Understanding the Differences Between the Vital Desire Soul and the Psychic Being

We can observe, in our own lives and in the lives of various individuals we see on the ‘world stage’, the difference between those who are driven primarily by the impulses of the external vital nature and the ego-personality, and those who have made contact with the inner being and has developed a new standpoint that is based on the harmony of the divine, or spiritual, consciousness. Those who are fixated on the external vital nature may exhibit various forces of the animal nature, may be filled with desire, lust, greed, and a power-hungry demand that can turn into bullying and intimidation. These individuals, while they believe they will have satisfaction from fulfillment of these various forms of desire and vital activity, actually are generally unhappy and they suffer inwardly very much. The other actions are a reflection of what they have and carry around within themselves.

On the other hand, we can see individuals who are souls of peace, harmony and contentment, who radiate good will to others and who are generally inwardly happy. Their concern for the well-being of others is sincere and shows itself in many ways by their thoughtful and caring expression of concern and their actions to ease the burden that others carry as well as the burden on the planet that human life creates. They are based wtihin in the psychic being, or true soul that each individual has deep inside himself, mostly hidden behind the veil of the outer nature. The psychic being represents the Divine Presence within each of us.

Each individual carries within himself these conflicting forces to some degree, in a greater or lesser measure or balance. Some individuals are heavily skewed towards the one side, and others are heavily skewed towards the other. When we look within ourselves and evaluate our thoughts, emotions, feelings, actions, and reactions, we can recognise the seeds and the expressions that come with the one standpoint or the other. This is the starting point for the process of spiritual growth and development of spiritual maturity as we begin to systematically address those impulses within us that cater to the vital desires of the ego-personality and at the same time, we begin to build up those forces that represent the true soul or the psychic being within us, dedicated and consecrated to the Divine and receptive to the impulsion that is bringing forth the birth of a new consciousness based in understanding, good will and harmony.

Once we recognise this play of forces within ourselves and recognise how much we actually suffer when we give in to the lower vital impulses, we can then gain an understanding and a compassion for the suffering of those beings who are literally consumed and driven by these vital prods. Their lives are intensely painful.

The Mother notes: “The inner law, the truth of the being is the divine Presence in every human being, which should be the master and guide of our life.”

“When you acquire the habit of listening to this inner law, when you obey it, follow it, try more and more to let it guide your life, you create around you an atmosphere of truth and peace and harmony which naturally reacts upon circumstances and forms, so to say, the atmosphere in which you live. When you are a being of justice, truth, harmony, compassion, understanding, of perfect good-will, this inner attitude, the more sincere and total it is, the more it reacts upon the external circumstances; not that it necessarily diminishes the difficulties of life, but it gives these difficulties a new meaning and that allows you to face them with a new strength and a new wisdom; whereas the man, the human being who follows his impulses, who obeys his desires, who has no time for scruples, who comes to live in complete cynicism, not caring for the effect that his life has upon others or for the more or less harmful consequences of his acts, creates for himself an atmosphere of ugliness, selfishness, conflict and bad will which necessarily acts more and more upon his consciousness and gives a bitterness to his life that in the end becomes a perpetual torment.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Looking from Within, Chapter 1, Looking at Life and Circumstances, pp. 13-14