Our Many Selves

Two Systems in the Organisation of the Being

From the viewpoint of Sri Aurobindo's thought, the human being is inseparably one with the universal being. There are, he says, "two systems simultaneously active in the organisation of the being and its parts"¹⁹—a concentric system and a vertical system.

The concentric system is like a series of rings or sheaths, consisting of the outer being, the inner being and the inmost being. The outer being and the inner being behind it constitute our phenomenal or instrumental being and are said to belong to Nature or Prakriti. They have three corresponding parts—physical, vital, mental. The inmost being is the Purusha, the true being. In the Purusha, there is an inmost mental, an inmost vital and an inmost physical, and, at the very core, the psychic being or soul. The psychic being is usually referred to as the inmost being (Fig. I).

The vertical system is like a staircase, consisting of various levels, planes or gradations of consciousness ranging from the lowest—the Inconscient—to the highest, Sachchidananda (Fig. 2).

Note: Ancient Indian wisdom divided the human being, the microcosm, as well as the world-being, the macrocosm, into a higher hemisphere, Parardha, and a lower hemisphere, Apararadha. The higher hemisphere is where the Spirit reigns perfectly and eternally; in the lower hemisphere, the Spirit is veiled by mind, life and body. Overmind is the intermediary plane dividing the two hemispheres.

The main parts and planes of the being as described by Sri Aurobindo are explained below.