested nature. It is
\nwhat is called the Jivatman.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 The
\npsychic is a spark of the Divine \u2013 but I do not know that it can be called a
\nportion of the Jivatma<\/span> \u2013 it is the same put forward in a different way.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 270<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

Well,
\nit is a little difficult to explain. Perhaps the best thing is to break up my
\nanswer into a number of separate statements, for the whole thing has got too
\ncomplicated to do otherwise. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. It is impossible to equate my conception or
\nexperience of the Jivatman with the pure \u201cI\u201d of the Adwaita, by which you mean,
\nI suppose, something which says, \u201cI am He\u201d and by that perception merges itself
\ninto the Brahman. According to the Adwaita of the Mayavadins<\/span>
\nthis Jivatman, like the Ishwara himself, is simply an appearance of the Brahman
\nin illusory Maya. There is no Ishwara, Lord of the world, because there is no
\nworld \u2013 except in Maya; so too there is no Jivatman, only the
\nParamatman<\/span>
\nillusorily perceived as an individual self by the lower (illusory) consciousness
\nin Maya. Those, on the other hand, who wish to unite with the Ishwara, regard or
\nexperience the Jiva either as a separate being dependent on the Ishwara or as
\nsomething one in essence with him, yet different, but this difference like the
\nessential oneness is eternal \u2013 and there are also other ideas of the Jivatman
\nand its relation to the Divine or Supreme. So this pure \u201cI\u201d, if that is how it
\nis to be described, presents itself differently, in different aspects, one may
\nsay, to different people. If you ask why, I refer you to my answer to X. The
\novermind presents the truth of things in all sorts of aspects and mind, even the
\nspiritual mind, fastens on one or the other as the very truth, the one real
\ntruth of the matter. It is the mind that makes these differences, but that does
\nnot matter, because, through its own way of seeing and experiencing the soul or
\nindividualised<\/span>
\nconsciousness or whatever you may like to call it, the mental being goes where
\nit has to go. I hope this much is clear as the first step in the matter. <\/p>\n

\n2. I do not dispute at all the fact that one can realise the Self, the Brahman
\nor the Ishwara without going into the overhead regions, the dynamic spiritual
\nplanes, or stationing oneself permanently above the body as happens in this
\nyoga. Even if it is done through the Sahasrara<\/span>, well,
\nthe Sahasrara<\/span> extends to the spiritualised mind and can be felt
\nin the top of the head, so any ascent above is not indispensable. But, apart
\nfrom that, one can very well, as you say, realise the Atman if one stands back
\nfrom the mind and heart, detaches oneself from the parts of <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 271<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\nPrakriti, ceases to identify oneself with mind, life and body, falls into an
\ninner silence. One need not even explore the kingdoms of the inner mind or inner
\nvital, still less is it compulsory to spread one’s wings in ranges above. The
\nSelf is everywhere and by entering into full detachment and silence, or even by
\neither detachment or silence, one can get anywhere some glimpse, some
\nreflection, perhaps even a full reflection, or a sense of the Self’s presence or
\nof one’s own immergence in that which is free, wide, silent, eternal, infinite.
\nObviously if it is a pure \u201cI\u201d, of whatever nature, which gets the experience, it
\nmust be looked on by the consciousness that has the realisation as the
\nindividual self of the Being, Jivatman. <\/p>\n

\n3. One can also have the experience of oneself as not the mind but the thinker,
\nnot the heart but the self or \u201cI\u201d which  <\/span>
\nsupports the feelings, not the life but that which supports life, not the body
\nbut that which assumes a body. This self can be obviously dynamic as well as
\nsilent; or else you may say that, even though still and immobile, from its
\nsilence it originates the dynamism of Nature. One can also feel this to be the
\nSpirit one in all as well as the true \u201cI\u201d in oneself. All depends on the
\nexperience. Very usually, it is the experience of the Purusha, often felt first
\nas the Witness silent, upholding all the nature; but the Purusha can also be
\nexperienced as the Knower and the Ishwara. Sometimes it is as or through the
\nmental Purusha in one centre or another, sometimes as or through the vital
\nPurusha that one can become aware of one’s self or spirit. It is also possible
\nto become aware of the secret psychic being within by itself as the true
\nindividual; or one can be aware of the psychic being as the pure \u201cI\u201d with these
\nothers standing in mind or vital as representatives in these domains or on these
\nlevels. According to one’s experience one may speak of any of these as the Jiva
\nor pure \u201cI\u201d (this last is a very dubious phrase) or the true Person or true
\nIndividual who knows himself as one with or a portion of or wholly dependent on
\nthe universal or transcendent Being and seeks to merge himself in that or ascend
\nto that and be it or live in oneness with it. All these things are quite
\npossible without any need of the overhead experience or of the stable overhead
\nPermanence. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 272<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

          
\n4. One may ask, first, why not then say that the Jivatman which can be realised
\nin this way is the pure \u201cI\u201d of which the lower self has the experience and
\nthrough which it gets its salvation; and, secondly, what need is there of going
\ninto the overhead planes at all? Well, in the first place, this pure \u201cI\u201d does
\nnot seem to be absolutely necessary as an intermediary of the liberation whether
\ninto the impersonal Self or Brahman or into whatever is eternal. The Buddhists
\ndo not admit any soul or self or any experience of the pure \u201cI\u201d; they proceed by
\ndissolving the consciousness into a bundle of Sanskaras<\/span>,
\nget rid of the Sanskaras<\/span> and so are liberated into
\nsome Permanent which they refuse to describe or some Shunya<\/span>.
\nSo the experience of a pure \u201cI\u201d or Jivatman is not binding on everyone who wants
\nliberation into the Eternal but is content to get it without rising beyond the
\nspiritualised mind into a higher Light above. I myself had my experience of
\nNirvana and silence in the Brahman, etc. long before there was any knowledge of
\nthe overhead spiritual planes; it came first simply by an absolute stillness and
\nblotting out as it were of all mental, emotional and other inner activities \u2013
\nthe body continued indeed to see, walk, speak and do its other business, but as
\nan empty automatic machine and nothing more. I did not become aware of any pure
\n\u201cI\u201d nor even of any self, impersonal or other, \u2013 there was only an awareness of
\nThat as the sole Reality, all else  <\/span>being quite unsubstantial, void,
\nnon-real. As to what realised that Reality, it was a nameless consciousness
\nwhich was not other than That;1<\/sup> one could perhaps say this, though
\nhardly even so much as this, since there was no mental concept of it, but not
\nmore. Neither was I aware of any lower soul or outer self called by such and
\nsuch a personal name that was performing this feat of arriving at the
\nconsciousness of Nirvana. Well, then what becomes of your pure \u201cI\u201d and lower \u201cI\u201d
\nin all that? Consciousness (not this or that part of consciousness or an \u201cI\u201d of
\nany kind) suddenly emptied itself of all inner contents and remained aware only
\nof unreal surroundings and of Something real but ineffable. You may say that
\nthere must have been a consciousness aware of some perceiving existence,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1 <\/span><\/sup>Mark that I did not think these things, there were no
\nthoughts or concepts nor did they present themselves like that to any Me; it
\nsimply just was so or was self-apparently so.<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nPage 273<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

if not
\nof a pure \u201cI\u201d, but, if so, it was something for which these names seem
\ninadequate.
\n <\/p>\n

\n5. I have said the overhead ascension is not indispensable for the usual
\nspiritual purposes, \u2013 but it is indispensable for the purposes of this yoga. For
\nits aim is to become aware of and liberate and transform and unite all the being
\nin the light of a Truth-consciousness which is above and cannot be reached if
\nthere is no entirely inward-going and no transcending and upward-going movement.
\nHence all the complexity of my psychological statements as a whole, not new in
\nessence \u2013 for much of it occurs in the Upanishads and elsewhere, but new in its
\nfullness of collective statement and its developments directed towards an
\nintegral yoga. It is not necessary for anyone to accept it unless he concurs in
\nthe aim; for other aims it is unnecessary and may very well be excessive. <\/p>\n

\n6. But when one has made the inner exploration and the ascension, when one’s
\nconsciousness is located above, one cannot be expected to see things precisely
\nas they are seen from below. The Jivatman is for me the Unborn who presides over
\nthe individual being and its developments, associated with it but above it and
\nthem and who by the very nature of his existence knows himself as universal and
\ntranscendent no less than individual and feels the Divine to be his origin, the
\ntruth of his being, the master of his nature, the very stuff of his existence.
\nHe is plunged in the Divine and one with the Eternal for ever, aware of his own
\nexpression and instrumental dynamism which is the Divine’s, dependent in love
\nand delight, with adoration on That with which yet through that love and delight
\nhe is one, capable of relation in oneness, harmonic in this many-sidedness
\nwithout contradiction, because this is another consciousness and existence than
\nthat of the mind, even of the spiritualised mind; it is an intrinsic
\nconsciousness of the Infinite, infinite not only in essence but in capacity,
\nwhich can be to its own self-awareness all things and yet for ever the same and
\none. The triune realisation, therefore, full of difficulties for the mind, is
\nquite natural, easy, indisputable to the supramental consciousness or,
\ngenerally, to the consciousness of the upper hemisphere. It can be seen and felt
\nas knowledge in all the spiritual planes, but the completely <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 274<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\nindivisible knowledge, the full dynamics of it can only be realised through the
\nsupramental consciousness itself on its own plane or by its descent here. <\/p>\n

\n7. The description of a pure \u201cI\u201d is quite insufficient to describe the
\nrealisation of the Jivatman \u2013 it is rather describable as the true Person or
\nDivine Individual, though that too is not adequate. The word \u201cI\u201d always comes
\nwith an under-suggestion of ego, of separativeness<\/span>;
\nbut there is no separativeness<\/span> in this self-vision,
\nfor the individual here is a spiritual living centre of action for the One and
\nfeels no separation from all that is the One.
\n <\/p>\n

\n8. The Jivatman has its representative power in the individual nature here; this
\npower is the Purusha upholding the Prakriti \u2013 centrally in the psychic, more
\ninstrumentally in the mind, vital and physical being and nature. It is therefore
\npossible to regard these or any of them as if they were the Jiva here. All the
\nsame I am obliged to make a distinction not only for clear thinking but because
\nof the necessity of experience and integral dynamic self-knowledge without which
\nit is difficult to carry through this yoga. It is not indispensable to formulate
\nmentally to oneself all this, one can have the experience and, if one sees
\nclearly with an inner perception, it is sufficient for progress towards the
\ngoal. Nevertheless if the mind is clarified without falling into mental rigidity
\nand error, things are easier for the sadhak of the yoga. But plasticity must be
\npreserved, for loss of plasticity is the danger of a systematic intellectual
\nformulation; one must look into the thing itself and not get tied up in the
\nidea. Nothing of all this can be really grasped except by the actual spiritual
\nexperience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have
\nused the words Jiva and Jivatman in these and all passages in exactly the same
\nsense \u2013 it never occurred to me that there could be a difference. If I had so
\nintended it, I would have drawn the distinction \u2013 the two words being similar \u2013
\nvery clearly and not left it to be gathered by inference. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIn the passage from the chapter on the triple status of the supermind I was
\ndescribing how the supermind working as a force of the highest
\nself-determination of the Divine manifested
\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 275<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

it in
\nthree poises and what was the consciousness of the Jivatman in a supramental
\ncreation. There is no statement that the place of the Jivatman is in the
\nsupramental plane alone; if that were so, man could have no knowledge of his
\nindividual Self or Spirit before he rose to the supramental plane; he could not
\nhave any experience of the Self, though he may have the sense of the dissolution
\nof his ego in something Universal. But he can become aware of his unborn
\nnon-evolving Self, a centre of the Divine Consciousness, long before that; the
\nSelf cosmic or individual is experienced long before rising to supermind. If it
\nwere not so, spiritual experience of that high kind would be impossible to
\nmental man, liberation would be impossible; he would first have to become a
\nsupramental being. As for the Purusha it is there on all planes; there is a
\nmental Purusha,
\nmanomaya<\/span>, leader of the life and body, as the
\nUpanishad puts it, a vital, a physical Purusha; there is the psychic being or Chaitya<\/span> Purusha which supports and carries all these as it
\nwere. One may say that these are projections of the Jivatman put there to uphold
\nPrakriti on the various levels of the being. The Upanishad speaks also of a
\nsupramental and a Bliss Purusha, and if the supramental and the Bliss Nature
\nwere organised in the evolution on earth we could become aware of them upholding
\nthe movements here. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nAs for the psychic being, it enters into the evolution, enters into the body at
\nbirth and goes out of it at death; but the Jivatman, as I know it, is unborn and
\neternal although upholding the manifested personality from above. The psychic
\nbeing can be described as the Jivatman entering into birth, if you like, but if
\nthe distinction is not made, then the nature of the Atman is blurred and a
\nconfusion arises. This is a necessary distinction for metaphysical knowledge and
\nfor something that is very important in spiritual experience. The word `Atman’
\nlike `spirit’ in English is popularly used in all kinds of senses, but both for
\nspiritual and philosophical knowledge it is necessary to be clear and precise in
\none’s use of terms so as to avoid confusion of thought and vision by confusion
\nin the words we use to express them.<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 276<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\n The Jiva is realised as the individual Self, Atman, the central
\nbeing above the Nature, calm, untouched by the movements of Nature, but
\nsupporting their evolution though not involved in it. Through this realisation
\nsilence, freedom, wideness, mastery, purity, a sense of universality in the
\nindividual as one centre of this divine universality become the normal
\nexperience. The psychic is realised as the Purusha behind the heart. It is not
\nuniversalised<\/span> like the Jivatman, but is the individual soul supporting
\nfrom its place behind the heart-centre the mental, vital, physical, psychic
\nevolution of the being in Nature. Its realisation brings bhakti, self-giving,
\nsurrender, turning of all the movements Godward, discrimination and choice of
\nall that belongs to the Divine Truth, Good, Beauty, rejection of all that is
\nfalse, evil, ugly, discordant, union through love and sympathy with all
\nexistence, openness to the Truth of the Self and the Divine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To
\nlive in the consciousness of the Atman is to live in the calm unity and peace
\nthat is above things and separate from the world even when pervading it. But for
\nthe psychic consciousness there are two things, the world and itself acting in
\nthe world. The Jivatman has not come down into the world, it stands above,
\nalways the same supporting the different beings, mental, etc., which act here.
\nThe psychic is what has come down here \u2013 its function is to offer all things to
\nthe Divine for transformation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\ntrue being may be realised in one or both of two aspects \u2013 the Self or Atman and
\nthe soul or Antaratman<\/span>, psychic being, Chaitya<\/span>
\nPurusha. The difference is that one is felt as universal, the other as
\nindividual supporting the mind, life and body. When one first realises the Atman
\none feels it separate from all things, existing in itself and detached, and it
\nis to this realisation that the image of the dry coconut fruit may apply. When
\none realises the psychic being, it is not like that; for this brings the sense
\nof union with the Divine and dependence upon It and sole consecration <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 277<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

to the
\nDivine alone and the power to change the nature and discover the true mental,
\nthe true vital, the true physical being in oneself. Both realisations are
\nnecessary for this yoga. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe \u201cI\u201d or the little ego is constituted by Nature and is at once a mental,
\nvital and physical formation meant to aid in centralising and
\nindividualising<\/span>
\nthe outer consciousness and action. When the true being is discovered, the
\nutility of the ego is over and this formation has to disappear \u2013 the true being
\nis felt in its place. <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

The
\nSpirit is the consciousness above mind, the Atman or Self, which is always in
\noneness with the Divine \u2013 a spiritual consciousness is one which is always in
\nunity or at least in contact with the Divine.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe psychic is a spark come from the Divine which is there in all things and as
\nthe individual evolves it grows in him and manifests as the psychic being, the
\nsoul, seeking always for the Divine and the Truth and answering to the Divine
\nand the Truth whenever and wherever it meets it. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nSpirit is the Atman, Brahman, Essential Divine. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When
\nthe One Divine manifests its ever inherent multiplicity, this essential Self or
\nAtman becomes for that manifestation the central being who presides from above
\nover the evolution of its personalities and terrestrial lives here, but is
\nitself an eternal portion of the Divine and prior to the terrestrial
\nmanifestation \u2013 parā<\/i><\/span> prakrtir jīvabhūtā<\/span>.<\/i> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIn this lower manifestation,
\naparā<\/i><\/span> prakrti<\/span><\/i>, this
\neternal portion of the Divine appears as the soul, a spark of the Divine Fire,
\nsupporting the individual evolution, supporting the mental, vital and physical
\nbeing. The psychic being is the spark growing into a Fire, evolving with the
\ngrowth of the consciousness. The psychic being is therefore evolutionary, not
\nlike the Jivatman prior to the evolution. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 278<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

But
\nman is not aware of the self or Jivatman, he is aware only of his ego, or he is
\naware of the mental being which controls the life and the body. But more deeply
\nhe becomes aware of his soul or psychic being as his true centre, the Purusha in
\nthe heart; the psychic is the central being in the evolution, it proceeds from
\nand represents the Jivatman, the eternal portion of the Divine. When there is
\nthe full consciousness, the Jivatman and the psychic being join together.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe ego is a formation of Nature; but it is not a formation of physical nature
\nalone, therefore it does not cease with the body. There is a mental and vital
\nego also. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe base of the material consciousness here is not only the Ignorance, but the
\nInconscience \u2013 that is, the consciousness is involved in form of Matter and
\nenergy of Matter. It is not only the material consciousness but the vital and
\nthe mental too that are separated from the Truth by the Ignorance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For
\nthe most part the Supreme acts through the Jiva and its nature and the Jiva and
\nthe nature act through the ego and the ego acts through the outer instruments \u2013
\nthat is the play of the Ignorance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There
\nis no difference between Jiva and Jivatma<\/span> in this
\nlanguage \u2013 so this distinction cannot be made. The Apara<\/span>
\nPrakriti is Nature which manifests all these minds, lives and bodies. The Para
\nPrakriti is the very nature of the Divine \u2013 a supreme Consciousness-Force which
\nmanifests the multiple Divine as the Many. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nbody is not the individual self \u2013 it is the basis of the external personality or
\nof the physical self, if you like so to express it; but that is not the
\nindividual self. The individual self is the central <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 279<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

being
\n(Jivatma<\/span>) manifesting in the lower nature as the
\npsychic being \u2013 it is directly a portion of the Divine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Jīvātmā<\/i><\/span> is above all planes. It
\nhas no fixed form or colour<\/span>; though it may represent
\nitself in a form.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n(a) It [each Jivatman] is one, yet different [from other
\nJivatmans<\/span>]. The Gita puts it that the Jiva is an amśah<\/i><\/span> sanātanah<\/span><\/i>, of the One. It can also be spoken of as one
\namong many centres<\/span> of the Universal Being and
\nConsciousness. <\/p>\n

\n(b) Essentially one Jiva has the same nature as all \u2013 but in manifestation each
\nputs forth its own line of Swabhava.
\n <\/p>\n

\n(c) No. Kutastha<\/span> is the aksara<\/i><\/span> purusa<\/i> \u2013 it
\nis not the Jivatman. <\/p>\n

\n(d) It [the station of the Jivatman] is on the spiritual plane always that is
\nabove the mind, but there it is not fixed to any level. <\/p>\n

\n(e) No [one psychic being cannot unite with another]. Affinity, harmony,
\nsympathy, but not union. Union is with the Divine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1
\n<\/font> <\/sup>The Jivatma<\/span>, spark-soul and psychic being are three different
\nforms of the same reality and they must not be mixed up together, as that
\nconfuses the clearness of the inner experience. <\/font>
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe Jivatma<\/span> or spirit is self-existent above the manifested or
\ninstrumental being \u2013 it is superior to birth and death, always the same, it is
\nthe individual Self or Atman; the eternal true being of the individual. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe soul is a spark of the Divine in the heart of the living creatures of
\nNature. It is not seated above the manifested being; it enters into the
\nmanifestation of the self, consents to be a part <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1 The original version of
\nthis letter was subsequently revised by Sri Aurobindo on two occasions. As the
\ntwo revised versions differ considerably at places, both of them are published
\nhere consecutively.<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nPage – 280<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

of its
\nnatural phenomenal becoming, supports its evolution in the world of material
\nNature. It carries with it at first an undifferentiated power of the divine
\nconsciousness containing all possibilities which have not yet taken form but to
\nwhich it is the function of evolution to give form. This spark of Divinity is
\nthere in all terrestrial living beings from the earth’s highest to its lowest
\ncreatures. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe psychic being is a spiritual personality put forward by the soul in its
\nevolution; its growth marks the stage which the spiritual evolution of the
\nindividual has reached and its immediate possibilities for the future. It stands
\nbehind the mental, the vital, the physical nature, grows by their experiences,
\ncarries the consciousness from life to life. It is the psychic Person, caitya purusa<\/i>. At first it is veiled by the mental, vital and
\nphysical parts, limited in its self-expression by their limitations, bound to
\nthe reactions of Nature, but, as it grows, it becomes capable of coming forward
\nand dominating the mind, life and body. In the ordinary man it still depends on
\nthem for expression and is not able to take them up and freely use them. The
\nlife of the being is animal and human, not divine. When the psychic being can by
\nsadhana become dominant and freely use its instruments, then the impulse towards
\nthe Divine becomes complete and the transformation of mind, vital   <\/span>and body, not merely their
\nliberation becomes possible. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nAs the Self or Atman is free and superior to birth and death, the experience of
\nthe Jivatman and its unity with the supreme or universal Self is sufficient to
\nbring the sense of liberation; but for the transformation of the life and nature
\nthe full awareness and awakening of our psychic being also is indispensable. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe psychic being realises at this stage its oneness with the true being, the
\nSelf, but it does not disappear or change into it; it remains as its instrument
\nfor psychic and spiritual self-expression, a divine manifestation in Nature. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe bindu<\/i><\/span> <\/i>seen by you above may be a symbolic way
\nof seeing the Jivatman, the individual self as a drop of the Sea, an individual
\nportion of the universal Divine; the aspiration on that level would naturally be
\nfor the opening of the higher consciousness so that the being may dwell there
\nand not in the ignorance. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 281<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

