INSTITUTE FOR INTEGRAL YOGA PSYCHOLOGY

(a project of Mirravision Trust, Financed by Auroshakti Foundation)

 
Chapters
Chapter I
Chapter II - Part 1
Chapter II - Part 2
Chapter II - Part 3
Chapter II - Part 4
Chapter III - Part 1
Chapter III - Part 2
Chapter III - Part 3
Chapter III - Part 4
Chapter III - Part 5
Chapter III - Part 6
Chapter IV - Part 1
Chapter IV - Part 2
Chapter IV - Part 3
Chapter IV - Part 4
Chapter V-Part 1
Chapter V - Part 2
Chapter V - Part 3
Chapter V - Part 4
Chapter V - Part 5
Chapter VI - Part 1
Chapter VI - Part 2
Chapter VI - Part 3
Chapter VI - Part 4
Chapter VI - Part 5
Chapter VII - Part 1
Chapter VII - Part 2
Chapter VII - Part 3
Chapter VII - Part 4
Chapter VII - Part 5
Chapter VIII - Part 1
Chapter VIII - Part 2
Chapter VIII - Part 3
Chapter VIII - Part 4
Chapter IX - Part 1
Chapter IX - Part 2
Chapter X - Part 1
Chapter X - Part 2
Chapter X - Part 3
Chapter X - Part 4
Chapter X - Part 5
Chapter X - Part 6
Chapter XI - Part 1
Chapter XI - Part 2
Chapter XI - Part 3
Chapter XI - Part 4
Chapter XII - Part 1
Chapter XII - Part 2
Chapter XII - Part 3
Chapter XII - Part 4
Chapter XII - Part 5
Chapter XIII - Part 1
Chapter XIII - Part 2
Chapter XIV - Part 1
Chapter XIV - Part 2
Chapter XIV - Part 3
Chapter XIV - Part 4
Chapter XIV - Part 5
Chapter XV - Part 1
Chapter XV - Part 2
Chapter XV - Part 3
Chapter XV - Part 4
Chapter XV - Part 5
Chapter XV - Part 6
Chapter XV - Part 7
Chapter XV - Part 8
Chapter XV - Part 9
Chapter XVI - Part 1
Chapter XVI - Part 2
Chapter XVI - Part 3
Chapter XVI - Part 4
Chapter XVI - Part 5
Chapter XVI - Part 6
Chapter XVI - Part 7
Chapter XVI - Part 8
Chapter XVI - Part 9
Chapter XVI - Part 10
Chapter XVI - Part 11
Chapter XVI - Part 12
Chapter XVI - Part 13
Chapter XVII - Part 1
Chapter XVII - Part 2
Chapter XVII - Part 3
Chapter XVII - Part 4
Chapter XVIII - Part 1
Chapter XVIII - Part 2
Chapter XVIII - Part 3
Chapter XVIII - Part 4
Chapter XVIII - Part 5
Chapter XVIII - Part 6
Chapter XVIII - Part 7
Chapter XVIII - Part 8
Chapter XVIII - Part 9
Chapter XVIII - Part 10
Chapter XIX - Part 1
Chapter XIX - Part 2
Chapter XIX - Part 3
Chapter XIX - Part 4
Chapter XIX - Part 5
Chapter XIX - Part 6
Chapter XIX - Part 7
Chapter XX - Part 1
Chapter XX - Part 2
Chapter XX - Part 3
Chapter XX - Part 4
Chapter XX - Part 4
Chapter XXI - Part 1
Chapter XXI - Part 2
Chapter XXI - Part 3
Chapter XXI - Part 4
Chapter XXII - Part 1
Chapter XXII - Part 2
Chapter XXII - Part 3
Chapter XXII - Part 4
Chapter XXII - Part 5
Chapter XXII - Part 6
Chapter XXIII Part 1
Chapter XXIII Part 2
Chapter XXIII Part 3
Chapter XXIII Part 4
Chapter XXIII Part 5
Chapter XXIII Part 6
Chapter XXIII Part 7
Chapter XXIV Part 1
Chapter XXIV Part 2
Chapter XXIV Part 3
Chapter XXIV Part 4
Chapter XXIV Part 5
Chapter XXV Part 1
Chapter XXV Part 2
Chapter XXV Part 3
Chapter XXVI Part 1
Chapter XXVI Part 2
Chapter XXVI Part 3
Chapter XXVII Part 1
Chapter XXVII Part 2
Chapter XXVII Part 3
Chapter XXVIII Part 1
Chapter XXVIII Part 2
Chapter XXVIII Part 3
Chapter XXVIII Part 4
Chapter XXVIII Part 5
Chapter XXVIII Part 6
Chapter XXVIII Part 7
Chapter XXVIII Part 8
Book II, Chapter 1, Part I
Book II, Chapter 1, Part II
Book II, Chapter 1, Part III
Book II, Chapter 1, Part IV
Book II, Chapter 1, Part V
Book II, Chapter 2, Part I
Book II, Chapter 2, Part II
Book II, Chapter 2, Part III
Book II, Chapter 2, Part IV
Book II, Chapter 2, Part V
Book II, Chapter 2, Part VI
Book II, Chapter 2, Part VII
Book II, Chapter 2, Part VIII
Book II, Chapter 3, Part I
Book II, Chapter 3, Part II
Book II, Chapter 3, Part III
Book II, Chapter 3, Part IV
Book II, Chapter 3, Part V
Book II, Chapter 4, Part I
Book II, Chapter 4, Part II
Book II, Chapter 4, Part III
Book II, Chapter 5, Part I
Book II, Chapter 5, Part II
Book II, Chapter 5, Part III
Book II, Chapter 6, Part I
Book II, Chapter 6, Part II
Book II, Chapter 6, Part III
Book II, Chapter 7, Part I
Book II, Chapter 7, Part II
Book II, Chapter 8, Part I
Book II, Chapter 8, Part II
Book II, Chapter 9, Part I
Book II, Chapter 9, Part II
Book II, Chapter 10, Part I
Book II, Chapter 10, Part II
Book II, Chapter 10, Part III
Book II, Chapter 11, Part I
Book II, Chapter 11, Part II
Book II, Chapter 12, Part I
Book II, Chapter 12, Part II
 

