




































    

 American Journal of Arts and Communication 

Vol. 9, Issue 1; January-February 2024; 

ISSN: 2994-0540 

Impact Factor: 6.91 

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BREAKING LINGUISTIC CHAINS: CHOMSKY'S VISION FOR A 

STIMULUS-FREE VERBAL SYMPHONY 

 

 
1Ananya S. Choudhury, 2Arjun M. Singhania 
1,2Department of English, V.K.S. University, Arrah (Bihar) 802301, India. 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10600344 

 

Abstract: This paper explores the intriguing concept of a "stimulus-free language" as envisioned by the eminent 

American linguist, Noam Chomsky. Chomsky's assertion challenges conventional notions about language, 

positing that the normal use of language is not only innovative and boundlessly expansive but also emancipated 

from the constraints of detectable stimuli, be they external or internal. This departure from stimulus control, as 

proposed by Chomsky, bestows language with the unique capacity to function as a tool for thought and self-

expression. This inherent characteristic, according to Chomsky, is not exclusive to the exceptionally gifted and 

talented but is a faculty available to every normal human being. 

The exploration of this "stimulus-free language" concept delves into the intricate relationship between language, 

thought, and self-expression. By examining Chomsky's perspective, we navigate through the realms of linguistic 

autonomy, breaking away from traditional paradigms that tether language to external or internal stimuli. The paper 

discusses the implications of this vision on our understanding of language acquisition, cognitive processes, and 

the democratization of linguistic prowess among individuals. 

Furthermore, the paper considers the practical implications of Chomsky's vision, evaluating how a stimulus-free 

language might manifest in everyday communication and cognitive endeavors. This investigation leads to a 

reconsideration of educational approaches, linguistic interventions, and the nurturing of linguistic capabilities in 

diverse populations. 

In synthesizing Chomsky's ideas with contemporary perspectives on language and cognition, this paper aims to 

contribute to the ongoing discourse in linguistics and cognitive science. By critically engaging with the concept 

of a stimulus-free language, the study seeks to unravel the intricacies of language's role in shaping human thought 

and expression. 

Keywords: Stimulus-free language, Linguistic autonomy, Language and thought, Cognitive processes, Language 

acquisition 

INTRODUCTION 

"...the normal use of language is not only innovative and potentially infinite in scope but also free from the control 

of detectable stimuli, either external or internal. It is because of this freedom from stimulus control that language 

can serve as an instrument of thought and selfexpression, as it does not only for the exceptionally gifted and 

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 American Journal of Arts and Communication 

Vol. 9, Issue 1; January-February 2024; 

ISSN: 2994-0540 

Impact Factor: 6.91 

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talented, but also, in fact, for every normal human (Chomsky, 2014:11)."  Here emerges the vision of a ‘stimulus-

free language’ from the being of the celebrated American linguist Chomsky. 

Such emergence brings about not only a turning point in the growth of the linguistic world, but also comes to be 

an evolutionary breakthrough of linguistics. It is for the reason that in the discovery of the stimulus-free language 

the world of linguistics transcends the plane of corporeality. The stimulus-free language as ‘an instrument of 

thought and self-expression’ comes to question the validity of the deconstructive vision of language as a network 

of the differential relationship of linguistic signs, the relationship which is based on the separative principle of 

existence rejecting the existence of the One Universal and further giving rise to the sovereignty of the conflicting 

state in a literary text, resulting in ‘Sous rature’, 

“under erasure” (Gayatri Chakravorty, 1976: 14). The vision of the conflicting state in a literary text manifest the 

separative principle of consciousness in the being of Jacques Derrida, the propounder of ‘Deconstruction’. On an 

examination, it is found that on account of the operation of the separativity of consciousness he does not visualise 

the existence of the One Universal in his vision of ‘Deconstruction’. Consequently, the rejection of the One 

Universal which is at the base of Deconstruction comes to be the cause of the vision of such a conflicting state. 

Owing to this, Derrida’s vision of language is confined within the corporeality of language in which nothing 

exists beyond language; the root of which lies in the vision of classical physics that matter is the fundamental 

truth. In the Classical Physics, Matter gives birth to Energy. It does not visualise the prior existence of Energy. 

The most celebrated scientist Albert Einstein discovers such a vision of Classical Physics to be incorrect. He 

establishes the truth that Matter is the creation of Energy since the former is the condensed form of the latter. He 

also reveals the physical truth that Matter can be converted into Energy. Here, one transcends the plane of Matter. 

