Question: What is the soul and what is the psychic being?

Sri Chinmoy: The soul is the direct representative of the Supreme and the psychic being is the conscious representative of the soul. The soul is present in the heart of all creatures. The soul is in each object, in each individual creation, in the mineral kingdom, in the plant kingdom, in the animal kingdom, in the human kingdom, whereas the psychic being is present only in human beings who are aspiring. If we don’t aspire, if we remain in the world of desire, if we consciously and deliberately wallow in the pleasures of ignorance and feel that this is the only life, then the psychic being will not be found in us. It is in the core of divine inspiration, aspiration and dedication that the psychic being comes into existence.

It is the psychic being which inspires us to do the right thing and to become the Truth itself. The higher we go, the deeper we go, the greater become the possibilities of our psychic growth. The psychic being is like the infant in the family. It grows along with our life of aspiration. At the beginning of our spiritual journey we may feel the psychic being, but there comes a time when we can actually see it. It is very subtle, very luminous. When one sees the psychic being, one feels that it is a divine child, the beloved of the Highest Absolute Supreme, with whom the Eternal Father plays. We may see a lovely child and feel that he is the most beautiful child on earth. But when we see the psychic being, our own inner psychic being, we see that it is infinitely more beautiful than the most beautiful child on earth. There is no comparison between the human child and the psychic being. No matter how beautiful the child may be, the psychic being is infinitely more beautiful.