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Namah Notes on counselling

stand in the spaces between realities without being that they can be construed as separate
losing any of them. This is what I believe entities though linked with the soul-principle.
self-acceptance means and what creativity is As the inner being is connected with the
all about — the capacity to feel like one self cosmic consciousness, these separate entities
while being many (8).” can materialise as separate personalities at
different points in space and time. Paramahansa
Contrary to the proponents of the theory of Yogananda in his famous book, Autobiography
multiple selves, there is actually a real self of of a Yogi, has chronicled such real-life cases
integration, unity and harmony supporting and commented, “The power of appearing in
the being from the fourth dimension and more than one body is a siddhi (yogic power)
is itself a projection of the Unborn Self or mentioned in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras (10).”
Jivatman in the matrix of the being. The Unlike the multiple personalities which are
quintessence of Integral Health is to shift pathological expressions of dissociated self-
from the consciousness of the multiple self- states, the yogi can be present in multiple bodies
states to this integral self or soul-principle at multiple locations with the same personality
or psychic being that surpasses the ego (9). (though one aspect of consciousness may
Since the multiple self-states are interspersed be more discernible than others) and yet
at the outer being, they need to be de-linked without losing the link with the central soul-
before they can be integrated around the ego- principle.
surpassing soul-principle. This de-linking can
only be perfectly executed in the inner being Dissociation of consciousness is thus a complex
that stands behind the surface personality. issue with dissonances between multiple self-
states, manifesting not only at different planes
In between the outer structure of multiple of consciousness but also from different levels
self-states and the inmost soul-principle of of the being and ranging from the cultural
integrality, there is an inner or subliminal to the spiritual with a psychopathological
dimension of the being in connection with aetiology in between. A mere integration
the cosmic consciousness. This inner being is of different self-states at the outer being
not supported by the ego but by the inmost has limited value unless the integration is
integral self or psychic being. done at a deeper level, shifting the centre of
integration from the ego to the soul-principle
The multiple self-states cannot be properly or unitary Self.
separated from one another in the outer
being where the planes of consciousness are References
interspersed with each other; they can only be
properly delineated in the inner being so that 1. Dell PF. Understanding dissociation. In Dell PF,
they can become ready to be integrated, not O’Neil JA (eds). Dissociation and the Dissociative
around the ego but around the soul-principle. Disorders: DSM V and Beyond. New York:
Routledge; 2009, p. 761.
In India, a section of yogis have perfected the
technique of developing the different planes 2. Basu S, Pandey, A. Reflections on the Upahaar
of consciousness with such clarity in the inner Cinema Tragedy. NAMAH 1998; 5 (2): 67-69.

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