nature does not act fully in accordance with the Divine Self (i.e. perfectly). With each successive realization of these layers, the nature is more and more transformed to reflect the inner experience of the Divine. However, the full integration cannot come, nor the full perfection of the nature, until all is suffused with the supramental consciousness.
Brahman is the absolute. It is the Reality. It is "not only the spiritual, material and conscious substance of all the ideas and forces and forms of the universe, but their origin, support and possessor, the cosmic and supracosmic Spirit" (Sri Aurobindo). The Atman is the Brahman subjectively experienced as the Self. The Atman is not merely Individual; it is also the Self of all existences, the Self of the Cosmos. The Atman, when it is experienced as an individual Self among other individuals, is the Jivatman of that individual. Sri Aurobindo says that the Atman is in nature either transcendent or universal (Paramatma, Atma). When it individualises and becomes a central being, it is then the Jivatman.
Sri Aurobindo has mentioned that the intellect can be helpful in yoga primarily in removing obstacles than in providing true knowledge. As Menaka has pointed out, if the mind is purified of the falsifying influences of the vital and physical, it is better able to fulfill its function. Especially if purified it can be a great help in pointing out relatively direct and straight paths and avoiding much meandering. Though it is not so sure a guide as the psychic, before the psychic is active it is a much better guide than the vital. Also, the mental will has an important function to play in disciplining the vital, though it cannot get a complete control over it. Yet its function is primarily in the preparatory stages (which are very long for most people) before the psychic is fully in front and directing the nature. It is especially useful for the organization of the nature, rather than for knowledge per se. It seems to have a more important role in the expression of knowledge to other people, rather than in its reception, for which it must learn to be quiet and reflect the higher knowledge from above.
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