The
\nJivatman is already one with the Divine in reality, but its spiritual demand may
\nbe for the rest of the consciousness also to realise it. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe aspiration of the psychic being would then translate this demand entirely
\nfor the opening of the whole lower nature, mind, vital, body to the Divine, for
\nthe love and union with the Divine, for its presence and power within the heart,
\nfor the transformation of the mind, life and body by the descent of the higher
\nconsciousness into this instrumental being and nature.
\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nBoth aspirations are necessary for the fullness of this yoga, the demand of the
\nself on the nature from above, the psychic aspiration of the nature from below.
\nWhen the psychic imposes its aspiration on the mind, vital and body, then they
\ntoo aspire and this is what was felt by you as the aspiration from the level of
\nthe lower being. The aspiration felt above is that of the Jivatman for the
\nhigher consciousness with its realisation of the One to manifest in all the
\nbeing. Both aspirations help and are necessary to each other. But the seeking of
\nthe lower being is at first intermittent and oppressed by the obscurity and
\nlimitations of the ordinary consciousness. It has, by sadhana, to become clear,
\nconstant, strong and enduring; it then compels realisation, makes it inevitable. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe sense of peace, purity and calm felt by you is brought about by a union or a
\nstrong contact of the lower with the higher consciousness; it cannot be
\npermanent at first, but it can become so by an increased frequency and
\ndurability of the calm and peace and finally by the full descent of the eternal
\npeace and calm and silence of the higher consciousness into the lower nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nJivatman, spark-soul and psychic being are three different forms of the same
\nreality and they must not be mixed up together, as that confuses the clearness
\nof the inner experience. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe Jivatman or spirit, as it is usually called in English, is self-existent
\nabove the manifested or instrumental being \u2013 it is superior to birth and death,
\nalways the same, the individual <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 282<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

 Self
\nor Atman. It is the eternal true being of the individual. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe soul is a spark of the Divine which is not seated above the manifested
\nbeing, but comes down into the manifestation to support its evolution in the
\nmaterial world. It is at first an undifferentiated power of the Divine
\nConsciousness containing all possibilities which have not yet taken form, but to
\nwhich it is the function of evolution to give form. This spark is there in all
\nliving beings from the lowest to the highest. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe psychic being is formed by the soul in its evolution. It supports the mind,
\nvital, body, grows by their experiences, carries the nature from life to life.
\nIt is the psychic or caitya puru<\/span>\\,sa. At first it is
\nveiled by mind, vital and body, but as it grows, it becomes capable of coming
\nforward and dominating the mind, life and body; in the ordinary man it depends
\non them for expression and is not able to take them up and freely use them. The
\nlife of the being is animal or human and not divine. When the psychic being can
\nby sadhana become dominant and freely use its instruments, then the impulse
\ntowards the Divine becomes complete and the transformation of mind, vital and
\nbody, not merely their liberation, becomes possible. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe Self or Atman being free and superior to birth and death, the experience of
\nthe Jivatman and its unity with the supreme or universal Self brings the sense
\nof liberation, it is this which is necessary for the supreme spiritual
\ndeliverance: but for the transformation of the life and nature the awakening of
\nthe psychic being and its rule over the nature are indispensable. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe psychic being realises its oneness with the true being, the Jivatman, but it
\ndoes not change into it. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe bindu<\/i><\/span> <\/i>seen above may be a symbolic way of
\nseeing the Jivatman, the portion of the Divine; the aspiration there would
\nnaturally be for the opening of the higher consciousness so that the being may
\ndwell there and not in the Ignorance. The Jivatman is already one with the
\nDivine in reality, but what is needed is that the rest of the consciousness
\nshould realize it. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe aspiration of the psychic being is for the opening of the whole lower
\nnature, mind, vital, body to the Divine, for the love and union with the Divine,
\nfor its presence and power within the heart, for the transformation of the mind,
\nlife and body by the <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 283<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\ndescent of the higher consciousness into this instrumental being and nature. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nBoth aspirations are essential and indispensable for the fullness of this yoga.
\nWhen the psychic imposes its aspiration on the mind, vital and body, then they
\ntoo aspire and this is what was felt as the aspiration from the level of the
\nlower being. The aspiration felt above is that of the Jivatman for the higher
\nconsciousness with its realisation of the One to manifest in the being.
\nTherefore both aspirations help each other. The seeking of the lower being is
\nnecessarily at first intermittent   <\/span>
\nand oppressed by the ordinary consciousness. It has, by sadhana, to become
\nclear, constant, strong and enduring.
\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe sense of peace, purity and calm is brought about by the union of the lower
\nwith the higher consciousness. It is usually either intermittent or else remains
\nin a deeper consciousness, veiled often by the storms and agitations of the
\nsurface; it is seldom permanent at first, but it can become permanent by
\nincreased frequency and endurance of the calm and peace and finally by the full
\ndescent of the eternal peace and calm and silence of the higher consciousness
\ninto the lower nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the
\nexperience of yoga the self or being is in essence one with the Divine or at
\nleast it is a portion of the Divine and has all the divine potentialities. But
\nin manifestation it takes two aspects, the Purusha and Prakriti, conscious being
\nand Nature. In Nature here the Divine is veiled, and the individual being is
\nsubjected to Nature which acts here as the lower Prakriti, a force of Ignorance,
\nAvidya<\/span>. The Purusha in itself is divine, but
\nexteriorised<\/span> in the ignorance of Nature it is the individual apparent
\nbeing imperfect with her imperfection. Thus the soul or psychic essence, which
\nis the Purusha entering into the evolution and supporting it, carries in itself
\nall the divine potentialities; but the individual psychic being which it puts
\nforth as its representative assumes the imperfection of Nature and evolves in it
\ntill it has recovered its full psychic essence and united itself with the Self
\nabove of which the soul is the individual projection in the
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 284<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\nevolution. This duality in the being on all its planes \u2013 for it is true in
\ndifferent ways not only of the Self and the psychic but of the mental, vital and
\nphysical Purushas<\/span>
\n\u2013 has to be grasped and accepted before the experiences of the yoga can be fully
\nunderstood. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe Being is one throughout, but on each plane of Nature, it is represented by a
\nform of itself which is proper to that plane, the mental Purusha in the mental
\nplane, the vital Purusha in the vital, the physical Purusha in the physical. The Taittiriya<\/span> Upanishad speaks of two other planes of the
\nbeing, the Knowledge or Truth plane and the Ananda plane, each with its Purusha,
\nbut although influences may come down from them, these are superconscient to the
\nhuman mind and their nature is not yet organised here.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nindividual self is usually described as a portion of the Transcendent and cosmic
\nSelf \u2013 in the higher and subtler ranges of the consciousness it knows itself as
\nthat, but in the lower where the consciousness is more and more clouded it
\nidentifies itself with surface forms of personality, creations of Prakriti and
\nbecomes unaware of its divine origin. Self when one becomes aware of it is felt
\nas something self-existent and eternal which is not identified with forms of
\nmental, vital and physical personality, \u2013 these are only small expressions of
\nits potentialities in Nature. What people call themselves now is only the ego or
\nthe mind or the life-force or the body, but that is because they think in the
\nterms of the formations of Prakriti and do not see behind them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\ncentral being and the soul are both in different ways portions of the Divine.
\nThey are in fact two aspects of the same entity, but one is
\nunevolving<\/span> above Nature, the other evolves a psychic being in Nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\nthe individual being that is a portion of the Divine. The
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 285<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\nuniversal self or Atman which is the same in all, is not a portion but an aspect
\nof the Divine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nself is the Divine itself in an essential aspect; it is not a portion. There is
\nno meaning in the phrase \u201cnot even a portion\u201d or \u201conly an aspect.\u201d An aspect is
\nnot something inferior to a portion. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do you
\nnot know what \u201cessential\u201d means? There is a difference between the essence of a
\nthing which is always the same and its formations and developments which vary.
\nThere is, for instance, the essence of gold and there are the many forms which
\ngold can take.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nEssence can never be defined \u2013 it simply is.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nDivine is more than the Atman. It is Nature also. It contains everything in
\nItself.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In
\norder to get the dynamic realisation it is not enough to rescue the Purusha from
\nsubjection to Prakriti; one must transfer the allegiance of the Purusha from the
\nlower Prakriti with its play of ignorant Forces to the Supreme Divine Shakti,
\nthe Mother. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIt is a mistake to identify the Mother with the lower Prakriti and its mechanism
\nof forces. Prakriti here is a mechanism only which has been put forth for the
\nworking of the evolutionary ignorance. As the ignorant mental, vital or physical
\nbeing is not itself the Divine, although it comes from the Divine \u2013 so the
\nmechanism of Prakriti is not the Divine Mother. No doubt something of her is
\nthere in and behind this mechanism
\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 286<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\nmaintaining it for the evolutionary purpose; but what she is in herself is not a
\nShakti of Avidya<\/span>, but the Divine Consciousness, Power,
\nLight, Para Prakriti to whom we turn for the release and the divine fulfilment. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe realisation of the Purusha consciousness calm, free, observing the play of
\nforces but not attached or involved in them is a means of liberation. The calm,
\nthe detachment, a peaceful strength and joy (ātmarati<\/i><\/span>) must be brought down
\ninto the vital and physical as well as into the mind. If this is established,
\none is no longer a prey to the turmoil of the vital forces. But this calm,
\npeace, silent strength and joy is only the first descent of the Power of the
\nMother into the adhar<\/i><\/span>. Beyond that is a Knowledge, an executive Power, a
\ndynamic Ananda which is not that of the ordinary Prakriti even at its best and
\nmost sattwic, but Divine in its nature. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nFirst, however, the calm, the peace, the liberation is needed. To try to bring
\ndown the dynamic side too soon is not advisable, for then it would be a descent
\ninto a troubled and impure nature unable to assimilate it and serious
\nperturbations might be the consequence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What
\nis meant by Prakriti or Nature is the outer or executive side of the Shakti or
\nConscious Force which forms and moves the worlds. This outer side appears here
\nto be mechanical, a play of the forces, Gunas, etc. Behind it is the living
\nConsciousness and Force of the Divine, the divine Shakti. The Prakriti itself is
\ndivided into the lower and higher, \u2013 the lower is the Prakriti of the Ignorance,
\nthe Prakriti of mind, life and Matter separated in consciousness from the
\nDivine; the higher is the Divine Prakriti of Sachchidananda with its manifesting
\npower of supermind, always aware of the Divine and free from Ignorance and its
\nconsequences. Man so long as he is in the ignorance is subject to the lower
\nPrakriti, but by spiritual evolution he becomes aware of the higher Nature and
\nseeks to come into contact with it. He can ascend into it and it can descend
\ninto him \u2013 such an ascent and descent can transform the lower nature of mind,
\nlife and Matter. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 287<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

V<\/b> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\npsychic is not by definition,1
\n<\/sup>that part which is in direct touch with the supramental plane, \u2013 although,
\nonce the connection with the supramental is made, it gives to it the readiest
\nresponse. The psychic part of us is something that comes direct from the Divine
\nand is in touch with the Divine. In its origin it is the nucleus pregnant with
\ndivine possibilities that supports this lower triple manifestation of mind, life
\nand body. There is this divine element in all living beings, but it stands
\nhidden behind the ordinary consciousness, is not at first developed and, even
\nwhen developed, is not always or often in the front; it expresses itself, so far
\nas the imperfection of the instruments allows, by their means and under their
\nlimitations. It grows in the consciousness by Godward experience, gaining
\nstrength every time there is a higher movement in us, and, finally, by the
\naccumulation of these deeper and higher movements, there is developed a psychic
\nindividuality, \u2013 that which we call usually the psychic being. It is always this
\npsychic being that is the real, though often the secret cause of man’s turning
\nto the spiritual life and his greatest help in it. It is therefore that which we
\nhave to bring from behind to the front in the yoga.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe word \u2018soul\u2019, as also the word \u2018psychic\u2019, is used very vaguely and in many
\ndifferent senses in the English language. More often than not, in ordinary
\nparlance, no clear distinction is made between mind and soul and often there is
\nan even more serious confusion, for the vital being of desire \u2013 the false soul
\nor desire-soul \u2013 is intended by the words \u2018soul\u2019 and \u2018psychic\u2019 and not the true
\nsoul, the psychic being. The psychic being is<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1<\/span><\/sup>Someone had asked what the
\npsychic being was, whether it could be defined as that part of the being which
\nis always in direct touch with the supramental. I replied that it could not be
\nso defined. For the psychic being in animals or in most human beings is not in
\ndirect touch with the supramental \u2013 therefore it cannot be so described, by
\ndefinition.<\/span><\/p>\n

But once the connection
\nbetween the supramental and the human consciousness is made, it is the psychic
\nbeing that gives the readiest response \u2013 more ready than the mind, the vital or
\nthe physical. It may be added that it is also a purer response; the mind, vital
\nand physical can allow other things to mix with their reception of the
\nsupramental influence and spoil its truth. The psychic is pure in its response
\nand allows no such mixture. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span>The supramental change can take place only if
\nthe psychic is awake and is made the chief support of the descending supramental
\npower.<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 288<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

quite
\ndifferent from the mind or vital; it stands behind them where they meet in the
\nheart. Its central place is there, but behind the heart rather than in the
\nheart; for what men call usually the heart is the seat of emotion, and human
\nemotions are mental-vital impulses, not ordinarily psychic in their nature. This
\nmostly secret power behind, other than the mind and the life-force, is the true
\nsoul, the psychic being in us. The power of the psychic, however, can act upon
\nthe mind and vital and body, purifying thought and perception and emotion (which
\nthen becomes psychic feeling) and sensation and action and everything else in us
\nand preparing them to be divine movements.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe psychic being may be described in Indian language as the Purusha in the
\nheart or the Chaitya<\/span> Purusha;1 <\/sup>but the inner or secret heart
\nmust be understood, hrdaye guhāyām<\/span><\/i>, not the outer vital-emotional centre. It is the
\ntrue psychic entity (distinguished from the vital desire-mind) \u2013 the psyche \u2013
\nspoken of in the page of the Arya<\/span>
\nto which you make<\/p>\n

\nreference. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\npsychic being in the old systems was spoken of as the Purusha in the heart (the
\nsecret heart \u2013 hrdaye guhāyām<\/span><\/i>)
\nwhich corresponds very well to what we define as the psychic being behind the
\nheart centre. It was also this that went out from the body at death and
\npersisted\u2014which again corresponds to our teaching that it is this which goes out
\nand returns, linking a new life to former life. Also we say that the psychic is
\nthe divine portion within us \u2013 so too the Purusha in the heart is described as
\nIshwara of the individual nature in some place.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n1 <\/sup>The Chitta and the psychic part are not in the least
\nthe same. Chitta is a term in a quite different category in which are co-ordinated<\/span> and put into their place the main functionings of
\nour external consciousness, and to know it we need not go behind our surface or
\nexternal nature.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Category\u2019 means here another class of psychological
\nfactors, tattva-vibhāga<\/i><\/span>.
\nThe psychic belongs to one class \u2013 supermind, mind, life, psychic, physical \u2013
\nand covers both the inner and the outer nature. Chitta belongs to quite another
\nclass or category \u2013 buddhi, manas<\/span>, chitta<\/span>, prana, etc. \u2013 which is the classification made by
\nordinary Indian psychology; it covers only the psychology of the external being.
\nIn this category it is the main functions of our external consciousness only
\nthat are co-ordinated<\/span> and put in their place by the
\nIndian thinkers; chitta<\/span> is one of these main functions
\nof the external consciousness and, therefore, to know it we need not go behind
\nthe external nature.<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 289<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\n\t\t The word soul is very vaguely used in English \u2013 as it often
\n\t\trefers to the whole non-physical consciousness including even the vital
\n\t\twith all its desires and passions. That was why the word psychic being
\n\t\thas to be used so as to distinguish this divine portion from the
\n\t\tinstrumental parts of the nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\nappears X supposed that by the psychic being I meant the enlightened ego. But
\npeople do not understand what I mean by the psychic being, because the word
\npsychic has been used in English to mean anything of the inner mental, inner
\nvital or inner physical or anything abnormal or occult or even the more subtle
\nmovements of the outer being, all in a jumble; also occult phenomena are often
\ncalled psychic. The distinction between these different parts of the being is
\nunknown. Even in India the old knowledge of the Upanishads in which they are
\ndistinguished has been lost. The Jivatman, the psychic being (Purusha
\nAntaratman<\/span>), the
\nManomaya<\/span> Purusha, the Pranamaya Purusha are all
\nconfused together.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do
\nnot know what is exactly meant by this phrase \u2013 it is too vague and limited for
\na description of the psychic. Antahkarana <\/i>
\nusually means the mind and vital as opposed to the body \u2013 the body being the
\nouter instrument and
\nmanah-prāna<\/i><\/span>
\nthe inner instrument of the soul. By psychic I mean something different from a
\npurified mind and vital. A purified mind and vital are the result of the action
\nof the awakened and liberated psychic being but it is not itself the psychic.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nAgain, it depends on what is meant by ahambhāva<\/i><\/span>. But the psychic is not a bhāva<\/i><\/span>. It is a Purusha. Ahambhāva<\/i><\/span> is a
\nformation of Prakriti, it is not a being or a Purusha. Ahambhāva<\/i><\/span> can disappear and yet
\nthe Purusha will be there.
\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nBy liberated psychic being I mean that it is no longer obliged to express itself
\nunder the conditions of the obscure and ignorant instruments, from behind a
\nveil, but is able to come forward, <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 290<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\ncontrol and change the action of mind and life and body. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIf it is perhaps sometimes spoken of as purified and perfected, what must be
\nmeant is the psychic action in the mind, vital and the physical instruments. A
\npurified inner being does not mean a purified psychic, but a purified inner
\nmental, vital and physical. The epithets I used for the psychic were \u201cawakened
\nand liberated\u201d.
\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nSpiritual individuality is rather a vague term and might be variously
\ninterpreted. I have written about the psychic being that the psychic is the soul
\nor spark of the Divine Fire supporting the individual evolution on the earth and
\nthe psychic being is the soul-consciousness developing itself or rather its
\nmanifestation from life to life with the mind, vital and body as its instruments
\nuntil all is ready for the union with the Divine. I don’t know that I can add
\nanything to that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPurusha in Prakriti is the Kshara<\/span> Purusha \u2013 standing back from it is the Akshara<\/span> Purusha.
\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nEgo-sense and Purusha are two quite different things \u2013 ego-sense is a mechanism
\nof Prakriti, Purusha is the conscious being. <\/p>\n

\nThe psychic being evolves, so it is not the immutable. <\/p>\n

\nThe psychic being is especially the soul of the individual evolving in the
\nmanifestation the individual Prakriti and taking part in the evolution. It is
\nthat spark of the Divine Fire that grows behind the mind, vital and physical as
\nthe psychic being until it is able to transform the Prakriti of Ignorance into
\nPrakriti of knowledge. These things are not in the Gita, but we cannot limit our
\nknowledge by the points in the Gita.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

No,
\nthe intuitive self is quite different, or rather the intuitive consciousness
\nthat is somewhere above the mind. The psychic stands behind the being \u2013 a simple
\nand sincere devotion to the Divine, single-hearted and immediate sense of what
\nis right and helps towards the Truth and the Divine, an instinctive withdrawal <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 291<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

from
\nall that is the opposite are its most visible characteristics.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1<\/sup>A
\ndistinction has to be made between the soul in its essence and the psychic
\nbeing. Behind each and all there is the soul which is the spark of the Divine \u2013
\nnone could exist without that. But it is quite possible to have a vital and
\nphysical being supported by such a soul essence but without a clearly evolved
\npsychic being behind it. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThere is indeed an inner being composed of the inner mental, inner vital, inner
\nphysical, \u2013 but that is not the psychic being. The psychic is the inmost being
\nof all and quite distinct from these. The word psychic is indeed used in English
\nto indicate anything that is other or deeper than the external mind, life and
\nbody or it indicates sometimes anything occult or
\nsupraphysical<\/span>; but that is a use which brings confusion and error and we
\nhave almost entirely to discard it.
\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe psychic being is veiled by the surface movements and expresses itself as
\nbest it can through the three outer instruments which are more governed by the
\nouter forces than by the inner being or the psychic entity. But that does not
\nmean that they are entirely isolated from the soul. The soul is in the body in
\nthe same way as the mind or vital \u2013 but the body is not this gross physical body
\nonly, but the subtle body also. When the gross body falls away, the vital and
\nmental sheaths of the body still remain as the soul’s vehicle till these too
\ndissolve. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe soul of a plant or an animal is not dormant \u2013 only its means of expression
\nare less developed than those of a human being. There is much that is psychic in
\nthe plant, much that is psychic in the animal. The plant has only the
\nvital-physical  <\/span>elements evolved in
\nits form; the consciousness behind the form of the plant has no developed or
\norganised mentality capable of expressing itself, \u2013 the animal takes a step
\nfarther; it has a vital mind and some extent of self-expression, but its
\nconsciousness<\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/sup><\/p>\n

