Thematic Index of the Collected Works of the Mother
Thematic Index of the Collected Works of the Mother
© Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust
structure and development
| 06, p. 307-08 | “The different states of being have a different density, and they have an individual independent existence of their own, they are existing realities, truly real substances, not just a way of being.” “It is quite certain that so long as one has not understood that one is made up different states of being which have their own independent life, one can’t have a complete control over one’s being.” (also under: 2.1.1) |
| 15, p. 338-39 | Mother briefly answers the question “What are the invisible worlds?” She explains how, by inner development, one becomes able to move around in them and discover what they are like. (On pp. 341-43 she gives guidance on how to proceed with the required development) (also under: 2.2.3) |
| 05, p. 081-82 | Usually we try to know by explaining things. “If you read all the explanations given in all the sciences, all the branches of human knowledge, always one thing is explained by another, and if you want to explain this other you explain it by yet another…so you continue in this way and go around the universe in order to explain one thing…only people usually get tired after a time, they accept the last explanation and stick to it…” “The universe explains at every moment the universe” When you have the experience you see there is nothing at all to find. Things are so because they are so, because they had to be so, otherwise they would not be. “There's no doubt about it and that indeed is supreme wisdom.” (also under: 2.2) |
| 06, p. 274 | “When something is limited, it is more easily understandable for man than when it is unlimited, for man has a limited nature and he naturally understands what is limited. And so to be comprehensible, things must be divided and limited. Otherwise the Power in its essence, which is indivisible and unlimited, is absolutely above human comprehension—for man as he now is, in his present state.” This statement was made in relation to the goddess forms in which the Divine consents to manifest but applies equally well to descriptive maps. |
| 09, p. 308 | “Things are not so clear-cut and separate as they are in speaking…there are no watertight compartments between the soul and the mind, the vital and even the physical.” |
| 10, p. 135-37 | “Practical knowledge is…real and serviceable, but it is never complete. Therefore to systemise and codify it is necessary but fatal.” “Systematise we must, but even in making and holding the system, we should always keep hold of this truth that all systems are in their nature transitory and incomplete.” Mother comments on these two aphorisms. |
| 15, p. 327-28 | Brief statements about drawbacks of earlier systems of classification which did not have a detailed knowledge of human psychology. Knowledge of the psychic being, the inner Truth was not known then. |
| 16, p. 239 | Brief comments by the Mother in answer to a query about the different psychological divisions of the human being. |
| 05, p. 208-12 | This is about how people progress on the different planes as they grow and develop. It depends on which plane they are open to and respond to e.g. children progress physically and vitally first and are open to receive from those planes. Then development leads to receptivity on the mental levels and one can progress even when the physical level has ceased progressing. The vital, until organised, is full of contradictory passions and impulses and destroys itself until the one who undergoes the vital disturbances learns to be calm (which requires development of the mental strength) and let their storms pass over and go away. Page 209 also briefly discusses the purpose of exchanges with the outside so as to receive things which will result in a less limited organisation as when one only progresses in relation to the forces within oneself. |
| 06, p. 316-17 | A classification: “each part of the being is itself divided into four. There is a physical mind, a physical vital, and a physical physical, and there is even a physical psychic which is hidden behind…[same for vital and mental] And each one corresponds to a particular kind of activity, and also to a particular region, a zone of consciousness and being. And these zones or inner dimensions correspond to outer zones and dimensions, universal, or terrestrial….” |
| 05, p. 086-89 | Discussion of the levels of consciousness and the interaction of the planes upon each other. How the determinisms of higher planes by their intervention or descent produce changes and unforeseen consequences when introduced into the lower planes. The highest plane of absolute freedom can see consequences, and if you can bring it down into the others you change absolutely everything including the intermediary planes where all the great forces and form makers are at work and play and struggle with each other to see which possibilities will manifest. Pages 88-89 tell how things manifest in the unfolding and how one can even change the path of the unrolling by sufficient aspiration and intense prayer. (also under: 2.3.d) |
| 05, p. 308-09, 311-12 | This is about the creators or formateurs who have presided over the creation of the world and how on each plane these intermediaries have created a world around them and contributed to the formation of beings upon earth. The example is given of the world of insects being the outcome of form-makers of the vital plane. If the beings follow their own will and not the Divine (as has happened), disorders, evil and disharmonies result. Then pp.311-12 explains how the concept itself is erroneous because the universe is a projection of the Divine and there is not really a Creator and his creation as our mind conceives it. (also under: 1.3.2) |
| 06, p. 098-99 | Mother gives the general idea of the planes in answer to the question: What does the Word mean? She explains that one rises from the region of thought formulated in words to the higher plane of silent idea and then rises higher yet to the Force that is the Consciousness of the thought. Then once you possess this light in itself and want to act upon matter to produce a result this will comes down from plane to plane becoming more material and when it touches matter it becomes a word with sounds—vibrations—that will directly act on matter. (also under: 2.6) |
| 07, p. 103-04 | A short discussion of the feeling one can have in his consciousness of rising above what is obscure and ordinary and unconscious with the impression as if climbing a mountain ascending to a greater light. One also can become aware of slipping back into the ordinary consciousness—certain contacts, actions, movements of consciousness give the impression you are sliding into a muddy deep dark hole. There is a great power of attraction in low obscure ordinary things. Mother then speaks of the need of perseverance and repeated effort—especially when trying to change something of the material life or body. |
