The Self, the Spirit, the Soul, the Terrestrial Evolution and the Supreme Divine Being

As an individual begins to consciously try to understand the yogic path and connect with his soul and discover his true self, and then find and consciously participate in the spiritual purpose of the divine manifestation, he is confronted with a number of different terms and elements that need to be distinguished and properly ordered so as to make the process clear and understandable. Sri Aurobindo has done this in a very brief overview.

Sri Aurobindo observes: “There is no distinction between the Self and the spirit. The psychic is the soul that develops in the evolution — the spirit is the Self that is not affected by the evolution, it is above it — only it is covered or concealed by the activity of mind, vital and the body. The removal of this covering is the release of the spirit — and it is removed when there is a full and wide spiritual silence.”

When one becomes aware of the Self calm, silent, wide, universal, it is no longer covered by the ignorance, when one identifies with the Self and not with the mind, life and body and their movements or with their small ego, that is the release of the Self.”

“The Atman is the Self or Spirit that remains above, pure and stainless, unaffected by the stains of life, by desire and ego and ignorance. It is realised as the true being of the individual, but also more widely as the same being in all and as the Self in the cosmos; it has also a self-existence above the individual and cosmos and it is then called the Paramatma, the supreme Divine Being.”

“The Divine is more than the Atman. It is Nature also. It contains everything in Itself.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Our Many Selves: Practical Yogic Psychology, Chapter 2, Planes and Parts of the Being, pp. 79-80