The stimulus-free language of Chomsky which exists in such transcendence poses a valid challenge to Derrida’s 

rejection of the prior existence of consciousness, transcending language. It is for the reason that Chomsky’s vision 

of the prior existence of thought, or to say, consciousness which, according to him, is at the base of language has 

got a scientific support from the Modern Physics, to be more specific, the Quantum Theory as the Quantum 

Theory discovers the creation of Matter by Consciousness, or to use the noted British scientist Arthur Stanley 

Eddington’s terminology, ‘mind stuff’ (Eddington, 1929: 268) while penetrating into the sub-atomic plane of 

Matter. The vision of the conversion of particle into wave and vice-versa in this sub-atomic world of Matter is the 

result of the two different states of human mind. Physicists working on the Quantum Theory conclude that it is 

‘observer created’ (Polkinghorne, 2006: 90). The vision of the conflicting state in a literary text manifest the 

separative principle of consciousness in the being of Jacques Derrida, the propounded of 

‘Deconstruction’. On an examination, it is found that on account of the operation of the separability of 

consciousness he does not visualise the existence of the One Universal in his vision of ‘Deconstruction’. 

Consequently, the rejection of the One Universal which is  at the base of Deconstruction comes to be the cause of 

the vision of such a conflicting state. Owing to this, Derrida’s vision of language is confined within the 

corporeality of language in which nothing exists beyond language, the root of which lies in the vision of Classical 

Physics that Matter is the fundamental truth. The thought, or to say, ‘mind-stuff’ (1929: 268), is, thus, at the base. 

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It is now conclusive in the World of Physics (Eddington, 1929: 276). The Quantum theory witnesses that firstly, 

thought, or to say, consciousness comes to be wave, the ‘probability wave’ as it has been termed by the World of 

Physics, the wave which is not a three-dimensional wave, but a tendency. It is a tendency to be particle. It, then, 

comes to be particle, the Matter, out of which, as the Biological Sciences say, Life evolves. Mind, subsequently, 

evolves out of Life in the form of a human being. Thus, what is at the base of Creation is also found to be existing 

at the base of the ‘language’ of human being and is operative there. 

Further, on an examination, the consciousness which is at the base of Creation is found to be integral in nature. 

The integrality manifests when it gives birth to the probability wave and the particle, to be specific, electron, 

photon, having different features. In his yogic consciousness, Sri Aurobindo, too, visualises consciousness as the 

fundamental thing in existence coming into the state of ‘unconscious energy’ (1979: 236a), and further, into what 

we call, electron, atom and so on (236-237). The integral principle of consciousness which is the sovereign 

principle of consciousness comes to be intelligible when we begin to notice, first, the separate existence of wave 

and particle with incompatibility to each other before entering the subatomic plane of Matter, and, further, their 

oneness firstly in the probability wave in the sub-atomic plane of Matter, and then after, in ‘consciousness’ in the 

deeper recesses of the sub-atomic plane of Matter as noted earlier. The discovery of, what Physics terms, 

‘probability wave’ (Fritjof, 1983: 78), the wave which is not a threedimensional wave, as noted earlier, made as 

a result of the mathematical structure of Max Born by which particle converts into wave and vice versa takes 

place, and further the higher discovery of the ‘mind-stuff’ at the base of wave and particle by Eddington and other 

scientists, as noted earlier, go to reveal all the more the integrality as the sovereign state and, hence, the integral 

principle of consciousness. Conclusively speaking, such phenomena very clearly show that since consciousness 

comes to be the origin of wave and particle, it is integral in nature. Hence, it is the integral consciousness which 

is found to be existing at the base of Matter, hence, of language, too, since, as noted earlier, Mind in the person 

of Man is the result of evolution out of Matter. It is for this reason that the vision of the existence of the One 

Universal descends into the being of Ferdinand de Saussure and other structuralists such as Chomsky who 

discovers ‘mind’ at the base of language. Hence, there is no room left for the  deconstructionist to reject the prior 

existence of consciousness, the consciousness which is integral in nature at the base of the material creation, and 

hence, infinite. It is to be noted that while propounding his vision of deconstruction Derrida presents nothing 

logical and scientific to substantiate his vision. In fact, deconstruction violates the unmistakable vision of science 

of the existence of the Universal, the vision which descends into the Quantum Theory and in both the Special and 

General Theories of Relativity established by Einstein. In fact, the vision of the Universal Truth on the plane of 

Matter is received by science on an in-depth investigation. On a further deeper penetration, it is also discovered 

on the examination of the vision of the Classical Physics of the separate and incompatible existence of Space and 

Time and Einstein’s ‘Spacetime’ that the divisive principle is the secondary principle of the essential 

consciousness. It is for the reason that in the divisive, or to say, separative consciousness the separate and 

incompatible existence of Space and Time is visualised, and in the integrality of consciousness the one 

transcendent integral existence of Space and Time, ‘Spacetime’, or ‘Space-Time Continuum’ as it is called, -the 

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‘Spacetime’ which is the higher and primary truth. Hence, the integrality of consciousness is within the inmost 

being of language on account of which infinite visions of Truth are expressed, the visions in which there is no 

conflict or warring state. There exists integrality instead. 

