Comparative and Critical Study of Mantrashastra

Author(s): Mohanlal Bhagwandas Jhaveri, K V Abhayankar
Publisher: Sarabhai Manilal Nawab

Page 30

SUBCONSCIOUS AND SUPERCONSCIOUS
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assume the existence of a super-individual mind have nothing to do with spiritualism. It is often supposed that persons who accept the facts of occultism, such as telepathy and clairvoyance, are to be identified with spiritualists. But it is essential to draw distinctions here. The fact that we have been led to experience telepathy and clairvoyance and to assume the existence of a purely mental factor to explain them, which has made the existence of a super-individual mind probable, does not prove anything about the fate of the individual soul. My investigations on telepathy and clairvoyance give me no information on the subject. The question whether the individual mind continues to exist or dissolves in to the mass of the super-individual mind like a drop in the ocean, is a question which is not yet solved; the propositions of spiritualism seem to me still unproven."
W. W. Atkinson and Edward E. Beals in “Subconscious Power” offer apt remarks about the two phases of the so called "subconscious" (originally termed "unconscious"): the 'sub-conscious' and the "superconscious." They say: "The former contains only that which is placed there by bere dity, bysuggestion of others, by the conscious experiences of the individual or by the imperfect reflection of the superconscious faculties before the latter have unfolded their message to the conscious mentality. The higher regions-the Suverconscious-on the contrary contain much which man has never before experienced consciously or sub-consciously." P. 158 "From the region of the Superconscious comes that which is not contrary to reason, but which is beyond ordinary reason. This is the source of illumination, enlightenment, genius, inspiration. This is the region from which the true poet obtains his inspiration, the exceptional writer his gift, the real seer his vision, the veritable prophet his knowledge. Many have received messages of this kind from the region of the Superconscious, and have thought that they heard the voice of God, of angels, of spirits-but the voice came from within. In this region are to be found the sources of Intuition. Some of the superconscious faculties are higher than others, but each has its own part to play. Many a man has received inspiration from within, and has given a message which has astonished the world. Many poets, painters, writers, sculptors, have acted upon the inspiration received from their superconsciousness, Certain great poems, certain great writings, certain great pictures, certain great statues, have about them an indefinable something which appeals to us and make us feel their wonderful streagth-that mysterious quality absent from the productions of ordinary mental effort," PP. 159-160.
"In addition to the offices and powers of the Superconscious which we have mentioned, there is another and a most important