The Fourth Dimension of the Spiritual Sight
Our normal human observation sees individual objects as if they are separate forms or beings, and does not, other than through an intellectual exercise, make the connection that all these forms are really one and unified in a coherent field. No matter how intensely we develop the physical sight, this limitation still holds back our seeing and our understanding of the material creation within which we exist and move. We take on the role of the observer and the forms of the world are the objects of our observation. The separation is the primary experience. For the spiritual sight, however, another dimension is added, a dimension of what has been called “psychic” or “mystic” or “spiritual” vision. This dimension integrates all the forms we observe, and all the patterns of movement that take place between and among these forms, as part of the “unified field” of a unitary existence that constitutes everything that IS.
Sri Aurobindo notes:
"There is at the same time a subtle change which makes the sight see in a sort of fourth dimension, the character of which is a certain internality, the seeing not only of the superficies and the outward form but of that which informs it and subtly extends around it. The material object becomes to this sight something different from what we now see, not a separate object on the background or in the environment of the rest of Nature, but an indivisible part and even in a subtle way an expression of the unity of all that we see. And this unity that we see becomes not only to the subtler consciousness but to the mere sense, to the illumined physical sight itself, that of the identity of the Eternal, the unity of the Brahman. For to the supramentalised seeing the material world and space and material objects cease to be material in the sense in which we now, on the strength of the sole evidence of our limited physical organs and of the physical consciousness that looks through them, receive as our gross perception and understand as our conception of matter. It and they appear and are seen as spirit itself in a form of itself and a conscious extension. The whole is a unity–the oneness unaffected by any multitudinousness of objects and details–held in and by the consciousness in a spiritual space and all substance there is conscious substance. This change and this totality of the way of seeing comes from the exceeding of the limitations of our present physical sense, because the power of the subtle or psychical eye has been infused into the physical and there has again been infused into this psycho-physical power of vision the spiritual sight, the pure sense, the supramental saṁjñāna."1
- Santosh Krinsky
Institute for Wholistic Education (USA)
Keywords: Psychic, Spiritual sight, Unitary consciousness, Unified reality, Oneness
1 Sri Aurobindo. 'The Supramental Sense' in The Synthesis of Yoga.
Hmmm, this sounds far beyond the seeing or even comprehension of 99% of the people on earth, and possibly 99% of people practicing IY.
ReplyDeleteThe Mother, in Her writing on psychic education, talks of the "starting point" in the finding of the psychic being. One universalizes, feels the Divine in all, feels one self in all.
If we are truly sincere, how many of us have even glimpsed this?
And for those of us who have glimpsed this, how many live it, 24/7/365?
I would love to issue an edict to the IY community (quoting Mother and Sri Aurobindo) - until this realization - BOTH the psychic and spiritual, in fact - is fully grounded, integrated, do not mention the "S" word. Sri Aurobindo wrote SO much on the dangers of this, yet seemingly so many of us think that the Agenda (which Mother never intended for publication) somehow nullifies the warnings.
Just thought I'd add, have we even met anyone who lives the initial, basic realization 24/7/365? Then what is it in our vital that wants to talk about these advanced things that we really understand nothing about?
ReplyDeletethis was created as part of a systematic, page by page review of The Synthesis of Yoga. This is the topic of the day in that text, based on Sri Aurobindo's experience and understanding.
ReplyDeleteYes, I recognize it. It's just that my understanding of this blog is it's meant to be an aid in the practice of integral yoga AS practiced by 99% of the population.
DeleteI love intellectual discussions. We have a whole chapter on the Supramental in our book on yoga psychology. It's just that for practical purposes, since I doubt if anybody alive has a clue as to what the supramental consciousness actually is, it would be nice to focus more on stuff like, you know, how do we deal with our own narcissism, anger, fears, sadness, laziness, procrastination, distorted beliefs, - that whole wonderful list of stuff to reject that Sri Aurobindo wrote about in that letter on The Mother.
It's a LOT easier for our egos to ignore this stuff, but if we do ignore it, we're never going to wake up, much less open to the higher, illumined, etc mind levels, much less be open to the descent of those levels - and THAT is all BEFORE we even touch "the hem of the garment" of the supramental.
I don't mean to be speaking specifically to you, Santosh - it's an almost universal problem in the Integral Yoga. I think I've read at least a half dozen libraries full of integral yoga books, thousands of them, and attended or watched hundreds if not thousands of presentations, and I honestly can't think of one that I would recommend to people for practicing IY on an everyday level (excepting Mother and SrI Aurobindo's writings, of course).
