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The Power of the Psychic Being · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  When most people think of power, it is within the context of some
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  overt ability to accomplish something in the setting of the
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  external world within which we live and act.
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  This may be political power, economic power, physical power,
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  moral power, the power to persuade, the power of an idea,
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  the power of motivation, whether through speech, writing, or
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  through some other medium. It may be the power to uplift
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  and inspire, such as the power of art or music that touches
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  something in the being. Because the psychic being works
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  from behind the scenes and through influence and guidance
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  of the body, life, mind complex, it is hard to define exactly
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  what power the psychic has, and this is the thrust of a question
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  posed to the mother by a disciple.
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  The power of the psychic being, though subtle and unable to be
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  defined by our external definitions of power, is a
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  causative power. Its role is not the direct
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  implementation of any particular line of action in the world, but
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  to create the sole circumstances and guide the responses for the
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  soul's development and use of its external capacities in the
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  service of the divine manifestation to which the
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  psychic being, through its direct relation to the divine,
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  is connected. The Titeria Upanishad makes the
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  point that the gross external being is the result of the more
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  subtle planes and powers that create them, the subtlest of
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  which is the element of Ananda, Part of the triune ultimate
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  reality of Satchidananda, the power that sets everything in
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  motion and orders the framework and development of the universal
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  creation, is the ultimate, if often unrecognized, power.
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  This is not just true in a universal sense, but even in the
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  life and development of the individual.
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  When the soul has an opportunity to direct, guide, or impel the
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  individual along a certain line of development, the disciple
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  asks has the psychic any power? The mother answers quote power.
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  It is usually the psychic which guides the being.
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  One knows nothing about it because one is not conscious of
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  it, but usually it is that which guides the being.
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  If one is very attentive, one becomes aware of it, but the
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  majority of men haven't the least idea of it.
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  For instance, when they have decided in their outer ignorance
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  to do something, and instead of their being able to do it, all
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  the circumstances are so organized that they do something
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  else, they start shouting, storming, flying into a Rage
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  Against fate. Saying that depends on what they
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  believe, their beliefs that nature is wicked, or their
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  destiny baleful, or God unjust, or no matter what, it depends on
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  what they believe, while most of the time it is just the very
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  circumstance which was most favourable for their inner
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  development. And naturally, if you ask the
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  psychic to help you to fashion a pleasant life for yourself, to
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  earn money, have children, who will be the pride of the family,
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  etcetera. Well, the psychic will not help
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  you, but it will create for you all the circumstances necessary
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  to awaken something in you, so that the need of union with the
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  divine may be born in your consciousness.
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  At times you have made fine plans and if they had succeeded,
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  you would have been more or less encrusted in your outer
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  ignorance, your stupid little ambition and your aimless
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  activity. Whilst if you receive a good
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  shock and the post you coveted is denied to you, the plan you
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  made is shattered and you find yourself completely thwarted.
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  Then sometimes this opposition opens to you a door on something
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  truer and deeper, and when you are a little awake and look
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  back, if you are in the least sincere, you say, ah, it wasn't
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  I who was right. It was nature, or the divine
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  grace or my psychic being who did it.
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  It is the psychic being which organized that.
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  End Quote Reference Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, The
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  Hidden Forces of Life, Chapter 2.
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  Hidden Forces within pages 51 to 52.