| 07, p. 159-60 | Mother tells here “in an absolutely childish way” about the Creative Consciousness (Aditi) and how the universe was developed, with a special emphasis on the Overmind and the roles of the gods and goddesses. She also emphasizes the importance of the earth which, by its transformation, is capable of transforming the universe. |
| 08, p. 217-19 | A good introduction to the subject of the occult world, a gradation of regions, each of which has forms and is inhabited by beings with a density analogous to that of the domain in which they live. If you are able to enter into that world with the part of your being that corresponds to that domain, you can move there quite objectively just as your physical body moves freely in this material world. Mother elaborates and mentions the requirements. We all get a partial, superficial experience with these worlds in our dreams. |
| 09, p. 376-77 | Mother speaks about the categories of the gods in India all on different planes, some close to man, others close to the Supreme. She gives Sri Aurobindo’s prayer to the Vedic gods which after listing them with their qualities ends with “Let me not be subject to these gods, O Kali.” (also under: 2.5.4.a) |
| 10, p. 041-42 | In a brief discussion about hallucination and vision Mother explains how for all the subtle worlds there is a correspondence in the individual to that plane. She gives the example of the individual vital plane and the cosmic vital world. (also under: 2.1.4, 5.3.1) |
| 15, p. 375-80 | This is a discussion about the occult worlds, their inhabitants, and how knowledge about them is obtained. (also under: 2.1.4) |
| 16, p. 416 | Mother gives guidance about how to watch a film telling the difference between watching it mentally or vitally. If you watch mentally, instead of being moved or troubled, you can calmly judge the value of the film, whether it is well made or well acted, or whether the scenes have any artistic value. Watching from the vital you are a “good audience”; watching from the mental you are more peaceful. |
| 05, p. 260-61 | Good explanation of why the receptivity of the body is limited |
| 05, p. 272-73 | Each spot of the body is symbolical of an inner movement. The whole physical world is the symbol of universal movements, it is like a materialisation, a crystallisation of the movements in the other planes. It is “as though a projection on something that retains the image, fixes the image.” For the ordinary consciousness it is the image alone that is true. |
| 06, p. 139-40 | A body left to its natural spontaneity has an urge and aspiration to remain in equilibrium. “In the body there are invaluable and unknown treasures. In all its cells there is an intensity of life, of aspiration, of the will to progress, which one does not usually even realise.” If not spoiled by the mind and vital it is capable of restoring its balance because it likes harmony. (also under: 5.1) |
| 11, p. 002-3 | Mother tells the characteristics of the material consciousness, how it is accustomed to act through whippings or otherwise it is tamas. This consciousness has the obstinacy of the imbecile and is very heavy, pessimistic, not able to advance rapidly, clings to what it has. She tells that great patience and endurance are needed for it to change because it needs very concrete and tangible and oft repeated experiences. |
| 15, p. 323a | A short definition: “The physical is the concrete domain that crystallises and defines the thoughts, the movements of the vital, etc. It is a solid foundation for action.” (also under: 3.2.3) |
| 16, p. 231 | “The physical consciousness is not only the consciousness of our body, but all that surrounds it as well—all that we perceive with our senses…a sort of apparatus for recording and transmission which is open to all the contacts and shocks coming from outside….” |
| 05, p. 100-01 | A discussion of the true role of the mind and the vital so that they take their proper place in the whole without deformation or perversion. The true role of the mind is a formative role in relation to action. The mind seizes an idea, organises it and gives it a form to realise it, and changes it into a motive of action and sends it out towards the material field. As long as it does that with care it fulfils its role. But if it imagines that it knows and does not receive the ideas from a higher part of the being it gets deformed or perverted. (also under: 3.2.4) |
| 06, p. 081-82 | There are three sources of subsistence for the vital. The most easily accessible to it comes from below, from the physical energies, the sensations. The second is on its own plane, when it is sufficiently vast and receptive, by contact with the universal forces. The third, to which it usually opens rarely and when there is a great aspiration for progress, from above by the infusion of spiritual forces and inspiration. |
| 06, p. 305 | “The vital world is a world essentially hostile to the Divine. Only the vital in man, under the psychic influence, can change and become a collaborator in the divine work. Otherwise, the vital world is essentially formed of beings hostile to the divine work…..” |
| 07, p. 070 | “All desires, impulses, all egoistical, obscure, ignorant, passionate, violent movements—in fact most of the movements one makes every day—this is the error of the lower vital. It wants to have everything for itself. It wants to be the master of the whole life, to govern everything.” And the mind is usually its accomplice and says “This indeed is called living one’s life, a right to live one’s life”. It is really claiming the right ”to be an ignorant stupid animal”. |
| 08, p. 298-99 | Mother talks about the dilemma of the vital: it has not surrendered because it has great force, energy, power, and yet the same force and power cannot be utilized because it is not surrendered. Mother tells what is needed for this to change. |
| 15, p. 323a | A short definition: “The physical is the concrete domain that crystallises and defines the thoughts, the movements of the vital, etc. It is a solid foundation for action.” (also under: 3.2.2) |
| 16, p. 113c | “All these feelings—this uneasiness, this tiredness, these impressions of broken progress—come from the vital, which rebels because its desires and preferences are not satisfied. All that has no true reality.” |
| 16, p. 174 | Several short answers of Mother distinguish between the vital and the psychic, e.g. “It is always the vital being which protests and complains. The psychic being works with perseverance and ardour…but it never complains and knows how to wait for the hour of realizations to come”. Such mental understanding helps with one’s self-observation of one’s states of consciousness. (also under: 3.3.4.d, 4.5.c) |
| 16, p. 177-78 | “Sensations belong to the vital domain and to that part of it which is expressed through the nerves of the body. It is always preferable not to live in the sensations but to consider them as something outside ourselves, like the clothes we wear.” (also under: 4.5.b) |
| 16, p. 196-98 | Several short statements about the nature of the vital and how to deal with it. Also Mother tells what she means by the domination of the mind over the vital. (also under: 4.5.b) |
