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The Power of the Psychic Being · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  We evaluate things by the power they command.
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  It can be physical power, the power of raw nature in the
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  ocean, the wind, the volcano. Or it can be related to our
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  human physical existence as muscular strength, speed trained
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  responses, the power to effectuate physical actions.
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  Or it may be the more subtle but nevertheless real power of the
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  body to resist infections, heal itself from injuries, and deal
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  with extreme situations. It can be vital power, the
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  ability to command attention, direct the activity of others,
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  gather and deploy wealth or sexual vitality, emotional
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  strength, or other vital powers. It may be mental power with the
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  ability to observe, compare, sort, distinguish and then
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  correlate known facts with memory and training in order to
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  make decisions, to carry out a process to direct and guide
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  complex systems. In the Cana Upanishad, the
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  powers of the physical realm, the vital realm, and the mental
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  realm represented by the gods Agni, Vaio, and Indra, each
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  express their specific power of action and their pride in the
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  strength of that power. They each fail, however, when
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  confronted with a greater power they had not suspected in the
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  pride of their own strength. In our human lives there is
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  another power, a power that acts at a level beyond the individual
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  powers of the body, life, and mind.
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  It is the power of the soul, and it acts in a much more subtle
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  fashion, which means that most people do not recognize its
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  action. Spiritual seekers often recount
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  stories related to their awakening to this spiritual
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  life. They tell about their plans,
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  their careers, the sudden interventions of circumstances
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  that change their direction. In some cases they speak of near
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  death experiences that transformed their worldview.
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  In other cases there are chance meetings, synchronistic events,
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  unexpected results that brought about failures that broke
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  through the shell of their external being and brought them
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  to a place of despair and prayer with almost miraculous results.
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  There is a proverb that says when God closes a door, he opens
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  a window, which sums up one of the ways that a spiritual
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  direction may arise for someone who previously had not
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  acknowledged or recognized the spiritual need that was to
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  change the life path forward. In the book called To Heal, the
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  story of an African shamanic healer is told.
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  She tried to follow an externally driven career path,
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  but obstacles kept arising, including serious health issues
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  that dogged her every step. She came from a family of
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  healers but wanted to take a different direction.
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  Eventually she consulted with a healer who told her in no
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  uncertain terms that she was destined to be a healer, and
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  that until she accepted that direction and embraced it, she
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  would continue to suffer. Once she took up the direction
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  intended for her by her soul, life smoothed out in front of
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  her and her health improved. It is difficult to recognize the
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  power of the soul in bringing together these chance events,
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  these synchronicities, these changes in direction, as we
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  prefer to attribute them to some external force or circumstance.
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  There was a film made in India about a man who lost his shop to
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  an act of God which meant the insurance company would not pay
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  for the damages. He decided to sue God for his
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  damages as everyone attributed the loss to an act of God and he
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  decided if God was responsible, God should pay.
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  He was not a believer, but he decided that the heads of
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  churches, monasteries and spiritual denominations acted as
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  agents for God, collected money in His name and therefore he
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  sued them as the local agents. Along the way, he found things
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  were more difficult than he anticipated and without knowing
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  it, he was guided by Sri Krishna, who placed the Bhagwad
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  Gita in his hands to give him strength and understanding.
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  The film was written as a comedy, but it highlighted the
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  question of the soul's guidance in the life's events.
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  A disciple asks, has the psychic any power?
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  The mother answers quote power. It is usually the psychic which
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  guides the being. One knows nothing about it
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  because 1 is not conscious of it, but usually it is that which
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  guides the being. If one is very attentive, one
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  becomes aware of it. But the majority of men haven't
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  the least idea of it. For instance, when they have
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  decided in their outer ignorance to do something, and instead of
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  their being able to do it all the circumstances are so
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  organized that they do something else.
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  They start shouting, storming, flying into a Rage Against fate,
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  saying that depends on what they believe, their beliefs that
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  nature is wicked, or their destiny baleful, or God unjust,
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  or no matter what. It depends on what they believe,
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  whilst most of the time it is just the very circumstance which
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  was most favorable for their inner development.
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  And naturally, if you ask the psychic to help you to fashion a
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  pleasant life for yourself, to earn money, have children who
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  will be the pride of the family, etcetera, well, the psychic will
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  not help you. But it will create for you all
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  the circumstances necessary to awaken something in you, so that
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  the need of union with the Divine may be borne in your
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  consciousness. At times you have made fine
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  plans, and if they had succeeded you would have been more and
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  more encrusted in your outer ignorance, your stupid little
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  ambition and your aimless activity, whilst if you receive
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  a good shock and the post you coveted is denied to you, the
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  plan you made is shattered and you find yourself completely
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  thwarted. Then sometimes this opposition
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  opens to you a door on something truer and deeper.
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  And when you are a little awake and look back, if you were in
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  the least sincere, you say, ah, it wasn't I who was right, it
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  was nature or the divine grace or my psychic being who did it.
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  It is the psychic being which organized that.
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  End Quote Reference Sri Orobindo and the Mother, the psychic
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  being soul, its nature, mission and evolution.
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  Section 2. Role, function and Action of the
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  Psychic. Pages 58 to 59.