The Psychic Transformation — First Stage of the Triple Transformation of Consciousness

The integral yoga relies on what Sri Aurobindo calls the ‘triple transformation’. This represents a move away from the dominance of the physical, vital and mental elements of our external being to identify with the divine and systematically work to bring forth the next stages of the evolutionary development. The first step in this triple transformation is the psychic transformation, which involves shifting the standpoint away from the external consciousness to the psychic consciousness that is the spark of the Divine residing within each being. The psychic transformation opens the way for the being to open a direct and conscious channel to the Divine, allowing the next step, the spiritual transformation to take place. This moves the awareness beyond and above the mental level, widens the consciousness and eventually prepares for the advent of the supramental consciousness, the third step in the triple transformation.

There are a number of ways that seekers use to shift the awareness to the psychic consciousness. Different individuals, and sometimes the same individual at different times, may find one method or another the best for this shift. For many, the cultivation of qualities associated with the psychic helps to increase the receptivity. Practicing compassion, increasing the force of the aspiration, aligning one’s will to carry out the Divine intention rather than fulfilling individual desires or expectations, an increasing goodwill for all beings, and a deepening sense of acceptance with gratitude the gifts of the Divine are all helpful to align the outer being with the psychic centre.

Seekers follow paths known as the yoga of knowledge, yoga of works, yoga of devotion and the yoga of self perfection, as Sri Aurobindo outlines in The Synthesis of Yoga, as well as the use of prayer, mantra, meditation, tapasya (concentration of conscious force), pranayama, and bringing the mind to a status of quiescence, to aid in this process. These practices may aid the process unless they begin to take on a role of their own as the object, rather than the means of realisation.

Sri Aurobindo writes: “The ease and peace are felt very deep and far within because they are in the psychic and the psychic is very deep within us, covered over by the mind and vital. When you meditate you open to the psychic, become aware of your psychic consciousness deep within and feel these things. In order that these ease and peace and happiness may become strong and stable and felt in all the being and in the body, you have to go still deeper within and bring out the full force of the psychic into the physical. This can most easily be done by regular concentration and meditation with the aspiration for this true consciousness. It can be done by work also, by dedication, by doing the work for the Divine only without thought of self and keeping the idea of consecration to the Mother always in the heart. But this is not easy to do perfectly.”

reference: Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, The Psychic Being — Soul: Its Nature, Mission and Evolution, Section 6 More Lights on the Psychic Being, pg. 179