| 16, p. 401 | Mother lists the good things that are in the vital (energy, strength, enthusiasm, artistic taste, boldness, forcefulness) and explains that a vital converted and consecrated to the Divine Will becomes a bold and forceful instrument that can overcome all obstacles. But first it must become disciplined. This it only consents to when the Divine is its master. (also under: 4.5.b) |
| 17, p. 081 | “The vital soul is what the ancients called the ‘anima’, that which animates, gives life to the body. It is also sometimes called the etheric being.” |
| 03, p. 033 | Mother tells here the proper function of the intellect and answers the question about whether it is a help or hindrance to sadhana. The intellect, in its true nature, is an instrument of expression and an intermediary between the true knowledge above and the realisation here below. |
| 03, p. 050-51 | Mother discusses the nature of the power that thought possesses. Thoughts have a formative power. They are forms and have an individual life independent of their author and move in the world towards realization of the purpose of their existence. |
| 03, p. 051 | Being in touch with the Divine Will can give to each thought its full power and harmonious realisation. Thoughts formed in a state of ignorance clash with one and another. |
| 03, p. 052 | What is certain about the mind and its workings is “that you can understand only what you already know in your own inner self. What strikes you in a book is what you have already experienced deep within you.” “The knowledge that seems to come to you from outside is only an occasion for bringing out the knowledge that is within you.” |
| 03, p. 059-60 | “The mind cuts the world into small bits...and by this fragmentation it succeeds in distorting the universal movement.” There is a single all-embracing consciousness, but there is too “this illusion of these many movements which imagine that they are separate from one another...” |
| 03, p. 061 | “The physical mind is usually in a kind of alliance with the lower vital consciousness and its movements...” |
| 03, p. 064-65 | “There is a world of ideas without form and it is there that you must enter if you want to seize what is behind words.” There is in this idea-world no separation that divides mind from mind. |
| 05, p. 100-01 | A discussion of the true role of the mind and the vital so that they take their proper place in the whole without deformation or perversion. The true role of the mind is a formative role in relation to action. The mind seizes an idea, organises it and gives it a form to realise it, and changes it into a motive of action and sends it out towards the material field. As long as it does that with care it fulfils its role. But if it imagines that it knows and does not receive the ideas from a higher part of the being it gets deformed or perverted. (also under: 3.2.3) |
| 05, p. 141 | “The mind is an instrument of action and formation and not an instrument of knowledge; at each moment it is creating forms. Thoughts are forms and have an individual life, independent of their author…they move out in the world towards realisation.” |
| 06, p. 310-12, 314-15 | “The mental force, mental activity is independent of the brain.” Mother tells here the story of the man who taught people to think in the stomach by bringing the mental force down to the solar plexus. By this method he also cured many people of headaches—a method Mother also recommends. (also under: 6.3) |
| 06, p. 318-19 | Mother describes the difference between the physical mind (It is stupid and never sure of anything e.g. did I lock the door) and the mechanical mind (which is lower still and repeats something over and over with no rhyme or reason e.g.counting 1,2,3,4, 1,2,3,4) |
| 07, p. 041-4, 43 | Relationship between the mind and the psychic: “The mind is an instrument for formation and organization, and if the mind lets the psychic make use of it, that will be very good… the mind can be an instrument for the manifestation of the psychic when it [the psychic] has already taken possession of the outer consciousness. It is rarely so before that. It is usually a veil and an obstruction” |
| 07, p. 232-35, 241-43 | These pages deal with the subject of imagination—what it is, what its purpose is, and how writers and scientists use it. It is a faculty one can develop and use for progress and creation and also for realizing aspirations and ideals if one fulfils the necessary conditions. (also under: 2.6, 4.5.c) |
| 08, p. 190 | The true role of the mind is the formation and organization of action…and if it would only confine itself to that role, receiving inspirations from above or from the mystic centre of the soul simply formulating the plan of action in broad outline or in minutest detail, for the smallest things of life or the great terrestrial organizations, it would amply fulfil its function. It has a second use—it is a controlling force, an instrument of control, and it can control the action of the vital. |
| 09, p. 398-401 | A one page passage from The Life Divine outlines the value and the extent of help of the intellectual approach to higher knowledge. Mother comments and also gives an excellent description of the function of the mind and also speaks of the stages of transformation of the mind. |
| 10, p. 042-43 | “There are many planes or zones of the mind… Between the two extremes [the physical mind—zone of the lower thoughts—and the higher mind which receives, in the forms of intuitions, the rays of supramental truth] there is a gradation of countless intermediate planes that are superimposed one upon another and which influence each other.” Mother tells about the zone of common sense or practical reason. |
| 10, p. 087-88 | These pages briefly describe the evolutionary aspect of the mind and its development and tell how by its very nature it has been open to perversion. With mind individualisation began with its acute sense of separation and sense of freedom of choice and of right and wrong. In the evolution this is an intermediate stage in the complete development of the mind. |
| 11, p. 018-19 | Mother defines the physical mind which is the mind of the physical personality formed by the body and is largely formed by atavism and education, and distinguishes it from the material mind which is the mind of Matter itself—a cellular mind, present also in animals and a little even in plants. |
| 14, p. 361-63 | Brief passages under the heading: “Mind: only an instrument.” Some passages refer to levels above mind. |
| 14, p. 361-69 | Brief passages about the purpose of the mind and what it needs to understand about itself and its nature, including passages about mental limitations and weaknesses. (also under: 4.5.c) |
| 15, p. 329-36 | Mother tells here the true function of the mind (“an instrument of formation, of organisation and action”) and elaborates on how to organise one’s mental being. The talk is based on a passage from “The Science of Living” in Vol. 12. (also under: 4.5.c) |
| 16, p. 068a | Mother explains the experience of a sadhak who wakes up feeling as if a lot of talking and noise has been going on all night. “In your sleep you are becoming conscious of the noises that the mechanical thoughts of the most material mind make in their own domain.” (also under: 2.1.6.a) |
