The Mind
Expanding the Mind
Beyond the embodied mind
The embodied mind, which has a separative view of the universe, is actually an individualised formation of the universal mind which itself is a multi-layered plane of consciousness. The individual mind is not, as mistakenly considered, the brain but it needs the brain for its expression. There are however several gradations of consciousness beyond and above the level of the mind-brain interaction. Sri Aurobindo has explained that there is a subliminal or inner mind behind the separative mentality of the outer mind that extends to the universal mind or the cosmic consciousness. He has also described higher levels above the ordinary mind dealing with supra-cognitive (or meta-cognitive matrices).
The Inner Mind
Terms like manas, aham, ahankaara, citta, popular in the phraseology of traditional Indian yoga, usually refer to attributes of the outer mind mediated through the brain, which serves the ordinary psycho-social space of human interactions. The psychology implicit in the integral vision of Sri Aurobindo refer to insights that get initiated in the pure psychological space of the inner or subliminal mind that stands behind the outer mind, supporting and surpassing it. The outer mind has to be made absolutely silent so that one has access to the inner mind. There are ascetic disciplines which prefer to silence the mind in order to negate all cognitive activity to arrive at a Nihil or zero. However, in Sri Aurobindo’s paradigm, the mind has to be made silent so that it is free from habitual thinking, an essential requisite for being able to manifest higher supra-rational cognitive matrices.
The Mother reaffirmed that the real progress of the world has been executed not through restless activity but by standing outside the action in silence and in quietness, for it is only then that the forces that change the world can be active and effective, “Whatever has been done in the world has been done by the very few who can stand outside the action in silence; for it is they who are the instruments of the Divine Power. They are dynamic agents, conscious instruments; they bring down the forces that change the world. Things can be done in that way, not by a restless activity. In peace, in silence and in quietness the world was built; and each time that something is to be truly built, it is in peace and silence and quietness that it must be done. (1).”
The source of thoughts
Traditionally, when the mind has been silenced, the inner being acts as a non-judgmental, detached witness, watching the flow of ideas that come to the outer mind, letting them pass away or rejecting the unwanted thoughts and allowing in only the screened, selected thoughts. We are usually totally identified with our thoughts and consider that they arise in our mind and as such we possess them. It is only when one has taken a poise in the inner mind that we can discover that thoughts do not rise de novo in the outer mind, but invade our minds from the external world. We can then experientially perceive that:
“.… all in outer mind
Is made, not born, a product perishable (2).”
The outer mind deals with the ordinary trail of ideas and the reasoning faculty makes logical constructions selecting, rejecting and amalgamating ideas according to necessity and convenience. However, such logical constructions are erected on shifting strands and can be always dismantled to be replaced by newer constructions; theses can be countered by antitheses and it is difficult to conceive of a durable synthesis. The outer mind also has to deal with ideas that relate to cultural, social and educational norms which at times may act as a deterrent to rational thinking. The inner or subliminal mind, on the other hand, is capable of directly receiving and manifesting creative ideas without the strenuous ordeal of logical constructions. The inner mind is a pure psychological space that acts as a receptacle of creative thoughts, originating at higher and deeper levels of consciousness:
The Superconscious Realms
The inner consciousness can be raised to progressively higher cognitive matrices above the rational mind and intelligent will. One rises to the Higher Mind of mass ideation that can expand endlessly and thence to the Illumined Mind where a revelatory ideograph illumines the Truth without need of verbal representation. One can climb higher to the Intuitive Mind that reflects intuitive thoughts, inspirational wisdom, revelation of Truth and knowledge through identity. At the next step, the individual mental field can get linked to the global cognitive field (Overmind) where differentiation is initiated from the unitary consciousness. Further up is the possibility of Integral cognition of the Supramental plane, the repository of the creative essence of everything, experientially worked upon by Sri Aurobindo and The Mother and still to be generalised as an experience. Each stage of ascent to the higher realms is accompanied by a descent of the higher powers that gets initiated with the downpour of Light and peace. Each stage of ascent is also signified by the progressive synthesis of Knowledge and Will that culminate in the Supermind, where Will becomes luminous and Knowledge becomes effective. Each stage of ascent to the higher realms is marked by a downpour of innovative, intuitive, progressive, creative ideas that reaches the zenith in the pre-programmed, totipotent creative essence at the Supermind:
“Thoughts leaped down from a superconscient field
Like eagles swooping from a viewless peak…. (3)”
The Cosmic Consciousness
The inner or subliminal mind is connected with the cosmic or universal consciousness. It is from the cosmic consciousness that great universal rhythms of art and music, innovative ideas, creative thoughts, universal archetypes and healing vibrations enter the inner being. However as long as the outer being is supported by the ego, the inner mind cannot be consolidated in its pristine uniqueness and is susceptible to be invaded from the cosmic consciousness by huge negative influences that in Aurobindonian parlance emanate from the ‘cosmic ignorance’. One can have the entry into the cosmic consciousness without the experiential contact with the soul-principle, “but then there is no freedom anywhere in the being from the lower nature and one may become in one’s extended consciousness the playground of all kinds of forces without being able to be either free and detached from the Prakriti or free and master (4).” It is only if the inner being is supported by the soul-principle or Psychic Being that the inner mind can filter the really creative and unique ideas:
“Thoughts gleamed up from the screened subliminal depths
Like golden fishes from a hidden sea (5).”
Entry of the Creative Ideas
The creative ideas and rhythms enter the inner mind from the cosmic consciousness and from there they enter the outer mind through channels of communication that are half-closed, half-open. The outer mind is usually full of everyday habitual thoughts of the physical mind, which is that poise of the mind enmeshed in the physical schemata and relies only on sensory feedback. It has to be silenced to receive the influx of creative ideas that descend from the superconscient ranges as well as the creative ideas that arrive from the cosmic consciousness, both being modulated through the inner mind.
References
1. The Mother. The Collected Works of the Mother, Volume 3. 2nd ed. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust; 2003, p. 67.
2. Sri Aurobindo. The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo, Volume 33-34; 1997, p. 541.
3. Ibid.
4. Sri Aurobindo. Complete Works, Volume 30; 2014, p. 279.
5. Sri Aurobindo. Complete Works, Volume 33-34, p. 541.
Share with us (Comments, contributions, opinions)
When reproducing this feature, please credit NAMAH, and give the byline. Please send us cuttings.
