Spiritual Growth Is Characterised by Inward Experience and Maturation of the Being

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The spiritual development of the
individual seeker is not

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something that can be measured
or defined in terms of the

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intellect or understood by
specific results as sought by

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the vital nature, nor can it be
certified by various physical

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attainments, capacities that
exceed the normal status of the

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external being.
These outward results belong to

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the external being, the
development of the mind, the

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emotions, the vital nature, the
physical body.

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Through training, discipline and
ongoing effort, these things can

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show their development in
concrete ways.

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The development of the spiritual
capacities is, however, not

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always easily visible and
certainly not quantifiable by

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our normal yardsticks that we
apply to the external

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capacities.
Yoga, the process by which the

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spiritual seeker consciously and
systematically cultivates the

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spiritual growth of the being,
takes place inwardly, silently,

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and in many cases incrementally
over time.

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Spiritual capacity is evidenced
by a wideness and inclusiveness,

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by the development of
understanding that is not

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exclusive or dogmatic.
Of an emotional being that is

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embracing without being
possessive.

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By a vital being that is
powerful in action but not

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self-centered or acquisitive for
individual possession.

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By a physical being which grows
in the strength of bearing the

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force of the spiritual
consciousness without breaking

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down and spilling it.
The inner spiritual being which

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Fioro Bindo calls the psychic
being, is characterized not by

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its outward achievements but by
its focus on and turning of the

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nature and its actions towards
the divine.

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It develops aspiration,
consecration and self giving as

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the process of its development.
The growth of the inner flame,

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the Mystic fire, is the sign of
the psychic beings increasing

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influence on the being, Fioro
Bindo notes quote at a certain

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stage in the Yoga, when the mind
is sufficiently quieted and no

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longer supports itself at every
step on the sufficiency of its

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mental certitudes.
When the vital has been steadied

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and subdued, and is no longer
constantly insistent on its own

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rash will, demand and desire.
When the physical has been

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sufficiently altered not to bury
altogether the inner flame under

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the mass of its outwardness,
obscurity, or inertia, an inmost

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being hidden within and felt
only in its rare influences, is

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able to come forward and
illumine the rest, and take up

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the lead of the sadhna.
Its character is A1 pointed

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orientation towards the Divine,
or the highest 1 pointed and yet

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plastic in action and movement.
It does not create a rigidity of

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direction like the one pointed
intellect, or a bigotry of the

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regnant idea or impulse like the
one pointed vital force.

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It is at every moment and with a
supple sureness that it points

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the way to the truth,
automatically distinguishes the

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right from the false, extricates
the Divine or godward movement

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from the clinging mixture of the
undivine.

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Its action is like a Searchlight
showing up all that has to be

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changed in the nature.
It has in it a flame of will,

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insisting on perfection, on an
alchemic transmutation of all

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the inner and outer existence.
It sees the divine essence

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everywhere, but rejects the mere
mask and the disguising figure.

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It insists on truth, on will and
strength and mastery, on joy and

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love and beauty, but on a truth
of abiding knowledge that

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surpasses the mere practical
momentary truth of the ignorance

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on an inward joy, and not on
mere vital pleasure.

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For it prefers rather a
purifying suffering and sorrow

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to degrading satisfactions.
On love winged upward and not

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tied to the stake of egoistic
craving, or with its feet sunk

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in the mire.
On beauty restored to its

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priesthood of interpretation of
the Eternal, on strength and

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will and mastery as instruments
not of the ego but of the

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Spirit.
Its will is for the divinization

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of life, the expression through
it of a higher truth, its

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dedication to the Divine and the
Eternal.

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End Quote.
Reference.

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Sri Aurobindo and the Mother,
the Psychic being soul, its

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nature, Mission and evolution.
Section 1.

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Meaning and Nature of the
Psychic Being, pages 33 to 34.