1 <\/span><\/sup>The original version of this
\nletter was subsequently revised by Sri Aurobindo on two occasions. As the two
\nrevised versions differ considerably at places, both of them are published here
\nconsecutively.<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 292<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

is
\nlimited, its mentality limited, its experiences are limited; the psychic essence
\ntoo puts forward to represent it a less developed consciousness and experience
\nthan is possible in man. All the same, animals have a soul and can respond very
\nreadily to the psychic in man. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe \u201cghost\u201d of a man is of course not his soul. It is either the man appearing
\nin his vital body or it is a fragment of his vital structure that is seized on
\nby some force or being of the vital world for its own purpose. For normally the
\nvital being with its personality exists after the dissolution of the physical
\nbody for some time only; afterwards it passes away into the vital plane where it
\nremains till the vital sheath dissolves. Next one passes in the mental sheath,
\nto some mental world; but finally the soul leaves its mental sheath also and
\ngoes to its place of rest. If the mental is strongly developed, then the mental
\nbeing can remain and so also can the strongly developed vital, provided they are
\norganised by and centred around the true psychic being \u2013 they then share the
\nimmortality of the psychic. But ordinarily this does not happen; there is a
\ndissolution of the mental and vital as well as the physical parts and the soul
\nin rebirth assumes a new mind, life and body and not, as is often supposed, a
\nreplica of its old nature-self. Such a repetition would be meaningless and
\nuseless and would defeat the purpose of rebirth which is a progression of the
\nnature by experience, an evolutionary growth of the soul in nature towards its
\nself-finding. At the same time the soul preserves the impression of what was
\nessential in its past lives and personalities and the new birth and personality
\nare a balance between this past and the soul’s need for its future. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nP.S. There are cases in which there is a rapid rebirth of the exterior being
\nwith a continuation of the old personality and even the memory of its past life,
\nbut this is exceptional and happens usually when there is a frustration by
\npremature death and a strong will in the vital to continue its unfinished
\nexperience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A
\ndistinction has to be made between the soul in its essence and <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 293<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

the
\npsychic being. Behind each and all there is the soul which is the spark of the
\nDivine \u2013 none could exist without that. But it is quite possible to have a vital
\nand physical being without a clearly evolved psychic being behind it. Still, one
\ncannot make general statements that no aboriginal has a soul or there is no
\ndisplay of soul anywhere.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe inner being is composed of the inner mental, inner vital, inner physical, \u2013
\nbut that is not the psychic being. The psychic is the inmost being and quite
\ndistinct from these. The word `psychic’ is indeed used in English to indicate
\nanything that is other or deeper than the external mind, life and body, anything
\noccult or supraphysical<\/span>, but that is a use which brings confusion and
\nerror and we entirely discard it when we speak or write about yoga. In ordinary
\nparlance we may sometimes use the word `psychic’ in the looser popular sense or
\nin poetry, which is not bound to intellectual accuracy, we may speak of the soul
\nsometimes in the ordinary and more external sense or in the sense of the true
\npsyche.
\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe psychic being is veiled by the surface movements and expresses itself as
\nbest it can through these outer instruments which are more governed by the outer
\nforces than by the inner influences of the psychic. But that does not mean that
\nthey are entirely isolated from the soul. The soul is in the body in the same
\nway as the mind or vital \u2013 but the body it occupies is not this gross physical
\nframe only, but the subtle body also. When the gross sheath falls away, the
\nvital and mental sheaths of the body still remain as the soul’s vehicle till
\nthese too dissolve.
\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe soul of a plant or an animal is not altogether dormant \u2013 only its means of
\nexpression are less developed than those of a human being. There is much that is
\npsychic in the plant, much that is psychic in the animal. The plant has only the
\nvital-physical evolved in its form, so it cannot express itself; the animal has
\na vital mind and can, but its consciousness is limited and its experiences are
\nlimited, so the psychic essence has a less developed consciousness and
\nexperience than is present or at least possible in man. All the same, animals
\nhave a soul and can respond very readily to the psychic in man. The ghost is of
\ncourse not the soul. It is either the man <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 294<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\nappearing in his vital body or it is a fragment of his vital that is seized on
\nby some vital force or being. The vital part of us normally exists after the
\ndissolution of the body for some time and passes away into the vital plane where
\nit remains till the vital sheath dissolves. Afterwards it passes, if it is
\nmentally evolved, in the mental sheath to some mental world and finally the
\npsychic leaves its mental sheath also and goes to its place of rest. If the
\nmental is strongly developed, then the mental part of us can remain; so also can
\nthe vital, provided they are organised by and centred round the true psychic
\nbeing \u2013 for they then share the immortality of the psychic. Otherwise the
\npsychic draws mind and life into itself and enters into an
\ninternatal<\/span> quiescence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a
\nmere vampire there is no psychic, for the vampire is a vital being \u2013 but in all
\nhumans (even if dominated by a vital being or vampire force) there is a psychic
\nveiled behind it all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nsoul is described as a spark of the Divine Fire in life and matter, that is an
\nimage. It has not been described as a spark of consciousness. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThere is mental, vital, physical consciousness \u2013 different from the psychic. The
\npsychic being and consciousness are not identical. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nWhen the soul or \u201cspark of the Divine Fire\u201d begins to develop a psychic
\nindividuality, that psychic individuality is called the psychic being. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe soul or spark is there before the development of an organised vital and
\nmind. The soul is something of the Divine that descends into the evolution as a
\ndivine Principle within it to support the evolution of the individual out of the
\nIgnorance into the Light. It develops in the course of the evolution a psychic
\nindividual or soul individuality which grows from life to life, using the
\nevolving mind, vital and body as its instruments. It is the soul that is
\nimmortal while the rest disintegrates; it passes <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 295<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

from
\nlife to life carrying its experience in essence and the continuity of the
\nevolution of the individual. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIt is the whole consciousness, mental, vital, physical also, that has to rise
\nand join the higher consciousness and, once the joining is made, the higher has
\nto descend into them. The psychic is behind all that and supports it. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nsupermind is the Truth-consciousness; below it there intervenes the overmind of
\nwhich the principle is to receive the powers of the Divine and try to work them
\nout separately, each-acting in its own right and working to realise a world of
\nits own or, if it has to act with others, enforcing its own principle as much as
\npossible. Souls descending into the overmind act in the same way. The principle
\nof separated Individuality is from here. At first still aware of its divine
\norigin, it becomes as it descends still more and more separated and oblivious of
\nit, governed by the principle of division and ego. For Mind is farther removed
\nfrom the Truth than  <\/span>overmind, Vital
\nNature is engrossed in the realisation of ignorant forces, while in Matter the
\nwhole passes into what seems an original Inconscience. It is the overmind Maya
\nthat governs this world, but in Matter it has deepened into Inconscience out of
\nwhich consciousness re-emerges and climbs again bringing down into Matter life
\nand mind, and opening in mind to the higher reaches \u2013 which are still in some
\ndirect connection with the Truth (Intuition, overmind, supermind).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Formed
\nsouls enter only into formed organisms \u2013 in the protoplasm etc. it is only the
\nspark of the Divine that is there, not the formed soul.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\npsychic is the spark of the Divine involved here in the individual existence. It
\ngrows and evolves in the form of the psychic <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 296<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

being
\n\u2013 so obviously it cannot have already the powers of the Divine. Only its
\npresence makes it possible for the individual to open to the Divine and grow
\ntowards the Divine Consciousness and when it acts it is always in the sense of
\nthe Light and the Truth and with the push towards the Divine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This
\nis the function of the psychic \u2013 it has to work on each plane so as to help each
\nto awaken to the true truth and the Divine Reality.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Every
\nsoul is not evolved and active; nor is every soul turned directly to the Divine
\nbefore practising<\/span> yoga. For a long time it seeks the Divine through
\nmen and things much more than directly.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You do
\nnot seem to have understood my answer at all. In the ordinary consciousness in
\nwhich the mind etc. are not awakened the psychic acts as well as it can through
\nthem, but according to the laws of the Ignorance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All
\nbelongs to Nature \u2013 the soul itself acts under the conditions and by the agency
\nof Nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nsoul is always pure, but the knowledge and force in it are involved and come out
\nonly as the psychic being evolves and grows stronger.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\npsychic being is the soul evolving in course of birth and <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 297<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\nrebirth and the soul is a portion of the Divine \u2013 but with the soul there is
\nalways the veiled Divine, Hrishikesha<\/span>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nDivine is always in the inner heart and does not leave it. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\n[the psychic] is constantly in contact with the immanent Divine \u2013 the Divine
\nsecret in the individual.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They
\n[the psychic being and the Divine Presence in the heart] are quite different
\nthings. The psychic being is one’s own individual soul-being. It is not the
\nDivine, though it has come from the Divine and develops towards the Divine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\nthe psychic that is in direct relation with the transcendent Divine and leads
\nthe nature upwards towards the Supreme.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\npsychic is the support of the individual evolution; it is connected with the
\nuniversal both by direct contact and through the mind, vital and body.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\ncontribution of the psychic being to the sadhana is: (1) love and bhakti, a love
\nnot vital, demanding and egoistic but unconditioned and without claims,
\nself-existent; (2) the contact or the presence of the Mother within; (3) the
\nunerring guidance from within; (4) a quieting and purification of the mind,
\nvital and physical consciousness by their subjection to the psychic influence
\nand guidance; (5) the opening up of all this lower consciousness
\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 298<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\n\t\tto the higher spiritual consciousness above for its descent into a
\n\t\tnature prepared to receive it with a complete receptivity and right
\n\t\tattitude \u2013 for the psychic brings in everything right thought, right
\n\t\tperception, right feeling, right attitude. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t <\/p>\n

\nOne can raise up one’s consciousness from the mental and vital and bring down
\nthe power, Ananda, light, knowledge from above; but this is far more difficult
\nand uncertain in its result, even dangerous, if the being is not prepared or not
\npure enough. To ascend with the psychic for the purpose is by far the best way.
\nIf you are thus rising from the psychic centre, so much the better. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nWhat you say indicates that the psychic and mental centres<\/span>
\nare in communication and through them you are able to bring down things from the
\nhigher consciousness. But you have not changed your head centre for the
\nabove-head centre or for the above-head wideness. That usually comes by a
\ngradual rising of the conscious parts to the top of the head and then above it.
\nBut this must not be strained after or forced; it will come of itself.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\npsychic being is the soul, the Purusha in the secret heart supporting by its
\npresence the action of the mind, life and body. The vital is the prānamaya<\/i><\/span> purusa <\/i>
\nspoken of in the
\nTaittirīya<\/i><\/span> Upanisad<\/span><\/i>, the
\nbeing behind the Force of Life; in its outer form in the Ignorance it generates
\nthe desire-soul which governs most men and which they mistake often for the real
\nsoul.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe Atman is the Self or Spirit that remains above, pure and stainless,
\nunaffected by the stains of life, by desire and ego and ignorance. It is
\nrealised as the true being of the individual, but also more widely as the same
\nbeing in all and as the Self in the cosmos; it has also a self-existence above
\nthe individual and cosmos and it is then called the Paramatma<\/span>,
\nthe supreme Divine Being. This distinction has nothing to do with the
\ndistinction between the psychic and the vital: the vital being is not what is
\nknown as the Atman. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe vital as the desire-soul and desire-nature controls the consciousness to a
\nlarge extent in most men, because men are governed by desire. But even in the
\nsurface human nature the <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 299<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

proper
\nruler of the consciousness is the mental being,
\nmanomayah purusah prāna-śarīra-netā<\/span><\/i> of the Upanishad. The psychic
\ninfluences the consciousness from behind, but one has to go out of the ordinary
\nconsciousness into the inmost being to find it and make it the ruler of the
\nconsciousness as it should be. To do that is one of the principal aims of the
\nyoga. The vital should be an instrument of the consciousness, not its ruler. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe vital being is not the I \u2013 the ego is mental, vital, physical. Ego implies
\nthe identification of our existence with outer self, the ignorance of our true
\nself above and our psychic being within us. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIn a certain sense the various Purushas<\/span> or beings in
\nus, psychic, mental, vital, physical are projections of the Atman, but that gets
\nits full truth only when we get into our inner being and know the inner truth of
\nourselves. On the surface, in the Ignorance, it is the mental, vital, physical
\nPrakriti that acts and the Purusha is disfigured, as it were, in the action of
\nthe Prakriti. It is not our true mental being, our true vital being, our true
\nphysical being even that we are aware of; these remain behind, veiled and
\nsilent. It is the mental, vital, physical ego that we take for our being until
\nwe get knowledge. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

The
\nsoul and the life are two quite different powers. The soul is a spark of the
\nDivine Spirit which supports the individual nature; mind, life, body are the
\ninstruments for the manifestation of the nature. In most men the soul is hidden
\nand covered over by the action of the external nature; they mistake the vital
\nbeing for the soul, because it is the vital which animates and moves the body.
\nBut this vital being is a thing made up of desires and executive forces, good
\nand bad; it is the desire-soul, not the true thing. It is when the true soul
\n(psyche) comes forward and begins first to influence and then govern the actions
\nof the instrumental nature that man begins to overcome vital desire and grow
\ntowards a divine nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 300<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

           
\n1. The soul and the psychic being are practically the same, except that even in
\nthings which have not developed a psychic being, there is still a spark of the
\nDivine which can be called the soul. The psychic being is called in Sanskrit the
\nPurusha in the heart or the Chaitya<\/span> Purusha. (The
\npsychic being is the soul developing in the evolution.) <\/p>\n

\n2. The distinction between Purusha and Prakriti is according to the Sankhya
\nSystem \u2013 the Purusha is the silent witness consciousness which observes the
\nactions of Prakriti \u2013 Prakriti is the force of Nature which one feels as doing
\nall the actions, when one gets rid of the sense of the ego as doer. Then there
\nis the realisation of these 2 entities. This is quite different from the psychic
\nbeing. It is felt in the mind, vital, physical \u2013 most easily in the mind where
\nthe mental being  <\/span>(Purusha) is seated
\nand controls the others (manomayah purusah prāna-śarīra-netā<\/span><\/i>).
\n <\/p>\n

\n3. Prajna<\/span>, Taijasa<\/span>, etc. are a
\ndifferent classification and have to do, not with the different parts of the
\nbeing, but with three different states (waking, dream, sleep \u2013 gross, subtle,
\ncausal). <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nI think one ought not to try to relate these different things to each other \u2013 as
\nthat may lead to confusion. They belong to<\/p>\n

\ndifferent categories \u2013 and to a different order of experiences. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nmental being within watches, observes and passes judgment on all that happens in
\nyou. The psychic does not watch and observe in this way like a witness, but it
\nfeels and knows spontaneously in a much more direct and luminous way, by the
\nvery purity of its own nature and the divine instinct within it, and so,
\nwhenever it comes to the front it reveals at once what are the right and what
\nthe wrong movements in your nature. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe being of man is composed of these elements \u2013 the psychic behind supporting
\nall, the inner mental, vital and physical, and the outer, quite external nature
\nof mind, life and body which is their instrument of expression. But above all is
\nthe central being (Jivatma<\/span>) which uses them all for
\nits manifestation: it is a portion of the Divine Self; but this reality of
\nhimself is
\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 301<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

hidden
\nfrom the external man who replaces this inmost self and soul of him by the
\nmental and vital ego. It is only those who have begun to know themselves that
\nbecome aware of their true central being; but still it is always there standing
\nbehind the action of mind, life and body and is most directly represented by the
\npsychic which is itself a spark of the Divine. It is by the growth of the
\npsychic element in one’s nature that one begins to come into conscious touch
\nwith one’s central being above. When that happens and the central being uses a
\nconscious will to control and organize the movements of the nature, it is then
\nthat one has a real, a spiritual as opposed to a partial and merely mental or
\nmoral self-mastery.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nmental being spoken of by the Upanishad is not part of the mental nervous
\nphysical composite \u2013 it is the manomayah purusah
\nprāna-śarīra-netā<\/span><\/i>, the mental being leader of the life and body. It
\ncould not be so described if it were part of the composite. Nor can the
\ncomposite or part of it be the Purusha, \u2013 for the composite is composed of
\nPrakriti. It is described as manomaya<\/i><\/span> <\/i>by the Upanishads because the psychic
\nbeing is behind the veil and man being the mental being in the life and body
\nlives in his mind and not in his psychic, so to him the manomaya<\/i><\/span> purusa<\/i> is the leader of the life and body, \u2013 of the psychic behind
\nsupporting the whole he is not aware or dimly aware in his best moments. The
\npsychic is represented in man by the Prime Minister, the manomaya<\/i><\/span>, itself being a mild
\nconstitutional king; it is the manomaya<\/i><\/span> <\/i>to whom
\nPrakriti refers for  <\/span>assent to her
\nactions. But still the statement of the Upanishads gives only the apparent truth
\nof the matter, valid for man and the human stage only \u2013 for in the animal it
\nwould be rather the
\nprānamaya<\/i><\/span> purusa<\/i> that is the netā<\/i><\/span>, leader of mind and body. It
\nis one reason why I have not yet allowed the publication of Rebirth and Karma1 <\/sup>
\nbecause this had to be corrected and the deeper truth put in its place. I had <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1<\/span><\/sup>An incomplete series of articles first published in
\nthe Arya<\/span> intermittently during 1915-21 and
\nsubsequently reprinted without completion in book-form under the title The
\nProblem of Rebirth (February 1952).<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 302<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\nintended to do it later on, but had not the time to finish the remaining
\narticles.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The \u201ctragi<\/span>-ridiculous\u201d
\ninconsistency you speak of comes from the fact that man is not made up of one
\npiece but of many pieces and each part of him has a personality of its own. That
\nis a thing which people yet have not sufficiently realised \u2013 the psychologists
\nhave begun to glimpse it, but recognise only when there is a marked case of
\ndouble or multiple personality. But all men are like that, in reality. The aim
\nshould be in yoga to develop (if one has it not already) a strong central being
\nand harmonise under it all the rest, changing what has to be changed. If this
\ncentral being is the psychic, there is no great difficulty. If it is the mental
\nBeing, manomayah purusah
\nprāna-śarīra-netā<\/span><\/i>, then it is more difficult \u2013
\nunless the mental being can learn to be always in contact with and aided by the
\ngreater Will and Power of the Divine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do
\nnot understand the question as put. Each part has to be kept clear from the
\nother and do its own work and each has to get the Truth in it from the psychic
\nor above. The Truth descending from above will more and more harmonise their
\naction, though the perfect harmony can come only when there is the supramental
\nfulfilment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What
\nyou experience is the first condition of the yogic consciousness and
\nself-knowledge. The ordinary mind knows itself only as an ego with all the
\nmovements of the nature in a jumble and, identifying itself with these
\nmovements, thinks \u201cI am doing this, feeling that, thinking, in joy or in sorrow
\netc.\u201d The first beginning of real self-knowledge is when you feel yourself
\nseparate from the nature in you and its movements and then you see that there
\nare many parts of your being, many personalities each acting on its own behalf
\nand in its own way. The two different beings you feel are \u2013 one, the psychic
\nbeing which draws you <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 303<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\ntowards the Mother, the other the external being mostly vital which draws you
\noutward and downwards towards the play of the lower nature. There is also in you
\nbehind the mind the being who observes, the witness Purusha, who can stand
\ndetached from the play of the nature, observing it and able to choose. It has to
\nput itself always on the side of the psychic being and assent to and support its
\nmovement and to reject the downward and outward movement of the lower nature,
\nwhich has to be subjected to the psychic and changed by its influence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nmoral of the condition you describe is not that yoga should not be done but that
\nyou have to go steadily healing the rift between the two parts of the being. The
\ndivision is very usual, almost universal in human nature, and the following of
\nthe lower impulse in spite of the contrary will in the higher parts happens to
\nalmost everybody. It is the phenomenon noted by Arjuna<\/span>
\nin his question to Krishna, \u201cWhy does one do evil though one wishes not to do
\nit, as if compelled to it by force?\u201d, and expressed sententiously by Horace:
\n\u201cvideo meliora<\/span> proboque<\/span>, Deteriora<\/span> sequor\u201d.1 <\/sup>By constant effort and
\naspiration one can arrive at a turning point when the psychic asserts itself and
\nwhat seems a very slight psychological change of reversal alters the whole
\nbalance of the nature. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You
\ntake the outer waking consciousness as if it were the real person or being and
\nconclude that if it is not this but something else that has the realisation or
\nabides in the realisation, then no one has it \u2013 for there is no one here except
\nthe waking consciousness. That is the very error by which the ignorance lasts
\nand cannot be got rid of. The very first step in getting out of the ignorance is
\nto accept the fact that this outer consciousness is not one’s soul, not oneself,
\nnot the real person, but only a temporary formation on the surface for the
\npurposes of the surface play. The soul, the person is within, not on the surface
\n\u2013 the outer<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1<\/span><\/sup> \u201cI see the better and approve of it, I follow the
\nworse.\u201d<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 304<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\npersonality is the person only in the first sense of the Latin word persona
\nwhich meant originally a mask.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\npsychic has the position you speak of, because the psychic is in touch with the
\nDivine in the lower nature. But the inner mind, vital and physical are a part of
\nthe universal and open to the dualities \u2013 only they are wider than the external
\nmind, life and body, and can receive more largely and easily the divine
\ninfluence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nword Antaratma<\/span>
\nis very vaguely used like the word soul in English \u2013 so used, it covers all the
\ninner being, inner mind, inner vital, inner physical even, as well as the inmost
\nbeing, the psychic.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nEuropean mind, for the most part, has never been able to go beyond the formula
\nof soul+body<\/span>
\n\u2013 usually including mind in soul and everything except body in mind. Some
\noccultists make a distinction between spirit, soul and body. At the same time
\nthere must be some vague feeling that soul and mind are not quite the same
\nthing, for there is the phrase \u201cThis man has no soul\u201d, or \u201che is a soul\u201d meaning
\nhe has something in him beyond a mere mind and body. But all that is very vague.
\nThere is no clear distinction between mind and soul and none between mind and
\nvital and often the vital is taken for the soul. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But
\nthat1 <\/sup>is just what is disputed by the Western scientific mind or was
\nup till yesterday and is still considered as unverifiable today. It is contended
\nthat the idea of self is an illusion \u2013 apart from the body. It is the
\nexperiences of the body that create the idea of a self and the desire to live
\nprolongs itself illusorily in the <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 305<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

notion
\nthat the self outlasts the body. The West is accustomed besides to the Christian
\nidea that the self is created with the body \u2013 an idea which the Christians took
\nover from the Jews who believed in God but not in immortality \u2013 so the Western
\nmind is dead set against any idea of reincarnation. Even the religious used to
\nbelieve that the soul was born in the body, God first making the body then
\nbreathing the soul into it (Prana?). It is difficult for Europeans to get over
\nthis past mental inheritance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\npsychic being is described in the Upanishads as no bigger than the size of one’s
\nthumb! That of course is a symbolic image. For usually when one sees anybody’s
\npsychic being in a form, it is bigger than that. As for the inner being, one
\nfeels it big because the true mental or the true vital or even the true physical
\nbeing is much wider in consciousness than the external consciousness which is
\nlimited by the body. If the external parts seem to occupy the whole
\nconsciousness, it is when one comes down into the physical and feels all the
\nactivities of Nature playing on it \u2013 even the mental and vital movements are
\nthen felt through the physical and as things of a separate plane. But when one
\nlives in the inner being then one is aware of a consciousness which begins to
\nspread into the universal and the external is only a surface movement thrown up
\nby the universal forces.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes,
\nthe psychic being has a form. But that does not appear from the photo; for the
\npsychic has not always or usually a form closely resembling that of the physical
\nbody, it is sometimes even quite different. When looking at the photo what is
\nseen is not a form, but something of the consciousness that either is expressed
\nin the body or comes through somehow; one perceives or feels it there through
\nthe photo. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 306<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

The
\nsoul is not limited by any form, but the psychic being puts out a form for its
\nexpression just as the mental, vital and subtle physical
\nPurushas<\/span> do \u2013 that is to say, one can see or another person can see one’s
\npsychic being in such and such a form. But this seeing is of two kinds \u2013 there
\nis the standing characteristic form taken by this being in this life and there
\nare symbolic forms such as when one sees the psychic as a new-born child in the
\nlap of the Mother.
\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIf the sadhak in question really saw his psychic in the form of a woman it can
\nonly have been a constructed appearance expressing some quality or attribute of
\nthe psychic.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VI<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are always two different
\nconsciousnesses in the human being, one outward in which he ordinarily lives,
\nthe other inward and concealed of which he knows nothing. When one does
\nsadhana, the inner consciousness begins to open and one is able to go inside
\nand have all kinds of experiences there. As the sadhana progresses, one begins
\nto live more and more in this inner being and the outer becomes more and more
\nsuperficial. At first the inner consciousness seems to be the dream and the
\nouter the waking reality. Afterwards the inner consciousness becomes the
\nreality and the outer is felt by many as a dream or delusion, or else as
\nsomething superficial and external. The inner consciousness begins to be a
\nplace of deep peace, light, happiness, love, closeness to the Divine or the
\npresence of the Divine, the Mother. One is then aware of two consciousnesses,
\nthe inner one and the outer which has to be changed into its counterpart and
\ninstrument \u2013 that also must become full of peace, light, union with the Divine.
\nAt present you are moving between the two and in this period all the feelings
\nyou have are quite natural. You must not be at all anxious about that, but wait
\nfor the full development of the inner consciousness in which you will be able
\nto live. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 307<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