| 05, p. 278-82 | There is a plane in the mind where the memory of everything is stored—all mental movements that belong to the life of the earth are memorised and registered in this plane. People can take the trouble and learn to go there. (Mother tells how to do it) Children can be taught and Mother says, “It is possible that this might replace the reading of books with advantage!” (also under: 4.5.c, 6.3) |
| 06, p. 450-51 | Sri Aurobindo says that if you want to prepare for the descent of the supermind, first of all your mind of ignorance must be replaced by a mind of light which sees and knows. This is the first step. This statement comes at the end of a discussion of the problem of wanting to help others for one can soon discover if one steps back a little that one has no true knowledge or certitude of what the person needs or about what one should do. (also under: 2.2, 2.5.1.c, 5.5) |
| 07, p. 015 | Description of the role of the higher mind: it is meant to receive inspirations from above and transmit them in the form of ideas to the most material mind. “It serves as an intermediary between the higher power and the active mind. It is the mind of idea formation…” Also “it can try to give some understanding of things that are above ordinary mentality—to explain and clarify general ideas and the principles that go beyond them.” |
| 03, p. 063-64 | “Is there a difference between the ‘spiritual’ and the ‘psychic’? Are they different planes?” “Yes, the psychic plane belongs to the personal manifestation; the psychic is that which the divine in you put out to be dynamic in the play. But when we speak of the spiritual we are thinking of something that is concentrated in the Divine rather than in the external manifestation.” “But in speaking of these things one must be careful not to be imprisoned by the words we use.” (also under: 3.3.4.d) |
| 05, p. 398 | A very brief description of how knowledge (from the supramental region) can descend into a higher part of the mind or into the psychic |
| 07, p. 210 | This is about the need for a methodical step by step climb through the different planes of consciousness. It is still the Overmind which is ruling and if the the Supermind comes it is only beginning to come and have an influence (this talk was on 15 June 1955) and we are in a period of transition in which one must not try to leap to the summit without having climbed all the steps. It can be done quickly, not taking several lifetimes like it did before, but it still has to be done. |
| 08, p. 176-78 | A brief description of the ascension. It is a quote from Synthesis of Yoga which Mother explains as describing two successive stages—rising above the mind into a certain domain, and then passing beyond that domain into yet another which is the origin of all things. Mother then talks about how things are different now that the Supermind has manifested in the atmosphere. People may receive directly or ascend the various planes much more rapidly. |
| 09, p. 192-94 | “The essential character of Supermind is a Truth-Consciousness which knows by its own inherent right of nature, by its own light. It has not to arrive at knowledge but possesses it.” This passage from The Supramental Manifestation goes on to describe the Mind of Light and is commented on by the Mother. |
| 09, p. 271-83 | Mother tells about her experiences of the supramental ship and the supramental world. (also under: 4.7.3.e) |
| 16, p. 235-36 | Mother gives a brief description of the Overmind and the work of the “beings of divine origin who live there and who have been charged with supervising, directing and organising the evolution of the universe.” On p. 236 she briefly talks about mastering the various domains including mastery of the overmind. (also under: 2.5.6) |
| 16, p. 238 | Mother briefly lists some of the faculties and powers that develop in man as he opens to the higher mind and overmind. These include intuition, foreknowledge, knowledge by identity, and certain powers such as that of healing and, to an extent, of acting on circumstances. |
| 07, p. 043-44 | A very brief and simple discussion of the mind, vital and body with and without the psychic influence. This is useful basic introductory material. (also under: 2.1.3.a, 4.7.1) |
| 07, p. 108-12 | This is a good general description of the subliminal and how it is different from the outer consciousness and also a discussion of the relationship between the subliminal, the outer being and the psychic. |
| 08, p. 193-94 | Using the heart centre to illustrate, Mother talks about the various depths. The more you come to the surface the more is it mixed with vital impulses. The deeper you go, the less the mixture, the purer the feeling. It is a question of proportion. Mother elaborates. She also talks about the ordinary state of dispersal of consciousness which is on the surface unless one concentrates and gathers oneself within. (also under: 2.1.3) |
| 06, p. 386 | The outer being (which veils the psychic) “…is really like a crust. It is something hard, thick, without any transparency, which lets no vibrations pass, and one lives so constantly inside this that one is not even aware that there is something else.” Often it revolts and does not want the circumstances that the inner being arranges for it from behind this crust. |
| 14, p. 357 | “The outer being, left to itself, is not very responsible; it is most often the plaything of the forces of Nature.” … “The inner or higher being, the deeper consciousness, is the master and builder of our destiny.” (also under: 3.3.2) |
| 06, p. 203 | The “inner Warrior who fights against obscurity and falsehood” is the vital being when it is converted, turned completely to the Divine. It is the converted vital force which has the power to vanquish the anti-divine forces in the vital world. |
| 07, p. 068-69 | A description of what it is like to be in contact with the inner consciousness and the psychic compared to being in the petty, weak, superficial outer consciousness. The reason people deliberately turn their back on that wonderful comfortable state, which is like leaning against a great light and consciousness with a sure knowing at each moment of what to do or to say, is because it puts a control on their impulses which they don’t like. |
| 07, p. 139-40 | Mother explains what is meant by the “inner physical” (and also its relation to the outer physical) |
| 07, p. 422-24 | “Our one objective must be the Divine himself to whom, knowingly or unknowingly something always aspires in our secret nature”—Sri Aurobindo. Mother explains what it is which aspires: In each there is some part, often quite veiled, which is turned to the psychic and receiving its influence—an intermediary between the psychic and the external consciousness. For each one it is different. It is the part that has the capacity for enthusiasm or the capacity for gratitude. These two things prepare people the most. People are born with one or the other. Both can be developed and are the surest link with the psychic being. (also under: 4.3.2.f) |
