Intermediate zone
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The Intermediate zone, in Sri Aurobindo's philosophy, refers to a spiritually dangerous and misleading transitional spiritual and pseudospiritual region between the ordinary consciousness of the outer being and true spiritual realisation.
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[edit] Original use of the term
Sri Aurobindo first describes The Intermediate Zone in a lengthy letter in reply to a disciple, written (as were most of his letters) in the early 1930s. It was then published in 1933 in The Riddle of this World, a small booklet that includes several essays. The letter later appeared in Letters on Yoga, and can be found in Part 3, Section 3 "Experiences of the Inner and the Cosmic Consciousness", Subsection 5. More recently, a number of copies have been posted on the Internet.
A shorter but similar reference to a misleading intermediate consciousness, but without the distinguishing qualifier "zone", is also found in some of the later strata of The Synthesis of Yoga (see quote), which dates to the early 1940s (see the fifth edition of The Synthesis of Yoga, "note on the text", pp.915-6)
[edit] Later Influence
[edit] Theosophy
An early reference is made in the Theosophist Magazine (edited by Annie Besant), May 1934-August 1934 issue, p.359 in a review by a certain A.E.A. to "'the Intermediate Zone' and its perils impossible to overpass without the guidance of the guru", as well as to other aspects of Sri Aurobindo's teachings.
[edit] Paul Brunton
Paul Brunton adopted Sri Aurobindo's concept of the "Intermediate Zone" as a source of delusion and subtle ego. (see The Notebooks of Paul Brunton (Published in 1989; 16 volumes) - Volume 11: THE SENSITIVES - ch.12. THE INTERMEDIATE ZONE list of contents)
[edit] Intermediate Zone Gurus
Aurobindo asserted that spiritual aspirants may pass through an intermediate zone where experiences of force, inspiration, illumination, light, joy, expansion, power, and freedom from normal limits are possible, which can become associated with personal aspirations, ambitions, notions of spiritual fulfilment and yogic siddhi, and even be falsely interpreted as full spiritual realisation. He asserted that one can pass through this zone and the associated spiritual dangers without harm by perceiving its real nature and seeing through the half-lights and tempting but imperfect and often mixed and misleading experiences. But he taught, those who go astray in it, following false voices and mendacious guidance, may end in a spiritual disaster, or may remain stuck there and adopt some half-truth as the whole truth or become an instrument of lesser powers of these transitional planes, which he stated happens to many sadhaks and yogis. Likewise, Paul Brunton taught that between the state of ordinary man and the state of the matured mystic lies a perilous and deceptive region known as the astral plane, the intermediate zone, the hall of illusion, and so on, which spiritual aspirants can reach through concentration, meditation, self-conquest, and study. Brunton asserted that the danger is that once there, then their egoism becomes stimulated by the subtle forces they have evoked, their emotional nature becomes more sensitive and more fluid, their imaginative power becomes more active and is less restrained, and if they then fall victim to spiritual error regarding their state, the result is swollen vanity, superstitious credulity, emotions run riot, and wild imagination. He considered this a major factor in explaining the human wreckage found on the spiritual path. [1], [2]
After discussions from various sources, including practicing occultists and psychics, examining the applicability of this concept to explain some problematic aspects of various contemporary gurus and spiritual teachers, first Adi Da, and then later Andrew Cohen, Adi Shakti, Sathya Sai Baba, Osho, Carlos Castaneda, and Ken Wilber among others, M. Alan Kazlev developed and published the Intermediate Zone Guru Theory. This theory is inspired by both recent and traditional sources such as Tripura Rahaysa, and postulates that many contemporary gurus and spiritual teachers have had significant mystical experiences but are not yet, as they claim, fully enlightened or realized, and have not yet fully transcended egotism and the spiritual dangers of the intermediate zone described by Aurobindo, and identifies examples based on available evidence from descriptions of their state, experiences, and behaviors. [3] The theory is controversial.
[edit] Adi Da and the Intermediate Zone
Various ex-devotees and critics of Adi Da have advocated that Aurobindo's description of those who have not passed through the Intermediate Zone and Brunton's elaboration on that Intermediate Zone description applies to Adi Da. Adidam considers this concept of Adi Da as absurd and without any merit, and point to Adi Da's own warnings about becoming attached to subtle phenomena. Critics, however, have presented this concept as a possible explanation for Adi Da's perceived strange and inconsistent behaviour, and his belief he is an Avatar and the first human being in history to attain the highest stage of enlightenment. These critics see numerous similarities between Adi Da's life and teachings and what Aurobindo and Brunton describe. Among other things, they point to his identification with a bright light Adi Da says he has perceived around him and pervading him from birth, what he has called from childhood "The Bright"; his experience of surrender to a subtle force from above that he called "The Thumbs"; his visions of interventions by subtle beings and "the Goddess" in his sadhana; and his claims of a unique and unprecedented realization. Discussion on this topic has appeared on several Daist and ex-Daist forums and the concept has been advocated on critics sites, e.g. [4], [5], [6], and [7].
