The Psychic Being and Madhva's Concept of the Soul

One of the breakthrough concepts one finds in the works of Sri Aurobindo is the concept of the "Psychic Being". It is one of those concepts which, typical of Aurobindo's ideas, is at once both easy and difficult to understand.

According to Aurobindo he had to expound this concept as the word "soul" was being used loosely to mean so many things to so many people and there a big confusion about what it actually meant. He says that most people use the word soul to refer what is actually the "desire-soul" and others use to with regards to all forms of psychic phenomenon. Hence the new definition.

Before we proceed further let us have a look at the concept of the soul as expounded by Madhva. According to Madhva , the soul is that entity which is unborn,eternal,unchanging (ajo,nityo,sashvato) and is the locus of both good and evil. It is different from inanimate(jada) in that it possess volition and independent will. It is self-conscious and is that entity that knows itself as "I am" in states of both bondage and liberation , happiness and sorrow.

Madhva also states that Soul is pure and divine and is unsullied by outward imperfections. It is full of delight and has knowledge. The Soul perceives the world through its internal sense organs and it is what exactly sees and hears the world through the medium of sense organs. The soul also possess its own sense organs. He also introduces the concept of Sakshi or the inner organ which is able to perceive truth as it is without any mistakes. In fact Madhva asks us many times to make a judgement on the basis of Sakshi or inner intuition as well, for logic and sense organs can be imperfect many times. Infact the Sakshi or Witness is nothing but the Soul itself and it can perceive things flawlessly.The Soul is also eternally inferior and dependent on the Lord and in Moksha this state of dependence is perfectly known and true devotion flows out as result of this realisation. This realisation of dependence is according to Madhva is the direct result of the realisation of one's true nature and technically accurate and is not born out of humility or emotionalism.

Let us now have a look at the concepts of the Psychic Being as expounded by Aurobindo

I mean by the Psychic being the inmost soul-being and the soul-nature.

Volume: 22-23-24 [SABCL] (Letters on Yoga), Page: 1605
What is meant in the terminology of the yoga by the psychic is the soul element in the nature, the pure psyche or divine nucleus which stands behind mind, life and body (it is not the ego) but of which we are only dimly aware. It is a portion of the Divine and permanent from life to life, taking the experience of life through its outer instruments. As this experience grows it manifests a developing psychic personality which insisting always on the good, true and beautiful, finally becomes ready and strong enough to turn the nature towards the Divine. It can then come entirely forward, breaking through the mental, vital and physical screen, govern the instincts and transform the nature. Nature no longer imposes itself on the soul, but the soul, the Purusha, imposes its dictates on the nature.

Volume: 22-23-24 [SABCL] (Letters on Yoga), Page: 288
The psychic is not by definition,* Footnote: Someone had asked what the psychic being was, whether it could be defined as that part of the being which is always in direct touch with the supramental. I replied that it could not be so defined. For the psychic being in animals or in most human beings is not in direct touch with the supramental�therefore it cannot be so described, by definition. But once the connection between the supramental and the human consciousness is made, it is the psychic being that gives the readiest response�more ready than the mind, the vital or the physical. It may be added that it is also a purer response; the mind, vital and physical can allow other things to mix with their reception of the supramental influence and spoil its truth. The psychic is pure in its response and allows no such mixture. The supramental change can take place only if the psychic is awake and is made the chief support of the descending supramental power.

that part which is in direct touch with the supramental plane,�although, once the connection with the supramental is made, it gives to it the readiest response. The psychic part of us is something that comes direct from the Divine and is in touch with the Divine. In its origin it is the nucleus pregnant with divine possibilities that supports this lower triple manifestation of mind, life and body. There is this divine element in all living beings, but it stands hidden behind the ordinary consciousness, is not at first developed and, even when developed, is not always or often in the front; it expresses itself, so far as the imperfection of the instruments allows, by their means and under their limitations. It grows in the consciousness by Godward experience, gaining strength every time there is a higher movement in us, and, finally, by the accumulation of these deeper and higher movements, there is developed a psychic individuality,�that which we call usually the psychic being. It is always this psychic being that is the real, though often the secret cause of man's turning to the spiritual life and his greatest help in it. It is therefore that which we have to bring from behind to the front in the yoga.

