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The Psychic Being and the Mechanism of Choosing Its Next Birth · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  Nothing can evolve that has not previously been involved.
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  A tree grows from an acorn because the essence of the tree,
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  in the form of its genetic code, is already in place.
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  Within that acorn. The entire creation, from the
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  most material to the most subtle, contains an involved
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  consciousness. If we look at the atomic
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  structure of a rock, we will see the complex detail involved in
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  its existence. Metals and crystals represent a
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  higher expression of the material consciousness, with
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  more specific alignments involved than in the oldest,
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  least organized rock materials. Similarly, as plants evolve, and
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  later as animals evolve, there is an ascending power of
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  expression of the involved consciousness coincident with an
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  increased complexity of the formation of that plant or
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  animal. Up through all these stages, the
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  evolutionary principle is collective, related to the type
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  rather than to any specific individual in that form.
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  We begin to see a certain amount of individuation when we get to
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  the more advanced animal forms, including the higher primates
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  and humans. At this level, we begin to
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  appreciate different personalities of various
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  individuals, although most of their lives remain fixed within
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  the basic framework of the type. As the individuation process
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  advances, we begin to recognize an ego personality which is much
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  more highly developed in the human being.
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  Throughout each stage of external development, the
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  psychic presence continues to develop and express itself more
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  and more. Eventually a fully formed
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  psychic being appears which can begin to direct and control the
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  outer nature and turn it towards fulfillment of the spiritual
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  force that creates, constitutes, maintains and develops the
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  universal creation. This does not occur within a
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  single lifetime, rather it takes innumerable lifetimes of
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  development across all the stages of manifestation for such
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  a fully formed and conscious psychic being to come forward.
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  In order for this to take place, a process of continuity through
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  the action of rebirth is necessary, Otherwise there is no
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  progression possible for the individual.
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  Most of the process takes place rather automatically such that
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  matter, plants, animals and even human beings do not insert
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  individual conscious focus or energy into that process.
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  When the being reaches the human stage and has a certain amount
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  of self-awareness and have formed individuality, a more
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  specific process begins to occur in order to aid the psychic
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  being in its development through collecting the essence of
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  experience from diverse lifetimes.
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  The Tibetan Book of the Dead describes in considerable detail
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  the process and timing involved in the transition of the being
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  from death in one body through a transitional phase, eventually
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  leading to birth in a new body and lifetime.
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  The process described there is one that carries itself out
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  through the energetic focus of the individual in the lifetime
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  and the preparation that individual has had for the
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  choices of a new birth available to it.
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  This process is driven through the energetic forces, not by
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  some conscious individual choice.
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  For most people behind these energetic forces, the psychic
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  being remains focused to ensure the being gets the experience it
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  needs in the next lifetime. What is not specifically covered
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  here are instances where there is a fully awake and active
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  psychic being directing the life.
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  When such a being departs the body, it is possible for him to
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  make conscious choices and direct the energetic flow to
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  create specific forward choices and conditions.
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  The rebirth of lamas, for instance the continuous line of
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  births of the Dalai Lamas or the Panchen Lamas, are examples of
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  such a directed and controlled process.
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  They generally leave behind some clues as to their future
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  rebirth, and afterwards a process of search takes place
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  until the successor birth has been identified.
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  The child is then put through a series of tests to Florida State
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  identify specific items that had been used by the prior
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  incarnation. This process has been carried
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  out numerous times and provides us with a model for what we may
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  call conscious directed rebirth by an awake psychic being.
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  The Mother notes quote. Let us take a divine spark which
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  through attraction, through affinity and selection, gathers
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  around it a beginning of psychic consciousness.
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  This work is already very perceptible in animals.
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  Don't think you are exceptional beings, that you alone have a
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  psychic being and the rest of creation hasn't.
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  It begins in the mineral. It is a little more developed in
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  the plant and in the animal. There is a first glimmer of the
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  psychic presence. Then there comes a moment when
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  this psychic being is sufficiently developed to have
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  an independent consciousness and a personal will.
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  And then, after innumerable lives, more or less
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  individualized, it becomes conscious of itself, of its
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  movements, and of the environment that's chosen for
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  its growth. Arriving at a certain state of
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  perception, it decides generally at the last minute, of the life
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  it has just finished upon earth the conditions in which its next
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  life will be passed. Here I must tell you a very
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  important thing. The psychic being can progress
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  and form itself only in the physical life and upon earth.
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  As soon as it leaves a body, it enters into a rest which lasts
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  for a more or less long time, according to its own choice and
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  its degree of development. A rest for assimilation, for a
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  passive progress, so to say, a rest for passive growth, which
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  will allow this same psychic being to pass on the new
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  experiences and make a more active progress.
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  But after having finished one life, which usually ends only
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  when it is done what it wanted to do, it will have chosen the
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  environment where it will be born, the approximate place
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  where it will be born, the conditions and the kind of life
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  in which it will be born, and a very precise program of the
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  experiences through which it will have to pass to be able to
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  make the progress it wants to make.
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  End Quote reference. Srioro Bindu and the Mother, the
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  psychic being soul, its nature, mission and evolution.
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  Section 3. Growth and Development of the
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  Psychic, pages 79 to 80.