Is It Possible for the Mind to Recognise the Presence of the Soul in Another Person?

There is a generally held belief that one can see into the soul of another individual by looking into their eyes. This idea, however, is inaccurate to the extent that it is held to be a universal principle for all people. The influence of the soul, when it is awake and active, does permeate into the mind and can change the texture of the mental energy. However, there are two requirements here that must be met for this to become perceptible to others. First, the influence of the psychic being on the mind must be sufficient to be perceptible. There are many things that fall below the threshold of perception, as we note with the perception of light, which requires a certain quanta of light to trigger the visual sense. Light below that amount simply does not register as visible. Similarly, a very diffused penetration of the psychic being’s force into the mind would likely not be sufficient to be perceived.

Second, the person doing the observation must be at a point where they can perceive and interpret what they are perceiving. We know that vibrations in the electro-magnetic spectrum operate at frequencies that extend below and above what we can perceive with our senses. The mind’s own limitations keep this range under relatively strict control. The mind cannot perceive, interpret or understand anything that falls outside its developed range. The action of the soul in the mind-stuff operates at a level that is, for most people, simply not perceptible. Such individuals are not, therefore, currently able to perceive the soul’s action in the mind. If the observer has developed the psychic sense and is sensitive to its actions, he could feel the texture of a mind influenced by the soul. Otherwise, there is no comprehension and no awareness of that action, even if it is there.

A disciple asks: “Sweet Mother, with the human mind is it possible to recognise another person’s soul?”

The Mother responds: “Things are not so clear-cut and separate as they are in speaking; that is just why it is quite difficult to see very distinctly and clearly in oneself the different parts of the being, unless one has had a very long training and a long discipline of study and observation. There are no water-tight compartments between the soul and the mind, the vital and even the physical. There is a infiltration of the soul into the mind. In some people it is even quite considerable, it is perceptible. So, the part of the mind which has a kind of sensibility, of subtle contact with the psychic being, is capable of feeling the presence of the soul in others.”

“Those who have the ability to enter to a certain extent into the consciousness of others to the point of being able to see or feel directly their thought, their mental activity, who can enter the mental atmosphere of others without needing to use words to make themselves understood, can easily differentiate between someone whose soul is active and someone whose soul is asleep. The activity of the soul gives a special colouring to the mental activity — it is lighter, more comprehensive and luminous — so that can be felt. For instance, by looking into someone’s eyes you can say with some certainty that this person has a living soul or that you don’t see his soul in his eyes. many people can feel — ‘many’, I mean among evolved people — can say that. But naturally, to know exactly how far somebody’s soul is awake and active, how far it rules the being, is the master, one must have the psychic consciousness oneself, for that alone can judge definitively. But it is not altogether impossible to have that sort of inner vibration which makes you say, ‘Oh! this person has a soul.’ “

reference: Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, The Psychic Being — Soul: Its Nature, Mission and Evolution, Section 6 More Lights on the Psychic Being, pp. 189-190