I did not mean by the inner being
\nthe psychic or inmost being. It is the psychic being that feels love, bhakti and
\nunion with the Mother. I was speaking of the inner mental, inner vital, inner
\nphysical; in order to reach the hidden seat of the psychic one has first to
\npass through these things. When one leaves the outer consciousness and goes
\ninside, it is here that one enters\u2014some or most entering into the inner vital
\nfirst, others into the inner mental or inner physical; the emotional vital is
\nthe most direct road, for the seat of the psychic is just behind the emotional
\nin the heart-centre. It is absolutely necessary for our purpose that one should
\nbecome conscious in these inner regions, for if they are not awake, then the
\npsychic being has no proper and sufficient instrumentation for its activities;
\nit has then only the outer mind, outer vital and body for its means and these
\nare too small and narrow and obscure. You as yet have been able only to enter
\nthe outskirts of the inner vital and are still insufficiently conscious there.
\nBy becoming more conscious there and going deeper one can reach the psychic \u2013 the
\nsafe refuge, nirāpada<\/i><\/span> sthāna<\/span><\/i>,
\nof which you speak; then you will not be disturbed by the confused visions and
\nexperiences of the inner vital outskirts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The inner consciousness means the
\ninner mind, inner vital, inner physical and behind them the psychic which is
\ntheir inmost being. But the inner mind is not the higher mind; it is more in
\ntouch with the universal forces and more open to the higher consciousness and
\ncapable of an immensely deeper and larger range of action than the outer or
\nsurface mind \u2013 but it is of the same essential nature. The higher consciousness
\nis that above the ordinary mind and different from it in its workings; it
\nranges from higher mind through illumined mind, intuition and overmind up to
\nthe border line of the supramental.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If the psychic
\nwere liberated, free to act in its own way, there would not be all this
\nstumbling in the Ignorance. But the psychic is covered up by the ignorant mind,
\nvital and physical and compelled to act through them according to the law of
\nthe Ignorance. If it is liberated from this covering, then it can act <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 308<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

according to its own nature with
\na free aspiration, a direct contact with the higher consciousness and a power
\nto change the ignorant nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The true being mental, vital or subtle
\nphysical has always the greater qualities of its plane \u2013 it is the Purusha and
\nlike the psychic, though in another way, the projection of the Divine,
\ntherefore in connection with the higher consciousness and reflects something of
\nit, though it is not altogether that \u2013 it is also in tune with the cosmic
\nTruth.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is behind all the vital
\nnature in man his true vital being concealed and immobile which is quite
\ndifferent from the surface vital nature. The surface vital is narrow, ignorant,
\nlimited, full of obscure desires, passions, cravings, revolts, pleasures and
\npains, transient joys and griefs, exultations and depressions. The true vital
\nbeing, on the contrary, is wide, vast, calm, strong, without limitations, firm
\nand immovable, capable of all power, all knowledge, all Ananda. It is moreover
\nwithout ego, for it knows itself to be a projection and instrument of the
\nDivine: it is the divine Warrior, pure and perfect; in it is an instrumental
\nForce for all divine realisations. It is the true vital being that has become
\nawake and come in front within you. In the same way there is too a true mental
\nbeing, a true physical being. When these are manifest, then you are aware of a
\ndouble existence in you: that behind is always calm and strong, that on the
\nsurface alone is troubled and obscure. But if the true being behind remains
\nstable and you live in it, then the trouble and obscurity remain only on the
\nsurface; in this condition the exterior parts can be dealt with more potently
\nand they also made free and perfect.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It [the true vital] is capable of
\nreceiving the movements of the higher consciousness, and afterwards it can be
\ncapable of
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 309<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

receiving the still greater
\nsupramental power and Ananda. If it is not, then the descent of the higher
\nconsciousness would be impossible and supramentalisation would be impossible.
\nIt is not meant that it possesses these things itself in its own right and that
\nas soon as one is aware of the true vital, one gets all these things as
\ninherent in the true vital.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The true vital is in the inner
\nconsciousness, the external is that which is instrumental for the present play
\nof Prakriti in the surface personality. When the change comes, the true vital
\nrejects what is out of tune with its own truth from the external and makes it a
\ntrue instrument for its expression, a means of expression of its inner will,
\nnot a thing of responses to the suggestions of the lower Nature. The strong
\ndistinction between the two practically disappears.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The true vital consciousness is
\none in which the vital makes full surrender, converts itself into an instrument
\nof the Divine, making no demand, insisting on no desire, answering to the
\nMother’s force and to no other, calm, unegoistic, giving an absolute loyalty and
\nobedience, with no personal vanity or ambition, only asking to be a pure and
\nperfect instrument, desiring nothing for itself but that the Truth may prevail
\nwithin itself and everywhere and the Divine Victory take place and the Divine
\nWork be done.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It [the illumined vital] is in
\ncontact with the Divine Power or the higher Truth and seeks to transform itself
\nand become a true instrument \u2013 it rejects the ordinary vital movements. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 310<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

If the inner being does not manifest
\nor act, the outer will never get transformed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The outer consciousness is that
\nwhich usually expresses itself in ordinary life. It is the external mental,
\nvital, physical. It is not connected very much with the inner being except in a
\nfew \u2013 until one connects them together in the course of the sadhana.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They [the inner mind and the
\ninner vital] exercise an influence and send out their powers or suggestions
\nwhich the outer sometimes carries out as best it can, sometimes does not follow.
\nHow much they work on the outer depends on how far the individual has an inner
\nlife. E.g. the poet, musician, artist, thinker, live much from within \u2013 men of
\ngenius and those who try to live according to an ideal also. But there are
\nplenty of people who have very little inner life and are governed entirely by
\nthe forces of Nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As one gathers experience from
\nlife to life, mental or vital, the inner mind and vital also develop according
\nto the use made of our experiences and the extent to which they are utilised
\nfor the growth of the being.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The outer being is a means of
\nexpression only, not one’s self. One must not identify with it, for what it
\nexpresses is a personality formed by the old ignorant nature. If not identified
\none can change it so as to express the true inner personality of the Light.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They [the outer mind, vital and
\nbody] are small, but not unimportant in spite of their apparent insignificance
\n\u2013 because they
\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 311<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

are a necessary passage of transmission
\nbetween the soul and the outer world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The outer consciousness is shut
\nup in the body limitation and in the little bit of personal mind and sense
\ndependent on the body \u2013 it sees only the outward, sees only things. But the
\ninner consciousness can see behind the thing, it is aware of the play of
\nforces, personal or universal \u2013 for it is in conscious touch with the universal
\naction. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Our inner being is in touch with
\nuniversal mind, life and Matter; it is a part of all that, but by that very
\nfact it cannot be in possession of liberation and peace. You are thinking
\nprobably of the Atman and confusing it with the inner being.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The inner being cannot be
\n\u201clocated\u201d above, it can only join with the above, penetrate it and be penetrated
\nby it. If it were located above, then there would be no inner being.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do not know what you mean by it
\n(inner being) being \u201caround\u201d the psychic. It is obviously nearer to the psychic
\nthan the outer mind, vital or physical, but that does not insure its being open
\nto the psychic only and not to the other universal forces.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The psychic can have peace behind
\nit \u2013 but the inner mind, vital and physical are not necessarily silent \u2013 they
\nare full of movements. It is the higher consciousness that has a basis of
\npeace. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 312<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

The inner being is not usually
\nunquiet but it can be quiet or unquiet like the outer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The inner parts in everybody
\nremain vulgar or become high according as they are turned to the outward forces
\nof the Ignorance or towards the higher forces from above and the inner
\nimpulsion of the psychic. All forces can play there. It is the outer being that
\nis fixed in a certain character, certain tendencies, certain movements. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The inner being has its own time
\nwhich is sometimes slower, sometimes faster than the physical. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nVII<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The individual is not limited to
\nthe physical body \u2013 it is only the external consciousness which feels like
\nthat. As soon as one gets over this feeling of limitation, one can feel first
\nthe inner consciousness which is connected with the body, but does not belong
\nto it, afterwards the planes of consciousness above the body, also a
\nconsciousness surrounding the body, but part of oneself, part of the individual
\nbeing, through which one is in contact with the cosmic forces and with other
\nbeings. The last is what I have called the environmental consciousness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Each man has his own personal
\nconsciousness entrenched in his body and gets into touch with his surroundings
\nonly through his body and senses and the mind using the senses.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yet all the time
\nthe universal forces are pouring into him without his knowing it. He is aware
\nonly of thoughts, feelings, etc., that rise to the surface and these he takes
\nfor his own. Really they come from outside in mind waves, vital waves, waves of
\nfeeling and sensation, etc., which take particular form in <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 313<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

him and rise to the surface after
\nthey have got inside. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But they do not
\nget into his body at once. He carries about with him an environmental
\nconsciousness (called by the Theosophists the Aura) into which they first
\nenter. If you can become conscious of this environmental self of yours, then
\nyou can catch the thought, passion, suggestion or force of illness and prevent
\nit from entering into you. If things in you are thrown out, they often do not
\ngo altogether but take refuge in this environmental atmosphere and from there
\nthey try to get in again. Or they go to a distance outside but linger on the
\noutskirts or even perhaps far off, waiting till they get an opportunity to
\nattempt entrance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The environmental is not a world
\n\u2013 it is an individual thing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They [the subconscient<\/span>
\nand the environmental consciousness] are two quite different things. What is
\nstored in the subconscient<\/span> \u2013 impressions, memories,
\nrise up from there into the conscious parts. In the environmental things are
\nnot stored up and fixed, although they move about there. It is full of
\nmobility, a field of vibration or passage of forces. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It [the environmental
\nconsciousness] can become silent when there is the wideness. One can become
\nconscious of it and deal with what passes through it. A man without it would be
\nwithout contact with the rest of the world. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nVIII<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The consciousness in the individual
\nwidens itself into the cosmic consciousness outside and can have any kind of
\ndealing with it, penetrate, know its movements, act upon it or receive from it, <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 314<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

even become commensurate with or
\ncontain it, which is what was meant in the language of the old yogas<\/span> by having the Brahmanda<\/span>
\nwithin you. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The cosmic
\nconsciousness is that of the universe, of the cosmic spirit and cosmic Nature
\nwith all the beings and forces within it. All that is as much conscious as a
\nwhole as the individual separately is, though in a different way. The
\nconsciousness of the individual is part of this, but a part feeling itself as a
\nseparate being. Yet all the time most of what he is comes into him from the
\ncosmic consciousness. But there is a wall of separative ignorance between. Once
\nit breaks down he becomes aware of the cosmic Self, of the consciousness of the
\ncosmic Nature, of the forces playing in it, etc. He feels all that as he now
\nfeels physical things and impacts. He finds it all to be one with his larger or
\nuniversal self.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is the
\nuniversal mental, the universal vital, the universal physical Nature and it is
\nout of a selection of their forces and movements that the individual mind,
\nvital and physical are made. The soul comes from beyond this nature of mind,
\nlife and body. It belongs to the transcendent and because of it we can open to
\nthe higher Nature beyond.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Divine is
\nalways One that is Many. The individual spirit is part of the \u201cMany\u201d side of
\nthe One, and the psychic being is what it puts forth to evolve here in the
\nearth-nature. In liberation the individual self realises itself as the One
\n(that is yet Many). It may plunge into the One and merge or hide itself in its
\nbosom \u2013 that is the laya<\/i><\/span> <\/i>of the Adwaita; it may feel its oneness
\nand yet as part of the Many that is One enjoy the Divine, that is the Dwaitadwaita<\/span> liberation; it may lay stress on its Many
\naspect and be possessed by the Divine, the Visishtadwaita<\/span>
\nor go on playing with Krishna in the eternal Vrindavan<\/span>,
\nthe Dwaita<\/span> liberation. Or it may, even being
\nliberated, remain in the Lila or manifestation or descend into it as often as
\nit likes.<\/p>\n

The Divine is not bound by human
\nphilosophies \u2013 it is free in its play and free in its essence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is no difference between the
\nterms \u201cuniversal\u201d and \u201c <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 315<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

cosmic\u201d except that \u201cuniversal\u201d
\ncan be used in a freer way than \u201ccosmic\u201d. Universal may mean \u201cof the universe\u201d,
\ncosmic in that general sense. But it may also mean \u201ccommon to all\u201d, e.g., \u201cThis
\nis a universal weakness\u201d \u2013 but you cannot say \u201cThis is a cosmic weakness\u201d.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. The spiritual
\nconsciousness is that in which we enter into the awareness of Self, the Spirit,
\nthe Divine and are able to see in all things their essential reality and the
\nplay of forces and phenomena as proceeding from that essential Reality. <\/p>\n

2. The cosmic
\nconsciousness is that in which the limits of ego, personal mind and body
\ndisappear and one becomes aware of a cosmic vastness which is or filled by a
\ncosmic spirit and aware also of the direct play of cosmic forces, universal
\nmind forces, universal life forces, universal energies of Matter, universal
\novermind forces. But one does not become aware of all these together; the
\nopening of the cosmic consciousness is usually progressive. It is not that the
\nego, the body, the personal mind disappear, but one feels them as only a small
\npart of oneself. One begins to feel others too as part of oneself or varied
\nrepetitions of oneself, the same self modified by Nature in other bodies. Or,
\nat the least, as living in the larger universal self which is henceforth one’s
\nown greater reality. All things in fact begin to change their nature and
\nappearance; one’s whole experience of the world is radically different from
\nthat of those who are shut up in their personal selves. One begins to know
\nthings by a different kind of experience, more direct, not depending on the
\nexternal mind and the senses. It is not that the possibility of error
\ndisappears, for that cannot be so long as mind of any kind is one’s instrument
\nfor transcribing knowledge, but there is a new, vast and deep way of
\nexperiencing, seeing, knowing, contacting things; and the confines of knowledge
\ncan be rolled back to an almost unmeasurable<\/span> degree.
\nThe thing one has to be on guard against in the cosmic consciousness is the
\nplay of a magnified ego, the vaster attacks of the hostile forces \u2013 for they
\ntoo are part of the cosmic consciousness \u2013 and the attempt of the <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 316<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

cosmic Illusion (Ignorance, Avidya<\/span>) to prevent the growth of the soul into the cosmic
\nTruth. These are things that one has to learn from experience; mental teaching
\nor explanation is quite insufficient. To enter safely into the cosmic
\nconsciousness and to pass safely through it, it is necessary to have a strong
\ncentral unegoistic sincerity and to have the psychic being, with its divination
\nof truth and unfaltering orientation towards the Divine, already in front in
\nthe nature.
\n <\/p>\n

3. The ordinary
\nconsciousness is that in which one knows things only or mainly by the
\nintellect, the external mind and the senses and knows forces etc. only by their
\noutward manifestations and results and the rest by inferences from these data.
\nThere may be some play of mental intuition, deeper psychic seeing or
\nimpulsions, spiritual intimations, etc. \u2013 but in the ordinary consciousness
\nthese are incidental only and do not modify its fundamental character. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The ordinary man lives in his own
\npersonal consciousness knowing things through his mind and senses as they are
\ntouched by a world which is outside him, outside his consciousness. When the
\nconsciousness subtilises<\/span>, it begins to come into
\ncontact with things in a much more direct way, not only with their forms and
\nouter impacts but with what is inside them, but still the range may be small.
\nBut the consciousness can also widen and begin to be first in direct contact
\nwith a universe of range of things in the world, then to contain them as it
\nwere, \u2013 as it is said to see the world in oneself, \u2013 and to be in a way
\nidentified with it. To see all things in the self and the self in all things \u2013 to
\nbe aware of one being everywhere, aware directly of the different planes, their
\nforces, their beings \u2013 that is universalisation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, certainly [in the cosmic Mind
\nthere is a stratum of the physical mind], there is nothing in the individual
\nthat is not in the cosmic Energy. For all ordinary purposes the individual is <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 317<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

only a differentiated centre of
\nthe universal forces \u2013 although his soul comes from beyond.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As he [each human being] lives in
\na separative consciousness, he makes a mental world of his own out of his
\nexperiences of the common world in which all here live. It is built in the same
\nway as that of others and he receives into it the thoughts, feelings of others,
\nwithout knowing it most often, and uses that too as material for his separate
\nworld.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All life is the play of universal
\nforces. The individual gives a personal form to these universal forces. But he
\ncan choose whether he shall respond or not to the action of a particular force.
\nOnly most people do not really choose \u2013 they indulge the play of the forces.
\nYour illnesses, depressions etc. are the repeated play of such forces. It is
\nonly when one can make oneself free of them that one can be the true person and
\nhave a true life \u2013 but one can be free only by living in the Divine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is Prakriti (Nature) that
\nsends these impulses. Nature sends all kinds of forces and experiences to each.
\nIt is for you as a conscious being (Purusha) to choose whether you shall do or
\nnot do; you should reject what you see to be wrong, accept only what is true
\nand right. In Nature there is the higher and the lower, the true and the false.
\nWhat the Divine wants of you is that you should grow in the Truth and the
\nhigher Nature, reject the false and the lower Nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One can not only receive a force,
\nbut an impulse, thought or sensation. One may receive it from others, from
\nbeings in <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 318<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

Nature or from Nature herself if she
\nchooses to give her Force a ready-made form of that kind. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. There can be
\na vital without desire. When desire disappears from the being, the vital does
\nnot disappear with it.
\n <\/p>\n

2. By Prakriti
\nis meant universal Prakriti. Universal Prakriti entering into the vital being
\ncreates desires which appear by its habitual response as an individual nature;
\nbut if the habitual desires she throws in are rejected and exiled, the being
\nremains but the old individual Prakriti of vital desire is no longer there \u2013 a
\nnew nature is formed responding to the Truth above and not to the lower Nature. <\/p>\n

3. Universal
\nPrakriti determined it [the habit of response] and the soul or Purusha accepted
\nit. In the acceptance lies the responsibility. The Purusha is that which sanctions
\nor refuses. The vital being responds to the ordinary life waves in the animal;
\nman responds to them but has the power of mental control. He has also, as the
\nmental Purusha is awake in him, the power to choose whether he shall have
\ndesire or train his being to surmount it. Finally there is the possibility of
\nbringing down a higher nature which will not be subject to desire but act on
\nanother vital principle.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is not possible for the
\nindividual mind, so long as it remains shut up in its personality, to
\nunderstand the workings of the Cosmic Will, for the standards made by the
\npersonal consciousness are not applicable to them. A cell in the body, if
\nconscious, might also think that the human being and its actions are only the
\nresultant of the relations and workings of a number of cells like itself and
\nnot the action of a unified self. It is only if one enters into the Cosmic
\nConsciousness that one begins to see the forces at work and the lines on which
\nthey work and get a glimpse of the Cosmic Self and the Cosmic Mind and Will. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 319<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

There is no ignorance that is not
\npart of the Cosmic Ignorance, only in the individual it becomes a limited
\nformation and movement, while the Cosmic Ignorance is the whole movement of
\nworld consciousness separated from the supreme Truth and acting in an inferior
\nmotion in which the Truth is perverted, diminished, mixed and clouded with
\nfalsehood and error. The Cosmic Truth is the view on things of a cosmic
\nconsciousness in which things are seen in their true essence and their true
\nrelation to the Divine and to each other.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The cosmic Truth is the truth of
\nthings as they are at present expressed in the universe. The Divine Truth is
\nindependent of the universe, above it and originates it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The yogi’s experiences are
\nspiritual experiences \u2013 experience of the play of the Forces and its relation
\nwith the self, the action of the Guide, what is behind the appearance of things,
\noccurrences etc., etc., the actual realities of the workings of Purusha and
\nPrakriti etc. The Divine Truth is the Truth of the Divine Essence,
\nConsciousness, Self, Knowledge, Light, Power, Bliss. It is something from which
\nthe cosmos derives with all its movements, but it is more than the cosmos.
\n <\/p>\n

\nIX<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The \u201cMind\u201d in the ordinary use of
\nthe word covers indiscriminately the whole consciousness, for man is a mental
\nbeing and mentalises<\/span> everything; but in the language
\nof this yoga the words \u201cmind\u201d and \u201cmental\u201d are used to connote specially the
\npart of the nature which has to do with cognition and intelligence, with ideas,
\nwith mental or thought perceptions, the reactions of thought to things, with
\nthe truly mental movements and formations, mental vision and will, etc., that
\nare part of his intelligence. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 320<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

The vital has to be carefully
\ndistinguished from mind, even though it has a mind element transfused into it;
\nthe vital is the Life-nature made up of desires, sensations, feelings,
\npassions, energies of action, will of desire, reactions of the desire-soul in
\nman and of all that play of possessive and other related instincts, anger,
\nfear, greed, lust, etc., that belong to this field of the nature. Mind and
\nvital are mixed up on the surface of the consciousness, but they are quite
\nseparate forces in themselves and as soon as one gets behind the ordinary
\nsurface consciousness one sees them as separate, discovers their distinction
\nand can with the aid of this knowledge analyse<\/span> their
\nsurface mixtures. It is quite possible and even usual during a time shorter or
\nlonger, sometimes very long, for the mind to accept the Divine or the yogic
\nideal while the vital is unconvinced and unsurrendered<\/span>
\nand goes obstinately on its way of desire, passion and attraction to the
\nordinary life. Their division or their conflict is the cause of most of the
\nmore acute difficulties of the sadhana.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

St. Augustine was a man of God
\nand a great saint, but great saints are not always \u2013 or often \u2013 great
\npsychologists or great thinkers. The psychology here is that of the most
\nsuperficial schools, if not that of the man in the street; there are as many
\nerrors in it as there are psychological statements \u2013 and more, for several are
\nnot expressed but involved in what he writes. I am aware that these errors are
\npractically universal, for psychological enquiry in Europe (and without enquiry
\nthere can be no sound knowledge) is only beginning and has not gone very far,
\nand what has reigned in men’s minds up to now is a superficial statement of the
\nsuperficial appearances of our consciousness as they look to us at first view
\nand nothing more. But knowledge only begins when we get away from the surface
\nphenomena and look behind them for their true operations and causes. To the
\nsuperficial view of the outer mind and senses the sun is a little fiery ball
\ncircling in mid air round the earth and the stars twinkling little things stuck
\nin the sky for our benefit at night. Scientific enquiry comes and knocks this
\ninfantile first-view to pieces. The <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 321<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

sun is a huge affair (millions of
\nmiles away from our air) around which the small earth circles, and the stars
\nare huge members of huge systems indescribably distant which have nothing
\napparently to do with the tiny earth and her creatures. All Science is like
\nthat, a contradiction of the sense-view or superficial appearances of things
\nand an assertion of truths which are unguessed<\/span> by the
\ncommon and the uninstructed reason. The same process has to be followed in
\npsychology if we are really to know what our consciousness is, how it is built
\nand made and what is the secret of its functionings or the way out of its
\ndisorder. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are
\nseveral capital and common errors here: \u2013
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>1. That mind and spirit are
\nthe same thing.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>2. That all consciousness can
\nbe spoken of as \u201cmind\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>3. That all consciousness
\ntherefore is of a spiritual substance.<\/p>\n

