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Jivatman and Psychic Being · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  Spiritual seekers have differing affinities and capacities from
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  which they begin their conscious spiritual focus.
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  Some of them take up the seeking for the self, the Jivatman, with
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  liberation from the illusion of the external world and its
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  temptations. As a primary objective.
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  They practice Nyana Yoga, the Yoga of knowledge, and the path
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  can be austere as they tend to not want to be actively involved
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  in the usual occupations of society.
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  They seek the divine and tend to follow the path of the
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  renunciate or ascetic. Srioro Binda describes this in
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  The Life Divine when he delves into what he calls the refusal
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  of the ascetic. He also devotes an entire
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  section of the synthesis of Yoga to the practices of the Yoga of
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  Knowledge. There are also seekers who begin
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  with the upwelling of a deep sense of devotion, consecration,
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  bhakti, the way of love. This path is described in detail
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  by Sri Aurobindo in the section of the synthesis of Yoga called
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  the Yoga of Love. Each of these paths takes up one
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  of the natural starting points for an individual who has moved
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  to devote himself to the spiritual life.
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  Each can attain the objective of union with the Divine as the
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  Self above and distant from the individual life, as well as the
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  psychic being guiding and developing from within the
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  manifestation and participating in that way in the individual
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  life, are both focused on conscious union with the Divine
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  in the one aspect or the other. Sri Robindo mentions the issue
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  which we have ourselves seen on several occasions of individuals
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  who have a deep or intense spiritual experience or even a
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  major change in their understanding and perspective
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  based on spiritual experience, and then allow the vital ego to
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  more or less hijack the realization through the sense of
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  superiority or uniqueness. In some cases, the individual
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  may believe he is the Divine without the corresponding
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  recognition of the Divine imminent in all beings.
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  Or they may believe they are an incarnation of a great spiritual
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  teacher of the past or divinely moved to lead others on the
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  spiritual path without a recognition of the Divine
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  presence active in others. In some cases, an individual
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  believes he has a special role to play and act as gatekeeper to
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  an individual with a transformative divine
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  experience, as Srioro Bindo briefly notes in the case of
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  Ramakrishna and Hrudaya. Here Srioro Bindo observes quote
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  The phrase central being in our yoga is usually applied to the
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  portion of the divine in us which supports all the rest and
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  survives through death and birth.
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  This central being has 2 forms Above it is Jeevatman, our true
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  being of which we become aware when the higher self knowledge
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  comes below. It is the psychic being which
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  stands behind mind, body and life.
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  The Jeevatman is above the manifestation in life and
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  presides over it. The psychic being stands behind
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  the manifestation in life and supports it.
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  The natural attitude of the psychic being is to feel itself
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  as the Child, the Son of God, the bhakta.
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  It is a portion of the Divine one in essence.
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  But in the dynamics of the manifestation there is always,
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  even in identity, a difference. The Jivatman, On the contrary,
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  lives in the essence and can merge itself in identity with
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  the divine. But it too, the moment it
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  presides over the dynamics of the manifestation, knows itself
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  as one centre of the multiple Divine, not as the Parameshwara.
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  It is important to remember the distinction, for otherwise, if
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  there is the least vital egoism, one may begin to think of
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  oneself as an avatar or lose balance like Hrudaya with
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  Ramakrishna. End Quote Reference Sri
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  Aurobindo and the Mother The psychic being soul, its nature,
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  Mission and evolution. Section 1.
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  Meaning and Nature of the Psychic Being, pages 13 to 14.