Sri Aurobindo

Letters on Himself and the Ashram

The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo. Volume 35

His Life and Attempts to Write about It
The Terminology of His Writings

Overmind [6]

In my translation I have been obliged to find or make a word for “Overmind”. I want to know if Hiranyagarbha can be used with a change from its old connotation? It is not prajñā as far as I can make out. Have you any other word more suitable to convey the idea of the Overmind?

Hiranyagarbha is not the Overmind, but the subtle subjective Consciousness which includes much more than the Overmind. Prajñā certainly won’t do — prajñā belongs to the Mind; you are probably thinking of the prājña प्राज्ञ (cidghana) caitanya, but that is a different thing from प्रज्ञा prajñā _A. Perhaps Overmind can be described as आद्य हिरण्यगर्भ चैतन्य [ādya hiraṇyagarbha caitanya] (as opposed to the rest of the सुक्ष्म [sukṣma] from the intuitive mind to the bottom), but that is a very long phrase. It is really, however, a different classification and other words ought to be found for it. परा मनीषा, आद्या मनीषा, दैवी मनीषा [parā manīṣā , ādyā manīṣā, daivī manīṣā], any of these might do, if no single word can be found or invented.