Sri Aurobindo

Letters of Sri Aurobindo

Volume I - Part 2

Fragment ID: 9936

It appears the Maharshi at the time supposed that by the psychic being I meant the enlightened ego! But people do not understand what I mean by the psychic being, because the word psychic has been used in English to mean anything of the inner mental, inner vital or inner physical or anything abnormal or occult or even the more subtle movements of the outer being, all in a jumble – also occult phenomena are often called psychic. The distinction between these different parts of the being is unknown. Even in India the old knowledge of the Upanishads in which they are distinguished has been lost. The Jivatman, psychic being (puruṣo antarātmā), the manomaya puruṣa, the prāṇamaya puruṣa are all confused together.