| 14, p. 357 | “The outer being, left to itself, is not very responsible; it is most often the plaything of the forces of Nature.” … “The inner or higher being, the deeper consciousness, is the master and builder of our destiny.” (also under: 3.3.1) |
| 14, p. 373-75, p. 350 | Here are short passages about the heart. One example: “In the silence of a simple and faithful heart one can understand the mystery of incarnation.” |
| 07, p. 217-18 | Descriptions are given on these pages of the true vital being (which is a surrendered instrument of the Divine) and the true physical being (which is still a subtle prototype and not yet materially realised) |
| 03, p. 062-63 | “Your psychic being is that part in you which is already given to the Divine.” (followed by more descriptions like, “it is this that carries the consciousness from life to life” etc.) (also under: 2.1.2.c) |
| 05, p. 265 | This is a general discussion of the purpose of the psychic being and how it is formed over many lives and how it eventually draws an Overmind being to incarnate in it which then has the power to produce emanations of itself. Whole answer responds to the question asking if a psychic being can take birth in two bodies. |
| 05, p. 394-96 | A discussion of the nature and power of the psychic. The psychic guides the life most often from behind the veil of the outer consciousness creating circumstances to awaken something in one so that the need of union with the Divine may be born in one’s consciousness It helps create the circumstances that further one’s inner development even if the circumstances are contrary to the desires of the outer nature |
| 06, p. 027-28 | A good explanation of what the psychic being is and what is meant by the truth or law of one’s being, one’s Dharma. |
| 06, p. 160-61 | Its function is that it is like the electric wire that connects the generator (the Divine) with the lamp (the body.) Its presence makes man an exceptional being because he has this divine presence within and it is only on earth that this exceptional condition exists. |
| 06, p. 365-66 | “From the moment one is in contact with the psychic being all the time, one is in contact with the divine Presence all the time.” and, reversed, “I shall know that I am in contact with the psychic being all the time when I am in contact with the divine Presence all the time. …This changes the state of consciousness totally and you can no longer even ask the question of whether you have the contact or not. |
| 06, p. 386-87 | This is about the nature of the psychic being (it always has an aspiration) and its power to organise the circumstances of life to lead one just where one has to go, to fulfil one’s mission in life however modest it may be. |
| 06, p. 392 | Is the psychic being in the heart? “Not in the physical heart….It is in a fourth dimension, an inner dimension. But it is in that region, the region somewhat behind the solar plexus.” |
| 07, p. 105-06 | The psychic is a terrestrial formation and is a projection of the divine Consciousness into Matter to awaken Matter out of its inertia so that it takes the path back to the Divine. The true being precedes this terrestrial formation and is the divine element which makes you a separate individuality while at the same time being a fragment of the one Being and naturally an integral part of the one Being itself |
| 07, p. 221 | “When you enter into contact with the psychic you become conscious of all the lives you have lived….” |
| 07, p. 221-26 | Here Mother explains what is actually meant by “the psychic behind supporting all”. It is because of the psychic that we have so clear a sense of continuity even though there is no resemblance in mind, life and body to what we were at age three for example. She then tells just how it is that the psychic directs the orientation of one’s life. When one observes one’s life one realises that most things just happened like that and were not the result of clear and willed decisions. Only the psychic knows and can guide truly—otherwise one lives in mental constructions and in a total world of ignorance. |
| 07, p. 227-28 | Here is a description of how the central being and the psychic being are the same thing but that the central being (Jivatman) always stays in the Divine and is not progressive while the psychic is the delegate of this Divine in the earth life and has its alternations of experience and assimilation. |
| 07, p. 263-64 | The psychic being influences the superficial parts of the consciousness—the mental and vital parts—and very often when one touches certain parts of the mind which are under the psychic influence and full of light and the joy of that light, or when one touches very pure and high parts of the emotive being which has the most generous and unselfish emotions, one also has the impression of being in contact with one’s soul. But it is not the soul. These parts can get veiled and the experience lost. It is only when one enters consciously into contact with the soul itself and the union is established that it can no longer be undone and can be found at any moment whatsoever if referred to. To ask the question, “Do I have a contact with my psychic being?”, proves that you do not have it. |
| 07, p. 272-73 | “In the ordinary life there’s not one person in a million who has a conscious contact with his psychic being, even momentarily.” It is only with the sadhana and a very persistent effort that one attains the contact—it used to be said that one was lucky to be able to do it in thirty years of sustained effort! |
| 08, p. 259-60 | A 2-page passage of Sri Aurobindo from Synthesis of Yoga about the importance of the inmost being, the secret psychic within us, emerging as the leader of the sacrifice and guiding the pilgrim unscathed through the ambushes and pitfalls of the mind’s and life’s falsehoods. |
| 08, p. 299 | “The psychic being…is the vehicle of the Divine, it contains the Divine, is the habitation of the Divine, but the Divine is higher than it. For the psychic being is only an aspect of the divine manifestation.” |
| 10, p. 023-26 | Mother tells why and how to search for the soul to unite with it and allow it to govern one’s life. She tells how the noise of the mind and the vital cover the soul’s quiet voice and how to learn to discern and discriminate. She tells that the main thing is to want to do it with persistence and perseverance. Only the degree of concentration can shorten the way. (also under: 2.2.1, 4.3.2) |
| 12, p. 430-31 | The psychic being is the representative of the Divine in the human being and acts now more as an influence than a Presence. Old habits and general unconsciousness put a covering which prevents us from seeing and feeling. That must be lifted up which may take a lifetime or several lives but can be done under present conditions in a few months if one has an ardent aspiration. “To be conscious of your psychic being, you must once be capable of feeling the fourth dimension….” |
| 14, p. 351-60 | This chapter on the soul has many short passages and statements dealing with the nature, meaning, importance and purpose of the soul (the psychic) and about harmonizing and unifying the other parts of the being around it. |
