The first stage in the Transformation of the being to a higher, greater, broader, and deeper spiritual state of existence is called by Sri Aurobindo "Psychicisation" This refers to the coming to the fore of the Soul, the Inner Light or Guidance. The following description is from The Life Divine.
Psychicisation is one of the most essential stages of the integral yoga of Sri Aurobindo. As described in The Life Divine (book II - chapter 25) it refers to a spiritual movement inward, so that one realises the psychic being - the psychic personality or Divine Soul - in the core of one's being, and enable this to transform the outer being, as well as serve as a spiritual Guide in the yoga.
It is thanks to this Psychic transformation that the sadhak can avoid the pitfalls of the spiritual path, such as the intermediate zone.
In Integral Yoga the Psychic transformation is sometimes described as follows: The three central spiritual methods of connecting to the Spirit are Consecration, Moving to the Depths (Concentration), and Surrender. Consecration is to open to the Force before engaging in an activity. Moving to the Depths (or Concentration) is a movement away from the surface existence to a deeper existence within. In the deepest depths one discovers the Personal Evolving Soul. Surrender is to offer all one's work, one's life to the Divine Force and Intent (Synthesis of Yoga Part I ch.II-III; Letters on Yoga vol.II pp.585ff (3rd ed.)) As we connect to the evolving soul within, we not only move away from ego, ignorance, finiteness, and time; not only perceived our limitations of being and overcome them; but we also open to the universal plane. This is the Psychic transformation in progress.
From there the light, peace, power is drawn into and descends into the body, transforming all of its parts — physical, vital, and mental. This is the Spiritual transformation. Psychicisation can serve as a prequel to spiritualisation (equivalent to "Enlightenment"), although they do not have to follow any sort of order. However, both the psychic and the spiritual transformation are equally necessary for the final stage of Supramental transformation.
"As the crust of the outer nature cracks, as the walls of inner separation break down, the inner light gets through, the inner fire burns in the heart, the substance of the nature and the stuff of consciousness refine to a greater subtlety and purity, and the deeper psychic experiences, those which are not solely of an inner mental or inner vital character, become possible in this subtler, purer, finer substance; the soul begins to unveil itself, the psychic personality reaches its full stature. The soul, the psychic entity, then manifests itself as the central being which upholds mind and life and body and supports all the other powers and functions of the Spirit; it takes up its greater function as the guide and ruler of the nature. A guidance, a governance begins from within which exposes every movement to the light of Truth, repels what is false, obscure, opposed to the divine realisation: every region of the being, every nook and corner of it, every movement, formation, direction, inclination of thought, will, emotion, sensation, action, reaction, motive, disposition, propensity, desire, habit of the conscious or subconscious physical, even the most concealed, camouflaged, mute, recondite, is lighted up with the unerring psychic light, their confusions dissipated, their tangles disentangled, their obscurities, deceptions, self-deceptions precisely indicated and removed; all is purified, set right, the whole nature harmonised, modulated in the psychic key, put in spiritual order. This process may be rapid or tardy according to the amount of obscurity and resistance still left in the nature, but it goes on unfalteringly so long as it is not complete. As a final result the whole conscious being is made perfectly apt for spiritual experience of every kind, turned towards spiritual truth of thought, feeling, sense, action, tuned to the right responses, delivered from the darkness and stubbornness of the tamasic inertia, the turbidities and turbulences and impurities of the rajasic passion and restless unharmonised kinetism, the enlightened rigidities and sattwic limitations or poised balancements of constructed equilibrium which are the character of the Ignorance."
The awakening and coming to the fore of the Psychic Being or Soul cannot be underestimated; it is the turning point of the Integral Yoga, and for that matter of all spiritual and mystical paths. Without the guidance of the Soul, the Divine Principle within, progress on the Spiritual Path is or can be hazardous, and one who journeys this way can easily become stuck in the intermediate zone, or worse, give up their will to following a fallen or misguided guru who is stuck there, and thus become to prey to every whim of beings of the subtle worlds. For this reason, the Psychic (Soul) Awakening, and the Psychic (Soul Being) Light, is an absolutely necessary prerequisite.
Psychicisation is followed by The Psycho-Spiritual Transformation, which further enhances the Psychic Experience with a spiritual (experience of the Absolute) Transformation.
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