The aforesaid vision of Chomsky of a language which is ‘free from the control of detectable stimuli, either external 

or internal’ (2014:11) speaks of the two states in the being of man, to be specific, two planes of Mind, the one 

under the gravitational pull of the stimuli, and the other beyond such gravitational pull. The state existing beyond 

the gravitational pull of stimuli takes us beyond the corporeality of the being of man. Chomsky’s vision of the 

beyond of the internal stimuli speaks of the existence of the supra-corporeal state of the being of man. Having 

studied in the light of Sri Aurobindo, the external and the internal stimuli which are ‘detectable’ (2014: 11) reveal 

the outer being of man, and the state which is ‘free from the detectable stimuli’ (11) reveals the inner being. The 

latter is, as stated earlier, the supra-corporeal state of the being of man in which the subtle body, the subtle life 

and subtle mind exist as revealed by Sri Aurobindo in his letters on yoga. In one of his letters he says: 

“Man, for instance, has, besides his gross physical body, subtler sheaths or bodies by which he lives behind the 

veil in direct connection with supraphysical planes of consciousness and can be influenced by their powers, 

movements and beings. What takes place in life has always behind it pre-existent movements and forms in the 

occult vital planes; what takes place in mind presupposes pre-existent movements and forms in the occult mental 

planes. That is an aspect of things  which  becomes  more  and  Kumar          9 

more evident, insistent and important, the more we progress in a dynamic yoga (Sri Aurobindo, 1979: 

253b).” 

In the background of the aforementioned yogic revelation of Sri Aurobindo, the revelation which is a matter of 

higher consciousness, to be specific, yogic consciousness, it is now witnessed that in the supracorporeal state 

there exists a plane of mind, the thought of which goes to produce a language of it which comes to be stimulus-

free, free from the stimulus which is found in the corporeal being, that is to say, the gross body, the gross life and 

the gross mind. Such language, therefore, comes to be the instrument of the thought of the stimulusfree mind, 

nay, ‘occults mental planes’ (253). Such an exploration from the plane of yogic consciousness is a logical ascent 

having discovered the truth that consciousness is at the base of material creation. The very supra-corporeality is, 

thus, found to be existing in the realm of Language, the Language which has evolved, or to say, emerged in the 

material world. Such supracorporeality is all the more affirmed in the World of Science when we enter into 

Einstein’s ‘four-dimensional plane of existence’. In his in disputed mathematical structure of the four-dimensional 

plane of existence he has shown that the three-dimensional plane of existence is the projection of the four-

dimensional plane of existence in the same manner in which shadow is a twodimensional projection of a three-

dimensional object. 

“The shadow is a projection of points in threedimensional space onto a two-dimensional plane, and its length 

will be different for different angles of projection. Similarly, the length of a moving object is the projection of 

points in four-dimensional space-time on to a threedimensional space, and its length is different in different frame 

of reference (Fritjof, 1983:187).” 

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Further, the four-dimensional plane of existence, ‘SpaceTime Continuum’ is the plane of existence where the 

separate and incompatible Space and Time of the threedimensional plane of existence are found to be the one 

transcendent integral as noted earlier. It reveals the existence of a plane where the principle of One reigns. It 

finally affirms the sovereignty of the supra-corporeal state, to be more specific, of consciousness since the 

principle of the One operative in the consciousness of Einstein could be able to view the transcendent Oneness of 

Space and Time, the consciousness which is integral in nature. On a deeper examination, the four-dimensional 

plane of existence, ‘Space-Time Continuum’ or ‘Spacetime’, which has not been found to be physically existing 

by the World of Science, is found to be a thing of supra-corporeality which gives birth to corporeality in the form 

of the three-dimensional plane of existence. 

Such consciousness is essentially integral, again it is noted. Hence, the language of the integral consciousness of 

the integral plane of existence comes to be at the centre. It shows the absence, nay, non-existence of the conflicting 

state in the literary texts, to be specific, in the literary texts written from the planes of spiritual and supramental 

consciousnesses. 

