Is It the Soul or the Vital Being We Perceive?

Most people are rooted in the vital consciousness, and thus respond to the vibrations that occur within the vital realm. Unless they have contact with their soul or at least clear influence by the psychic being on the external parts of the being, they are virtually unable to recognise the action of the soul in others. They therefore do not clearly appreciate the nature of the soul, or its action. Many actually deny the existence of the soul. Even those who admit the existence of the soul, however, frequently confuse vital movements for the action of the soul. Those who have a clear experience of the soul can spot the vibration of the soul-force, but these individuals are rare within the larger scope of humanity at this stage of its evolutionary process. 

The soul-force is frequently a quiet and subtle energetic actor. The vital is generally demonstrative and loud, and thus, commands attention and wants to be noticed and recognised. Thus, the soul may remain unseen while the vital shines. Certain vital movements are traditionally associated with the soul; whenever there is a movement of goodwill, charity, compassion, or a sense of vital refinement or appreciation for harmony, beauty or deeper feelings of love, we associate that with the soul. It may be the case that the soul-influence is actually acting upon the vital to some degree, but most of the time, we are looking at vital forces at work that distract us from the quiet promptings of the psychic being.

The Mother observes: ”Now, obviously, most often what people — unless they are initiated — call ‘soul’ is the vital activity. If someone has a strong, active, obstinate vital which rules the body’s activities, which has a very living or intense contact with people and things and events, if he has a marked taste for art, for all expressions of beauty, we are generally tempted to say and believe, ‘Oh! He has a living soul’; but it is not his soul, it is his vital being which is alive and dominates the activities of the body. That is the first difference between someone who is beginning to be developed and those who are still in the inertia and tamas of the purely material life. This gives, first to the appearance and also to the activity, a kind of vibration, of intensity of vibration, which often creates the impression that this person has a living soul; but it is not that, it is his vital which is developed, which has a special capacity, is stronger than the physical inertia and gives an intensity of vibration and life and action that those whose vital being is not developed do not possess. This confusion between the vital activity and the soul is a very frequent one…. The vital vibration is much more easily perceptible to the human consciousness than the vibration of the soul.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Our Many Selves: Practical Yogic Psychology, Chapter 6, Some Answers and Explanations, pp. 181-182