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What Is the Role of the Spirit? · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  People are always asking about the difference between
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  spirituality and religion, as well as the difference between
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  the mind and the spirit. The term spirit has been used in
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  so many different ways and contexts that it is hard to
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  comprehend exactly what is meant by it.
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  When spiritual awakening is discussed, many people have no
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  idea what that actually is. Sri Robindo has pointed out that
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  spirituality is not a form of mental activity or power, that
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  it is also not an emotional power or a vital or physical
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  power. It is something other than all
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  of the normal activities of body, life and mind.
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  The Mother addressed this question with a very simple yet
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  elegant response about the nature and role of spirit.
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  A disciple asks what is the role of the Spirit?
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  The Mother responds quote. One might say that it is both
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  the conscious intermediary between the Supreme and the
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  manifestation and the meeting place of the manifestation with
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  the Supreme. Spirit is capable of
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  understanding and communicating with the highest Godhead, and at
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  the same time it is the Purest, one might say the least
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  distorted intermediary of the Highest Godhead.
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  In the outermost manifestation. It is Spirit which, with the
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  help of the soul, turns the consciousness towards the
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  Highest, the Divine, and it is in the Spirit that the
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  consciousness can begin to understand the Divine.
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  It might be said that what is called Spirit is the atmosphere
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  brought into the material world by the grace, so that it may
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  awaken to the consciousness of its origin and aspire to return
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  to it. It is indeed a kind of
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  atmosphere which liberates, opens the doors, sets the
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  consciousness free. This is what enables the
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  realization of the truth and gives aspiration its full power
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  of accomplishment. From a higher standpoint, this
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  could be put in another way. It is this action, this luminous
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  and liberating influence that is known as spirit.
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  All that opens to us the road to the supreme realities, pulls us
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  out from the mud of the ignorance in which we are stuck,
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  opens the doors to us, shows us the path, leads us to where we
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  have to go. This is what man has called
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  Spirit. It is the atmosphere created by
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  the divine grace in the universe to save it from the darkness
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  into which it has fallen. End Quote.
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  Reference Sri Aurobindo and the Mother powers within.
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  Chapter 22. Spirit, pages 163 to 164.