Sri Aurobindo and Transpersonal Psychology

Abstract

This article provides an overview of Sri Aurobindo’s psychological thought and system of Integral Yoga Psychology (IYP). Relevant biographical and historical background is introduced, and his influence on the development of transpersonal psychology reviewed. Using Sri Aurobindo’s cosmology of consciousness as a framework for transpersonal experience, IYP’s model of planes of consciousness and parts of the being is explained and illustrated with quotations from Sri Aurobindo’s writings. Emphasis is placed on the psychic being (soul) and overhead planes of consciousness, as these are central to IYP’s psycho-spiritual method of transforming the ego. Finally, implications for transpersonal development and transpersonal therapy are formulated, and some clinical applications given.