There exists the vision of infinite aspects of Truth on account of the transcendent Oneness at the base. It is on 

account of Oneness that there are no ‘warring forces’ in these literary texts. Therefore, no question arises for the 

sovereignty of the conflicting forces in the literary texts as asserted by the deconstructionists. These 

deconstructionists have, obviously, imprisoned themselves in the three dimensionality of existence ignoring the 

scientific truth of the four-dimensional plane of existence and the higher yogic vision. 

Though Chomsky unmistakably speaks of the existence of a supra-corporeal plane of mind in his ‘stimulus free 

language’, the supra-corporeal plane of mind is yet to be explored. It, therefore, necessitates us to enter into, what 

Sri Aurobindo terms, the ‘psychicised’ state of mind, of which the stimulus-free language is found to be the 

creation. It is to be noted here that the psychicised mind is presently occult in the being of man as he is yet to rise 

evolutionarily. With the evolutionary emergence of the psychicised mind in the psychicised being, one is yogically 

able to rise to the further occult subtler planes of Mind, the occult mind, of which Sri Aurobindo speaks in his 

aforementioned letter of yoga (1979: 253b). The psychicised mind exists in the psychicised being of man, the 

being wherein exist the psychicised mind, the psychicised life and the psychicised body as disclosed by Sri 

Aurobindo in his letters on yoga. The investigation is all the more imperative as the stimulus-free language has 

also been found to be the instrument of the self-expression by Chomsky. Since both the corporeal and the 

supracorporeal states have been found to be existing within the being of man, the stimulus-free language comes 

to be the expression of the Self of the supra-corporeal being of man. Such self is the deepest Self which is 

ultimately in command of the different selves of the corporeal state of the being of man. In the psychicised state 

of the being of man, the deepest Self makes language its instrument to express the deepest truth of the individual, 

the terrestrial and supra-terrestrial existence. Language is no more the instrument of body, life and mind which 

are, as discovered by Sri Aurobindo and other Rishis, the instruments of the deepest self, the Soul. 

SRI AUROBINDO’S YOGA OF PSYCHICISATION AND THE STIMULUS-FREE LANGUAGE 

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The corporeal state of the being of man, the vision of which emerges, as noted earlier, in Chomsky’s discovery of 

the stimulus-free language is the state in which man is not yogically and spiritually transformed as studied in  the  

light of Sri Aurobindo’s yogic revelations. In such an untransformed state, man is under the gravitational pull of 

Matter and, therefore, his language is not stimulus-free. It is to be noted that the Rishis have discovered that man 

is made up of body, life and mind, and Soul, the Divine Self is at the centre of his being. In his yogic consciousness, 

Sri Aurobindo comes to witness a hierarchy of consciousness existing within and beyond the Creation. He 

witnesses that the gravitational pull of Matter has taken the intellectual mind, and the planes of the mental 

consciousness below it, and, further downward, the plane of Life, too, into its grip on their universal planes of 

Existence. This is what he witnesses in the yogically and spiritually untransformed being of man also. While 

speaking of the evolution of the mental consciousness of man to the spiritual planes of consciousness he lays 

emphasis on the need of getting freedom from such gravitational pull of Matter in the being of man. It is 

unavoidable for the reason that without freedom from the gravitational pull of Matter, the ascent of the mind of 

man to its spiritual planes will not be an irreversible one. Without such freedom the spiritual ascent of the human 

mind and other constituent parts of the being of man, e.g. life and body will be undone since the lower 

consciousness, of which the untransformed body, the life and the mind existing within the being of man are 

manifestations, is hostile to spiritual ascent and transformation. They put resistance to the effort of man for 

spiritual transformation, not only of his mind, but also of his life and body. In order to get rid of the gravitational 

pull of Matter and bring about the end of the hostility of the lower consciousnesses, Sri Aurobindo speaks of 

undertaking the yoga of, what he terms, ‘psychic transformation’ of the being of man. The psychic transformation 

is the soul transformation of man. The term ‘psychicisation’, too, he uses for such psychic or soul-transformation. 

In another letter on yoga Sri Aurobindo while revealing the inner being of man says that man is made up of body, 

life and mind, at the centre of which exists Soul, the Divine Self in his being as stated earlier. He says: 

“When one speaks of the divine spark, one is thinking of the soul as a portion of the Divine which has descended 

from above into the manifestation rather than of something which has separated itself from the cosmos. It is the 

nature that has formed itself out of the cosmic forces—mind out of cosmic mind, life out of cosmic life, body out 

of cosmic Matter” (Sri Aurobindo, 1979: 109192a). 