On the other hand, Craig Holliday, not known for being an IY person, has written a book accessible to any teen with little or no familiarity with any kind of meditation - "The Yoga of Liberation" - which I would not hesitate to recommend to anybody interested in learning how to practice IY.
I'm now about 3 months away from a daily writing practice on this topic - "IY in Everyday language." I just wrote an article for Shraddha on this, plan to start posting to the La Grace blog, and will be writing regularly for SAIEN as well. Also plan to make numerous videos on this subject. All are welcome to participate.
If anybody knows of ANY book or video on IY that would be accessible to a 13 year old teen, written with NO jargon (no "vital" "psychic" "Jiva" etc - just everyday language) let me know. I mean VERY VERY simple and dealing with life as it is now in 2023. Simple. I'm not aware of any.
I'll just conclude by reminding myself and all - "Our yoga BEGINS where others end."
END. IS there anybody in the IY community who is fully enlightened along the lines of traditional yoga/vedanta/tantra? if not, why are we talking about IY if none of us have begun it. As Vladimir Yatsenko pointed out to me some months back, the aim is different, and it's fine to remind people from time to time of the PROFOUNDLY different aim, but otherwise, we're all doing the same yoga, all around the world, whether Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, etc.
i was not informed about the limitations of the blog that you describe. Having done page by page blog posts for all the major writings of Sri Aurobindo, I happened to share this one. With over 4000 blog posts in the series, i suspect quite a few of them are unacceptable with the limitation you have set. Please excuse my ignorance of this limitation in the past. I have not restricted the blog posts to any specific attempt to teach or share specific practices, but to rather systematically go through what Sri Aurobindo has written.
ReplyDeletei have no objection to this blog post being deleted if it violates the intention or focus of the SAIEN blog.
ReplyDeleteNo criticism, no official limitations, this is the perfect opportunity for real yoga.
DeleteI love your books and your blog. I should have phrased this more clearly in terms of a request rather than a criticism. My fault and I apologize.
Yes, it's beautiful to share what Sri Aurobindo has written.
Also, you are a very articulate, exceptionally knowledgable writer on the Integral yoga, with very few equals.
Again, I should have formulated my comment as a request rather than a criticism. So a request for the future:
When you post one of your blog posts here, perhaps you might possibly (not necessary - no limitations) ponder what might be helpful as just a single paragraph (or possibly two) to add a practical note.
In fact, in the next comment, I'll give it a try!
Thanks for being understanding, and I'll try to be less critical and more wondrously exploratory in the future!
"There is at the same time a subtle change which makes the sight see in a sort of fourth dimension, the character of which is a certain internality, the seeing not only of the superficies and the outward form but of that which informs it and subtly extends around it. The material object becomes to this sight something different from what we now see, not a separate object on the background or in the environment of the rest of Nature, but an indivisible part and even in a subtle way an expression of the unity of all that we see. And this unity that we see becomes not only to the subtler consciousness but to the mere sense, to the illumined physical sight itself, that of the identity of the Eternal, the unity of the Brahman. For to the supramentalised seeing the material world and space and material objects cease to be material in the sense in which we now, on the strength of the sole evidence of our limited physical organs and of the physical consciousness that looks through them, receive as our gross perception and understand as our conception of matter. It and they appear and are seen as spirit itself in a form of itself and a conscious extension. The whole is a unity–the oneness unaffected by any multitudinousness of objects and details–held in and by the consciousness in a spiritual space and all substance there is conscious substance. This change and this totality of the way of seeing comes from the exceeding of the limitations of our present physical sense, because the power of the subtle or psychical eye has been infused into the physical and there has again been infused into this psycho-physical power of vision the spiritual sight, the pure sense, the supramental saṁjñāna."1
ReplyDeleteCOMMENTS:
Sri Aurobindo tells us, in every moment of our lives, there are reflections of this extraordinary supramental process occurring - in every sensation, every perception, every moment of thought and will.
For example, I'm sitting on my porch in Asheville, North Carolina. When I stop to notice what is arising in Awareness, there are bird sounds, the sounds of cars rushing along Interstate 40, the sound of Jan gathering dishes in the kitchen, and the sound of the keys of this Macbook clicking.
There is an awareness of the electrical currents in the nervous system, along with a lower bass sound that is someone continuous.
There is also a Silence underlying and permeating all the sounds.
There is an intention to move the keys, to express these words. There are also egoic (vital ego, mental ego, various subconscious factors) interferences, distortions occurring as well.