Volume: 22-23-24 [SABCL] (Letters on Yoga), Page: 288
The psychic being is quite different from the mind or vital; it stands behind them where they meet in the heart. Its central place is there, but behind the heart rather than in the heart; for what men call usually the heart is the seat of emotion, and human emotions are mental-vital impulses, not ordinarily psychic in their nature. This mostly secret power behind, other than the mind and the life-force, is the true soul, the psychic being in us. The power of the psychic, however, can act upon the mind and vital and body, purifying thought and perception and emotion (which then becomes psychic feeling) and sensation and action and everything else in us and preparing them to be divine movements.

The psychic being may be described in Indian language as the Purusha in the heart or the Chaitya Purusha; but the inner or secret heart must be understood, h\,rdaye guh\=ay\=am, not the outer vital-emotional centre. It is the true psychic entity (distinguished from the vital desire-mind)�the psyche�spoken of in the page of the Arya to which you make reference.

The psychic being in the old systems was spoken of as the Purusha in the heart (the secret heart�h\,rdaye guh\=ay\=am) which corresponds very well to what we define as the psychic being behind the heart centre. It was also this that went out from the body at death and persisted�which again corresponds to our teaching that it is this which goes out and returns, linking a new life to former life. Also we say that the psychic is the divine portion within us�so too the Purusha in the heart is described as Ishwara of the individual nature in some place.

Here Aurobindo defines the place where the Psychic Being exists , in the inner heart centre. This corresponds well with the location Madhva gives for the Soul (inside the heart). The purifying potential is another thing wherein there is an agreement between Madhva and Aurobindo. Madhva asks to trust the movements of the Psychic Being as it never makes a mistake when it comes to perceiving things. It can also influence the outer personality of the subject.

Volume: 22-23-24 [SABCL] (Letters on Yoga), Page: 289
The Chitta and the psychic part are not in the least the same. Chitta is a term in a quite different category in which are co-ordinated and put into their place the main functionings of our external consciousness, and to know it we need not go behind our surface or external nature. 'Category' means here another class of psychological factors, tattva-vibh\=aga. The psychic belongs to one class�supermind, mind, life, psychic, physical�and covers both the inner and the outer nature. Chitta belongs to quite another class or category�buddhi, manas, chitta, prana, etc.�which is the classification made by ordinary Indian psychology; it covers only the psychology of the external being. In this category it is the main functions of our external consciousness only that are co-ordinated and put in their place by the Indian thinkers; chitta is one of these main functions of the external consciousness and, therefore, to know it we need not go behind the external nature.

Volume: 22-23-24 [SABCL] (Letters on Yoga), Page: 291
The psychic being is especially the soul of the individual evolving in the manifestation the individual Prakriti and taking part in the evolution. It is that spark of the Divine Fire that grows behind the mind, vital and physical as the psychic being until it is able to transform the Prakriti of Ignorance into Prakriti of knowledge. These things are not in the Gita, but we cannot limit our knowledge by the points in the Gita.

But these things are accepted by Madhva and that is sufficient.

The soul and the psychic being are not exactly the same thing, although their essense is the same. The soul is the divine spark that dwells at the centre of each being;it is identical with its Divine Origin;it is the divine in man

The psychic being is formed progressively around this divine centre, the soul, in the course of its innumerable lives in the terrestrial evolution,until the time comes when the psychic being, fully formed and wholly awakened,becomes the conscious sheath of the soul around which it is formed. And thus identified with the divine, it becomes His perfect instrument in the world. ---- The Mother

The Psychic Being takes the position of the Bhaktha and can carry out all its activities in accordance with the divine will.

Volume: 22-23-24 [SABCL] (Letters on Yoga), Page: 265
The natural attitude of the psychic being is to feel itself as the Child, the Son of God, the Bhakta; it is a portion of the Divine, one in essence, but in the dynamics of the manifestation there is always even in identity a difference. The Jivatman, on the contrary, lives in the essence and can merge itself in identity with the Divine; but it too, the moment it presides over the dynamics of the manifestation, knows itself as one centre of the multiple Divine, not as the Parameshwara. It is important to remember the distinction; for, otherwise, if there is the least vital egoism, one may begin to think of oneself as an Avatar or lose balance like Hridaya with Ramakrishna.

Here Aurobindo reveals to us another aspect of the Psychic Being. Its natural predisposition to be a bhaktha. He also lays emphasis on the identity in difference which is another feature of the Soul. Thus while souls are identical in their essence with the Divine, it also has an individuality which shows up in the manifestation. He also warns of the danger of the soul identifying itself with the divine and considering itself to be the divine itself. The similarity of the above teachings to that of Madhva are too well known and needs no elaboration.