The psychic transformation takes place when Soul, the Divine Self, which remains behind body, life and mind, 

comes to the front and takes over their command in the being of man. Of Soul’s coming to the front, the ‘Soul’ 

for which he uses the term, ‘Psychic’, he says: 

“What is meant by (the psychic’s) coming  to  the  front  is simply this. The psychic ordinarily is deep within. Very 

few people are aware of their souls - when they speak of their soul, they usually mean the vital+mental being or 

else the (false) soul of desire. The psychic remains behind and acts only through the mind, vital and physical 

wherever it can. For this reason, the psychic being except where it is very much developed has only a small and 

partial, concealed and mixed or diluted influence on the life of most men. By coming forward is meant that it 

comes from behind the veil, its presence is felt already in the waking daily consciousness, its influence fills, 

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dominates, transforms the mind and vital and their movements, even the physical. One is aware of one’s soul, 

feels the psychic to be one’s true being, the mind and the rest begin to be only instruments of the inmost 

within us (1097).” 

As a result of taking over their command, it’s consciousness, or to say, the divine consciousness percolates into 

the beings of body, life and mind. The integral consciousness of Soul is established in them and comes to be their 

foundation. Integrality is established in them and, consequently, harmony exists in their beings. It is to be noted 

that prior to their psychic transformation they are at conflict with one another. Consequent upon the psychic 

transformation, or to say, psychicisation, they undergo a divine transformation and come under Soul’s direct 

governance getting freedom from the gravitational pull of Matter. It is, in fact, the release from the gravitational 

pull of the divisiveness of consciousness, the divisiveness which had earlier taken the command of the body, the 

life and the mind. Receptivity to the things which descend from the Transcendent Sovereign plane of the Divine 

Consciousness evolves in them. It, therefore, comes to be the psychicisation of body, life and mind of man. Sri 

Aurobindo says further that in the evolutionary journey of man, the psychicisation of the body, the life and the 

mind which are the instruments of the Soul of man for executing the Divine Will in his being enables him to 

ascend the planes of spiritual consciousness decisively and irreversibly as there is no downward force due to the 

gravitational pull of Matter in body, life and mind on account of the percolation of the Divine Consciousness in 

them. He makes it clear in his letters on yoga, as stated earlier, that when man ascends the spiritual planes of 

consciousness for his spiritual transformation without undergoing psychicisation of his body, life and mind, the 

very untransformed consciousnesses of these body, life and mind put severe resistance to his effort of ascent and 

pose a very serious threat to his spiritual transformation. Such resistance is put by the divisiveness of 

consciousness operative in them. Therefore, in one of his letters on yoga he says: 

“This psychic development and the psychic change of mind, vital and physical consciousness is of the utmost 

importance    because    it   makes   safe   and  easy  the  Kumar          11 

descent of the higher consciousness and the spiritual transformation without which the supramental must 

always remain far distant (1095).” 

When the body, the life, or to say, vital, and the mind undergo soul-transformation since the consciousness of the 

Soul descends into them as a result of taking over their command by It, they opt, as a result of their new nature, 

to be dictated by the Soul, the Divine Self. They come to be the obedient servants of the Soul. Since the Divine 

Self in man, according to Rishis, is in constant communion with the Divine existing beyond Creation, It receives 

the Divine Vision existing on the transcendent plane of existence and transmits it to the body, the life and the 

mind. They do not alloy their stamps in such vision of the Divine as a result of their psychicisation. Of 

psychicisation, he says: 

“Psychicisation means the change of the lower nature bringing right vision into the mind, right impulse and 

feeling into the vital, right movement and habit into the physical—all turned towards the Divine, all based on 

love, adoration, bhakti—finally, the vision and sense of the Mother everywhere in all as well as in the heart, her 

Force working in the being, faith, consecration, surrender 

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(1093).” 

Such a change, or to say, psychicisation takes place when the psychic comes to the front as discussed earlier. Very 

obviously, the language of such a psychicised state of man comes to be stimulus-free. Consequently, it further 

comes to express the Divine Self which is the deepest self of man. It is on account of this truth that Chomsky 

finds stimulus-free language ‘innovative’ (2014: 11) and ‘potentially infinite in scope (11). In fact, on a deeper 

examination, it is found in such a vision of Sri Aurobindo that the truth of the psychicised state of mind has taken 

hold of the orientation of Chomsky’s linguistic mind in spite of the fact that the yogic consciousness is yet to 

evolve in him. 