                  4.
\nThat the body is merely Matter, not conscious, therefore something quite
\ndifferent from the spiritual part of the nature. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

First, the spirit and the mind are
\ntwo different things and should not be confused together. The mind is an
\ninstrumental entity or instrumental consciousness whose function is to think
\nand perceive \u2013 the spirit is an essential entity or consciousness which does
\nnot need to think or perceive either in the mental or the sensory way, because
\nwhatever knowledge it has is direct or essential knowledge, svayamprakāśa<\/i><\/span>. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Next, it follows
\nthat all consciousness is not necessarily of a spiritual make and it need not
\nbe true and is not true that the thing commanding and the thing commanded are
\nthe same, are not at all different, are of the same substance and therefore are
\nbound or at least ought to agree together.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Third, it is not
\neven true that it is the mind which is commanding the mind and finds itself
\ndisobeyed by itself. First, there are many parts of the mind, each a force in
\nitself with its formations, functionings, interests, and they may not agree.
\nOne part of the mind may be spiritually influenced and like to think of the
\nDivine and obey the spiritual impulse, another part may be rational or
\nscientific or literary and prefer to follow the formations, beliefs or doubts,
\nmental preferences and interests which are in <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 322<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

conformity with its education and
\nits nature. But quite apart from that, what was commanding in St. Augustine may
\nvery well have been the thinking mind or reason while what was commanded was
\nthe vital, and mind and vital, whatever anybody may say, are not the same. The
\nthinking mind or buddhi <\/i>lives,
\nhowever imperfectly in man, by intelligence and reason. Vital, on the other
\nhand, is a thing of desires, impulses, force-pushes, emotions, sensations, seekings<\/span> after life-fulfilment, possession and enjoyment;
\nthese are its functions and its nature; \u2013 it is that part of us which seeks
\nafter life and its movements for their own sake and it does not want to leave
\nhold of them if they bring it suffering as well as or more than pleasure; it is
\neven capable of luxuriating in tears and suffering as part of the drama of
\nlife. What then is there in common between the thinking intelligence and the
\nvital and why should the latter obey the mind and not follow its own nature?
\nThe disobedience is perfectly normal instead of being, as Augustine suggests,
\nunintelligible. Of course, man can establish a mental control over his vital
\nand in so far as he does it he is a man, \u2013 because the thinking mind is a
\nnobler and more enlightened entity and consciousness than the vital and ought,
\ntherefore, to rule and, if the mental will is strong, can rule. But this rule
\nis precarious, incomplete and held only by much self-discipline. For if the
\nmind is more enlightened, the vital is nearer to earth, more intense, vehement,
\nmore directly able to touch the body. There is too a vital mind which lives by
\nimagination, thoughts of desire, will to act and enjoy from its own impulse and
\nthis is able to seize on the reason itself and make it its auxiliary and its
\njustifying counsel and supplier of pleas and excuses. There is also the sheer
\nforce of Desire in man which is the vital’s<\/span> principal
\nsupport and strong enough to sweep off the reason, as the Gita says, \u201clike a
\nboat on stormy waters\u201d, nāvamivāmbhasi<\/i><\/span>. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Finally, the
\nbody obeys the mind automatically in those things in which it is formed or
\ntrained to obey it, but the relation of the body to the mind is not in
\nall things that of an automatic perfect instrument. The body also has a
\nconsciousness of its own and, though it is a submental<\/span>
\ninstrument or servant consciousness, it can disobey or fail to obey as well. In
\nmany things, in<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 323<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

matters of health and illness for
\ninstance, in all automatic functionings, the body acts on its own and is not a
\nservant of the mind. If it is fatigued, it can offer a passive resistance to
\nthe mind’s will. It can cloud the mind with tamas<\/i>,
\ninertia, dullness, fumes of the subconscient<\/span> so that
\nthe mind cannot act. The arm lifts, no doubt, when it gets the suggestion, but
\nat first the legs do not obey when they are asked to walk; they have to learn
\nhow to leave the crawling attitude and movement and take up the erect and
\nambulatory habit. When you first ask the hand to draw a straight line or to
\nplay music, it can’t do it and won’t do it. It has to be schooled, trained,
\ntaught, and afterwards it does automatically what is required of it. All this
\nproves that there is a body-consciousness which can do things at the mind’s
\norder, but has to be awakened, trained, made a good and conscious instrument.
\nIt can even be so trained that a mental will or suggestion can cure the illness
\nof the body. But all these things, these relations of mind and body, stand on
\nthe same footing in essence as the relation of mind to vital and it is not so
\neasy or primary a matter as Augustine would have it. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This puts the
\nproblem on another footing with the causes more clear and, if we are prepared
\nto go far enough, it suggests the way out, the way of yoga. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

P.S. All this is
\nquite apart from the contributing and very important factor of plural
\npersonality of which psychological enquiry is just beginning rather obscurely
\nto take account. That is a more complex affair. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When the mind is turned towards
\nthe Divine and the Truth and feels and responds to that only or mainly, it can
\nbe called a psychic mind \u2013 it is something formed by the influence of the
\npsychic being on the mental plane. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The spiritual
\nmind is a mind which, in its fullness, is aware of the Self, reflecting the
\nDivine, seeing and understanding the nature of the Self and its relations with
\nthe manifestation, living in that or in contact with it, calm, wide and awake
\nto higher <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 324<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

knowledge, not perturbed by the
\nplay of the forces. When it gets its full liberated movement, its central
\nstation is very usually felt above the head, though its influence can extend
\ndownward through all the being and outward through space.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Spiritual capacity means simply a
\nnatural capacity for true spiritual experience and development. It can be had
\non any plane, but the natural result is that one gets easily into touch with
\nthe Self and the higher planes. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Psychic mind and
\nmental psychic are the same thing practically \u2013 when there is a movement of the
\nmind in which the psychic influence predominates, it is called the psychic in
\nthe mind or the psychic mind.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Higher Mind is one of the planes
\nof the spiritual mind, the first and lowest of them; it is above the normal
\nmental level. Inner mind is that which lies behind the surface mind (our
\nordinary mentality) and can only be directly experienced (apart from its vrttis<\/i><\/span> <\/i>in the surface mind such as philosophy,
\npoetry, idealism, etc.) by sadhana, by breaking down the habit of being on the
\nsurface and by going deeper within. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Larger mind is a
\ngeneral term to cover the realms of mind which become our field whether by
\ngoing within or widening into the cosmic consciousness. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The true mental
\nbeing is not the same as the inner mental \u2013 true mental, true vital, true
\nphysical being means the Purusha of that level freed from the error and
\nignorant thought and will of the lower Prakriti and directly open to the knowledge
\nand guidance above. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Higher vital
\nusually refers to the vital mind and emotive being as opposed to the middle
\nvital which has its seat in the navel and is dynamic, sensational and
\npassionate and the lower which is made up of the smaller movements of human
\nlife-desire and life-reactions. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 325<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

Everything here that belongs
\nstrictly to the earth plane is evolved out of the Inconscient, out of Matter \u2013 but
\nthe essential mental being exists already, not involved, in the mental plane.
\nIt is only the personal mental that is evolved here by something rising out of
\nthe Inconscient and developing under a pressure from above.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The tendency to
\ninquire and know is in itself good, but it must be kept under control. What is
\nneeded for progress in sadhana is gained best by increase of consciousness and
\nexperience and of intuitive knowledge.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Above the head
\nis the universal or Divine Consciousness and Force. The Kundalini is the latent
\npower asleep in the chakras<\/span>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The mind proper
\nis divided into three parts \u2013 thinking Mind, dynamic Mind, externalising<\/span>
\nMind \u2013 the former concerned with ideas and knowledge in their own right, the
\nsecond with the putting out of mental forces for realisation of the idea, the
\nthird with the expression of them in life (not only by speech, but by any form
\nit can give). The word \u201cphysical mind\u201d is rather ambiguous, because it can mean
\nthis externalising<\/span> Mind and the mental in the
\nphysical taken together. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Vital Mind
\nproper is a sort of a mediator between vital emotion, desire, impulsion, etc.
\nand the mental proper. It expresses the desires, feelings, emotions, passions,
\nambitions, possessive and active tendencies of the vital and throws them into
\nmental forms (the pure imaginations or dreams of greatness, happiness, etc. in
\nwhich men indulge are one peculiar form of the vital-mind activity). There is
\nstill a lower stage of the mental in the vital which merely expresses the vital
\nstuff without subjecting it to any play of intelligence. It is through this mental
\nvital that the vital passions, impulses, desires rise up and get into the
\nBuddhi and either cloud or distort it. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As the vital
\nMind is limited by the vital view and feeling of things (while the dynamic
\nIntelligence is not, for it acts by the idea and reason), so the mind in the
\nphysical or mental physical is limited by the physical view and experience of
\nthings, it mentalises<\/span> the experiences brought by the
\ncontacts of outward life <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 326<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

and things, and does not go
\nbeyond that (though it can do that much very cleverly), unlike the externalising<\/span> mind which deals with them more from the
\nreason and its higher intelligence. But in practice these two usually get mixed
\ntogether. The mechanical mind is a much lower action of the mental physical
\nwhich, left to itself, would only repeat customary ideas and record the natural
\nreflexes of the physical consciousness to the contacts of outward life and
\nthings.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The lower vital
\nas distinguished from the higher is concerned only with the small greeds<\/span>, small desires, small passions, etc. which make up
\nthe daily stuff of life for the ordinary sensational man \u2013 while the
\nvital-physical proper is the nervous being giving vital reflexes to contacts of
\nthings with the physical consciousness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is quite usual for the dynamic
\nand formative part of the mind to be more quick to action than the reflective
\nand discriminate part to control it. It is a question of getting a kind of
\nbalance and harmony between them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The thinking mind does not lead
\nmen, does not influence them the most \u2013 it is the vital propensities and the
\nvital mind that predominate. The thinking mind with most men is, in matters of
\nlife, only an instrument of the vital.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The true thinking mind does not
\nbelong to the physical, it is a separate power. The physical mind is that part
\nof the mind which is concerned with the physical things only \u2013 it depends on
\nthe sense-mind, sees only objects, external actions, draws its ideas from the
\ndata given by external things, infers from them only and knows no other Truth
\nuntil it is enlightened from above. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 327<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

The physical mind can deal only
\nwith outward things. One has to think and decide in other things with the mind
\nitself (Buddhi), not with the physical part of it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That part of the being [the
\nphysical mind] has no reason except its whims, its habits or an inclination to
\nbe tamasic.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is the physical mind that
\nwould like everything made easy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The physical mind is in the habit
\nof observing things with or without use.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Repetition is the habit of the
\nmental physical \u2013 it is not the true thinking mind that does like that, it is
\nthe mental physical or else the lowest part of the physical mind.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But the main error here is in
\nyour description of the physical part of the mind \u2013 what you have described
\nthere is the mechanical mental physical or body-mind which when left to itself
\nsimply goes on repeating the past customary thoughts and movements or at the
\nmost adds to them such further mechanical reactions to things and reflexes as
\nare in the round of life. The true physical mind is the receiving and externalising<\/span> intelligence which has two functions \u2013 first,
\nto work upon external things and give them a mental order with a way of
\npractically dealing with them and, secondly, to be the channel of materialising<\/span> and putting into effect whatever the thinking
\nand dynamic mind sends down to it for the purpose.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 328<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

The mechanical mind is a sort of
\nengine \u2013 whatever comes to it it<\/span> puts into the
\nmachine and goes on turning it round and round no matter what it is.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That is the nature of the mental
\nphysical to go on repeating without use the movement that has happened. It is
\nwhat we call the mechanical mind \u2013 it is strong in childhood because the
\nthinking mind is not developed and has besides a narrow range of interests.
\nAfterwards it becomes an undercurrent in the mental activities. It must now
\nhave risen up with the other characteristics of the mental physical because it
\nis in the physical that the action has come down. Sometimes also when there is
\nsilence of the mind, these things come up till they also are quieted down.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From what you describe it seems
\nthat you have got into contact with the mechanical mind whose nature is to go
\non turning round in a circle on the thoughts that come into it. This sometimes
\nhappens when the thinking mind is quiet. This is part of the physical mind and
\nyou should not be disturbed or alarmed by its rising up, but see what it is and
\nquiet it down or get control of its movements.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The vital mind is usually
\nenergetic and creative even in its more mechanical rounds, so it must be the
\nphysical that is turning. It is that and the mechanical that last longest, but
\nthese too fall silent when the peace and silence become massive and complete.
\nAfterwards knowledge begins to come from the higher planes \u2013 the Higher Mind to
\nbegin with, and this creates a new action of thought and perception which
\nreplaces the ordinary mental. It does that first in the thinking mind, but
\nafterwards also in the vital mind and physical mind, so that all these begin to
\ngo through a transformation. This kind of thought is not random and restless,
\nbut precise and purposeful \u2013 it comes only when needed or called for and does
\nnot disturb the silence. Moreover <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 329<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

the element of what we call
\nthought there is secondary and what might be called a seeing perception
\n(intuition) takes its place. But so long as the mind does not become capable of
\na complete silence, this higher knowledge, thought, perception either does not
\ncome down or, if partially it does, it is liable to get mixed up with or
\nimitated by the lower, and that is a bother and a hindrance. So the silence is
\nnecessary. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When the higher consciousness
\ntakes hold of the mechanical mind, it ceases to be mechanical.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The terms Manas, etc. belong to
\nthe ordinary psychology applied to the surface consciousness. In our yoga we
\nadopt a different classification \u2013 based on the yogic experience. What answers
\nto this movement of the Manas there would be two separate things \u2013 a part of
\nthe physical mind communicating with the physical-vital. It receives from the
\nphysical senses and transmits to the Buddhi \u2013 i.e., to some part or other of the
\nThought-Mind. It receives back from the Buddhi and transmits idea and will to
\nthe organs of sensation and action. All that is indispensable in the ordinary
\naction of the consciousness. But in the ordinary consciousness everything gets
\nmixed up together and there is no clear order or rule. In the yoga one becomes
\naware of the different parts and their proper action, and puts each in its
\nplace and to its proper action under the control of the higher Consciousness or
\nelse under the control of the Divine Power. Afterwards all gets surcharged with
\nthe spiritual consciousness and there is an automatic right perception and
\nright action of the different parts because they are controlled entirely from
\nabove and do not falsify or resist or confuse its dictates.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In physical mind there can be an
\naction of intelligent reasoning <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 330<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

and coordination which is a
\ndelegation from the Buddhi and would perhaps not be attributed to the Manas by
\nthe old psychology. Still the larger part of the action of physical mind
\ncorresponds to that of Manas, but it comprises also much of what we would
\nattribute to vital mind and to the nervous being. It is a little difficult to
\nequate this old nomenclature with that of this yoga, for the former takes the
\nmixed action of the surface and tries to analyse<\/span> it \u2013
\nwhile in this yoga what is mixed together on the surface gets separated and
\nseen in the light of the deeper working behind which is hidden from the surface
\nawareness. So we have to adopt a different classification. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The physical mind has first to
\nopen to the higher consciousness \u2013 its limitations are then removed and it
\nadmits what issupraphysical<\/span> and begins to see things
\nin harmony with the higher knowledge. It becomes an instrument for
\nexternalizing that knowledge in the pragmatic perceptions and actions of the
\nphysical life. It sees things as they are and deals with them according to the
\nlarger Truth with an automatic rightness of perception and will and reaction to
\nimpacts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I don’t use these terms [Manas,
\netc.] myself as a rule \u2013 they are the psychological phraseology of the old
\nyoga.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[The function of Manas:] To sense
\nthings and react mentally to objects and convey impressions to the Buddhi etc.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Chitta is the general stuff of
\nmental consciousness which supports Manas and everything else \u2013 it is an
\nindeterminate consciousness which gets determined into thoughts and memories
\nand desires and sensations and perceptions and impulses and feelings (cittavrtti<\/i>).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 331<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

The Chitta is the consciousness
\nout of which all is formed, but the formation is made by the mind or vital or
\nother force\u2014which are, as it were, the instruments of the Chitta for
\nself-expression.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is both ways
\n\u2013 The Chitta receives these things, gives them for formation to the vital and
\nmind and all is transmitted to the Buddhi, but also it receives thoughts from
\nthe Buddhi and turns these into desires and sensations and impulses.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes. But the Chitta does not
\nreceive desires and sensations from the Buddhi. It takes thoughts from the
\nBuddhi and turns them into desires.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is always or generally at
\nleast a modifying reaction [to thoughts, etc. received from outside] in the
\nChitta \u2013 except when it simply receives and stores without passing over to the
\ninstruments.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, certainly, but as its [the Chitta’s<\/span>] whole business is to receive from above or below
\nor around it cannot stop doing it, it cannot of itself determine what it shall
\nor shall not receive. It has to be assisted by the Buddhi, vital will or some
\nhigher power. Afterwards when the higher consciousness descends it begins to be
\ntransformed and capable of an automatic rejection of what is not true or right
\nor divine or helpful to the growth of the divine in the being.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chitta really means the ordinary
\nconsciousness including the mind, vital and physical \u2013 but practically it can
\nbe taken to mean something central in the consciousness. If that is centred <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 332<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

in the Divine, the rest follows
\nmore or less quickly as a natural result.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Chitta is not near the heart
\n\u2013 if you mean the substance of the lower consciousness, it has no particular
\nplace. All things of this life are there in this stuff of the consciousness but
\nthe memory of past lives is wrapped up and involved elsewhere. The heart is the
\nmain centre of this consciousness for most men, of course, so you may feel its
\nactivities centred in that level.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The same as with any part of the
\nbeing \u2013 there is a subconscient<\/span> part of the Chitta
\nwhich keeps the past impression of things and sends up forms of them to the
\nconsciousness in dream or else keeps the habit of old movements and sends up
\nthese whenever it finds an opportunity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If the word vāsanā<\/i><\/span> is used in the
\noriginal,1 <\/sup>it does not mean \u201cdesire\u201d. It means usually the idea or
\nmental feeling rising from the citta, imaginations, impressions, memories etc.,
\nimpressions of liking and disliking, of pain and pleasure. What Vasistha<\/span> wants to say is that while the ideas, impressions,
\nimpulsions, that lead to action in an ordinary man rise from the citta, those
\nthat rise in the Jivanmukta come straight from the sattva \u2013 from the essential
\nconsciousness of the being \u2013 in other words they are not mental but spiritual
\nformations. As one might say, instead of cittavrtti<\/i>
\nthey are sattvapreranā<\/i><\/span>,
\ndirect indications from the inner being of what is to be thought, felt or done.
\nWhen the citta is no longer active and the mind silent \u2013 which happens when the
\nmukti comes and no one can be Jivanmukta without that, then what remains and
\nperceives and does things is felt as an essential consciousness, the
\nconsciousness of the true self or true being.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1<\/sup>Yoga-vāśistha<\/span>.<\/i> <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 333<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

Mahat<\/span>
\nis, I suppose, the essential and original matrix of consciousness (involved not
\nevolved) in Prakriti out of which individuality and formation come.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tanmatra<\/span>
\nis only the basis of matter. In the Sankhya the basis is Pradhana<\/span>
\n(of Prakriti) out of which come Buddhi and everything else. In the Vedanta it
\nis spiritual substance out of which all comes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

X<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are four parts of the vital
\nbeing \u2013 first, the mental vital which gives a mental expression by thought,
\nspeech or otherwise to the emotions, desires, passions, sensations and other
\nmovements of the vital being; the emotional vital which is the seat of various
\nfeelings, such as love, joy, sorrow, hatred, and the rest; the central vital
\nwhich is the seat of the stronger vital longings and reactions, e.g. ambition,
\npride, fear, love of fame, attractions and repulsions, desires and passions of
\nvarious kinds and the field of many vital energies; last, the lower vital which
\nis occupied with small desires and feelings, such as make the greater part of
\ndaily life, e.g. food desire, sexual desire, small likings, dislikings<\/span>,
\nvanity, quarrels, love of praise, anger at blame, little wishes of all kinds \u2013 and
\na numberless host of other things. Their respective seats are: (1) the region
\nfrom the throat to the heart, (2) the heart (it is a double centre, belonging
\nin front to the emotional and vital and behind to the psychic), (3) from the
\nheart to the navel, (4) below the navel.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is a part of the nature
\nwhich I have called the vital mind; the function of this mind is not to think
\nand reason, to perceive, consider and find out or value things, for that is the
\nfunction of the thinking mind proper, buddhi, \u2013 but to plan or dream or <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 334<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

imagine what can be done. It
\nmakes formations for the future which the will can try to carry out if
\nopportunity and circumstances become favourable or even it can work to make
\nthem favourable. In men of action this faculty is prominent and a leader of
\ntheir nature; great men of action always have it in a very high measure. But
\neven if one is not a man of action or practical realisation or if circumstances
\nare not favourable or one can do only small and ordinary things, this vital
\nmind is there. It acts in them on a small scale, or if it needs some sense of
\nlargeness, what it does very often is to plan in the void, knowing that it
\ncannot realise its plans or else to imagine big things, stories, adventures,
\ngreat doings in which oneself is the hero or the creator. What you describe as
\nhappening in you is the rush of this vital mind or imagination making its
\nformations; its action is not peculiar to you but works pretty much in the same
\nway in most people \u2013 but in each according to his turn of fancy, interest, favourite<\/span> ideas or desires. You have to become master of
\nits action and not to allow it to seize your mind and carry it away when and
\nwhere it wants. In sadhana when the experiences begin to come, it is
\nexceedingly important not to allow this power to do what it likes with you; for
\nit then creates false experiences according to its nature and persuades the
\nsadhak that these experiences are true or it builds unreal formations and
\npersuades him that this is what he has to do. Some have been taken away by this
\nmisleading force used by powers of Falsehood who persuaded them through it that
\nthey had a great spiritual, political or social work to do in the world and led
\nthem away to disappointment and failure. It is rising in you in order that you
\nmay understand what it is and reject it. For there are several things you had
\nto get out of the vital plane before the deeper or greater spiritual
\nexperiences could safely begin or safely continue.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The descent of
\nthe peace is often one of the first major positive experiences of the sadhana.
\nIn this state of peace thenormal<\/span> thought-mind
\n(buddhi) is apt to fall silent or abate most of its activity and when it does,
\nvery often either this vital mind can rush in, if one is not on one’s guard, or
\nelse a kind of mechanical physical or random subconscient<\/span>
\nmind can begin to come up and act; these are the chief disturbers of the
\nsilence. Or else the <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 335<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

