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The Conscious Psychic Being Choosing Its Next Incarnation, Part 2 · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  Sometimes a soul is born into the world with a sense of a
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  predetermined and destined path forward based on focus and
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  determinations made in the prior lifetime.
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  Such an individual, in some cases very early in life, may
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  know things, may feel like he has already known things that
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  come before his view, or may find life circumstances aligning
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  to guide him in a particular direction.
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  The awakened and developed psychic being can arrange such
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  results whether the external personality and circumstances
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  acknowledge it or not. In such cases the individual
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  feels like he is re establishing a foundation built previously.
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  Srioro Bindo in his poem Savitri, a legend and a symbol
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  in Book 1. Canto one states quote.
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  A thought was sown in the unsounded void, A sense was born
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  within the darkness depths, a memory quivered in the heart of
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  time, as if a soul long dead were moved to live.
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  But the oblivion that succeeds the fall had blotted the crowded
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  tablets of the past, and all that was destroyed must be
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  rebuilt and old experience labored out once more.
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  End Quote. An individual recounted events
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  from his childhood. He experienced forces pressing
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  intensely on his head on occasions as a young child, to
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  the extent that at times he felt like his head would burst under
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  the pressure. He recounted experiencing,
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  during an illness that manifested a high fever again
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  during his childhood, the sense of a body far wider than his
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  physical form. He was drawn to reading
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  religious and philosophical literature at a young age.
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  He eventually faced certain external circumstances that led
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  him away from higher education and a career path.
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  He wound up studying texts and attempting to practice yoga on
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  his own until he eventually identified a spiritual writer
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  who resonated with his deepest sense of the purpose of his
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  life. He stated that he felt like the
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  writer was expressing for him on the printed page his own deepest
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  aspirations, thoughts, and feelings.
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  He also noted that he experienced in dream certain
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  significant meetings he would have in the future with
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  individuals who would influence his life and direction.
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  He recognized these individuals when they later came into his
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  environs. When he reflected backwards on
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  his life, he saw that situations, both positive and
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  negative, shaped and guided his steps forward.
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  He met people who aided him on the way, guided and supported
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  him at times, and brought him to a realization that his life was
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  already focused without his knowing it, even at the time of
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  his birth, and that henceforth he was intended to live a life
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  of dedication. He was moved by the bodhisattva
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  vow of the Buddhist traditions, but felt that his mission was
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  not to help others escape the world of illusion, but to
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  transform it into a true expression of the deeper purpose
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  behind the universal creation. His story is not unique.
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  A similar story has been recounted by many others, which
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  provides evidence of the deeper forces at work in shaping the
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  creation and the individual expressions within that larger
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  universal manifestation. The Mother recounted at one
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  point how as a young child she received teachings from an
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  individual whom she later recognized as being Srioro Bindo
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  when she met him in person many years later.
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  In the book Called To Heal, the story of an African shamanic
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  healer who did everything possible to try to avoid taking
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  on the responsibilities of a healer until she finally
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  recognized that her health and her future depended on taking up
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  that work. Her story shows the way her path
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  was laid out for her and circumstances arranged in such a
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  way that even when her external personality resisted, eventually
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  the direction was set. Paramount's Yogananda recounted
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  in his Autobiography of a Yogi how he was drawn to dedicate his
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  life from a young age to spirituality.
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  When he eventually met his guru, he came to understand that he
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  had some scaras from past lifetimes of practice in the
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  spiritual heights of the Himalayas, but needed to now
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  turn his focus toward a dedicated work in the world.
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  The mother observes. Quote If all goes well, if there
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  is no accident, accidents can always happen.
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  If all goes well at the moment the child is about to be born,
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  the psychic force, perhaps not in its totality but a part of
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  the psychic consciousness, rushes into the being and from
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  its very first cry gives it a push towards the experiences it
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  wants the child to acquire. The result is that even if the
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  parents are not conscious, even if the child in its external
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  consciousness is not quite conscious, a little child does
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  not have the necessary brain for that.
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  It forms slowly, little by little.
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  In spite of that it will be possible for the psychic
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  influence to direct all the events, all the circumstances of
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  the life of this child, till the moment it becomes capable of
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  coming into conscious contact with its psychic being.
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  Physically it is generally between the ages of four and
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  seven, sometime sooner, sometimes almost immediately.
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  But in such a case we deal with children who are not children,
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  who have supernatural qualities, As they say, they are not
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  supernatural, but simply the expression of the presence of
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  the psychic being. But there are people who have
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  not had the chance, or rather the good fortune, if one may
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  call it that, of meeting someone physically who could instruct
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  them. And yet they have the feeling
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  that every step of their existence, every circumstance of
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  their life, is arranged by someone conscious so that they
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  may make the maximum progress. When they need a certain
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  circumstance, it comes. When they need to meet certain
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  people, they come. When they need to read certain
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  books, they find them within their reach.
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  Everything is arranged like that, as if someone was watching
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  over them so that their life may have the maximum possibilities
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  of development. These people may very well say,
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  but what is a psychic being? For no one has ever used these
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  words in speaking to them, or they have not found anybody who
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  could explain to them all that. But for them, often just one
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  meeting is sufficient. Just one look in order to wake
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  up one word suffices to make them remember.
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  But I knew all that. This is exactly what happens to
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  a psychic being which has reached the last stage of its
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  development. After that, it will no longer be
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  bound by the necessity of coming upon earth.
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  It will have completed its development and will be able to
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  choose freely either to consecrate itself to the divine
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  work or go elsewhere, that is, in the higher worlds.
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  But generally, having come to this stage, it remembers all
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  that has happened to it and understands the great necessity
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  of coming to the help of those who are yet struggling in the
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  midst of difficulties. These psychic beings give their
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  whole existence to the Divine work.
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  This is not absolute, inevitable.
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  They choose freely. But 90 times out of 100 this is
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  what they do. End Quote.
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  Reference Sri Orovindo and the Mother, the psychic being soul,
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  its nature, Mission and evolution.
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  Section 3. Growth and Development of the
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  Psychic, pages 82 to 84.