The Power of the Soul in Relation to the Other Parts of the Being

The development of the human being takes place in several successive stages and as individuals mature they begin to manifest and express the powers of the nature as they successively come to the fore. Not every individual develops and expresses all the powers fully in a particular lifetime. For the power of the soul, the development of the psychic being, this can actually take many lifetimes as the being generally has to go through the development, use, enjoyment and disillusionments that accompany the powers that develop earlier before the soul can actually come forward and take charge of the being and its outlooks and actions.

We are all able to identify the ‘physical man’ who has a strongly developed physical body and is happiest undertaking actions that suit the physical being. At a certain stage, the vital man evolves and becomes highly focused on enjoyment of the vital forces of exercising power, influence, vital satisfactions and fulfillment of desires. The evolution of the mental man brings with it the powers of the rational intellect, the logical faculties, and a focus on issues that go beyond either physical needs or vital desires, but enter into the realms of reflection about the world, their lives, and the answer to the questions of where do we come from, how do we exist and what is our purpose.

Through all these phases, the human individual undergoes the joys of success, the suffering of setbacks and defeats, and as that occurs, they gain rich experience that nourishes the soul, which for the most part remains behind the scenes, as a secret or silent influence, or in some cases a factor in the direction the individual takes as the pressure of the soul’s emergence begins to influence the life.

When the soul comes forward, it comes with a knowledge of its source, its purpose and its significance in life and it orients its actions towards fulfillment of the divine mandate that resides within each being.

Sri Aurobindo observes: “The soul in itself contains all possible strength, but most of it is held behind the veil and it is what comes forward in the nature that makes the difference. In some people the psychic element is strong and in others weak; in some people the mind is the strongest part and governs, in others the vital is the strongest part and leads or drives. But by sadhana the psychic being can be more and more brought forward till it is dominant and governs the rest. If it were already governing, then the struggles and difficulties of the mind and vital would not at all be severe; for each man in the light of the psychic would see and feel the truth and more and more follow it.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Powers Within, Chapter XX The Psychic, pp. 155-156