Sri Aurobindo describes another important psychological tool for gaining insight and mastery of the surface nature that becomes available upon entry into the inner being, and that is the separation of the Purusha and Prakriti, the Witness Self and the active Nature. Not only can we see the lines of action more clearly and completely, with a greater comprehensive understanding, but we gain a much more intimate knowledge by identity which is not possible in our surface consciousness.
Sri Aurobindo explains: “But also there is or can be along with this intimacy of knowledge a detached observation of the actions of the nature by the Purusha and a great possibliity, through this double status of knowledge, of a complete control and understanding. All the movements of the surface being can be seen with a complete detachment, but also with a direct sight in the consciousness by which the self-delusions and mistakes of self of the outer consciousness can be dispelled; there is a keener mental vision, a clearer and more accurate mental feeling of our subjective becoming, a vision which at once knows, commands and controls the whole nature.”
Depending on what parts of the nature are the strongest, this can lead to either increased awareness which can manage the actions of the vital nature; or increased power with deficient knowledge, leading to aggrandisement of the vital nature.
Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Book 2, Part I, Chapter 10, Knowledge by Identity and Separative Knowledge, pg. 535
Sri Aurobindo Studies 