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The Psychic Being and Progress · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  Until someone actively takes up the spiritual path and
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  consciously begins to focus on the significance of his life and
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  the purpose of the manifestation, the question of
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  progress for the psychic being does not even arise.
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  The progress takes place, but it happens without appreciation or
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  acknowledgement by the individual who is absorbed in
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  the outer life and focused on the development of the ego
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  personality and its measure of success in the world.
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  Up until the individual consciously takes up the work,
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  the progress in terms of growth and development of the psychic
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  being takes place, and it will continue with the aid of the
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  conscious participation of the spiritual seeker.
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  Eventually, the fully developed and manifested psychic being is
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  confronted with choices and the freedom to make the choice
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  without anyone judging that choice.
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  The choices include leaving the manifestation for permanent
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  residence in what might be called the psychic world or
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  domain or any other world or heaven, gaining the freedom to
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  depart but turning back to assist others in reaching that
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  point. That is the Bodhisattva vow and
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  voluntarily choosing to return to support the divine
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  manifestation in its evolutionary program.
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  Assuming the soul is chosen to return and work towards either
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  universal liberation or evolutionary development, it
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  then looks to how to best refine, develop and utilize its
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  external being, the instruments of action in the world, body,
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  life and mind. There is a progressive
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  development possible here as well.
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  The ability to more perfectly represent and express the
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  spiritual force and the psychic aspiration is an important
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  aspect of the role of the psychic being in the general
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  evolutionary process. A disciple asks, does the
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  psychic being always progress? The Mother responds quote.
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  There are in the psychic being 2 very different kinds of
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  progress, 1 consisting in its formation.
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  Building an organization for the psychic starts by being only a
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  kind of tiny divine spark inside the being, and out of this spark
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  will emerge progressively. An independent conscious being
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  have it having its own action and will.
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  The psychic being at its origin is only a spark of the divine
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  consciousness, and it is through successive lives that it builds
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  up a conscious individuality. It is a progress similar to that
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  of a growing child. It is a thing in the making for
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  a long time in most human beings.
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  The psychic is a being in the making.
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  It is not a fully individualized, fully conscious
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  being and master of itself, and it needs all its rebirths, one
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  after another in order to build itself and become fully
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  conscious. But this sort of progress has an
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  end. There comes a time when the
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  being is fully developed, fully individualized, fully master of
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  itself and its destiny, when this being, or one of these
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  psychic beings at that state, takes birth in a human being.
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  That makes a very great difference.
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  The human being, so to say, is Born Free.
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  He is not tied to circumstances, to surroundings, to his origin
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  and atavism. Like ordinary people, he comes
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  into the world with the purpose of doing something, with a work
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  to carry out, a mission to fulfill.
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  From this point of view, his progress in growth has come to
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  an end, That is, it is not indispensable for him to take
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  birth again in a body. Till then rebirth is a
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  necessity, for it is through rebirth that he grows.
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  It is in the physical life and in a physical body that he
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  gradually develops and becomes a fully conscious being.
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  But once he is fully formed, he is free in this sense that he
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  can take birth or not at will. So there one kind of progress
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  stops. But if this fully formed being
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  wants to become an instrument of work for the Divine, if instead
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  of retiring to repose in a psychic bliss in its own domain,
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  he chooses to be a worker upon earth to help in the fulfillment
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  of the divine work, then he has a fresh progress to make a
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  progress in the capacity for work, for organization of his
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  work, and for expression of the divine will.
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  So there is a time when the thing changes.
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  So long as he remains in the world, so long as he chooses to
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  work for the divine, he will progress.
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  Only if he withdraws into the psychic world and refuses to
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  continue doing the divine work or renounces it, can he remain
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  in a static condition outside all progress.
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  Because, as I have told you, only upon earth is there
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  progress, only in the physical world.
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  It is not acquired. Everywhere in the psychic world
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  there is a kind of blissful repose.
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  One remains what 1 is without any movement.
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  End Quote. Reference Sri Aurobindo and the
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  Mother, the psychic being soul, its nature, mission and
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  evolution. Section 3.
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  Growth and Development of the Psychic, pages 89 to 90.