[edit] Quotes
These things, when they pour down or come in, present themselves with a great force, a vivid sense of inspiration or illumination, much sensation of light and joy, an impression of widening and power. The sadhak feels himself freed from the normal limits, projected into a wonderful new world of experience, filled and enlarged and exalted;what comes associates itself, besides, with his aspirations, ambitions, notions of spiritual fulfilment and yogic siddhi; it is represented even as itself that realisation and fulfilment. Very easily he is carried away by the splendour and the rush, and thinks that he has realised more than he has truly done, something final or at least something sovereignly true.
– Sri Aurobindo, The Riddle of the World, 35
Overwhelmed by the first rush and sense of power of a supernormal condition, they get dazzled with a little light which seems to them a tremendous illumination or a touch of force which they mistake for the full Divine Force or at least a very great yoga Shakti; or they accept some intermediate Power (not always a Power of the Divine) as the Supreme and an intermediate consciousness as the supreme realisation. Very readily they come to think that they are in the full cosmic consciousness when it is only some front or small part of it or some larger Mind, Life-Power or subtle physical ranges with which they have entered into dynamic connection. Or they feel themselves to be in an entirely illumined consciousness, while in reality they are receiving imperfectly things from above through a partial illumination of some mental or vital plane; for what comes is diminished and often deformed in the course of transmission through these planes; the receiving mind and vital of the sadhak also often understands or transcribes ill what has been received or throws up to mix with it its own ideas, feelings, desires, which it yet takes to be not its own but part of the Truth it is receiving because they are mixed with it, imitate its form, are lit up by its illumination and get from this association and borrowed light an exaggerated value. There are worse dangers in this intermediate zone of experience. For the planes to which the sadhak has now opened his consciousness, - not as before getting glimpses of them and some influences, but directly, receiving their full impact, - send a host of ideas, impulses, suggestions, formations of all kinds, often the most opposite to each other, inconsistent or incompatible, but presented in such a way as to slur over their insufficiencies and differences, with great force, plausibility and wealth of argument or a convincing sense of certitude. Overpowered by this sense of certitude, vividness, appearance of profusion and richness, the mind of the sadhak enters into a great confusion which it takes for some larger organisation and order; or else it whirls about in incessant shiftings and changes which it takes for a rapid progress but which lead nowhere. Or there is the opposite danger that he may become the instrument of some apparently brilliant but ignorant formation; for these intermediate planes are full of little Gods or strong Daityas or smaller beings who want to create, to materialise something or to enforce a mental and vital formation in the earth life and are eager to use or influence or even possess the thought and will of the sadhak and make him their instrument for the purpose. This is quite apart from the well-known danger of actually hostile beings whose sole purpose is to create confusion, falsehood, corruption of the sadhana and disastrous unspiritual error. Anyone allowing himself to be taken hold of by one of these beings, who often take a divine Name, will lose his way in the yoga. On the other hand, it is quite possible that the sadhak may be met at his entrance into this zone by a Power of the Divine which helps and leads him till he is ready for greater things; but still that itself is no surety against the errors and stumblings of this zone; for nothing is easier than for the powers of these zones or hostile powers to imitate the guiding Voice or Image and deceive and mislead the sadhak or for himself to attribute the creations and formations of his own mind, vital or ego to the Divine.
– Sri Aurobindo, The Riddle of the World, 36-7
This is in fact an intermediary state, a zone of transition between the ordinary consciousness in mind and the true yoga knowledge. One may cross without hurt through it, perceiving at once or at an early stage its real nature and refusing to be detained by its half-lights and tempting but imperfect and often mixed and misleading experiences; one may go astray in it, follow false voices and mendacious guidance, and that ends in a spiritual disaster; or one may take up one’s abode in this intermediate zone, care to go no farther and build there some half-truth which one takes for the whole truth or become the instrument of the powers of these transitional planes, - that is what happens to many sadhaks and yogis.
– Sri Aurobindo, The Riddle of the World, 36-7
Another error that has to be guarded against is...to take some higher intermediate consciousness or even any kind of supernormal consciousness for the supermind. To reach supermind it is not enough to go above the ordinary movements of the human mind; it is not enough to receive a greater light, a greater power, a greater joy or to develop capacities of knowledge, sight, effective will that surpass the normal range of the human being. All light is not the light of the spirit, still less is all light the light of the supermind; the mind, the vital, the physical itself have lights of their own, as yet hidden, which can be very inspiring, exalting, informative, powerfully executive...
– Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis of Yoga, 283
The pathway of the mystical goal is strewn with human wreckage. Why? Several reasons would be needed to give a complete answer but one of the most important is this: Between the state of ordinary man and the state of the matured mystic there lies a perilous and deceptive psychological region which has been given various names in mystical literature. It has been called the astral plane, the intermediate zone, the hall of illusion, and so on. The early efforts of all aspirants in concentration, meditation, self-conquest, and study, bring them into this region. But once here their egoism becomes stimulated by the subtle forces they have evoked, their emotional nature becomes more sensitive and more fluid, their imaginative power becomes more active and is less restrained. The consequence of failure to negotiate these changes properly is swollen vanity, superstitious credulity, emotions run riot, and imagination gone wild...
– Paul Brunton, Notebooks
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Sri Aurobindo The Riddle of This World
- ----- Letters on Yoga, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry (pp 1039-1046 of the third edition (1971)).
- Paul Brunton, Notebooks of Paul Brunton, 1989
