The Initial Liberation of the Mental Being from Servitude to the Physical Body

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We can learn much from the quite
commonly related phenomenon

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called the out of body
experience.

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Many people have had such an
experience where they resided in

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their awareness outside the
body, in some cases from above

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the body, and from that vantage
point could observe the body as

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different and separated from the
awareness with which they

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identified.
Many of these cases occur during

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traumatic events such as an
accident or an extreme onset of

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an illness.
The observing consciousness does

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not experience the trauma or
pain of the body as its own.

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Rather, it is detached and free
from that identification that

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bears the burden of the
suffering the body is undergoing

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during that trauma.
When the awareness returns to

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the body, the individual is able
to recount what others were

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doing to try to aid the body and
help it survive and recover.

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It is clear from such accounts
that the body is not the eye

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that we otherwise are trained to
associate with our

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individuality.
Of course, the awareness, once

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it exits its temporary home in
the body, can travel to distant

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areas and view things far away.
It is, however, easier for

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skeptics to call this a case of
imagination or dream than those

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instances that involve the
awareness nearby and able to

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relate specific circumstances.
Under trauma scenarios, the body

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acts as a vehicle and Nexus for
the consciousness in the

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external world, but the
consciousness is not ultimately

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bound to the body.
This also has implications for

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the status of consciousness
after the death of the body.

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Understanding that the conscious
awareness can move outside the

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body, independent from the body
during life, it clarifies the

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transcendence of death by that
same consciousness when the body

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has completed its usefulness and
is being discarded.

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Once we recognize this inherent
separation of the consciousness

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from the physical form, it is a
much simpler matter to realize

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that even when the awareness has
positioned itself in the body,

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it still remains separate and
distinct, and the only thing

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that has changed is the
experience of its current

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location.
What is possible under extreme

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and uncontrolled circumstances
can be made possible through

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concentration and repeated
conscious effort.

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It is thus feasible to position
oneself in the mental awareness

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and experience the body as
something separate and distinct,

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Srioro Bindo writes quote.
Secondly, with regard to the

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movements and experiences of the
body, the mind will come to know

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the pirusha seated within it,
as, first, the witness or

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observer of the movements, and
secondly, the knower or

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perceiver of the experiences.
It will cease to consider in

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thought or feel in sensation
these movements and experiences

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as its own, but rather consider
and feel them as not its own, as

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operations of nature governed by
the qualities of nature and

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their interaction upon each
other.

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This detachment can be made so
normal and carried so far that

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there will be a kind of division
between the mind and the body,

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and the former will observe and
experience the hunger, thirst,

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pain, fatigue, depression, et
cetera, of the physical being as

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if they were experiences of some
other person with whom it has so

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close a rapport as to be aware
of all that is going on within

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him.
This division is a great means,

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a great step towards mastery,
for the mind comes to observe

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these things first without being
overpowered, and finally without

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being at all affected by them
dispassionately, with clear

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understanding, but with perfect
detachment.

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This is the initial liberation
of the mental being from

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servitude to the body, for by
right knowledge put steadily

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into practice, liberation comes
inevitably.

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End Quote.
Reference Sri Aurobindo and the

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Mother, Looking from Within,
Chapter 5, Attitudes on the

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Path, pages 163 to 164.