MANTRA OR THE MANTRIC POETRY 

The Vedic Rishis have found the universe to be the graded consciousness. They are of the vision that the Mantra 

exists on the higher spiritual planes of consciousness which are hidden to the matter-oriented mind of man. The 

Rishi Dirghatamas says that the Mantra exists in ‘a supreme ether’ (Sri Aurobindo, 1991: 5-6). “The Rishi 

Dirghatamas speaks of the Riks, the Mantras of the Veda, as existing “in a supreme ether, imperishable and 

immutable in which all the gods are seated”...” (5-6). 

Sri Aurobindo has revealed the ‘supreme ether’ to be existing as the higher planes of existence. He further draws 

our attention to the  discoveries of the Vedic Rishis  that the vision of the Mantra in our being is the result of the 

inspiration coming into our being from the higher spiritual planes of consciousness. “The Vedic Rishis believed 

that their Mantras were inspired from higher hidden planes of consciousness and contained this secret knowledge” 

(5). 

Such descent takes place in the spiritually inspired state of man. The inspiration rises when the body, the life and 

the mind are psychicised and, consequently, ‘love, adoration, bhakti’ (1093) rising within the being of man turn 

‘towards the Divine’ (1093). The Rishi Dirghatamas says that Mantra exists in the inmost recesses of the human 

consciousness where it is found that Godward emotion and feelings exist. For, within the Godward emotion and 

feelings of man lie the planes of Mantric Consciousness latent, the planes which tend to manifest in Mantra, or to 

say, Mantric Poetry. 

According to Sri Aurobindo, Mantra is the poetic expression of the deepest spiritual reality (Sri Aurobindo, 1991: 

17). To be more specific, he says that it is the poetry which is written from some higher plane of, what he calls 

the Intuitive Mind Consciousness and the Overmind Consciousness. These planes are ‘the two successive 

uppermost planes of the spiritual consciousness on the plane of Mind’ as he says. He discovers four planes of 

spiritual consciousness existing above the intellectual plane on the plane of Mind, or what he terms, the ‘mental 

mind’, the spiritual consciousness wherein one has the knowledge and realisation of the One Divine, the One 

Cosmic Self. They are, as he terms them, Higher Mind, Illumined Mind, Intuitive Mind and the Overmind. The 

Overmind Consciousness is the summit of the spiritual consciousness on the plane of Mind. It is the plane where 

‘all the gods are seated’ (5-6) in the ‘supreme ether’ (5-6), the ether of which Rishi Dirghatamas speaks as stated 

earlier. The plane of consciousness which exists beyond Mind is ‘Supramental’ as Sri Aurobindo terms. He uses 

the term ‘Supermind’ too for this consciousness. Speaking of the Supramental, he says that it is the plane of 

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Consciousness which exists beyond Creation as noted earlier. It is integral in nature and is the sovereign plane of 

the Divine Existence (Sri Aurobindo, 1979: 257, 258b). It is the Consciousness which manifests itself in Creation. 

In other words, the Creation itself is the manifestation of the Divine Consciousness. The Rig Veda speaks 

poetically of the Primordial Resolve of the Divine on Its manifestation: “Eko-Ham, Bahu-Syam, Praja-Eyam”, “I 

am One, Become Many, Yet Remain the Same.” It is under this resolve that the One Divine, the Sovereign Integral 

Consciousness of the One Divine comes to be ‘many’ without losing Its Sovereign Oneness. In such ‘many’, the 

creation comes into existence, or to say, the manifestation of the Divine takes place and the Sovereign Divine 

Consciousness begins to come to be latent in the Creation. In the phenomenon of ‘many’, the divisive 

consciousness, or to say, the separative principle of the Divine Consciousness  comes into operation and the plane 

of, what we earlier noted, the ‘Overmind Consciousness’ comes into existence in the supraphysical state. It is the 

plane where 

‘all the gods are seated’ as pointed out earlier. The gods are the chief cosmic functionaries. They are ‘the 

emanations, formations put out from the Being of God for a special purpose: to fulfil his intention in this creation. 

Each emanation from the Being of God is charged with a particular function. Each god is both a power and a 

personality. These gods, known by different names in different climes, are the cosmic functionaries, making 

possible the growth of this creation in the mould of the original intention of the Creator’ (Pandit, 2010: 3-4). Sri 

Aurobindo reveals that under the continuity of the operation of the separative principle of the Sovereign Integral 

Divine Consciousness the next lower plane of the spiritual consciousness, the Intuitive Mind Consciousness 

comes into its supraphysical existence, and, further downward, the Illumined Mind Consciousness, the Higher 

Mind Consciousness and then the other planes of the ordinary mind consciousness such as intellectual mind etc., 

too, come into existence. He terms such phenomenon ‘involution’. The involution continues and what we term 

‘Life’ or ‘Energy’ and, further, ‘Matter’ come into existence consequently, the Matter which is the lowest plane 

of existence in hierarchy. In such involution, the higher planes of the spiritual consciousness and the Supramental 

come to be latent on the lower planes, and, consequently, the divisiveness, or to say, the separativity of 

consciousness increases. Matter comes to be the seat of the separativity of consciousness. As this is the picture 

which exists within the being of an individual, too, Rishi Dirghatamas speaks of the Mantra to be existing in the 

inmost recesses of the human consciousness. 

