The action of the psychic being is subtle, more of an influence than a direct action in the lives of most people who are focused on fulfilling the needs and objectives set by their body-life-mind complex of their external being. The influence can be experienced and felt in the way the external being responds to situations and the inner state of awareness. One experiences the psychic being’s influence more directly through an attitude of receptivity and openness to it, along with a sense of gratitude and goodwill that allows the influence to act most effectively.
Dr. Dalal observes: “… the psyche is covered over by the outer nature of mind, life and body. However, the psyche exercises a constant, though indirect, influence on the outer being. There are brief moments or relatively enduring periods in the lives of most of us when we are most strongly under the influence of the psyche. During such moments or periods, we feel a certain state of inner well-being which we may experience differently at different times, as a state of peace, faith, joy, strength, love, aspiration, or simply goodwill towards all. The hallmark of such a state of psychological well-being which results from contact with one’s psyche, as distinguished from an ordinary state of ‘feeling good’, is that the psychic state of well-being is not dependent on outer conditions, such as favourable circumstances, good health, etc. On the contrary, a state of psychic well-being is often experienced in spite of unfavourable outer conditions.”
“Such a state of psychological health has been described by the Mother in speaking about the initial state of people then they come to live in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. She says: “Some of them come with a mental aspiration, either to serve or to learn; others come in the hope of doing yoga, of finding the Divine and uniting with Him; finally there are those who want to devote themselves entirely to the divine work upon earth. All of them come impelled by their psychic being, which wants to lead them towards self-realisation. they come with their psychic in front and ruling their consciousness; they have a psychic contact with people and things. Everything seems beautiful and good to them, their health improves, their consciousness grows more luminous; they feel happy, peaceful and safe; they think that they have reached their utmost possibility of consciousness. This peace and fullness and joy given by the psychic contact they naturally find everywhere, in everything and everybody. It gives an openness towards the true consciousness pervading here and working out everything. So long as the openness is there, the peace, the fullness and the joy remain with their immediate results of progress, health and fitness in the physical, quietness and goodwill in the vital, clear understanding and broadness in the mental and a general feeling of security and satisfaction.”
Dr. Dalal continues: “The above-quoted passage describes what, from the viewpoint of Integral Yoga, would be regarded as a state of ‘mental health’. Two things may be noted about such a state as described above. First, the state of psychological well-being is described in terms of the physical (‘health and fitness in the physical’), the vital (‘quietness and goodwill in the vital’) and the mental (‘clear understanding and broadness in the mental’), as well as an over-all sense of inner well-being (‘a general feeling of security and satisfaction’). Secondly, such a state of psychological health is ascribed to the fact that the psychic is in front and rules the consciousness, and gives one ‘a psychic contact with people and things’.
Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, Living Within: The Yoga Approach to Psychological Health and Growth, Introduction, Mental Health and Integral Yoga, pp. xxxii-xxxvii
Santosh has been studying Sri Aurobindo's writings since 1971 and has a daily blog at http://sriaurobindostudies.wordpress.com and podcast at https://anchor.fm/santosh-krinsky He is author of 16 books and is editor-in-chief at Lotus Press. He is president of Institute for Wholistic Education, a non-profit focused on integrating spirituality into daily life.