Page 53 - NAMAH-Apr-2023

Namah Book review

surpass the limitations of the preceding planes. In the process, the limitations of the preceding
planes partially dilute and negate the potentials of the higher planes, which result in a sort of
disharmony” (258).

I completely agree with the authors that Chapter 10, The Structure of the Being, provides a
comprehensive yogic map of consciousness. Undoubtedly, this unique paradigm, “is in
consonance with the perennial wisdom that all existence is one but with a constantly active principle
of variation and individuation” (253). It has a wider scope of including all the dimensions
of personality — psychological, social, cultural, and impersonal. Further, Sri Aurobindo
and the Mother do not see the present state of consciousness of the human as the final
one but as evolving towards higher levels. Therefore, “In this worldview, psychology is not
only a description of the current capacities and functioning of human consciousness but also an
evolutionary preparation for the supra-human capacities and functioning of the Supramental
consciousness that has yet to evolve on Earth.”(255)

The value of the book lies in the fact that CBP synthesises all the domains of psychology,
including physiological, emotional, cognitive, transpersonal, parapsychological, socio-
cultural, post-modern and beyond post-modern.

Lastly, I congratulate the authors for their exhaustive work in taking the concept of
psychology as the science of consciousness one step further and developing the framework
of consciousness-based psychology.

— Dr. Falguni Jani

The reviewer is a counsellor in Integral Psychotherapy, who works at the Sri Aurobindo Centre for
Advanced Research (SACAR) in Pondicherry.

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