lower vital mind can try to
\ndisturb; that brings up the ego and passions and their play. All these are
\nsigns of elements that have to be got rid of, because if they remain and other of
\nthe higher powers begin to descend, Power and Force, Knowledge, Love or Ananda,
\nthose lower things may come across with the result that either the higher
\nconsciousness retires or its descent is covered up and the stimulation it gives
\nis misused for the purposes of the lower nature. This is the reason why many
\nsadhaks after having big experiences fall into the clutch of a magnified ego,
\nupheavals, ambition, exaggerated sex or other vital passions or distortions. It
\nis always well therefore if a complete purification of the vital can either
\nprecede or keep pace with the positive experience \u2013 at least in natures in
\nwhich the vital is strongly active. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It [the vital mind] is a mind of
\ndynamic (not rationalising<\/span>) will, action, desire \u2013 occupied
\nwith force and achievement and satisfaction and possession, enjoyment and
\nsuffering, giving and taking, growth, expansion, success and failure, good
\nfortune and ill fortune etc. etc.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Vital thought expresses vital
\nmovements, the play of vital forces \u2013 it does not think freely and
\nindependently of them as the thinking mind can do. The true thinking mind can
\nstand above the vital movements, watch and observe and judge them freely as it
\nwould observe and judge outside things. In most men however the thinking mind
\n(reason) is invaded by the vital mind and not free.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That is the ordinary activity of
\nthe vital mind which is always imagining and thinking and planning what to do
\nabout this and how to arrange about that. It has obviously its utility in human <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 336<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

nature and human action, but acts
\nin a random and excessive way without discipline, economy of its powers or
\nconcentration on the things that have really to be done.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The things which come to you in
\nthis way in sleep or waking are of the nature of vital mind imaginations and
\nactivities about things and work and whatever presents itself to the mind. On
\nall things that present themselves to the mind, the vital imagination in man is
\nable to work, imagining, speculating, building ideas or plans for the future
\netc. etc. It has its utility for the consciousness in ordinary life, but must
\nquiet down and be replaced by a higher action in yoga. In sleep it is also the
\nvital plane into which you enter. If properly seen and coordinated, what is experienced
\nin the vital plane has its value and gives knowledge which is useful and
\ncontrol over the vital self and vital plane. But all that is coming to you
\nthrough the subconscient<\/span> in an incoherent way \u2013 this
\nis the cause of the trouble. The whole thing has to be quieted down and we
\nshall try to get that done. When I spoke of your opening yourself, I meant
\nsimply that you should fix it in your mind that the help is coming and have the
\nwill to receive it \u2013 not necessarily that you should open yourself by an effort.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The source from which these
\nimaginations come has nothing to do with reason and does not care for any
\nrational objections. They are either from the vital mind, the same source from
\nwhich come all the fine imaginations and long stories which men tell themselves
\nin which they are the heroes and do great things or they come from little
\nentities attached to the physical mind which pick up any random suggestion
\nanywhere and present it to the mind just to see whether it will be accepted. If
\none watches oneself closely one can find the most queer and extraordinary or
\nnonsensical things crossing the mind or peeping in on it in this way. Usually
\none laughs or hardly notices and the thing falls <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 337<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

back to the world of incoherent thought
\nfrom which it came.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is again the vital mind. It
\nhas no sense of proportion or measure and is eager to be or achieve something
\nbig at once.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[Day-dreaming:] All that is the
\nvital mind; it lies in everybody, the habit of such imaginations. It is not
\nvery important, but of course it has to be got rid of, as the basis is ego.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The vital mind in the ordinary
\nnature cannot get on without these imaginations \u2013 so the habit remains for a
\nlong time. To be detached and indifferent is the best, then after a time it may
\nget disgusted and drop the habit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That kind of talking [talking
\nmentally to another person] is very common with the vital mind. It is a way it
\nhas of acting on the subtle plane on things in which it is interested,
\nespecially if the physical action is stopped or restricted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The point about the emotional and
\nthe higher vital is a rather difficult one. In the classification in which the
\nmind is taken as something more than the thinking, perceiving and willing
\nintelligence, the emotional can be reckoned as part of the mind, the vital in
\nthe mental. In another classification it is rather the most mentalised<\/span>
\npart of the vital nature. In the first case, the term `higher vital’ is
\nconfined to that larger movement of the conscious life-force which is concerned
\nwith creation, with power and force and conquest, with giving and self-giving
\nand gathering from the <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 338<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

world for further action and
\nexpenditure of power, throwing itself out in the wider movements of life,
\nresponsive to the greater objects of Nature. In the second arrangement, the
\nemotional being stands at the top of the vital nature and the two together make
\nthe higher vital. As against them stands the lower vital which is concerned
\nwith the pettier movements of action and desire and stretches down into the
\nvital physical where it supports the life of the more external activities and
\nall physical sensations, hungers, cravings, satisfactions. The term `lower’
\nmust not be considered in a pejorative sense; it refers only to the position in
\nthe hierarchy of the planes. For although this part of the nature in earthly
\nbeings tends to be very obscure and is full of perversions, \u2013 lust, greed of
\nall kinds, vanity, small ambitions, petty anger, envy, jealousy are its
\nordinary guests, \u2013 still there is another side to it which makes it an
\nindispensable mediator between the inner being and the outer life. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is not a fact that every
\npsychic experience embodies itself in a purified and rightly directed vital current;
\nit does thatwhen<\/span> it has to externalise<\/span>
\nitself in action. Psychic experience is in itself a quite independent thing and
\nhas its owncharacteristic<\/span> forms. The psychic being
\nstands behind all the others; its force is the true soul-power. But if it comes
\nto the front, it can suffuse all the rest; mind, vital, the physical
\nconsciousness can take its stamp and be transformed by its influence. When the
\nnature is properly developed, there is a psychic in the mental, a psychic in
\nthe vital, a psychic in the physical. It is when that is there and strong, that
\nwe can say of someone that he evidently has a soul. But there are some in whom
\nthis element is so lacking that we have to use faith in order to believe that
\nthey have a soul at all. The centre of the psychic being is behind the centre
\nof the emotional being; it is the emotional that is nearest dynamically to the
\npsychic and in most men it is through the emotional centre that the psychic can
\nbe most easily reached and through the psychicised<\/span>
\nemotion that it can be most easily expressed. Many therefore mistake the one
\nfor the other; but there is a world of difference between the two. The emotions
\nnormally are vital in their character and not part of the psychic nature.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span> <\/p>\n

It must be
\nremembered that while this classification is <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 339<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

indispensable for psychological
\nself-knowledge and discipline and practice, it can be used best when it is not
\nmade too rigid and cutting a formula. For things run very much into each other
\nand a synthetical sense of these powers is as necessary as the analysis. Mind,
\nfor instance, is everywhere. The physical mind is technically placed below the
\nvital and yet it is a prolongation of the mind proper and one that can act in
\nits own sphere by direct touch with the higher mental intelligence. And there
\nis too an obscure mind of the body, of the very cells, molecules, corpuscles. Haeckel<\/span>, the German materialist, spoke somewhere of the
\nwill in the atom, and recent science, dealing with the incalculable individual
\nvariation in the activity of the electrons, comes near to perceiving that this
\nis not a figure but the shadow thrown by a secret reality. This body-mind is a
\nvery tangible truth; owing to its obscurity and mechanical clinging to past
\nmovements and facile oblivion and rejection of the new, we find in it one of
\nthe chief obstacles to permeation by the supermind Force and the transformation
\nof the functioning of the body. On the other hand, once effectively converted,
\nit will be one of the most precious instruments for the stabilisation<\/span>
\nof the supramental Light and Force in material Nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>It
\nis not possible to say with any precision what the resistance in the higher
\nvital parts will be, what form it takes, because it may take different forms
\nwith different natures. It is quite normal that there should be some resistance
\nalmost at every point to the descent of the higher consciousness; for the
\ndifferent parts of the present nature are each more or less attached to their
\nown established way of seeing, acting, feeling, reacting to things and to the
\nhabitual movements and formations of their own domain which each individual has
\nmade for himself in the past or in his present life. What is needed is a
\ngeneral plasticity of the mind, the vital, the physical consciousness, a readiness
\nto give up all attachment to these things, to accept whatever the higher
\nconsciousness brings down with it however contrary to one’s own received ideas,
\nfeelings, habits of nature. The greater the <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 340<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

plasticity in any part of the
\nnature, the less the resistance there. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

          By the higher vital parts of the
\nnature I mean the vital mind, the emotional nature, the life-force dynamis in
\nthe being.The<\/span> vital mind is that part of the vital
\nbeing which builds, plans, imagines, arranges things and thoughts according to
\nthe life-pushes, desires, will to power or possession, will to action,
\nemotions, vital ego reactions of the nature. It must be distinguished from the
\nreasoning will which plans and arranges things according to the dictates of the
\nthinking mind proper, the discriminating reason or according to the mental
\nintuition or a direct insight and judgment. The vital mind uses thought for the
\nservice not of reason but of life-push and life-power and when it calls in
\nreasoning it uses that for justifying the dictates of these powers, imposes
\ntheir dictates on the reason instead of governing by a discriminating will the
\naction of the life-forces. This higher vital with all its parts is situated in
\nthe chest and has the cardiac centre as its main stronghold governing all this
\npart down to the navel. I need not say anything about the emotional nature, for
\nits character and movements are known to all. From the navel downwards is the
\nreign of the vital passions and sensations and all the small life-impulses that
\nconstitute the bulk of the ordinary human life and character. This is what we
\ncall the lower vital nature. The Muladhara is the main support of the physical
\nconsciousness and the material parts of the nature. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

            The antarātman<\/i><\/span> <\/i>is the soul, the portion of the Divine
\nthat is at the inmost basis of the evolving individual and supports the mind
\nand life and body which are the instrumental parts of nature and through which
\nit tries to grow from the material Inconscience towards the divine Light and
\nImmortality which are its proper being. The limitations of its instruments
\nimpose upon it an acceptance of the lower movements and a compromise between
\nsoul and nature which retard this movement even while it gets its means of
\nadvance from that interchange. The psychic being is the soul-form or soul
\npersonality developing through this evolution and passing from life to life
\ntill all is ready for the higher evolution beyond the Ignorance.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

  The realisation
\nof the psychic being, its awakening and the bringing of it in front depend
\nmainly on the extent to which <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 341<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

one can develop a personal
\nrelation with the Divine, a relation of Bhakti, love, reliance, self-giving, rejection
\nof the insistences of the separating and self-asserting mental, vital and
\nphysical ego. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I can say little
\nabout the last question. Sanatkumar<\/span> is, I believe,
\none of the four mind-born sons of Brahma; he cannottherefore<\/span>
\nbe identical with Skanda<\/span> who is a son of Shiva. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The emotional being is itself a
\npart of the vital. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The heart is the
\ncentre of the emotional being and the emotions are vital movements. When the
\nheart is purified, the vital emotions change into psychic feelings or else psychicised<\/span> vital movements. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Pure
\nand true thoughts and emotions and impulsions can rise from the human mind,
\nheart and vital, because all is not evil there. The heart may be unpurified but
\nthat does not mean that everything in it is impure. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Above
\nthe heart is the vital mind, but the rising of sensation is lower than the
\nemotion, not higher. <\/p>\n

Sensation is
\nmuch nearer the physical than emotion. <\/p>\n

The place of
\ndesire is below the heart in the central vital (navel) and in the lower vital,
\nbut it moves the emotion and the<\/p>\n

vital mind. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I make the distinction [between
\nthe lower vital movements and the emotions of the heart] by noting where these
\nthings rise from. Anger, fear, jealousy touch
\nthe heart no doubt just as they touch the mind but they rise from the navel
\nregion and entrails (i.e. the lower or at highest the middle
\nvital). <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 342<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

Stevenson has a striking passage in \u201cKidnapped\u201d where the hero
\nnotes that his fear is felt primarily not in the heart but the stomach. Love,
\nhope have their primary seat in the heart, so with pity etc. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Joy is a vital feeling, like its
\nopposite, sorrow.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But is it true that even anger
\nwhich is of the lower vital and therefore close to the body, invariably
\nproduces these effects?1 <\/sup>Of course the psychologist can’t know that
\nanother man is angry unless he shows physical signs of it, but also he can’t
\nknow what a man is thinking unless the man speaks or writes \u2013 does it follow
\nthat the state of thought cannot be \u201cfancied\u201d without its sign in speaking or
\nwriting? A Japanese who is accustomed to control all his \u201cemotions\u201d and give no
\nsign (if he is angry the first sign you will have of it is a knife in your
\nstomach from a calm or smiling assailant) will have none of these things when
\nhe is angry, \u2013 not even the \u201cebullition\u201d in the chest, \u2013 in its place there
\nwill be a settled fire that will burn till his anger achieves itself in action.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A strong vital is one that is
\nfull of life-force, has ambition, courage, great energy, a force for action or
\nfor creation, a large expansive movement whether for generosity in giving or
\nfor possession and lead and domination, a power to fulfil and materialise<\/span> \u2013 many other forms of vital strength there are
\nalso. It is often difficult for such a vital to surrender itself because of
\nthis sense of its own powers \u2013 but if it can do so, it becomes an admirable
\ninstrument for the Divine Work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1<\/span><\/sup> Physical signs like
\nebullition in the chest, flushing of the face, etc.<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 343<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

No, a weak vital has not the
\nstrength to turn spiritually \u2013 and being weak, more easily falls under a wrong
\ninfluence and even when it wants, finds it difficult to accept anything beyond its
\nown habitual nature. The strong vital, when the will is there, can do it much
\nmore easily \u2013 its one central difficulty is the pride of the ego and the
\nattraction of its powers. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The chest has more connection with the psychic than
\nthe vital. A strong vital may have a good physique, but as often it has not \u2013 it
\ndraws too much on the physical, eats it up as it were.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I think I said it [an old desire]
\nwas left in the subconscient<\/span> part of the physical
\nvital. As there is a physical mind, so there is a physical vital \u2013 a vital
\nturned entirely upon physical things, full of desires and greeds<\/span>
\nand seekings<\/span> for pleasure on the physical plane.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The physical-vital is the being
\nof small desires and greeds<\/span>, etc. \u2013 the
\nvital-physical is the nervous being; they are closely connected together.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The vital-physical governs all
\nthe small daily reactions to outward things \u2013 reactions of the nerves and the
\nbody consciousness and the reflex emotions and sensations; it motives much of
\nthe ordinary actions of man and joins with the lower parts of the vital proper
\nin producing lust, jealousy, anger, violence etc. In its lowest parts
\n(vital-material) it is the agent of pain, physical illness etc.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes \u2013 they [the lower vital, the
\nphysical vital and the most material vital] become very clear to the increasing
\nconsciousness. And the distinctions are necessary \u2013 otherwise one may <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 344<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

influence or control the lower
\nvital or a part of the physical vital and then be astonished to find that
\nsomething intangible but apparently invincible still resists \u2013 it is the
\nmaterial vital with so much of the rest as it can influence by its resistance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The nervous part of the being is
\na portion of the vital \u2013 it is the vital-physical, the life-force closely
\nenmeshed in the reactions, desires, needs, sensations of the body. The vital
\nproper is the life-force acting in its own nature, impulses, emotions,
\nfeelings, desires, ambitions, etc., having as their highest centre what we may
\ncall the outer heart of emotion, while there is an inner heart where are the
\nhigher or psychic feelings and sensibilities, the emotions or intuitive
\nyearnings and impulses of the soul. The vital part of us is, of course,
\nnecessary to our completeness, but it is a true instrument only when its feelings
\nand tendencies have been purified by the psychic touch and taken up and
\ngoverned by the spiritual light and power.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do not know about subtle vital.
\nOne says subtle physical to distinguish from gross material physical, because to
\nour normal experience all physical is gross, sthūla<\/i><\/span>. But the vital is in
\nits nature non-material, so that the adjective is superfluous. By material
\nvital we mean the vital so involved in Matter as to be bound by its movements
\nand gross physical character; the action is to support and energise<\/span>
\nthe body and keep in it the capacity of life, growth, movement, etc., also of
\nsensitiveness to outside impacts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This question has no practical
\nmeaning \u2013 for the vital physical forces can be received from anywhere by the
\nbody, from around, below or above. The order of the planes is in reference to
\neach other, not in reference to the body. In reference to each other, the vital
\nphysical is below the physical mind, but above the <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 345<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

material: but at the same time
\nthese powers interpenetrate each other.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The body-energy is a
\nmanifestation of material forces supported by vital-physical energy which is
\nthe vital energy precipitated into matter and conditioned by it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Vitality means life-force \u2013 wherever
\nthere is life, in plant or animal or man, there is life-force \u2013 without the
\nvital there can be no life in matter and no living action. The vital is a
\nnecessary force and nothing can be done or created in the bodily existence, if
\nthe vital is not there as an instrument. Even sadhana needs the vital force. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But if the vital
\nis unregenerated and enslaved to desire, passion and ego, then it is as harmful
\nas it can otherwise behelpful<\/span>. Even in ordinary life
\nthe vital has to be controlled by the mind and mental will, otherwise it brings
\ndisorder ordisaster<\/span>. When people speak of a vital
\nman, they mean one under the domination of vital force not controlled by the
\nmind or the spirit. The vital can be a good instrument, but it is a bad master. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The vital has
\nnot to be killed or destroyed, but purified and transformed by the psychic and
\nspiritual control.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The physical
\ndepends on the vital, at every step \u2013 it could not do anything without the help
\nof the vital \u2013 so it is quite natural that it should receive its suggestions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The
\nphysical life cannot last without the body nor can the body live without the
\nlife-force, but the life in itself has a separate existence and a separate body
\nof its own, the vital body, just as the mind has a separate existence and can
\nexist on its own plane.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 346<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

All the organisation is held
\ntogether by the psychic which is the support of all. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nXI<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Each plane of our being \u2013 mental,
\nvital, physical \u2013 has its own consciousness, separate though interconnected and
\ninteracting; but to our outer mind and sense, in our waking experience, they
\nare all confused together. The body, for instance, has its own consciousness
\nand acts from it, even without any mental will of our own or even against that
\nwill, and our surface mind knows very little about this body-consciousness,
\nfeels it only in an imperfect way, sees only its results and has the greatest
\ndifficulty in finding out their causes. It is part of the yoga to become aware
\nof this separate consciousness of the body, to see and feel its movements and
\nthe forces that act upon it from inside or outside and to learn how to control
\nand direct it even in its most hidden and (to us) subconscient<\/span>
\nprocesses. But the body-consciousness itself is only part of the individualised<\/span> physical consciousness in us which we gather
\nand build out of the secretly conscious forces of universal physical Nature. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is the universal physical
\nconsciousness of Nature and there is our own which is a part of it, moved by
\nit, and used by the central being for the support of its expression in the
\nphysical world and for a direct dealing with all these external objects and
\nmovements and forces. This physical consciousness-plane receives from the other
\nplanes their powers and influences and makes formations of them in its own
\nprovince. Therefore we have a physical mind as well as a vital mind and the
\nmind proper; we have a vital-physical part in us \u2013 the nervous being \u2013 as well
\nas the vital proper; and both are largely conditioned by the gross material
\nbodily part which is almost entirely subconscient<\/span> to
\nour experience. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span> <\/p>\n

The physical
\nmind is that which is fixed on physical objects and happenings, sees and
\nunderstands these only, and deals with them according to their own nature, but
\ncan with difficulty respond to the higher forces. Left to itself, it is sceptical<\/span> of the
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 347<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

existence of supraphysical<\/span>
\nthings, of which it has no direct experience and to which it can find no clue;
\neven when it has spiritual experiences, it forgets them easily, loses the
\nimpression and result and finds it difficult to believe. To enlighten the
\nphysical mind by the consciousness of the higher spiritual and supramental
\nplanes is one object of this yoga, just as to enlighten it by the power of the
\nhigher vital and higher mental elements of the being is the greatest part of
\nhuman self-development, civilisation and culture. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The vital
\nphysical, on the other hand, is the vehicle of the nervous responses of our
\nphysical nature; it is the field andinstrument<\/span> of the
\nsmaller sensations, desires, reactions of all kinds to the impacts of the outer
\nphysical and gross materiallife<\/span>. This vital physical
\npart (supported by the lowest part of the vital proper) is therefore the agent
\nof most of the lesser movements of our external life; its habitual reactions
\nand obstinate pettinesses<\/span> are the chief
\nstumbling-block in the way of transformation of the outer consciousness by the
\nyoga. It is also largely responsible for most of the suffering and disease of
\nmind or body to which the physical being is subject in Nature.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As to the gross material part, it
\nis not necessary to specify its place, for that is obvious; but it must be
\nremembered thatthis<\/span> too has a consciousness of its
\nown, the obscure consciousness proper to the limbs, cells, tissues, glands,
\norgans. Tomake<\/span> this obscurity luminous and directly
\ninstrumental to the higher planes and to the divine movement is what we mean in
\nour yoga by making the body conscious, \u2013 that is to say, full of a true, awake
\nand responsive awareness instead of its own obscure, limited half-subconscience<\/span>. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is an inner as well as an
\nouter consciousness all through our being, upon all its levels. The ordinary
\nman is awareonly<\/span> of his surface self and quite unaware
\nof all that is concealed by the surface. And yet what is on the surface, what weknow<\/span> or think we know of ourselves and even believe that
\nthat is all we are, is only a small part of our being and by far thelarger<\/span> part of us is below the surface. Or, more accurately,
\nit is behind the frontal consciousness, behind the veil, occult and known only
\nby an occult knowledge. Modern psychology and psychic <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 348<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

science have begun to perceive
\nthis truth just a little. Materialistic psychology calls this hidden part the
\nInconscient, although practically admitting that it is far greater, more
\npowerful and profound than the surface conscious self, \u2013 very much as the
\nUpanishads called the superconscient in us the Sleep-self, although this
\nSleep-self is said to be an infinitely greater Intelligence, omniscient,
\nomnipotent, Prajna<\/span>, the Ishwara. Psychic science
\ncalls this hidden consciousness the subliminal self, and here too it is seen
\nthat this subliminal self has more powers, more knowledge, a freer field of
\nmovement than the smaller self that is on the surface. But the truth is that
\nall this that is behind, this sea of which our waking consciousness is only a
\nwave or series of waves, cannot be described by any one term, for it is very
\ncomplex. Part of it is subconscient<\/span>, lower than our
\nwaking consciousness, part of it is on a level with it but behind and much
\nlarger than it; part is above and superconscient to us. What we call our mind
\nis only an outer mind, a surface mental action, instrumental for the partial
\nexpression of a larger mind behind of which we are not ordinarily aware and can
\nonly know by going inside ourselves. So too what we know of the vital in us is
\nonly the outer vital, a surface activity partially expressing a larger secret
\nvital which we can only know by going within. Equally, what we call our
\nphysical being is only a visible projection of a greater and subtler invisible
\nphysical consciousness which is much more complex, much more aware, much wider
\nin its receptiveness, much more open and plastic and free. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you
\nunderstand and experience this truth, then only you will be able to realise
\nwhat is meant by the inner mental, theinner<\/span> vital,
\nthe inner physical consciousness. But it must be noted that this term `inner’
\nis used in two different senses.Sometimes<\/span> it denotes
\nthe consciousness behind the veil of the outer being, the mental or vital or
\nphysical within, which is in direct touch with the universal mind, the
\nuniversal life-forces, the universal physical forces. Sometimes, on the other
\nhand, we mean an inmost mental, vital, physical, more specifically called the
\ntrue mind, the true vital, the true physical consciousness which is nearer to
\nthe soul and can most easily and directly respond to the Divine Light and
\nPower. There is no real yoga possible, still less <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 349<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