| 15, p. 135-37 | These pages are about the psychic being, rebirth and also about what happens after death. Also: “it is by becoming conscious of our psychic being that we can have at the same time exact impressions about out past lives.” |
| 15, p. 297a | Several paragraphs describe here how the personality develops as the psychic grows. “Compassion and gratitude are essentially psychic virtues. They appear in the consciousness only when the psychic being takes part in active life.” Mother elaborates how this relates with the other parts of the being. (also under: 3.4.1) |
| 16, p. 167 | “The psychic being is constantly and invariably in contact with the Divine and never loses this contact.” Also a short question and answer: “The psychic being is asleep in me.” “The psychic being is not asleep. It is the connection with it which is not well established because the mind makes too much noise and the vital is too restless.” |
| 16, p. 175 | “It is in your soul that the calmness can be found and it is by contagion that it spreads through your being. It is not steady because the sovereignty of your soul is not yet definitively established over all the being.” (also under: 4.3.1) |
| 16, p. 208 | Has the psychic flame any correspondence to the Vedic Agni? Mother replies, “Yes, these are two names for the same thing.” |
| 16, p. 229b | Mother succinctly answers the question, “What is the role of the soul?” |
| 16, p. 358 | This is an excellent brief description of the soul and the psychic being in their place in the “concentric system” and how the psychic being grows. The soul is “like a divine spark which puts on many states of being of increasing density, down to the most material…. These states of being take form and develop, progress, become individualised and perfected in the course of many earthly lives and form the psychic being.” (also under: 3.4.1) |
| 03, p. 150 | A very clear explanation of how the psychic presence grows into a psychic being. |
| 06, p. 447-48 | One can cooperate with the psychic being. “If one can become fully conscious of his psychic being, at the same time one understands, necessarily the reason of his present existence and the experience his psychic being wants to have; and instead of having it …more than half unconsciously, one can shorten this experience and so help his psychic being to cover in a limited number of years the experiences it would perhaps take several lifetimes to go through. …The help is reciprocal, for the psychic, when it has an influence on the outer life, brings to it light, order and quietude and the joy of the divine contact.” (also under: 4.1.2.a) |
| 07, p. 021 | “The development of the psychic being has a double result which is concomitant. That is, with the development of the psychic being, the sensitivity of the being grows. And with the growth of sensitivity there is also the growth for the capacity for suffering;” the counterpart is that one also develops more strength to deal with the sensitivity and to face things with sufficient calm and inner knowledge not to be troubled. Usually the more psychic one is the more difficulties one has because one is more in contradiction with the present state of the world. |
| 07, p. 374-76 | The life of the psychic being is made up of successive experiences in successive physical existences. After a life of royalty as a king the soul may choose an ordinary” life to have different experiences. Mother tells how this soul decision then combines with the physical natures received from one’s parents in a particular life to bring about a tendency or character which makes it fit for a certain category of experiences. One’s present means of search for the Divine is thus based on that combination and is unique in the universe. (also under: 3.4.1) |
| 09, p. 268-70 | Here Mother tells how it is the psychic that develops and progresses from life to life, not the mind and the vital except for certain elements of them that may have become highly developed and can participate in a future life. Mother tells what happens to the different parts of the being after death and how it is only during earthly existence that the psychic progresses. (also under: 3.4.1) |
| 06, p. 006 | A brief, but good description of the difference in the way one feels when the psychic is in front (in response to a child’s question about how to know when it is). This could be helpful for students/seekers to know about, when they begin the process of self-observation of the movements in themselves. |
| 06, p. 033-34 | Here Mother talks about the discovery of the psychic in oneself. “Generally one has a series of experiences of identification, very intense at first, which gradually diminish, and then one day you find that they have disappeared…. the next time the contact is more easily obtained.” Eventually it can be obtained at will and does not leave you. Then many things (such as depression) disappear and one can always step back and have a sure guide—but all this takes a long time to come. |
| 06, p. 352 | People often have experiences of the psychic which they don’t even recognise as such because they are so natural and do not give the impression of being exciting or marvellous. Examples of these are: the clear seeing of a situation, the understanding of what is happening in oneself, of the state one is in, the indication of the exact progress one ought to make, of the thing that needs to be corrected. (also under: 4.7.1) |
| 09, p. 308-11 | “…there are no watertight compartments between the soul and the mind, the vital and even the physical.” Then Mother tells how to recognize the soul of another person. She also speaks of what it is like to have the experience of contact with the soul and to observe how it has the power to set in motion an active will and how it can have an important action on the reactions, feelings and sensations and finally have control over all the movements of the being. “This is how one learns to look at oneself” |
| 15, p. 326-27 | Mother tells here the relationship between the psychic being and the inner Truth and tells what it is like to have the experience of an integral contact with the psychic being. |
| 16, p. 424a | Communications from the psychic do not come in a mental form. They are not ideas or reasonings but have their own character…something like a feeling that comprehends itself and acts. By its very nature, the psychic is calm, quiet and luminous, understanding and generous, wide and progressive. Its constant effort is to understand and progress. “The mind describes and explains. The psychic sees and understands.” |
| 17, p. 016, 74 | A brief description of the nature of contact with the psychic. On p. 74 are the signs that tell one that the psychic being has come to the surface. |
| 03, p. 063-64 | “Is there a difference between the ‘spiritual’ and the ‘psychic’? Are they different planes?” “Yes, the psychic plane belongs to the personal manifestation; the psychic is that which the divine in you put out to be dynamic in the play. But when we speak of the spiritual we are thinking of something that is concentrated in the Divine rather than in the external manifestation.” “But in speaking of these things one must be careful not to be imprisoned by the words we use.” (also under: 3.2.5) |