Since the Overmind Consciousness comes to exist downward in the hierarchy of consciousness next to the 

transcendent Supramental Consciousness which we have noted to be the Sovereign Integral Divine 

Consciousness, the former is vibrant with the Divine Consciousness and is, therefore, creative in nature and is 

revelatory of the Sovereign Divine Consciousness existing on the transcendent plane of the existence. According 

to Sri Aurobindo (1990: 950), the Overmind Consciousness is the highest plane of the Mantra on the plane of the 

spiritual mind-consciousness. It is, as he says, ‘a power of cosmic consciousness, a principle of global knowledge 

which carries in it a delegated light from the supramental Gnosis’. He further says, ‘It is, therefore, only by an 

opening into the cosmic consciousness that the over mind ascent and descent can be made wholly possible (950). 

He further says that the ‘cosmic empire of the Overmind’ (2012: 666) is ‘Time’s buffer state bordering Eternity’ 

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(666). Further, though the Intuitive Mind Consciousness which is the next lower plane of the Mantra comes into 

existence under the growing separative principle of the Sovereign 

Integral Divine Consciousness, the Supramental, it is also under divine vibration and is, therefore, creative and 

revelatory. In fact, it is a ‘ray of the Supramental’, he says. He further says that it is ‘an immediate translation’ 

(Sri Aurobindo, 1984: 781) of ‘some infinite selfknowledge that acts above mind in the superconscient spirit’ 

(781). It is for this reason that Mantra has been found to be creative and revelatory as well as inspired poetry. Of 

Mantra, he says in his epic poem Savitri:“An inspired Knowledge sat enthroned within Whose seconds illumined 

more than reason’s years: An ictus of revealing lustre fellAs if pointing accent upon Truth,And like a sky-flare 

showing all the ground A swift intuitive discernment shone. 

One glance could separate the true and false, or raise its rapid torch-fire in the dark To check the claimants 

crowding through mind’s gates Covered by the forged signatures of the gods, Detect the magic bride in her 

disguise or scan the apparent face of thought and life.”(Sri Aurobindo, 2012: 37-38)He continues to reveal the 

truth of Mantra:“Oft inspiration with her lightning feet A sudden messenger from the all-seeing tops, Traversed 

the soundless corridors of his mind Bringing her rhythmic sense of hidden things. A music spoke transcending 

mortal speech. 

As if from a golden phial of the All-bliss, A joy of light, a joy of sudden sight,A rapture of the thrilled undying 

WordPoured into his heart as into an empty cup, A repetition of God’s first delightCreating in a young and virgin 

Time (38).” 

A transcendent Mantra was discovered when consciousness evolves to its Supramental plane. On the examination 

of his works like Savitri, The Life Divine, etc., it is very unmistakably found that Sri Aurobindo manifests the 

transcendent Supramental Consciousness. 

Therefore, his epic Savitri comes to be the Supramental Poetry being a Mantra of the transcendent plane of 

consciousness. In the epic, he reveals the pre-creation state of existence in which preparation is made for the 

descent and the establishment of the transcendent Supramental Consciousness for a new creation on the earth. In 

the new creation, a higher order of existence, to be specific, the supramental Man and eventually the 

supramentalised earth emerge, and so on. It has also been shown that when man rises from the planes of the 

spiritual consciousness as a result of evolution, the vision of the One Divine, the One Cosmic Self, the Divine 

existing on the transcendent plane of existence, to use Sri Aurobindo’s terminology, the Supramental, evolves 

accordingly in his being. In other words, the  vision  of  man  of  the  One  Divine Kumar continues to lose its 

eclipsed state with his successive ascent to the spiritual planes, —the eclipse which is caused by the divisiveness 

of the lower planes of consciousness in his being. The uneclipsed vision comes into the being of the man of the 

Supramental Consciousness. 