any integral yoga, if we do not
\ngo back from the outer self and become aware of all this inner being and inner
\nnature. For then alone can we break the limitations of the ignorant external
\nself which receives consciously only the outer touches and knows things
\nindirectly through the outer mind and senses, and become directly aware of the
\nuniversal consciousness and the universal forces that play through us and
\naround us. And then only too can we hope to be directly aware of the Divine in
\nus and directly in touch with the Divine Light and the Divine Force. Otherwise
\nwe can feel the Divine only through external signs and external results and
\nthat is a difficult and uncertain way and very occasional and inconstant, and
\nit leads only to belief and not to knowledge, not to the direct consciousness
\nand awareness of the constant presence. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for instances of the
\ndifference, I may give you two from the opposite poles of experience, one from
\nthe mostexternal<\/span> phenomena showing how the inward opens
\nto the awareness of the universal forces, one of spiritual experienceindicating<\/span>
\nhow the inward opens to the Divine. Take illness. If we live only in the
\noutward physical consciousness, we do not usually know that we are going to be
\nill until the symptoms of the malady declare themselves in the body. But if we
\ndevelop the inward physical consciousness, we become aware of a subtle
\nenvironmental physical atmosphere and can feel the forces of illness coming
\ntowards us through it, feel them even at a distance and, if we have learnt how
\nto do it, we can stop them by the will or otherwise. We sense too around us a
\nvital physical or nervous envelope which radiates from the body and protects
\nit, and we can feel the adverse forces trying to break through it and can
\ninterfere, stop them or reinforce the nervous envelope. Or we can feel the
\nsymptoms of illness, fever or cold, for instance, in the subtle physical sheath
\nbefore they are manifest in the gross body and destroy them there, preventing
\nthem from manifesting in the body. Take now the call for the Divine Power,
\nLight, Ananda. If we live only in the outward physical consciousness, it may
\ndescend and work behind the veil, but we shall feel nothing and only see
\ncertain results after a long time. Or at most we feel a certain clarity and
\npeace in the mind, a joy in the vital a happy state in the physical <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 350<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

and infer the touch of the
\nDivine. But if we are awake in the physical, we shall feel the light, power or
\nAnanda flowing through the body, the limbs, nerves, blood, breath and, through
\nthe subtle body, affecting the most material cells and making them conscious
\nand blissful and we shall sense directly the Divine Power and Presence. These
\nare only two instances out of a thousand that are possible and can be
\nconstantly experienced by the sadhak.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Everything has a physical part \u2013 even
\nthe mind has a physical part; there is a mental physical, a mind of the body
\nand the material. So the emotional being has a physical part. It has no
\nlocation separate from the rest of the emotional. One can only distinguish that
\nwhen the consciousness becomes sufficiently subtle to do so.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It [the material] is the most
\nphysical grade of the physical \u2013 there is the mental physical, the vital physical,
\nthe material physical.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes \u2013 or at least [the material
\nconsciousness] is a separate part of the physical consciousness. Physical mind
\nfor instance is narrow and limited and often stupid, but not inert. Matter
\nconsciousness is on the contrary inert as well as largely subconscious \u2013 active
\nonly when driven by an energy, otherwise inactive and immobile. When one first
\nfalls into direct contact with this level, the feeling in the body is that of
\ninertia and immobility, in the vital-physical exhaustion or lassitude, in the
\nphysical mind absence of prakāśa<\/i><\/span>
\nand pravrtti<\/i> or only the most
\nordinary thoughts and impulses. It took me a long time to get down any kind of
\nlight or power into this level. But when once it is illumined, the advantage is
\nthat the subconscient<\/span> becomes conscient<\/span>
\nand this removes a very fundamental obstacle from the sadhana.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 351<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

By the gross physical is meant
\nthe earthly and bodily physical \u2013 as experienced by the outward sense-mind and
\nsenses. But that is not the whole of Matter. There is a subtle physical also
\nwith a subtler consciousness in it which can, for instance, go to a distance
\nfrom the body and yet feel and be aware of things in a not merely mental or
\nvital way. As for mind and vital, they are everywhere \u2013 there is an obscure
\nmind and life even in the cells of the body, the stones or in molecules and
\natoms.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The physical nerves are part of
\nthe material body but they are extended into the subtle body and there is a
\nconnection between the two.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, there are nerves in the
\nsubtle body. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes \u2013 sheaths is
\nsimply a term for bodies, because each is superimposed on the other and acts as
\na covering and canbe<\/span> cast off. Thus the physical body
\nitself is called the food sheath and its throwing off is what is called death.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is what is called nervous
\nenvelope surrounding the body. You are probably seeing the sūksma<\/i><\/span> <\/i>and nervous envelope in one view. The sūksma<\/i><\/span> deha<\/span><\/i> contains the sthūla<\/i><\/span> deha<\/span><\/i>, only it is not bound to its
\nlimitations. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You can only distinguish the
\ndifferent sheaths either by intuition or by experience and then you have
\nestablished direct knowledge of the different sheaths.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 352<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

XII<\/b> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In our yoga we mean by the subconscient<\/span> that quite submerged part of our being in
\nwhich there is no wakingly<\/span> conscious and coherent
\nthought, will or feeling or organized reaction, but which yet receives
\nobscurely the impressions of all things and stores them up in itself and from
\nit too all sorts of stimuli, of persistent habitual movements, crudely repeated
\nor disguised in strange forms can surge up into dream or into the waking
\nnature. For if these impressions rise up most in dream in an incoherent and
\ndisorganized manner, they can also and do rise up into our waking consciousness
\nas a mechanical repetition of old thoughts, old mental, vital and physical
\nhabits or an obscure stimulus to sensations, actions, emotions which do not
\noriginate in or from our conscious thought or will and are even often opposed
\nto its perceptions, choice or dictates. In the subconscient<\/span>
\nthere is an obscure mind full of obstinate Sanskaras<\/span>,
\nimpressions, associations, fixed notions, habitual reactions formed by our
\npast, an obscure vital full of the seeds of habitual desires, sensations and
\nnervous reactions, a most obscure material which governs much that has to do
\nwith the condition of the body. It is largely responsible for our illnesses;
\nchronic or repeated illnesses are indeed mainly due to the subconscient<\/span>
\nand its obstinate memory and habit of repetition of whatever has impressed
\nitself upon the body-consciousness. But this subconscient<\/span>
\nmust be clearly distinguished from the subliminal parts of our being such as
\nthe inner or subtle physical consciousness, the inner vital or inner mental;
\nfor these are not at all obscure or incoherent or ill-organized, but only
\nveiled from our surface consciousness. Our surface constantly receives
\nsomething, inner touches, communications or influences, from these sources but
\ndoes not know for the most part whence they come. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 353<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

No, subliminal is a general term
\nused for all parts of the being which are not on the waking surface. Subconscient<\/span> is very often used in the same sense by
\nEuropean psychologists because they do not know the difference. But when I use
\nthe word, I mean always what is below the ordinary physical consciousness, not
\nwhat is behind it. The inner mental, vital, physical, the psychic are not
\nsubconscious in this sense, but they can be spoken of as subliminal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The subconscient<\/span>
\nis below the waking physical consciousness \u2013 it is an automatic, obscure,
\nincoherent, half-unconscious realm into which light and awareness can with
\ndifficulty come. The inner vital and physical are quite different\u2014they have a
\nlarger plastic, subtler, freer and richer consciousness than the surface vital
\nand physical, much more open to the Truth and in direct touch with the
\nuniversal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The subconscient<\/span>
\nis universal as well as individual like all the other main parts of the Nature.
\nBut there are different parts or planes of the subconscient<\/span>.
\nAll upon earth is based on the Inconscient as it is called, though it is not
\nreally inconscient at all, but rather a complete \u201csub\u201d-conscience, a suppressed
\nor involved consciousness, in which there is everything but nothing is
\nformulated or expressed. The subconscient<\/span> lies
\nbetween this Inconscient and the conscious mind, life and body. It contains the
\npotentiality of all the primitive reactions to life which struggle out to the
\nsurface from the dull and inert strands of Matter and form by a constant
\ndevelopment a slowly evolving and self-formulating consciousness; it contains
\nthem not as ideas, perceptions or conscious reactions but as the fluid
\nsubstance of these things. But also all that is consciously experienced sinks
\ndown into the subconscient<\/span>, not as precise though
\nsubmerged memories but as obscure yet obstinate impressions of experience, and
\nthese can come up at any time as dreams, as mechanical repetitions of past
\nthought, feelings, action, etc., as \u201ccomplexes\u201d <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 354<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

exploding into action and event,
\netc., etc. The subconscient<\/span> is the main cause why all
\nthings repeat themselves and nothing ever gets changed except in appearance. It
\nis the cause why people say character cannot be changed, the cause also of the
\nconstant return of things one hoped to have got rid of for ever. All seeds are
\nthere and all Sanskaras<\/span> of the mind, vital and
\nbody,\u2014it is the main support of death and disease and the last fortress
\n(seemingly impregnable) of the Ignorance. All too that is suppressed without
\nbeing wholly got rid of sinks down there and remains as seed ready to surge up
\nor sprout up at any moment. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The subconscient<\/span>
\nis not the whole foundation of the nature; it is only the lower basis of the
\nIgnorance and affects mostly the lower vital and physical exterior
\nconsciousness and these again affect the higher parts of the nature. While it
\nis well to see what it is and how it acts, one must not be too preoccupied with
\nthis dark side or this apparent aspect of the instrumental being. One should
\nrather regard it as something not oneself, a mask of false nature imposed on
\nthe true being by the Ignorance. The true being is the inner with all its vast
\npossibilities of reaching and expressing the Divine and especially the inmost,
\nthe soul, the psychic Purusha which is always in its essence pure, divine,
\nturned to all that is good and true and beautiful. The exterior being has to be
\ntaken hold of by the inner being and turned into an instrument no longer of the
\nupsurging of the ignorant subconscient<\/span> Nature, but of
\nthe Divine. It is by remembering always that and opening the nature upwards
\nthat the Divine Consciousness can be reached and descend from above into the
\nwhole inner and outer existence, mental, vital, physical, the subconscient<\/span>, the subliminal, all that we overtly or
\nsecretly are. This should be the main preoccupation. To dwell solely on the subconscient<\/span> and the aspect of imperfection creates
\ndepression and should be avoided. One has to keep a right balance and stress on
\nthe positive side most, recognising<\/span> the other but
\nonly to reject and change it. This and a constant faith and reliance on the
\nMother are what is needed for the transformation to come. <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 355<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

                  P.S. It is
\ncertainly the abrupt and decisive breaking that is the easiest and best way for
\nthese things \u2013 vital habits.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The subconscient<\/span>
\nis a concealed and unexpressed inarticulate consciousness which works below all
\nour conscious physical activities. Just as what we call the superconscient is
\nreally a higher consciousness above from which things descend into the being,
\nso the subconscient<\/span> is below the body-consciousness
\nand things come up into the physical, the vital and the mind-nature from there. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Just as the
\nhigher consciousness is superconscient to us and supports all our spiritual
\npossibilities and nature, so thesubconscient<\/span> is the
\nbasis of our material being and supports all that comes up in the physical nature.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Men are not
\nordinarily conscious of either of these planes of their own being, but by
\nsadhana they can become aware. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The subconscient<\/span> retains the impressions of all our past
\nexperiences of life and they can come up from there in dreamforms<\/span>:
\nmost dreams in ordinary sleep are formations made from subconscient<\/span>
\nimpressions. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The habit of
\nstrong recurrence of the same things in our physical consciousness, so that it
\nis difficult to get rid of itshabits<\/span>, is largely due to
\na subconscient<\/span> support. The subconscient<\/span>
\nis full of irrational habits. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When things are
\nrejected from all other parts of the nature, they go either into the
\nenvironmental consciousness aroundus<\/span> through which we
\ncommunicate with others and with universal Nature and try to return from there
\nor they sink into the subconscient<\/span> and can come up
\nfrom there even after lying long quiescent so that we think they are gone. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When the physical consciousness
\nis being changed, the chief resistance comes from the subconscient<\/span>.
\nIt is constantlymaintaining<\/span> or bringing back the
\ninertia, weakness, obscurity, lack of intelligence which afflict the physical
\nmind and\u00a0 <\/span>vital or the obscure fears,
\ndesires, angers, lusts of the physical vital, or the illnesses, dullnesses<\/span>, pains, incapabilities<\/span>
\nto which the body-nature is prone. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 356<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

If light, strength, the Mother’s
\nConsciousness is brought down into the body, it can penetrate the subconscient<\/span> also and convert its obscurity and resistance. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When something
\nis erased from the subconscient<\/span> so completely that it
\nleaves no seed and thrown out of thecircumconscient<\/span>
\nso completely that it can return no more, then only can we be sure that we have
\nfinished with it for ever.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Muladhar<\/span>
\nis the centre of the physical consciousness proper, and all below in the body
\nis the sheer physical, which as it goes downward becomes increasingly subconscient<\/span>, but the real seat of the subconscient<\/span>
\nis below the body, as the real seat of the higher consciousness
\n(superconscient) is above the body. At the same time, the subconscient<\/span>
\ncan be felt anywhere, felt as something below the movement of the consciousness
\nand, in a way, supporting it from beneath or else drawing the consciousness
\ndown towards itself. The subconscient<\/span> is the main
\nsupport of all habitual movements, especially the physical and lower vital
\nmovements. When something is thrown out of the vital or physical, it very
\nusually goes down into the subconscient<\/span> and remains
\nthere as if in seed and comes up again when it can. That is the reason why it
\nis so difficult to get rid of habitual vital movements or to change the
\ncharacter; for, supported or refreshed from this source, preserved in this
\nmatrix your vital movements, even when suppressed or repressed, surge up again
\nand recur. The action of the subconscient<\/span> is
\nirrational, mechanical, repetitive. It does not listen to reason or the mental
\nwill. It is only by bringing the higher Light and Force into it that it can
\nchange.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The subconscient<\/span>
\nis the support of habitual action \u2013 it can support good habits as well as bad. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 357<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

The sub-conscious is the
\nevolutionary basis in us, it is not the whole of our hidden nature, nor is it
\nthe whole origin of what we are. But things can rise from the subconscient<\/span> and take shape in the conscious parts and much
\nof our smaller vital and physical instincts, movements, habits, character-forms
\nhas this source.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are three occult sources of
\nour action \u2013 the superconscient, the subliminal, the subconscient<\/span>,
\nbut of none of them are we in control or even aware. What we are aware of is
\nthe surface being which is only an instrumental arrangement. The source of all
\nis the general Nature, \u2013 universal Nature individualising<\/span>
\nitself in each person; for this general Nature deposits certain habits of
\nmovement, personality, character, faculties, dispositions, tendencies in us,
\nand that, whether formed now or before our birth, is what we usually call
\nourselves. A good deal of this is in habitual movement and use in our known
\nconscious parts on the surface, a great deal more is concealed in the other
\nunknown three which are below or behind the surface. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But what we are on the surface is
\nbeing constantly set in motion, changed, developed or repeated by the waves of thegeneral<\/span> Nature coming in on us either directly or else
\nindirectly through others, through circumstances, through various agencies or
\nchannels. Some of this flows straight into the conscious parts and acts there,
\nbut our mind ignores its source, appropriates it and regards all that as its
\nown; a part comes secretly into the subconscient<\/span> or
\nsinks into it and waits for an opportunity of rising up into the conscious
\nsurface; a good deal goes into the subliminal and may at any time come out \u2013 or
\nmay not, may rather rest there as unused matter. Part passes through and is
\nrejected, thrown back or thrown out or spilt into the universal sea. Our nature
\nis a constant activity of forces supplied to us out of which (or rather out of
\na small amount of it) we make what we will or can. What we make seems fixed and
\nformed for good, but in reality it is all a play of forces, a flux, nothing
\nfixed or stable; the appearance of stability is given by constant repetition
\nand recurrence of the same vibrations and formations. That is why our nature
\ncan be changed in spite of Vivekananda’s<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 358<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

saying and Horace’s adage and in
\nspite of the conservative resistance of the subconscient<\/span>,
\nbut it is a difficult job because the master mode of Nature is this obstinate
\nrepetition and recurrence. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for the things in our nature
\nthat are thrown away from us by rejection but come back, it depends on where youthrow<\/span> them. Very often there is a sort of procedure
\nabout it. The mind rejects its mentalities, the vital its vitalities, the
\nphysical its physicalities<\/span> \u2013 these usually go back
\ninto the corresponding domain of general Nature. It all stays at first, when
\nthat happens, in the environmental consciousness which we carry about with us,
\nby which we communicate with the outside Nature, and often it persistently
\nrushes back from there \u2013 until it is so absolutely rejected, or thrown far away
\nas it were, that it cannot return upon us any more. But when what the thinking
\nand willing mind rejects is strongly supported by the vital, it leaves the mind
\nindeed but sinks down into the vital, rages there and tries to rush up again
\nand reoccupy the mind and compel or capture our mental acceptance. When the
\nhigher vital too \u2013 the heart or the larger vital dynamis rejects it, it sinks
\nfrom there and takes refuge in the lower vital with its mass of small current
\nmovements that make up our daily littleness. When the lower vital too rejects
\nit, it sinks into the physical consciousness and tries to stick by inertia or
\nmechanical repetition. Rejected even from there it goes into the subconscient<\/span> and comes up in dreams, in passivity, in
\nextreme tamas. The Inconscient is the last resort of the Ignorance. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for the waves that recur from
\nthe general Nature, it is the natural tendency of the inferior forces there to
\ntry andperpetuate<\/span> their action in the individual, to
\nrebuild what he has unbuilt<\/span> of their deposits in him;
\nso they return on him, often with an increased force, even with a stupendous
\nviolence, when they find their influence rejected. But they cannot last long
\nonce the environmental consciousness is cleared \u2013 unless the \u201cHostiles\u201d take a
\nhand. Even then these can indeed attack, but if the sadhak has established his
\nposition in the inner self, they can only attack and retire. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is true that
\nwe bring most of ourselves, \u2013 or rather <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 359<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

most of our predispositions,
\ntendencies of reaction to the universal Nature, from past lives. Heredity only
\naffects strongly the external being; besides, all the effects of heredity are
\nnot accepted even there, only those that are in consonance with what we are to
\nbe or not preventive of it at least.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What he has written about the subconscient<\/span> and the outer nature is true. But the role of
\nsubliminal forces cannot be said to be small, since from there come all the
\ngreater aspirations, ideals, strivings towards a better self and better
\nhumanity without which man would be only a thinking animal \u2013 as also most of
\nthe art, poetry, philosophy, thirst for knowledge which relieve, if they do not
\nyet dispel, the ignorance. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The role of the
\nsuperconscient has been to evolve slowly the spiritual man out of the mental
\nhalf-animal. That alsocannot<\/span> be called an
\ninsignificant role.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

About the subconscient<\/span>
\n\u2013 it is the sub-mental base of the being and is made up of impressions,
\ninstincts, habitual movements that are stored there. Whatever movement is
\nimpressed in it, it keeps. If one impresses the right movement in it, it will
\nkeep and send up that. That is why it has to be cleared of old movements before
\nthere can be a permanent and total change in the nature. When the higher
\nconsciousness is once established in the waking parts, it goes down into the subconscient<\/span> and changes that also, makes a bedrock of
\nitself there also. Then no further trouble from the subconscient<\/span>
\nwill be possible. But even before that one can minimise<\/span>
\nthe trouble by putting the right will and the right habit of reaction in the subconscient<\/span> parts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The subconscient<\/span> is a thing of habits and memories and repeats
\npersistently or whenever it can old suppressed reactions, reflexes, <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 360<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

mental, vital or physical
\nresponses. It must be trained by a still more persistent insistence of the
\nhigher parts of the being to give up its old responses and take on the new and
\ntrue ones.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Just as one can concentrate the thought
\non an object or the vision on a point, so one can concentrate will on a
\nparticular part or point of the body and give an order to the consciousness
\nthere. That order reaches the subconscient<\/span>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The human like the animal mind
\nlives largely in impressions rising up from the subconscient<\/span>.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You do not realise how much of
\nthe ordinary natural being lives in the subconscient<\/span>
\nphysical. It is there that habitual movements, mental and vital, are stored and
\nfrom there they come up into the waking mind. Driven out of the upper
\nconsciousness, it is in this cavern of the Panis<\/span> that
\nthey take refuge. No longer allowed to emerge freely in the waking state, they
\ncome up in sleep as dreams. It is when they are cleared out of the subconscient<\/span>, their very seeds killed by the enlightening
\nof these hidden layers, that they cease for good. As your consciousness deepens
\ninwardly and the higher light comes down into those inferior covered parts, the
\nthings that now recur in this way will disappear.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You had asked the other day about
\nthe subconscient<\/span>, what it was. In the vision you
\ndescribe you were shown the universal subconscient<\/span> in
\nthe figure of Patala<\/span>, a place without light of
\nconsciousness and, because universal therefore without bounds or end\u2014the dark
\nunconscious infinite out of which this material <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 361<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

universe has arisen \u2013 it is
\nwalled with darkness on all sides, it seems also to have no bottom. The Light
\ncomes from above from the higher consciousness and coming down through the mind
\nand heart and vital and physical has to pour down into this subconscient<\/span>
\nand make it luminous.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Patala<\/span>
\nis evidently here a name for the subconscient<\/span> \u2013 the
\nbeings there have \u201cno heads\u201d, that is to say, there is there no mental
\nconsciousness; men have all of them such a subconscient<\/span>
\nplane in their own being and from there rise all sorts of irrational and
\nignorant (headless) instincts, impulsions, memories, etc., which have an effect
\nupon their acts and feelings without their detecting the real source. At night
\nmany incoherent dreams come from this world or plane. The world above is the
\nsuperconscient plane of being \u2013 above the human consciousness \u2013 there are many
\nworlds of that kind; these are divine worlds.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The dark wells of the subconscient<\/span> are deep and until they are altogether cleared
\nsome gushing up of the old sources is always possible.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The subconscient<\/span>
\nhas many more fears in it than those admitted or acknowledged by the waking
\nconsciousness. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All that our consciousness meets
\nin day-to-day experience is registered in subconscient<\/span>
\nmemory and from there can be brought up to the mind or come of itself. But what
\nwe call memory is when the thing registered is kept in the conscious mind at
\nits back and brought forward at will \u2013 that is conscious memory. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 362<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

