Latest / Sri Aurobindo Studies / The Soul & the Psychic Being

Transcript

The Soul & the Psychic Being · Sri Aurobindo Studies

• 0:00
  There is a type of cell in the body which is called a stem
• 0:03
  cell. The stem cell does not have a
• 0:06
  direct operational function, rather it is undifferentiated
• 0:11
  and capable of being activated to become any type of functional
• 0:16
  cell for any part of the body. Without pushing the example too
• 0:21
  far, the soul can be seen as a type of stem cell of the spirit
• 0:26
  in and of itself. It does not undertake action
• 0:29
  directly and simply maintains the direct linkage to the jiva,
• 0:34
  the spirit above, but remains divine and unchanging while it
• 0:39
  develops the form which Riora Bindo calls the psychic being to
• 0:45
  take on the development of the soul personality through
• 0:48
  experience, time and repeated births.
• 0:53
  The psychic being maintains the nature of the divine while it
• 0:56
  enters into the evolutionary process.
• 1:00
  It harvests the fruit of the experience and growth of each
• 1:04
  lifetime as it navigates through birth, death, and rebirth.
• 1:10
  Many people believe in rebirth as some kind of process that the
• 1:13
  specific individual personality uses to perpetuate itself time
• 1:19
  after time. This, however, is apparently a
• 1:23
  misunderstanding of the role and the process undertaken by the
• 1:27
  psychic being. As the ancient Greeks surmised,
• 1:31
  the specific memories of a past lifetime do not generally carry
• 1:35
  forward. Rather, the psychic being grows
• 1:39
  and matures based on that experience and uses that process
• 1:45
  to gain in understanding and power to eventually turn the
• 1:49
  external being toward the divine and begin to redirect the focus
• 1:54
  and energy of the external being to carry out the divine
• 1:59
  intention. It is this development which
• 2:03
  provides direction and purpose to the divine creation and the
• 2:07
  individual participating souls. The goal of the creation is not
• 2:12
  its abandonment, but rather its transformation through the
• 2:15
  growth and development process. Liberation, historically
• 2:20
  understood to mean that the individual could see the
• 2:23
  illusory nature of the entire existence and thus leave it
• 2:27
  behind, is actually not the ultimate objective.
• 2:32
  An individual can understand the illusory nature of the normal
• 2:36
  external life in the world, the seeking for pleasure, enjoyment,
• 2:41
  fame, fulfillment of ambition, etcetera, and instead of leaving
• 2:47
  the world, appreciate that there is a purpose.
• 2:51
  But it is not these transitory satisfactions, but something
• 2:56
  that is an ever developing process of the Divine in the
• 2:59
  creation. Triorobindo notes quote.
• 3:04
  The soul is a spark of the Divine which is not seated above
• 3:07
  the manifested being, but comes down into the manifestation to
• 3:11
  support its evolution in the material world.
• 3:15
  It is at first an undifferentiated power of the
• 3:18
  Divine consciousness, containing all possibilities which have not
• 3:23
  yet taken form, but to which it is the function of evolution to
• 3:27
  give form. This spark is there in all
• 3:30
  living beings from the lowest to the highest.
• 3:35
  The psychic being is formed by the soul in its evolution.
• 3:39
  It supports the mind, vital body, grows by their
• 3:44
  experiences, carries the nature from life to life.
• 3:49
  It is the psychic or chaitya purusha.
• 3:52
  At first it is veiled by mind, vital and body, but as it grows
• 3:57
  it becomes capable of coming forward and dominating the mind,
• 4:01
  life and body in the ordinary man.
• 4:04
  It depends on them for expression and is not able to
• 4:08
  take them up and freely use them.
• 4:10
  The life of the being is animal or human and not divine.
• 4:16
  When the psychic being can by sadhana become dominant and
• 4:20
  freely use its instruments, then the impulse towards the divine
• 4:24
  becomes complete and the transformation of mind, vital in
• 4:29
  body, not merely their liberation, becomes possible.
• 4:34
  End Quote Reference 3 Orobindo and the Mother The psychic being
• 4:40
  soul its nature, Mission and evolution Section 1 Meaning and
• 4:46
  Nature of the Psychic Being Page 19.