Sri Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist. He was also a journalist, editing newspapers such as ''Vande Mataram''. He joined t ...

's philosophy, the Intermediate zone refers to a dangerous and misleading transitional spiritual state between the ordinary consciousness and true spiritual realisation.Sri Aurobindo's Letters on Yoga - The Intermediate Zone
/ref> Similar notions can be found in mystical literature, such as "the astral plane" and "the hall of illusion." The

Theosophist Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion a ...

W. Q. Judge William Quan Judge (April 13, 1851 – March 21, 1896) was an Irish-American mystic, esotericist, and occultist, and one of the founders of the original Theosophical Society. He was born in Dublin, Ireland. When he was 13 years old, his fami ...

used the similar notion of "astral intoxication".

Aurobindo

Original use

The Intermediate Zone is first described in a letter to a disciple 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''. More recently, a number of copies have been posted on the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a ''internetworking, network of networks'' that consists ...

.Grey Lodge Occult Review :: Issue #9 :: The Intermediate Zone ::
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 Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist. He was also a journalist, editing newspapers such as ''Vande Mataram''. He joined the ...

'' which dates to the early 1940s.

Characteristics

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. These can become associated with personal aspirations, ambitions, notions of spiritual fulfilment and yogic siddhi, and even be falsely interpreted as full spiritual realisation. One can pass through this zone, and the associated spiritual dangers, without harm by perceiving its real nature, and seeing through the misleading experiences. Those who go astray in it 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. According to Aurobindo, this happens to many sadhaks and yogis.

William Q. Judge - Astral intoxication

In his posthumously published book, ''Vernal Blooms'', Theosophist

William Quan Judge William Quan Judge (April 13, 1851 – March 21, 1896) was an Irish-American mystic, esotericist, and occultist, and one of the founders of the original Theosophical Society. He was born in Dublin, Ireland. When he was 13 years old, his family ...

(1851-1896) describes the dangers of "astral intoxication". He asserts that the

astral plane The astral plane, also called the astral realm or the astral world, is a plane of existence postulated by classical, medieval, oriental, and esoteric philosophies and mystery religions.G.R.S.Mead, ''The Doctrine of the Subtle Body in Western Tr ...

, which is the same as that of our psychic senses, has endless powers of delusion. It has to be well understood before the student can stay there long without danger. He states that phenomena, such as astral lights, moments of peace and revelation, do not indicate spiritual advancement. To regard every picture seen in the

astral light Astral may refer to: Concepts of the non-physical * Astral body, a subtle body posited by many religious philosophers * Astral journey (or ''astral trip''), the same as having an ''out-of-body experience'' * Astral plane (AKA astral world), a p ...

as a spiritual experience is like becoming drunk. Such indulgence only results in becoming satiated with a store of illusory appearances. True progress is dependent upon purity of motive, and conquest of known or ascertainable defects. The dangers of astral intoxication or delusion are greatest for the person who revolves selfishly around himself. This may happen when one lacks the support and company of other sincere seekers. One

Paul Brunton

Paul Brunton Paul Brunton is the pen name of Raphael Hurst (21 October 1898 – 27 July 1981), a British author of spiritual books. He is best known as one of the early popularizers of Neo-Hindu spiritualism in western esotericism, notably via his be ...

included Sri Aurobindo's term of the "Intermediate Zone" as a name for a psychological and immature mystical level of delusion and subtle ego. Brunton uses several terms, such as astral plane, the intermediate zone, the hall of illusion. Once there, egoism becomes stimulated by the subtle forces they have evoked, the emotional nature becomes more sensitive and more fluid, the imaginative power becomes more active and is less restrained. If a person then falls victim to spiritual error regarding this state, the result is swollen vanity, superstitious credulity, emotions run riot, and wild imagination. Brunton considered this a major factor in explaining the human wreckage found on the spiritual path.The Intermediate Zone – Notebooks of Paul Brunton

References

Sources

* Sri Aurobindo ''The Riddle of This World'
online
* ----- ''Letters on Yoga'', Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry (pp 1039–1046 of the third edition 1971). * Sri Aurobindo ''The Synthesis of Yoga'', fifth edition, Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1999, (paperback) (hardcover
online
* Paul Brunton, ''Notebooks of Paul Brunton'', 198
online
* W. Q. Judge, ''Vernal Blooms'', Canadian Theosophical Association, Bombay India, 194

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Intermediate Zone Sri Aurobindo Esotericism Mysticism