A Psychological Approach to Sri Aurobindo's

The Life Divine

 
Chapter XXIII Part 4


The Double Soul in Man

The Dimension of Impersonality

Conventional psychology studies the human being in terms of personality. Spirituality which studies the soul behind surface appearances brings in another dimension. While the outer façade of the surface personality is supported by the desire-soul, the deeper soul-entity supports both the dimensions of personality and impersonality. Of course, it supports the inner personality of the subliminal being which should be differentiated from the surface personality propped up by the desire-soul.

One may ask that what the necessity of the dimension of impersonality is in daily life. Do we really need to develop it? Sri Aurobindo explains that life is full of contradictions like pleasure and pain, truth and falsehood, birth and death. One way to deal with such contradictions would be to escape from them in a spirit of total indifference—“a blank response to the excitations of the world-self” (The Life Divine, pg.238), but this does not solve or heal the cleavage. Another solution would be to bring the ‘real soul to the surface’ with both its dimensions of impersonality and personality. As a result the egoistic standard of dualities like pleasure and pain could be replaced by “an equal –an all-embracing personal-impersonal delight”.(Ibid)

Anybody pursuing Knowledge, Beauty, Arts, Nature-study and even Science can benefit if one goes to the impersonal source beyond the ego so as to tap the essence from the universal repertoire of consciousness. One cannot do that if one is hooked to the little ego. When one needs to go to the source of things or if one wishes to extract the ‘rasa’ or essence of anything, one has to shift from the egoistic poise behind the surface personality and take up the soul-poise of impersonality.

“The seeker of knowledge, the God-lover who finds the object of his love everywhere, the spiritual man, the intellectual, the sensuous, the aesthetic all do this in their own fashion and must do it if they would find embracingly the Knowledge, the Beauty, the Joy or the Divinity which they seek. It is only in the parts where the little ego is usually too strong for us, it is only in our emotional or physical joy and suffering, our pleasure and pain of life, before which the desire-soul in us is utterly weak and cowardly, that the application of the divine principle becomes supremely difficult and seems to many impossible or even monstrous or repellent “(Ibid, pg.238-239)

Scientists talk about objectivity that is needed to overcome subjective bias in the acquisition of Knowledge. But when one explores the cosmic source of Knowledge from the soul-poise of impersonality, one pursues an exceptional approach that is simultaneously truly objective (as it soars beyond the distortions of the ego) and truly subjective (as the explorer is the true soul and not the desire-soul). One thus gets access to a truly Wholistic Knowledge.

The explorer of Knowledge in a particular domain like Science or Arts can gain the essence of a particular domain through a “limited and specialized equality and impersonality proper to a particular field of consciousness and activity” through a partial experience (Ibid, pg.239). But that does not necessarily mean that the ego has been dispensed; on the contrary, the egoistic basis of practical life can remain as it was. There are also people enjoying “imperfect spiritual living” with an experience of impersonal domains but without losing cherished desires because the impersonality is not bound to displace the desire-soul unless one consciously attempts to work on the lower movements so that ‘the whole foundation of life has to be changed in order to make room for impersonality”.(ibid) It is not enough to soar into the higher domains without a concomitant change of the lower movements in oneself if one yearns for an integral perfection.

Thus there are two movements that have to be simultaneously undertaken. In the lower levels of our consciousness, the foundation of life has to be changed so that the desire-soul is curbed effectively. At the same time, one has to cultivate freer and higher movements so that one has access to the soul-poise of impersonality that supports the inner personality. For the spiritual seeker, this leads to a greater revelation. The Mother reiterated, “Sri Aurobindo said that when you go beyond the Impersonal, you find the Personal: THE Person”. Speaking of her own experiences, she added that beyond the Impersonal, she felt a fusion into something limitless, not personal but with all the concrete reality of the Person. (Agenda, July 20, 1968) It is that Supreme Person who projects the real soul with its all-embracing personal-impersonal delight. It is a Grace or else we would be shut up in egoistic bounds without any possibility of accessing the cosmic domains of consciousness and wisdom.

Diagram

Date of Update: 25-May-19

- By Dr. Soumitra Basu

 

© 2024 IIYP  |  Contact