The clear memory of words, images
\nand thoughts is an action of the conscious mind, not the unconscious. Of course
\nthe memory goes behind, so to speak, in the back part of the mind, but it can be
\nbrought out. Also the memory can be lost or defaced, so that one remembers
\nwrongly or forgets altogether, but that is still an imperfect action of the
\nconscious mind, not an action of the subconscious. What the subconscious keeps
\nis a mass of impressions, not of clear or exact images and these can come up as
\nin dreams in an incoherent jumble distorted altogether or else in the waking
\nstate as a mechanical recurrence or repetition of the same suggestions,
\nimpulses (subconscient<\/span> vital) or sensations. There is
\na recognizable difference between the two functionings.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Exact images are retained by the
\nsubliminal memory. All that is subliminal is described by ordinary psychology
\nas subconscient<\/span>; but in our psychology that cannot be
\ndone, for the consciousness that held them is as precise and far wider and
\nfuller than our waking or surface consciousness, so how can it be called subconscient<\/span>? Conscious memory is that which can bring up
\nat any moment we like the memory of a thing, it is under our control. Subliminal
\nmemory can hold all things, even those which the mind cannot understand, e.g.
\nif you hear somebody talking Hebrew, the subliminal memory can hold that and
\nbring it up accurately in some abnormal state, e.g. the hypnotic. Subconscient<\/span> memory is a memory of impressions; when they
\ncome up as in dream, either the result is something incoherent or fancifully
\nrearranged or it is only the essence of the thing, its psychological deposit
\nthat comes up, e.g. sex, fear, some particular libido as the psychoanalysts
\ncall it, but the expression given to the latter need not be the same as memory
\nwould give, \u2013 it may repeat the same forms if it gets hold of the mechanical
\nmind in the physical to help its expression, but also it may be quite different
\nfrom anything in real life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 363<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

No \u2013 that [\u201cThe Record of Chitragupta<\/span>\u201d] is quite different [from the cosmic subconscient<\/span>], since it belongs to something where the
\nrecords are precise and accurate. The subconscient<\/span> is
\na suppressed and obscure seed state where things are emerging out of the
\nindeterminate inconscience of original Nature but are yet fluent and imprecise,
\nhaving all the potentiality of determination in them, but not yet determinate.
\nThe past things fall back into it not as memories, but as impressions which is
\na quite different thing. When they come up from there it is in all sorts of
\nqueer forms with variations and mixtures. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The submind<\/span>
\nis always supplying associations from the past life or the earth life in
\ngeneral to experiences of the vital or other planes. One has to get rid of
\nthese intrusions in order to get at the true experience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I don’t know that there is any
\n[term corresponding to the subconscient<\/span> in the
\ntraditional books], \u2013 this plane was spoken of more as inconscient than subconscient<\/span>, \u2013 it is practically the indiscriminate or jada<\/i><\/span> prakrti<\/span><\/i>,
\nperhaps \u2013 or the seed state. In the Veda it is symbolised<\/span>
\nby the cave of the Panis<\/span>. Perhaps by looking through
\nbooks like the Yoga-vāśistha<\/span> one could find
\nsomething about the subconscient<\/span> in fact though not
\nin express terms. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nXIII<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The centres<\/span>
\nor Chakras<\/span> are seven in number: \u2013 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. The thousand-petalled<\/span> lotus on the top of the head.<\/p>\n

2. In the middle
\nof the forehead \u2013 the Ajna<\/span> Chakra \u2013 (will, vision,
\ndynamic thought).<\/p>\n

3. Throat centre
\n\u2013 externalising<\/span> mind.<\/p>\n

4. Heart-lotus \u2013
\nemotional centre. The psychic is behind it. <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 364<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

            5. Navel \u2013 higher
\nvital (proper).<\/p>\n

6. Below navel \u2013
\nlower vital.<\/p>\n

7. Muladhara \u2013 physical.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All these centres<\/span> are in the middle of the body; they are supposed to
\nbe attached to the spinal cord; but in fact all the sethings<\/span>
\nare in the subtle body, sūkṣ<\/font>ma<\/span> deha<\/span>, though one has the feeling of their activities as if
\nin the physical body when\u00a0 <\/span>the
\nconsciousness is awake.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the process of our yoga the centres<\/span> have each a fixed psychological use and general
\nfunction which base all their special powers and functionings. The mūlādhāra<\/i><\/span>
\ngoverns the physical down to the subconscient<\/span>; the
\nabdominal centre \u2013 svādhisthāna<\/i><\/span> <\/i>\u2013 governs the lower vital; the navel
\ncentre \u2013 nābhipadma<\/i><\/span> <\/i>or manipūra<\/i><\/span> \u2013 governs the
\nlarger vital; the heart centre \u2013 hrtpadma<\/i><\/span> <\/i>or anāhata<\/i><\/span> \u2013 governs
\nthe emotional being; the throat centre \u2013 visuddha<\/i><\/span> \u2013 governs the expressive
\nand externalising<\/span> mind; the centre between the
\neye-brows \u2013 āj\u00f1ācakra<\/i><\/span> <\/i>\u2013 governs the dynamic mind, will,
\nvision, mental formation; the thousand-petalled<\/span> lotus
\n\u2013 sahasradala<\/span> \u2013 above commands the higher thinking
\nmind, houses the still higher illumined mind and at the highest opens to the
\nintuition through which or else by an overflooding<\/span>
\ndirectness the overmind can have with the rest communication or an immediate
\ncontact.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I never heard of two lotuses in
\nthe heart centre; but it is the seat of two powers, in front the higher vital
\nor emotional being, behind and concealed the soul or psychic being. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

         The colours<\/span>
\nof the lotuses and the numbers of petals are respectively, from bottom to top:
\n\u2013 (1) the Muladhara orphysical<\/span> consciousness centre,
\nfour petals, red; (2) the abdominal centre, six petals, deep purple red; (3)
\nthe navel centre, ten petals, violet; (4) the heart centre, twelve petals,
\ngolden pink; (5) the throat centre, sixteen petals, grey; (6) the forehead
\ncentre between the eye-brows, two petals, white; (7) the thousand-petalled<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 365<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

lotus above the head, blue with gold light around. The functions are, according
\nto our yoga, \u2013 (1) commanding the physical consciousness and the subconscient<\/span>; (2) commanding the small vital movements, the
\nlittle greeds<\/span>, lusts, desires, the small
\nsense-movements; (3) commanding the larger life-forces and the passions and
\nlarger desire-movements; (4) commanding the higher emotional being with the
\npsychic deep behind it; (5) commanding expression and all externalization of
\nthe mind movements and mental forces; (6) commanding thought, will, vision; (7)
\ncommanding the higher thinking mind and the illumined mind and opening upwards
\nto the intuition and overmind. The seventh is sometimes or by some identified
\nwith the brain, but that is an error \u2013 the brain is only a channel of
\ncommunication situated between the thousand-petalled<\/span>
\nand the forehead centre. The former is sometimes called the void centre, śūnya<\/i><\/span>,
\neither because it is not in the body, but in the apparent void above or because
\nrising above the head one enters first into the silence of the self or
\nspiritual being.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When we speak of concentrating in
\nthe heart in yoga, we are speaking of the emotional centre and that like all
\nthe others is in the middle of the body in a line corresponding to the spinal
\ncord. The planes he refers to are four centres<\/span>: (1)
\ncrown of head or higher mental centre, (2) between the eye-brows or centre of
\nwill and vision, (3) throat or centre of externalizing mind, and (4) heart,
\ni.e. mental-vital, emotional centre with the psychic behind it (the soul,
\nPurusha in the heart).
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chitta as
\nopposed to Chit or Vijnana is only the basic mind-life consciousness out of
\nwhich rises the stuff of (ordinary)thoughts, feelings, sensations etc. The
\nForce which he feels is something quite different; it is the larger force
\nexceeding the individual, and when one feels it in its fullness, it is
\nexperienced as the cosmic force or something of the cosmic force or else the
\nDivine Force from above, according to its nature.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

His mind is not
\nyet ready for the action of the greater force, because it is full of mental
\nnotions and activities and it is for <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 366<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

this reason that heat is
\ngenerated in the friction between the two; when the other force withdraws and
\nno longer tries to lay hold of the brain, then the personal mind-action feels
\nreleased (that is the reason for the sense of coolness) and goes about its
\nordinary notions. It is only in a silent (quiet, not necessarily empty) mind
\nthat the greater force can be received and work upon the system without too
\nmuch reaction and resistance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is good that you were able to
\novercome the difficulty and have a good meditation. Your observation that the
\ndifficulty is only in the head and throat and mainly in the latter is very
\nsignificant. These are the mental centres<\/span> and it is
\nevident therefore that the difficulty comes from the physical mind. The higher
\npart of the mind belongs to the thinking mind proper, the buddhi, that which
\nunderstands and observes and guides; the throat is the centre of the externalising<\/span> mind, that which deals with outer and
\nphysical things and responds to them. Its activity is always one of the chief
\ndifficulties of the sadhana. If it is quiet it is easier, as you have seen, for
\nthe whole being to be quiet. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

           The last of the four experiences,
\nthat of the being within arranged in layers one into the other like the steps
\nof a ladderis<\/span> also very significant and very true. It
\nis so that the inner consciousness is arranged. There are five main divisions
\nof this ladder. At the top above the head are layers (or as we call them
\nplanes) of which we are not conscious and which become conscious to us only by
\nsadhana \u2013 those above the human mind \u2013 that is the higher consciousness. Below
\nfrom the crown of the head to the throat are the layers (they are many of them)
\nof the mind, the three principal being one at the top of the head communicating
\nwith the higher consciousness, another between the eye-brows where is the
\nthought, sight and will, a third in the throat which is the externalising<\/span>
\nmind. A second division is from the shoulders to the navel, these are the
\nlayers of the higher vital presided over by the heart centre where is the
\nemotional being with the psychic hidden behind it. From the navel downwards is
\nthe rest of the vital being containing several layers. From the <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 367<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

bottom of the spine downward are
\nthe layers of the physical consciousness proper, the material, and below the
\nfeet is the subconscient<\/span> which has also many levels. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The experience of
\nthe splitting of the forehead from the middle and the pouring out of light
\nsignified the opening of thecentre<\/span> of sight, will and
\nvision there. When this opens, there is the opening of the inner mind
\nconsciousness through whichthe<\/span> light of the higher
\ncan pour out \u2013 here it is the Mother’s white light that was pouring out through
\nthe opening. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When we speak of Purusha in the
\nhead, heart, etc., we are using a figure. The Muladhara from which the
\nKundalini rises is not in the physical body, but in the subtle body (the subtle
\nbody is that in which the being goes out in deep trance or more radically, at
\nthe time of death); so also are all the centres<\/span>. But
\nas the subtle body penetrates and is interfused with the gross body, there is a
\ncertain correspondence between these chakras<\/span> and
\ncertain centres<\/span> in the physical proper. So figuratively
\nwe speak of the Purusha in this or that centre of the body. Owing to this
\ncorrespondence, again, when the Ananda or anything else comes down into the
\nbeing, it is the subtle body that it pervades, but it communicates itself
\nthrough it to the gross body and its consciousness, so that it is felt as if
\npervading the body. But all that is very different from saying that the spirit
\nis lodged in a gland. The gross body is an engine, a means of communication and
\naction of the spirit upon the world and it is only a small part of the
\ninstrumentation. It is absurd to make so much of it as all that. It is a sort
\nof false materialism intended to placate minds that have a scanty knowledge of
\nScience. But what is the use of that? Everybody now knows <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 368<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

that Science is not a statement
\nof the truth of things, but only a language expressing a certain experience of
\nobjects, their structure, their mathematics, a coordinated and utilisable
\nimpression of their processes \u2013 it is nothing more. Matter itself is something
\n(a formation of energy perhaps?) of which we know superficially the structure
\nas it appears to our mind and senses and to certain examining instruments
\n(about which it is now suspected that they largely determine their own results,
\nNature adapting its replies to the instrument used) but more than that no
\nScientist knows or can know.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How can a spirit entity be
\nenclosed in a material gland? So far as I know the self or spirit is not
\nenclosed in the body, rather the body is in the self. When we have the full
\nexperience of the self, we feel it as a wide consciousness in which the body is
\na very small thing, an adjunct or a thing contained, not a container.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One can speak of the chakras<\/span> only in reference to yoga. In ordinary people the chakras<\/span> are not open, it is only when they do sadhana that
\nthe chakras<\/span> open. For the chakras<\/span>
\nare the centres<\/span> of the inner consciousness and belong
\noriginally to the subtle body. So much as is active in ordinary people is very
\nlittle \u2013 for in them it is the outer consciousness that is active. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The centres<\/span>
\nof consciousness, the chakras<\/span>. It is by their opening
\nthat the yogic or inner consciousness develops \u2013 otherwise you are bound to the
\nordinary outer consciousness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This must be the psychicised<\/span> higher mental being \u2013 the position above the
\nhead points to that. In other words, you have become aware of your higher
\nmental being which is in contact at once <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 369<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

with the Divine above and with
\nthe psychic behind the heart and is aware of the Truth and has the psychic and
\nspiritual insight and view into things.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Above the head
\nextends the higher consciousness centre, sahasradala<\/i><\/span> padma<\/span><\/i>. But usually there is partial
\nworking ofthe<\/span> forehead centre also when the sahasradala<\/span> opens. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The ordinary mind
\nis at its highest the free intelligence, receiving perhaps intuitions and
\nintimations from above which it intellectualises<\/span>. It
\nis on the surface and sees things from outside except in so far as it is helped
\nby intuition and other powers to see a little deeper. When this ordinary mind
\nopens within to inner mind and psychic and above to higher mind and higher
\nconsciousness generally, then it begins to be spiritualised and its highest
\nranges merge into the spiritual mind-consciousness of which this higher mind
\ncan be a beginning. This merging is part of the spiritual transformation.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For the mind there are many centres<\/span>: (1) the sahasradala<\/span>
\nwhich centralises<\/span> spiritual mind, higher mind,
\nintuitive mind and acts as a receiving station for the intuition proper and
\novermind, (2) the centre in the forehead for inner thought, will and vision,
\n(3) the throat centre for the externalising<\/span> or
\nphysical mind.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The thousand-petalled<\/span>
\nlotus is above the head. It is the seventh and highest centre.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Usually those who
\ntake the centres<\/span> in the body only, count six centres<\/span>, the sahasrāra<\/i><\/span> being excluded.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is evidently the sahasradala<\/span> padma<\/span> through which
\nthe higher intuition, illumined mind and overmind all pass their rays.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The supramental is not organised
\nin the body, so there is no separate centre for it; but all that comes from
\nabove the Mind uses <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 370<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

the sahasrāra<\/i><\/span> <\/i>for its transit and so opens something
\nthere.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\ncentre at the crown must be part of the sahasradala<\/span>,
\nthe centre of communication direct between the individual being and the
\ninfinite Consciousness above. There is not supposed to be any other main centre
\nof dynamism between that and the āj\u00f1ācakra<\/i><\/span>. But there can be many nerve-centres<\/span> in various parts of the body, apart from the six or
\nrather seven main centres<\/span>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The crown is the place of passage
\nbetween the body-consciousness with all it contains of mind and life and the
\nhigher being above the body. It is there that the two consciousnesses begin to
\nmeet.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The crown centre open removes the
\ndifficulty of the lid between the ordinary mind and the higher consciousness
\nabove. If the āj\u00f1ācakra<\/i><\/span>
\nalso is open, then it is possible to have a clear communication between the
\nhigher consciousness and the inner mind and the outer mind (throat centre)
\nalso. That is the condition for the realisation of knowledge and the mental
\nillumination and transformation. The heart centre commands the psychic and
\nvital \u2013 that opening enables the psychic influence to work in the vital and
\nends in the coming forward of the psychic being.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The brain is only a centre of the
\nphysical consciousness. One feels stationed there so long as one dwells in the
\nphysical mind or \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>is identified with the
\nbody-consciousness, then one receives through the sahasrāra<\/i><\/span> <\/i>into the brain. When one ceases to be
\nstationed in the body, then the brain is not a station but only a passive and
\nsilent transmitting channel.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 371<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

In the forehead between the eyes
\nbut a little above is the āj\u00f1ācakra<\/i><\/span>, the centre of the inner will, also of
\nthe inner vision, the dynamic mind, etc. (This is not the ordinary outer mental
\nwill and sight, but something more powerful, belonging to the inner being.)
\nWhen this centre opens and the Force there is active, then there is the opening
\nof a greater will, power of decision, formation, effectiveness, beyond what the
\nordinary mind can achieve.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The centre of vision is between the
\neyebrows in the centre of the forehead. When it opens one gets the inner
\nvision, sees the inner forms and images of things and people and begins to
\nunderstand things and people from within and not only from outside, develops a
\npower of will which also acts in the inner (yogic) way on things and people
\netc. Its opening is often the beginning of the yogic as opposed to the ordinary
\nmental consciousness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The centre [āj\u00f1ācakra<\/i><\/span>] is in the
\nplace I indicated, but the pressure can be felt in all the forehead and the
\neyebrows also or anywhere there. It radiates from the centre.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes. A third eye does open there [in
\nthe centre of the forehead] \u2013 it represents the occult vision and the occult
\npower which goes with that vision \u2013 it is connected with the āj\u00f1ācakra<\/i><\/span>.<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If the forehead centre opens, it
\nis fairly certain that the crown centre must have opened sufficiently at least
\nto allow the passage of the higher force which is above it. The psychic is a
\ndifferent matter \u2013 it stands behind the centres<\/span> and
\nthe time of its opening varies with different people \u2013 in fact it is not so
\nmuch the opening of a centre as the coming forward of the psychic being. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 372<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

The usual rule in this yoga is
\nfrom above downwards. There may be variations in the preparatory stage. There
\nmay for instance be a partial opening first of the heart centre. The higher
\nvital centre may become active first also, but that means much struggle and
\ndifficulty.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do you not know that the inner
\nbeing means the inner mind, inner vital, inner physical with the psychic behind
\nas the inmost? How can there be one centre for all that?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, the centre in the throat is
\nthe centre of the physical mind. It is the centre of externalization \u2013 in
\nspeech, expression, the power to deal mentally with physical things etc. Its
\nopening brings the power to open the physical mind to the light of the divine
\nconsciousness instead of remaining in the ordinary outward-going mentality.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The neck and throat and the lower
\npart of the face belong to the externalising<\/span> mind,
\nthe physical mental. The forehead to the inner Mind. Above the head are the
\nhigher planes of Mind.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The nose is connected with the
\nvital dynamic part of the mental, \u2013 a man with a strong nose is supposed to
\nhave a strong will or a strong mental personality, \u2013 though I don’t know
\nwhether it is invariably true. But the vital physical? Of course the nose is
\nthe passage of the Prana and the Prana is the support of the vital physical. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It cannot be anything physical
\nbut only a subtle physical sensation. The ear is the passage of communion
\nbetween the inner mind centre and the thought-forces or thought-waves of the <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 373<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

universal Nature. It sounds like
\na sensation of opening and enlarging of this passage.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is the physical mind that acts
\nlike that. The centre of the physical mind or externalising<\/span>
\nmind is in the subtle body in the throat and connected strongly with the speech
\n\u2013 but it acts by connection with the brain. All forces that want to cover the
\nconsciousness rise up to do it by environing and acting on the mind centres<\/span> if they can \u2013 environing because otherwise the
\ncovering is not complete.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The organ of speech is an
\ninstrument of the physical-mental or expressive externalising<\/span>
\nmind.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Speech comes from the throat
\ncentre, but it is associated with whatever is the governing centre or level of
\nthe consciousness \u2013 wherever one thinks from. If one rises above the head, then
\nthought takes place above the head and one can speak from there, that is to
\nsay, the direction of the speech is from there.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pashyanti<\/span>
\nis evidently speech with the vision of Truth in it \u2013 Para is probably the
\nrevelatory and inspired speech. I am not certain about the exact nature of the
\nothers [Vaikhari<\/span> and Madhyama<\/span>].
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Tantriks<\/span> locate these forms of speech in different chakras<\/span>. Speech may be internal or external, either may
\nhave the stamp of the same power. But if it is to be measured by withdrawal
\nfrom externality, then Para ought to mean something of the causal realm beyond
\nmind.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 374<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

The throat centre is the externalising<\/span> (physical) mind, the heart is the emotional
\nmind and beginning of the higher vital. If the heart centre is dominated by the
\nphysical mind to any extent it will necessarily be open to the outer attacks
\nthat affect the physical and nervous consciousness. The heart has to be in
\nconnection with the psychic and the higher consciousness. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The physical heart is in the left
\nside, but the heart centre of yoga is in the middle of the chest \u2013 the cardiac
\ncentre.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The apex of the psychic and
\nemotional centre (like the apex of all centres<\/span>) is in
\nthe backbone, the base in front in middle of the sternum.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The heart is the centre of the
\nbeing and commands the rest, as the psychic being or caitya purusa<\/i> is there. It is only in that sense that all flows
\nfrom it, for it is the psychic being who each time creates a new mind, vital
\nand body for himself.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The psychic being (which is the
\nsoul) does not make centres<\/span> for itself in the Adhar.
\nThe centres<\/span> are there. The psychic being can take
\ncontrol of the centres<\/span> that are already there \u2013 the
\nheart and the navel centre and the two below the navel. Also the mind and vital
\nare not abolished \u2013 they are brought under the psychic influence and psychicised<\/span>, or they are occupied by the higher
\nconsciousness from above and transformed into its instruments.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One does not pass through the
\npsychic centre or any centre. The centres<\/span> open under
\nthe pressure of the sadhana. You can <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 375<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

say that the Force descends or
\nascends into a centre.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The navel is the chief vital
\ncentre below the emotional, \u2013 there is another centre of small vital movements
\nbelow it, \u2013 between the navel and Muladhara. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is the lower
\nvital energy that rushes to the brain and either confuses it and prevents
\nmental self-control or else makes the mind its slave and uses reason to justify
\nthe passions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The physical mind centre is in
\nthe throat and mouth \u2013 the vital physical is between the two lowest centres<\/span> \u2013 the material consciousness is in the mūlādhāra<\/i><\/span>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The nerves are distributed all
\nover the body, but the vital-physical action is concentrated in its origin between
\nthe Muladhara and the centre just above it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yogically<\/span>,
\npsycho-physically, etc., etc., stomach, heart and intestine lodge the vital
\nmovements, not the physical consciousness \u2013 it is there that anger, fear, love,
\nhate and all other psychological privileges of the animal tumble about and
\nupset physical and moral digestion. The Muladhara is the seat of the physical
\nconsciousness proper.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It [the end of the spine] is the
\nplace of the physical centre which is also the sex-centre. The apex of it is at
\nthe end of the spine and it projects forward from there \u2013 commanding the organ
\nand its action.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 376<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

The lowest centre at the bottom
\nof the spine. It contains many other things but also it is in its front the
\nsupport of the sexual movements.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

No, the subconscient<\/span>
\nis too vague to have a centre. It has a level \u2013 below the feet as the
\nsuperconscient is above, but from there it can surge up anywhere.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, it [the cerebellum] has some
\nconnection with the subconscient<\/span>. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 377<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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