THE SUMMIT VIEW 

In order to get rid of the matter-oriented mind, and, consequently, to rise to the aforesaid planes of spiritual 

consciousness as a result of evolution, — the rise which is a movement away from the separativity of 

consciousness towards the integrality of consciousness, and, consequently, to write poetry from these planes of 

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mantric consciousness—, we are required to turn inward and undertake the yoga, ‘integral yoga’, inhering the 

yoga of psychicisation, the yoga of spiritualisation and finally the yoga of supramentalisation. The yoga comes 

to be imperative and inevitable for Mantra. It is all the more inevitable and imperative as man’s destiny lies in the 

evolution of his consciousness. In such a task we have to undertake first the yoga of the psychicisation of the 

body, the life and the mind of our being so that our ascent to the planes of spiritual consciousness could be decisive 

and irreversible, failing which the gravitational pull of Matter, dwelling in the untransformed state of being, that 

is to say, unpsychicised state of our being in which we are not stimulus-free, pulls us down from the spiritual 

planes of consciousness, and consequently we are not able to receive the Mantra from the planes of Mantric 

consciousness as noted earlier also. In one of his letters on poetry, literature and art Sri Aurobindo (1971: 58) 

says: 

“Certainly if you want to achieve a greater poetry, more unique, you will have to alter the poise of your 

consciousness. At present you write, as you do the things, too much with the brain, the mere human intelligence. 

To get back from the surface vital into the psychic and psychic vital, to raise the level of your mental from the 

intellect to the Illumined Mind is your need both in poetry and in Yoga”. 

Such a vision of Sri Aurobindo necessitates us to undertake the yoga of psychicisation first. When man comes 

prepared to receive the Mantra as a result of the psychicisation of his body, life and mind, he ascends the planes 

of the spiritual consciousness entering into the world of the Higher Mind and beyond it in the Spiritual Mind. The 

consciousness and the power of these planes descend into his body, life and mind and they get transformed. Such 

transformation is the spiritual transformation. Of the power of the Mantra which is capable of bringing about 

evolutionary change of consciousness, Sri Aurobindo says:“As when the mantra sinks in Yoga’s ear,Its message 

enters stirring the blind brainAnd keeps in the dim ignorant cells its sound;The hearer understands a form of 

wordsAnd, musing on the index thought it holds, He strives to read it with the labouring mind, But finds bright 

hints, not the embodied truth: Then, falling silent in himself to know He meets the deeper listening of his soul: 

The Word repeats itself in rhythmic strains:Thought, vision, feeling, sense, the body’s selfAre seized unalterably 

and he enduresAn ecstasy and an immortal change;He feels a Wideness and becomes a Power, All knowledge 

rushes on him like a sea:Transmuted by the white spiritual rayHe walks in naked heavens of joy and calm,Sees 

the God-face and hears transcendent speech…” (Sri Aurobindo 2012: 381). 

The first spiritual transformation in the world of the Higher Mind paves his way for the further ascent to the plane 

of the Illumined Mind, and finally to the planes of the Mantra, the Mantra which exists on the aforesaid higher 

plane of the Intuitive Mind Consciousness and the Overmind Consciousness, and further on the plane of the 

Supramental as we see in Sri Aurobindo’s epic Savitri. In the psychicised state Mantra gets an opportunity to 

descend into the body, the life and the mind of man and they undergo transformation accordingly. 

The stimulus-free language which emerges as a result of such psychicisation of the being of man, thus, comes to 

be the pedestal of the Mantric Poetry. It is in the stimulus-free language that one can express the truth of arriving 

at ‘a silent self’ (Roshen, 2023: 208) and ‘a nameless vast’ (208) where ‘there is no duality or differences and love 

prevails and the conflicting thoughts and struggles of the world have ended’ (208). In the language which is not 

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stimulus free, there is focuses on the external (208). One cannot ‘realise what is written and cannot understand 

the ‘cosmic will’ (208). 

It is only in the stimulus-free language that the truth of the ‘Spaceless Self’ of Savitri can be visualised and 

attained. The stimulus-free language reveals the truth of the ‘oneness of the psychic being and Jivatman’ (Nikhil, 

2023: 140), the two poises of the Divine Self in the being of Man. Such a yogic achievement has been pointed 

out in the paper ‘Spaceless Self’ in Savitri: The Eternal Self in of Supramental Man in Sri Aurobindo’s Epic 

‘Savitri’. Thus, the stimulus-free language is revealed to be constitutionally capable of receiving the Mantric 

Poetry as we witness in Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri. 

CONFLICT OF INTERESTS 

The authors have not declared any conflict of interests. 

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Sri Aurobindo (1991). Hymns to the Mystic Fire. Sri Aurobindo Ashram,Pondicherry, now Pudducherry.Available 

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