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Glossary of Terms on Consciousness 267
scious, lies outside the mind and represents supramental (beyond mind) consciousness.
This commonly experienced “I” aspect of the supramental has great significance. Becoming centered in and identified with this witness through a serious and dedicated inquiry into the question “Who am I?” may lead one to total conscious consciousness without limitation (see Universal Consciousness).
5) Lower mental (psyche) consciousness—consciousness predomi- nantly oriented along one of the psychosexual stages of development as described by Freud (see Ch. 2). This is characteristic of certain per- sonality types which are “fixated” or attached to thoughts, fantasies, feelings, desires, impulses, fears, motivations and behaviors of lower developmental stages (oral, anal, phallic, genital). Behavior is moti- vated by desire for self-gratification and is predominantly self-cen- tered and selfish.
6) Psychic (ESP) consciousness—the perceptions of psychic con- sciousness may be divided into three general classes. Although psi researchers realize there may be significant overlapping, these include “telepathy, which is mind-to-mind communication; clairvoyance, the perception of current events, objects or people that are hidden from the known five senses; and precognition, the knowledge of future events that cannot be perceived by any known means.”4 These impressions may be beyond time and/or place and are expressions of lower mind (such as feeling the pain of another at a distance) or higher mind (such as “knowing” a cure which brings health and happiness).
Spiritual texts warn about being too attracted by this dimension of consciousness as it may lead to a glorified sense of self-importance and power and distract one from the primary spiritual goal of achieving complete freedom or Universal Consciousness.
Sai Baba’s miracles are of a different nature, being a manifestation of Universal Consciousness (see #12 in this section and Discourse in Part III). Regarding his ability to materialize objects and other powers, Sai Baba has said:
Some objects Swami creates in just the same way that he created the material universe. Other objects, such as watches, are brought from existing supplies. There are no invisible beings help-