As there is a great opening to the underlying Silence, and the Energy (Shakti) of the sounds, sights, sensations, etc) the quality of objects, sounds, etc starts to change. They become more fluid, more permeable, and the activity of typing and finding words to express the experience becomes more and more spontaneous, less thoroughly distorted by egoic influences (though clearly those influences are still present)
That's one of infinite possibilities. And nothing is right or wrong here. Your post, Santosh, is wonderful. I guess perhaps I'm also asking others reading this blog, to consider the possibility (not right or wrong!!!) of writing something simple, experiential, along with intellectual/intuitive analyses of complex passages.
ReplyDeletethank you for the clarification. i thought the introductory paragraph i put in ahead of Sri Aurobindo's statement in the Synthesis of Yoga, was focused primarily on our normal human way of seeing things, and then a comparison to the way Sri Aurobindo describes the spiritual sight. I felt it was a useful comparison to help us understand the limitations of our current way of seeing things in the world and our daily lives, and to appreciate that there is another level of vision that Sri Aurobindo has set before us. I will in future however try to be more careful in choosing which posts to share along the lines you have indicated, so that the SAIEN blog can be the vehicle that it is envisioned to be. Thank you
ReplyDeleteSure Santosh, no problem. thank you. I would also add - still have failed to clarify sufficiently - what I wrote is ONLY my view, not necessarily that of SAIEN. I've been involved with the blog from the start, but again, what I wrote is my view. I understand you're very (very!) busy and it's better to have something from you than nothing if it takes too much time.
Deleteif you have time for a little extra, that's great, if not, that's great too.
Hello… it is correct that this blog is envisioned as an aid to the day to day practice of IY based on one’s own experiences, insights, trials, tribulations, success and progress. In my view the post by Santosh is kind of in between the realm of metaphysics and experience/ practice. I thought it is ok to post something like this once in a while for there might be people out there who have experienced what Sri Aurobindo is speaking of and may find it helpful. But yes, I agree that we should keep the main content to something that arises from our own practice.
DeleteThanks Anuradha. Probably won't hurt for me to say one more time - I LOVE discussions of metaphysics. I also would love to see more down-to-earth sharing of experience/practice. So yes, once in awhile (heck, I may even get a little metaphysical now and then) but mostly practice. Thanks!
DeleteIt is true Psychic element is unifying factor to envision uniformity and homogeneity in our interactions in Physical objective world of multiplicity. With my experience as seeker on Spiritual journey , it takes sustained practice and perseverance to look inward and activate Psychic self in the process of self discovery ...and develop resonance between Physical Sight and Spiritual Sight ...
ReplyDeleteYes, a 1000 times yes to this: " it takes sustained practice and perseverance to look inward and activate Psychic self in the process of self discovery .."
ReplyDeleteYes again.
So we all know this if we've read Mother and Sri Aurobindo at all, though it's helpful to be reminded again and again - sustained practice, perseverance.
What I rarely - rarely! - hear talked about much in IY circles is what makes it hard to sustain practice, to persevere.
Now, I first read this in 1976, Sri Aurobindo's list of what gets in the way:
the mind‘s ideas, opinions, preferences, habits, constructions
the vital nature’s desires, demands, cravings, sensations, passions, selfishness, pride, arrogance, lust, greed, jealousy, envy, hostility to the Truth,
the physical nature’s stupidity, doubt, disbelief, obscurity, obstinacy, pettiness, laziness, unwillingness to change, tamas,
Not so much fun to look at, eh?
Let me see, look at Don's mind, vital and physical:
opinions? check. Preferences? check. Rigid habits and constructions? Yep.
Demands, cravings, selfishness, pride, arrogance? you bet.
Hostility to the Truth - Well, THAT would make an interesting blog post. Are we willing to look at that in our constructed surface or subconscient personality?
Oh, and my favorites: stupidity, doubt, disbelief, obscurity, obstinacy, etc
yes yes yes a 1000 times yes!
That's enough for 2 years of blog posts.
I promise, we have just another 2-3 months of intense marketing for our online courses then I would LOVE to write about this AT LEAST weekly. I've already promised daily posts for LaGrace, should be plenty I can publish here at SAIEN.
Anyone like to join me in what Sri Aurobindo said was the most important first step? Somewhere he said to a disciple, "I was right to start with purification." I love that simple statement, can't remember where it was.
But this is where we start - EVEN AFTER psychic and Self awakening. Always more to do (though the Mother "does" it more and more, but still, are you perfect? I"m certainly not (as if it's not obvious!!!). So some effort is needed to look at these things and offer them.
Let's look together.