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
Jivatman, Spark-Soul and Psychic Being [1]
The Jivatman, spark-soul and psychic being are three
different forms of the same reality and they must not be mixed up together as
that confuses the clearness of the inner experience.
The Jivatman or spirit, as it is usually called in
English, is self-existent above the manifested or instrumental being — it is
superior to birth and death, always the same, the individual Self or
ātman. It is the eternal true being of the individual.
The soul is a spark of the Divine which is not seated
above the manifested being, but comes down into the manifestation to support its
evolution in the material world. It is at first an undifferentiated power of the
divine consciousness, containing all possibilities, but at first unevolved
possibilities, which have not yet taken form, but to which it is the function of
evolution to give form. This spark is there in all living beings, from the
lowest to the highest.
The psychic being is formed by the soul in its
evolution. It supports the mind, vital, body, grows by their experiences,
carries the nature from life to life. It is the psychic or
caitya puruṣa. 
At first it is veiled by
mind, vital and body, but, as it grows, it becomes capable of coming forward and
dominating the mind, life and body; in the ordinary man it depends on them for
expression and is not able to take them up and freely use them. The life of the
being is animal or human and not divine. When the psychic being can by sadhana
become dominant and freely use its instruments, then the impulse towards the
Divine becomes complete and the transformation of mind, vital and body, not
merely their liberation becomes possible.
The Self or Atman being free and superior to birth and
death, the experience of the Jivatman and its unity with the supreme or
universal Self brings the sense of liberation; but for the transformation of the
life and nature the awakening of the psychic being is indispensable.
The psychic being realises its oneness with the true
being, the Jivatman, but it does not change into it.
The bindu seen [in
vision by the correspondent] above may be a symbolic way of seeing the
Jivatman, the portion of the Divine; the aspiration there would naturally be for
the opening of the higher consciousness so that the being may dwell there and
not in the ignorance. The Jivatman is already one with the Divine in reality,
but it may want the rest of the consciousness to realise it.
The aspiration of the psychic being is for the opening
of the whole lower nature, mind, vital, body to the Divine, for the love and
union with the Divine, for its presence and power within the heart, for the
transformation of the mind, life and body by the descent of the higher
consciousness into this instrumental being and nature.
Both aspirations are necessary for the fullness of this
Yoga. When the psychic imposes its aspiration on the mind, vital and body, then
they too aspire and this is what was felt as the aspiration from the level of
the lower being. The aspiration felt above is that of the Jivatman for the
higher consciousness with its realisation of the One to manifest. Therefore both
aspirations help each other. The seeking of the lower being is necessarily at
first intermittent and oppressed by the ordinary consciousness. It has by
sadhana to become clear, constant, strong and enduring.
The sense of peace,
purity and calm is brought about by the union of the lower with the higher
consciousness. It cannot be permanent at first, but it can become so by
increased frequency and endurance of the calm and peace and finally by the full
descent of the eternal peace and calm and silence of the higher consciousness
into the lower nature.
5 May 1935