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Introduction to the Higher Levels of Consciousness Beyond the Mind · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  Western psychology has begun to explore the levels and realms of
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  mind. This study has been going on for
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  many hundreds if not thousands of years in India, where the
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  psychological framework of inner space has been a key focus of
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  yogic psychology. Western study started with the
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  mental powers and then began to explore the connection of less
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  conscious levels such as the subconscious and what Jung
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  called the collective unconscious and their influence
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  on our waking minds and responses to circumstances and
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  events. Srioro Bindo recognized that the
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  evolution of consciousness implies that there are higher
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  realms and stages of consciousness beyond what the
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  human being ordinarily experiences, and thus took his
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  research into those higher realms.
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  He acknowledges the role and impact of the subconscious and
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  the unconscious, but he also recognizes that as new, higher,
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  and more powerful levels of awareness take on a greater
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  importance in human life, many of the former levels will be
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  subject to modification and even transformation in the life
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  Divine. Sri Robindo does a review of
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  some of these higher stages and the differentiating factors as
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  to how they operate. Starting from the mental level,
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  there is what he calls the higher Mind.
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  Above that are levels such as the Illumined Mind, the Over
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  Mind and eventually the Supermind.
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  The Supermind acts as the primary interface between pure
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  existence, consciousness, force and bliss.
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  Suchit Ananda and the manifestation of the world's
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  associated with mind, life and physical substance.
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  It holds concurrently the awareness of pure existence and
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  the power to create and manifest the world's and their operation
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  in detail. For a substantial understanding
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  of these levels and their differences and their varying
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  modes and powers of operation, it is best to consult the Life
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  Divine directly. As part of this more
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  comprehensive view of the play of consciousness, Sri Aurobindo
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  also describes the action and conscious force that is tied to
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  each of the chakras, the subtle energy centers that act as a
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  Nexus for reception and expression of various forms of
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  the consciousness and force operative in the creation.
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  Sri Aurobindo observes. Quote If your consciousness
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  rises above the head, that means that it goes beyond the ordinary
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  mind to the centre above which receives the higher
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  consciousness, or else towards the ascending levels of the
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  higher consciousness itself. The 1st result is the silence
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  and peace of the self, which is the basis of the higher
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  consciousness. This may afterwards descend into
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  the lower levels, into the very body.
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  Light also can descend and force the navel and the centers below
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  it are those of the vital and the physical.
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  Something of the higher force may have descended there.
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  End Quote. Reference Srioro Bindu, Bases of
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  Yoga, Chapter 1, Calm, Peace and Equality, pages 20 to 21.