| 03, p. 124-25 | Do not mix up the emotional being with the pure psychic. “You must learn to unite what you call your individual self with your true psychic individuality.” |
| 07, p. 041-42, 43 | Relationship between the psychic and the mind. |
| 16, p. 174 | Several short answers of Mother distinguish between the vital and the psychic, e.g. “It is always the vital being which protests and complains. The psychic being works with perseverance and ardour…but it never complains and knows how to wait for the hour of realizations to come”. Such mental understanding helps with one’s self-observation of one’s states of consciousness. (also under: 3.2.3, 4.5.c) |
| 16, p. 247-50 | Mother briefly tells the difference between the soul and the psychic being, how one receives its influence even before contact with the psychic is established, and tells the best conditions to help it grow. “All methods of self-knowledge, self-control and self-mastery are good.” On p. 249 she describes the soul’s influence and tells how it differs from the voice of conscience. |
| 06, p. 005 | “There is a sort of association between the physical and the psychic and between the mental and the vital being. A mental being is very often a very vital being…. Children—just because this psychic consciousness is in front in them—live also altogether in their body. But as soon as one begins to develop the mind, the taste for association also develops, with all the deformations that go with it” |
| 07, p. 177-79 | Mother talks about life using the image of a path. On the path towards spiritual realisation there is a bit of the way which is under control of reason and that reason, if you follow it, helps you go forward without making mistakes too often. One learns to become reasonable by making mistakes and undergoing their consequences. Stages of development: 1— the majority of people who don’t know that there is a path and an aim. 2— a small number who try to know why they are on earth and why the things that happen to them happen. These are reasonable beings. 3— a big handful of people are born with the feeling that there is a higher purpose in life, an aim, and they strive to find it. For these the path goes beyond reason. 4— a few whose rational period may begin very early and last for a short time and then are ready to set out on unexplored paths towards higher realities. (also under: 4.1.1) |
| 07, p. 407-08 | A good discussion of what is meant by our universal self and of the three stages of development of consciousness: In the very beginning your physical being is moved by all the common universal, mental,vital forces which go through your form and put it in motion and there is no individualization that makes you a different being, 1—the first stage is to become an individual—to manage to crystallize a more or less independent being conscious of itself and having its own qualities. This being is full of all the movements of obscurity, unconsciousness and limitations of ordinary life. This is however the first victory—to create an individuality which can consecrate itself and open to the divine influence, 2—This stage is of consecration of the individual, that he may surrender entirely to the Divine and be identified with him, 3—the third stage is when the Divine takes possession of this individual and changes him into a being in His own image. The old yogas all stopped after the second stage. This third stage is transformation. (also under: 1.3.1, 4.7.3.b) |
| 05, p. 205-07 | There are two different kinds of progress for the psychic being: one is its formation, building and organisation. This progress is similar to that of a growing child and the psychic being needs all its rebirths to become fully conscious and individualised and master. The second stage is when it comes to earth fully developed with a mission to fulfill and then the progress must be made in the capacity to work for the Divine. |
| 05, p. 215-18 | Mother tells how the psychic determines the experience it wants in its next life and why it takes so much time in a life before it remembers what it wants to do—unless someone who possesses a little knowledge helps it go more quickly. Also: “Psychic will and growth escape completely all common notions of justice, reward and punishment as men understand them.” |
| 05, p. 261-65 | These pages illustrate how progress of the instruments relates with the progress of the psychic being and also what happens to the conscious parts after death. Examples: musicians with conscious hands whose hands continue to express through others. (also under 2.1.2, the centre of identification for details about how this applied to Beethoven.) Page 265 discusses generally the purpose of the psychic being and how it is formed over many lives and how it eventually draws an Overmind being to incarnate in it. |
| 05, p. 268-69 | Mother talks about how the psychic chooses a different field of experience in each life. Thus a man of great intellect in one life might be an ordinary man with a remarkable heart, kind and generous in his next life. |
| 05, p. 350 | The value of mental or vital progress made in one life has relevance for the next life only to the extent that the progress has put them successively under the psychic influence, for all that is under the psychic influence and identified with the psychic can continue. |
| 07, p. 374-76 | The life of the psychic being is made up of successive experiences in successive physical existences. After a life of royalty as a king the soul may choose an ordinary” life to have different experiences. Mother tells how this soul decision then combines with the physical natures received from one’s parents in a particular life to bring about a tendency or character which makes it fit for a certain category of experiences. One’s present means of search for the Divine is thus based on that combination and is unique in the universe. (also under: 3.3.4.b) |
| 08, p. 333-38 | These pages talk about what happens to the various parts of the being (especially of developed souls) at the time of death and also tell about how the soul takes a new incarnation. |
| 09, p. 268-70 | Here Mother tells how it is the psychic that develops and progresses from life to life, not the mind and the vital except for certain elements of them that may have become highly developed and can participate in a future life. Mother tells what happens to the different parts of the being after death and how it is only during earthly existence that the psychic progresses. (also under: 3.3.4.b) |
| 09, p. 339-40 | Mother answers the question, “Is there a spiritual being in everybody?” She differentiates between the spiritual Presence which is in everyone and all things (and which provides enough curb to the adverse forces to allow Nature’s work to be accomplished) and the fully developed conscious being which requires a long period of preparation extending over many lives. |
| 10, p. 097 | Mother answers the question, “Does a being carry his mental, vital and physical experiences from one life to another?” |
