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

Psychic Being [3]

As directed, “psychic being” has been translated as caitya puruṣa. Does this mean the puruṣa in the citta? Is jīva the combined and the fundamental being of all the beings — the vital, the psychic and others?

चैत्य पुरुष [caitya puruṣa] means rather the पुरुष [puruṣa] in the चित् [cit], the fundamental (inner) consciousness.

जीव [jīva] is the fundamental, or as we call it, the central being. But the fundamental being is not combined of the mental, vital, psychic etc., these are only expressions of the Jivatman; the Jivatman itself is self-existent in the Divine; essential in its being, it cannot be regarded as a combination of things.

1 July 1931