Basic Overview of the Mental Consciousness

The mental consciousness evolved subsequent to the emergence of the physical consciousness and the vital consciousness. It appears in rudimentary forms in various animals, and advances to a much higher state of activity and power in the higher primates, including human beings, as well as ocean-going mammals such as dolphins and whales. There are various levels of manifestation of the mental consciousness, each stage representing a further advancement in either perception, analytical ability, use of tools to accomplish acts, abilities to synthesis and create new formulations and combinations, and the use of the higher reasoning powers of the rational intellect. The mind can be trained to undertake self-reflection, to abstract itself from involvement in day to day processing that takes place in the outer nature, and to turn and focus attention in various directions at will.

The higher powers of mind have a characteristic quality, or Guna, of sattwa, although it must be noted that the mind is frequently dominated by the vital nature and thus becomes an instrument in the fulfillment of vital desires. The mind also can become arrogant and narrow in its knowledge and can thus accentuate the control of the ego over the nature, which is a primary deformation of the mental consciousness when not fully purified. When rajas or tamas become predominant, the natural sattwic tendency of the mind, per se, is overshadowed and its powers put to achieving lesser objectives.

While we tend to think of the mind as the pinnacle of human powers of consciousness, it must be noted that the mind is actually an intermediate stage of the evolution and there are further and higher powers of consciousness that are developing and which manifest from time to time, with more or less power depending on the strength of the higher inspiration and the receptivity of the individual. These higher powers go behind the rational intellect and provide powers of intuition, inspiration and a more complete and comprehensive mode of knowing and understanding.

Dr. Dalal writes: “The mental (being): This is the part of our make-up which has to do with thoughts and ideas, facts and knowledge. Reason and intellect are the most highly developed expressions of the mental consciousness. In contrast to the vital which is governed by the pleasure principle, the mental is guided by what accords with reason and is deemed to be true or good. Therefore when the mental consciousness is predominant in an individual, the attitudes of the individual are characterised by a rational outlook and are based on moral and intellectual principles.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Looking from Within, Introduction by Dr. Dalal, pg. vii