Can the Mind Recognise the Action or Influence of the Soul in Another Individual?

Every aspect of life, and every plane of existence vibrates at its own unique frequency. As an individual develops, he can begin to resonate with and respond to the vibrations of various levels of existence. This also gives him the ability to feel and recognise the similar vibration when it is being projected by another individual. When this vibration is recognised, it may be experienced as a ‘feeling’, or, the mind may be able to translate this feeling into an understanding of what the significance of the vibration is. In such instances, the mind may cognize the action of the psychic or soul energy and recognise its operation in others. 

It is also the case that even when the soul is not itself securely leading a particular being and thereby creating the primary vibratory pattern, it may be exercising an influence on the mind, the vital or the physical and thus, subtly altering their action with the soul’s pattern. In such cases, one can recognise the influence of the soul on an individual and potentially even see the limitations within which it is currently operative.

A disciple asks: ”Sweet Mother, with the human mind is it possible to reocgnise another person’s soul?”

The Mother writes: ”Things are not so clear-cut and separate as they are in speaking; that is just why it is quite difficult to see very distinctly and clearly in oneself the different parts of the being, unless one has had a very long training and a long discipline of study and observation. There are no watertight compartments between the soul and the mind, the vital and even the physical. There is an infiltration of the soul into the mind. In some people it is even quite considerable, it is perceptible. So, the part of the mind which has a kind of sensibility, of subtle contact with the psychic being, is capable of feeling the presence of the soul in others.”

“Those who have the ability to enter to a certain extent into the consciousness of others to the point of being able to see or feel directly their thought, their mental activity, who can enter the mental atmosphere of others without needing to use words to make themselves understood, can easily differentiate between someone whose soul is active and someone whose soul is asleep. The activity of the soul gives a special colouring to the mental activity — it is lighter, more comprehensive and luminous — so that can be felt. For instance, by looking into someone’s eyes you can say with some certainty that this person has a living soul or that you don’t see his soul in his eyes. Many people can feel — ‘many’, I mean among evolved people — can say that. But naturally, to know exactly how far somebody’s soul is awake and active, how far it rules the being, is the master, one must have the psychic consciousness oneself, for that alone can judge definitively. But it is not altogether impossible to have that sort of inner vibration which makes you say, ‘Oh! This person has a soul.’ “

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Our Many Selves: Practical Yogic Psychology, Chapter 6, Some Answers and Explanations, pp. 180-181