The statements of Aurobindo make it clear to us that the psychic being that he talks about is no different from that of the concept of Antaryamin,Sakshi,Atman as expounded by Madhva.

There is and can be no psychic being in a non-evolutionary creature like the Asura;there can be none in a god who does not need one for his existence. But what the god has is a Purusha and a Prakriti or energy of nature of that Purusha. If any being of the typal worlds wants to evolve, he has to come down to earth and take a human body and accept to share in the evolution. It is because they do not want to do this that the vital beings try to possess men so that they may enjoy the materialities of physical life without having the burden of the evolution or the process of conversion in which it culminates. A distinction has to be made between the soul in essence and the psychic being. Behind each and all there is the soul which is the spark of divine --- none could exist without that. But it is quite possible to have a vital and physical being without a clearly evolved psychic being behind it.

The postulation above is quite interesting and has an important truth in it. It appears that Aurobindo accepts the existence of beings which have no potential for evolution. . He gives the Asuras as an example of that kind of being. Thus he seems to accept the existence of tamasic souls , mentioned by Madhva , who go down and down but never upward as they lack the potential for it.These beings while being one with the divine essence , lack a Psychic being , the individual which is turned toward the divine. It is not as if Aurobindo propounds or postulates the existence of the tamsic souls, as they are always existing. But as an aparoxin,Aurobindo points to the existence of such souls, like a scientist who will objectively acknowledge material truths.

Since he mentions that not all souls have a Psychic Being and Asuras don't have one ,and it is of the nature of Bhaktha, we can be sure that when Aurobindo talks about the Psychic being , he is talking about the Sattvika type of souls in Madhva's categorization.

We can carry this study forward and note the congruence of ideas between them when it comes to describing the tamasic category of souls. Madhva states that the tamasic souls who are enemies of the devatas and Vishnu are of the nature of suffering. Their salavation is to experience the suffering latent in them. Aurobindo gives a surprisingly similar description of the Asuric souls in The Book of the Traveller of the Worlds , Book II of his epic poem Savitri in the chapter The World of Falsehood, the Mother of Evil and the Sons of Darkness.

There suffering was Nature's daily food
Alluring to the anguished heart and flesh,
And torture was the formula of delight,
Pain mimicked the celestial ecstasy.


A seeking Mind replaced the seeing Soul:
Life grew into a huge and hungry death,
The Spirit's bliss was changed to cosmic pain


Adepts of the illusion and the mask,
The artificers of Nature's fall and pain
Have built their altars of triumphant Night
In the clay temple of terrestrial life.


Night is their refuge and strategic base.
Against the sword of Flame, the luminous Eye,
Bastioned they live in massive forts of gloom,
Calm and secure in sunless privacy:
No wandering ray of Heaven can enter there.


This too the traveller of the worlds must dare.
A warrior in the dateless duel's strife,
He entered into dumb despairing Night
Challenging the darkness with his luminous soul.


Alarming with his steps the threshold gloom
He came into a fierce and dolorous realm
Peopled by souls who never had tasted bliss;
Ignorant like men born blind who know not light,
They could equate worst ill with highest good,
Virtue was to their eyes a face of sin
And evil and misery were their natural state.
A dire administration's penal code
Making of grief and pain the common law,
Decreeing universal joylessness
Had changed life into a stoic sacrament
And torture into a daily festival.
An act was passed to chastise happiness;
Laughter and pleasure were banned as deadly sins:
A questionless mind was ranked as wise content,
A dull heart's silent apathy as peace:
Sleep was not there, torpor was the sole rest,
Death came but neither respite gave nor end;
Always the soul lived on and suffered more.
Ever he deeper probed that kingdom of pain;
Around him grew the terror of a world
Of agony followed by worse agony,
And in the terror a great wicked joy
Glad of one's own and others' calamity.
There thought and life were a long punishment


The breath a burden and all hope a scourge,
The body a field of torment, a massed unease;
Repose was a waiting between pang and pang.
This was the law of things none dreamed to change:
A hard sombre heart, a harsh unsmiling mind
Rejected happiness like a cloying sweet;
Tranquillity was a tedium and ennui:
Only by suffering life grew colourful;
It needed the spice of pain, the salt of tears.
If one could cease to be, all would be well;
Else only fierce sensations gave some zest:


It was a world of sorrow and of hate,
Sorrow with hatred for its lonely joy,
Hatred with others' sorrow as its feast;
A bitter rictus curled the suffering mouth;
A tragic cruelty saw its ominous chance.
Hate was the black archangel of that realm;