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Spiritual Growth Is Characterised by Inward Experience and Maturation of the Being · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  The spiritual development of the individual seeker is not
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  something that can be measured or defined in terms of the
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  intellect or understood by specific results as sought by
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  the vital nature, nor can it be certified by various physical
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  attainments, capacities that exceed the normal status of the
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  external being. These outward results belong to
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  the external being, the development of the mind, the
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  emotions, the vital nature, the physical body.
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  Through training, discipline and ongoing effort, these things can
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  show their development in concrete ways.
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  The development of the spiritual capacities is, however, not
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  always easily visible and certainly not quantifiable by
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  our normal yardsticks that we apply to the external
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  capacities. Yoga, the process by which the
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  spiritual seeker consciously and systematically cultivates the
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  spiritual growth of the being, takes place inwardly, silently,
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  and in many cases incrementally over time.
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  Spiritual capacity is evidenced by a wideness and inclusiveness,
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  by the development of understanding that is not
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  exclusive or dogmatic. Of an emotional being that is
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  embracing without being possessive.
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  By a vital being that is powerful in action but not
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  self-centered or acquisitive for individual possession.
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  By a physical being which grows in the strength of bearing the
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  force of the spiritual consciousness without breaking
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  down and spilling it. The inner spiritual being which
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  Fioro Bindo calls the psychic being, is characterized not by
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  its outward achievements but by its focus on and turning of the
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  nature and its actions towards the divine.
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  It develops aspiration, consecration and self giving as
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  the process of its development. The growth of the inner flame,
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  the Mystic fire, is the sign of the psychic beings increasing
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  influence on the being, Fioro Bindo notes quote at a certain
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  stage in the Yoga, when the mind is sufficiently quieted and no
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  longer supports itself at every step on the sufficiency of its
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  mental certitudes. When the vital has been steadied
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  and subdued, and is no longer constantly insistent on its own
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  rash will, demand and desire. When the physical has been
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  sufficiently altered not to bury altogether the inner flame under
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  the mass of its outwardness, obscurity, or inertia, an inmost
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  being hidden within and felt only in its rare influences, is
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  able to come forward and illumine the rest, and take up
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  the lead of the sadhna. Its character is A1 pointed
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  orientation towards the Divine, or the highest 1 pointed and yet
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  plastic in action and movement. It does not create a rigidity of
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  direction like the one pointed intellect, or a bigotry of the
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  regnant idea or impulse like the one pointed vital force.
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  It is at every moment and with a supple sureness that it points
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  the way to the truth, automatically distinguishes the
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  right from the false, extricates the Divine or godward movement
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  from the clinging mixture of the undivine.
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  Its action is like a Searchlight showing up all that has to be
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  changed in the nature. It has in it a flame of will,
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  insisting on perfection, on an alchemic transmutation of all
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  the inner and outer existence. It sees the divine essence
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  everywhere, but rejects the mere mask and the disguising figure.
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  It insists on truth, on will and strength and mastery, on joy and
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  love and beauty, but on a truth of abiding knowledge that
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  surpasses the mere practical momentary truth of the ignorance
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  on an inward joy, and not on mere vital pleasure.
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  For it prefers rather a purifying suffering and sorrow
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  to degrading satisfactions. On love winged upward and not
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  tied to the stake of egoistic craving, or with its feet sunk
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  in the mire. On beauty restored to its
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  priesthood of interpretation of the Eternal, on strength and
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  will and mastery as instruments not of the ego but of the
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  Spirit. Its will is for the divinization
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  of life, the expression through it of a higher truth, its
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  dedication to the Divine and the Eternal.
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  End Quote. Reference.
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  Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, the Psychic being soul, its
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  nature, Mission and evolution. Section 1.
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  Meaning and Nature of the Psychic Being, pages 33 to 34.