Parts and Planes of the Being and Their Extensions (*)

  • Body, vital, mind, Spirit and Supermind are the parts of our being.
  • The Spirit which is called spiritual mind range is described in the ascending order of Higher Mind, Illumined Mind, Intuitive Mind and Overmind.
  • Each of these parts extends into subtle and causal planes.
  • Mind as it extends in the spiritual mental range, descends below in inner mind, subliminal mind and subconscious mind.
  • By Mind we mean the physical mind on the surface.
  • These terms do extend into the surface being, inner being, subliminal being and subconscious being.
  • They similarly apply to the vital and physical.
  • The spiritual mind range is the superconscient culminating in what we call Supracosmic, Superconscient, which is the opposite of the Inconscient where it forgets itself.
  • The subliminal is born where the Superconscient and the subconscient meet.
  • The subconscient is the repository of the race memory in us.
  • Neither the subtle nor the inner is spiritual.
  • The subliminal extends or is capable of extending all over the universe.
  • The Manomaya Purusha – witness soul – is in the inner mind.
  • The psychic is buried in a cave in the subliminal.
  • By Being we mean the embodied being, the body and mind assumed by the conscious soul for its earthly life.
  • All the terms above – Sat, Chit, Ananda, Supermind – are found in all the terms below, but involved in various degrees.
  • Thought: It is gross when verbalised in the mind. It is subtle before it is put into words and it is in existence in impulse. The thought can become causal when it is a Supramental thought capable of intuition. Thoughts float in the atmosphere, enter us through our body, rise to the mind to find expression as speech.
  • Thought, He says, can seek the Absolute.



(*) A full detailed discussion of this topic can be found in the chapter “Boundaries of Ignorance” in The Life Divine.