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Read more about Self Observation from the works of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo.


Self Observation Summary

What is Self-Observation?

Man must know himself and discover and utilise all his potentialities: but to know himself and the world completely he must go behind his own and its exterior, he must dive deep below his own mental surface and the physical surface of Nature. This he can only do by knowing his inner mental, vital, physical and psychic being and its powers and movements and the universal laws and processes of the occult Mind and Life which stand behind the material front of the universe. [1]

Your consciousness becomes a screen or mirror; but this is when you are in a state of contemplation, a mere observer; when you are active, it is like a searchlight. You have only to turn it on, if you want to see luminously and examine penetratingly anything in any place. [2] ...we discover and can know the inner being that secretly thinks and perceives in us, the vital being that secretly feels and acts upon life through us, the subtle-physical being that secretly receives and responds to the contacts of things through our body and its organs. [3] By Observing one’s dreams, one can come to understand them and their significance to our inner life. [4]

Why is Self-Observation Important ?

In our everyday life, we always look outwards into the appearance of things and get trapped into the surface ignorance and rarely turn inwards to seek self and discover and utilize our potentials. ...if each element which comes with its ignorance, its unconsciousness, its egoism, is put before the will to change and one remains awake, compares, observes, studies and slowly acts, that becomes infinitely interesting, one makes marvellous and quite unexpected discoveries. [5]

To work for your perfection, the first step is to become conscious of yourself, of the different parts of your being and their respective activities. You must learn to distinguish these different parts one from another, so that you may become clearly aware of the origin of the movements that occur in you, the many impulses, reactions and conflicting wills that drive you to action. [6]

How to Observe Oneself?

Projecting oneself on a screen and then observe and see all that is moving there and how it moves and what happens.[7]

By Vigilance

Not fear, but vigilance. If you remain vigilant, then with the increase of the Force upholding you, a power of self-control will come, a power to see and reject the wrong turn or the wrong reaction when it comes. [8]

By Developing a Quiet Mind

If the whole mind remains quiet and detached observing the vital movement, but not giving its assent, then to reject it becomes more easy. This established quietude and detachment of the mind marks always a great step forward made in the sadhana. [9]

By Developing the Witness Attitude

In order to become conscious, one needs to develop within a part with a witness attitude that observes and is not carried away by thoughts and feelings. A man with a very developed with very developed introspective mind identifies with this part. That is a beginning which makes it easy for the full detachment to come.

The process of self-observation should be objective and one should look at oneself as a third person engaging in the surface level activities. One need not like or dislike the activity but sincerely observe the movements of nature.

By Education of the senses By the education of the senses the growth of one's general education is aided.In fact, they should be used for this, as instruments of observation, control and knowledge. [10] Consequently, all life is an education pursued more or less consciously, more or less willingly. In certain cases this education will encourage the movements that express the light, in others, on the contrary, those that express the shadow. [11]

Difficulties in Self-Observation

Be aware of the “escape attitude’’ as man always rushes into external action and looks for reasons to not have time to observe himself and turn inward.

There is “danger of ego” in observing the movements and attaching the sense of ‘I’’to the process of self-observing and not going behind the surface level I.

Focussing on the negative- To be always observing faults and wrong movements brings depression and discourages the faith. [12] You have to observe them, of course, but not stress them.[13]

Surface -level observation It is evident that our state on the surface is indeed a state of knowledge, so far as it goes, but a limited knowledge enveloped and invaded by ignorance and, to a very large extent, by reason of its limitation, itself a kind of ignorance, at best a mixed knowledge-ignorance. [14]


Content curated by Aditi Kaul

Read more about Self Observation from the works of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo.

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