| 15, p. 297a | Several paragraphs describe here how the personality develops as the psychic grows. “Compassion and gratitude are essentially psychic virtues. They appear in the consciousness only when the psychic being takes part in active life.” Mother elaborates how this relates with the other parts of the being. (also under: 3.3.4.a) |
| 15, p. 355-58 | “The Steps of the Soul” Mother describes man’s complexity, and the secret of his self-conflicts. They prepare him to fulfil his unique mission in the universe. He learns and the psychic being grows through experiences of life after life. Mother tells about old and new souls. |
| 15, p. 361-64 | Here Mother tells about the memory of past lives, at what stage of development one can have it, and what the memories are like—a discussion about the nature of psychic memories. |
| 16, p. 350 | This is about psychic memory “The psychic memory is a decanted memory of events”. Mother explains what this means and how it works. |
| 16, p. 353-54 | Mother tells here about the relative importance of knowledge about past lives and how at this moment upon earth it is “far more important to concentrate on the future, on the consciousness to be acquired and on the development of the nature….” |
| 16, p. 358 | This is an excellent brief description of the soul and the psychic being in their place in the “concentric system” and how the psychic being grows. The soul is “like a divine spark which puts on many states of being of increasing density, down to the most material…. These states of being take form and develop, progress, become individualised and perfected in the course of many earthly lives and form the psychic being.” (also under: 3.3.4.a) |
| 16, p. 386a | “It is through the experience of successive lives that the range of the subconscient is gradually reduced. By yoga and the effort to find the Divine in oneself and in life, one hastens the work considerably….” |
| 16, p. 424b | “The more the psychic has taken part in these physical lives on earth, the more numerous and precise its memories are.” |
| 05, p. 356-57 | Here is very brief mention of “soul-type”. “Just as we said that behind each animal type there was a spirit of the type, so behind each type of man there is a spirit of the type….The soul-type corresponds, individually or in groups to the dharma of things. Sometimes it is also called the truth of things, of each thing.” |
| 05, p. 414-15 | An explanation given in response to the question why some children take interest in things only when there is some excitement. One must know the exact proportion of the gunas in one’s own nature and how to use one guna to fight another. Eventually one can attain an equilibrium and establish it in oneself a little steadily so that one faces life more successfully integral i.e. without having to fall into holes or struggle against terrible things. |
| 06, p. 070-71 | This is the talk about the blunted physical sensibility of the Japanese and especially the Chinese. The more unconscious they are, the more tamasic they are, the more do they need strong sensations to feel something, hence they invented cruel sufferings |
| 06, p. 210 | “An inert passivity in someone is a kind of incapability of vibrating, receiving, opening himself, responding, something that is unconscious and does not move in any way.” “The more we go towards something we call unconscious, the more it is inert and passive at the same time.” |
| 07, p. 025-26 | One is cowardly because one is tamasic and fears having to make an effort. Instead of facing the thing and compelling the effort by one’s will, one recoils, runs away, turns one’s back, for the initial effort is difficult. The rajasic nature likes effort and usually these people are courageous. And because people are made up of different parts one could be cowardly in the physical nature and courageous in the inner nature or vice versa. Mother tells here the stories of different types of courage of circus animal trainers. |
| 08, p. 143 | A short discussion about morality. Some people are helped by it but many are not helped at all. “Morality is something altogether artificial and arbitrary, and in most cases, among the best, it checks the true spiritual effort by a sort of moral satisfaction that one is on the right path and a true gentleman, that one does one’s duty, fulfils all the moral requirements of life. Then one is so self-satisfied that one no longer moves or makes any progress.” Each one must set up a number of principles in himself to follow until one has found the inner light. (also under: 2.3.d) |
| 05, p. 242-43 | At an early stage man makes the most vulgar and low use of his intelligence; he makes it an instrument for calculation, domination and deception and is really worse than animals until he rises to a higher level. The unselfish uncalculating movement of the psychic consciousness is one of its most beautiful forms but the higher one rises in the scale of mental activity the rarer it becomes. Most human beings always want to get some advantage out of their beauty or cleverness. They must climb to a higher rung and do what the rose does unconsciously. |
| 08, p. 372-75 | These pages tell about the need of keeping one’s reason as one’s guide and the conditions under which it can finally be abandoned to something higher. Also pointed out is the distinction between true reason and the excuses one often gives oneself for one’s desires and actions. |
| 09, p. 064-65 | Mother tells about human nature—physical man—with his inertia, heaviness, laziness, easy satisfactions, hostility to all effort. She describes the bourgeois ideal of life (retire from work as young as possible and relax) which has deadened man and made him what he is now. The minute one stops going forward, one falls back. True rest is not retirement but comes from widening and universalizing the consciousness. |
| 06, p. 119 | About masculine and feminine as a trick of Nature. There is a witness or purusha-consciousness but Mother says there isn’t anything masculine about it. There is an activity like this and an activity like that. These conceptions of masculine and feminine have come from below, out of man’s brain which cannot think otherwise because it is still an animal. |
| 12, p. 102-06 | This is the famous talk “The Problem of Woman” about relations between men and women giving the reason for the perpetual “quarrel between the sexes”. She tells the reasons each sex is enslaved to the other and the key to liberation. There is a brief discussion about the attitude towards women in India. (also under: 2.5.1.d) |
| 12, p. 428 | Here Mother reminds a group of teachers that “women are in principle the executive power…and in order to receive the inspiration, you can take support from a masculine consciousness if you feel the need for it” She elaborates. |
| 12. pp. 102-06 | This is the famous talk “The Problem of Woman” about relations between men and women giving the reason for the perpetual “quarrel between the sexes”. She tells the reasons each sex is enslaved to the other and the key to liberation. There is a brief discussion about the attitude towards women in India. |