In this vast metaphysical discourse, Sri Aurobindo covers a vast array of subjects. In general, though, the book can be summarized as follows:

• Man aspires for God, immortality, truth, delight, and perfection.

• That aspiration remains unfulfilled because Man's nature is divided.

• He can come to fulfill his aspiration when he discovers his undivided higher nature and Consciousness.

• Man's divided, dualistic nature expresses through his essential Ignorance.

• That essential Ignorance has its origins in the unconsciousness of matter, which expresses through his physical, vital, and mental nature.

• To understand the source of the nescience of creation and therefore the limits and Ignorance in our nature, we must understand how the universe emerged from a Divine source.

• There is an Infinite timeless, spaceless ultimate Reality (Brahman, the Absolute)

• A conscious Being emerged from the Infinite Brahman, out of which emerged a conscious Force that Delighted in its existence.

• Out of the conscious Force emerged Energy that would formulate into ignorant, divided forms in creation.

• The process of the cosmos emerging from an  Infinite consciousness and then to cosmic Mind and further to the essential Energy of the universe is the involution. The emergence of matter from out of that Energy and then to animated life to the emergence of mind and then spirit is the evolution.

• Supermind is the power that enabled the essential Energy out of which a universe was born.

• Acting to fulfill Real Ideas of the Infinite, Conscious being, Supermind enables a universe in space and time.

• The Real Ideas of the Infinite reflect as certain essential cosmic determinants that issue from the conscious Being -- e.g. witness, creator, knowledge, love, beauty, delight, etc.

• Supermind conceives of these determinants through its comprehending power and renders them as actualities though its Apprehending power. In space and time, each determinant is rendered into a triplicity. E.g. Knowledge is rendered into a knower, the known, and the knowledge (i.e. subject, object, method.) This occurs for all determinates.

• Through the deputy power of cosmic Mind, the conscious Force that has become Energy renders through division down to the atomic level material existence.

• The universe begins as energy that has been divided into dumb, unconscious matter.

• The Consciousness, Force, Delight, Spirit, Truth, et al that was the source of creation is involved in, embedded and hidden in matter.

• The conscious Being intended the forms to be ignorant to allow for the greatest multiplicity and diversity of possibility in creation.

• The conscious Being hid itself in this involutionary process so that it would not be seen on the surface, and would reemerge through the self-discovery and Delight of those forms.

• The unity of Consciousness and Force; and Knowledge and Will that is there in the supramental consciousness and above is lost in creation, leaving only unconsciousness and dumb force on the surface, though the original higher aspects are involved in their essence.

• Because the forms in the cosmos originate in material nescience and unconsciousness, man shares that quality. It reflects in his divided and Ignorant nature. It is the reason for suffering, pain, and death.

• Through Man's evolution of consciousness, he overcomes his limited nature, bringing the spirit to the surface of life; bringing out the original Consciousness, Force, and Delight of the Infinite.

• When Man moves his attention away from the sense inputs of the surface, and discovers his inner being -- down to the depths of Soul within -- he begins a vast ascent in consciousness.

• In the depths, he begins to move out of his ego and become more connected with, sensitive to, and unified with the world around him, including others. He loses that sense of division and duality in life.

• As Man perceives the world from this deeper perspective, he perceives a vast array of truth, which enables him to come out of his fundamental Ignorance. He begins to develop an Integral Knowledge that is in identity with every body of object he pursues.

• As he moves within, his minds opens to light and intuitions and revelations of knowledge. He also begins to perceive all parts of an subject or object of knowledge, including its whole and essence, instead of the part he sees through ordinary sense and rational mind. He develops a super-rationality, which he experiences as Integral Knowledge, the opposite of his original Ignorance.

• At his highest, Man develops supramental perception, moving in identity with an object of knowledge. He sees all sides of things (the Whole) rather than the Part that Mind sees. He thus has a many sided-integral Knowledge. He also sees each thing in relation to the Whole and to the Essence behind the Whole. he this sees all things in their right integral relationship  -- i.e. their essential oneness and unity.

• Through supramental consciousness, he sees beyond dualities and contradictions in life, such as pleasure and pain, good and evil, positive and negative, two sides of a dispute, etc., perceiving them as necessary, complementary, and One.

• Through supramental perception he also has the power to realize what is known. Just as in Supermind, Knowledge and Will are one, so too when Man develops supramental perception he has the Will and Power to make and knowledge real. he gains the power of creation that the Infinite consciousness possesses.

• He therefore come to see the Oneness of Spirit and Matter. That matter is a form of spirit, and that spirit expresses itself in creation through matter (and all other planes).

• As a result, he perceives the dual pairs of the Unmanifest and the Manifest, the Creator and Creation, the original Being and the Becomings of life as integrally One. It is the Vision of the Reality, Brahman.

• At that point, he can begin to fulfill his deepest aspirations in life, and find ultimate delight in being.

• As man discovers his true self and highest consciousness, he experiences ultimate Delight of being, which is far beyond the normal transient happiness.

• Delight of being is in fact the very reason that the Infinite set in motion the process that enabled a universe to emerge from a Divine Source.

• When man discovers his higher nature, he feels the delight for which a universe of forms was created. The static delight of the conscious Being is then extended to the dynamic delight experienced by individual humans in creation.

• Through man's evolution and transformation of consciousness, the Divine Intent is fulfilled. When Man becomes fully spiritual in nature, he completes the circle from whose Source he and the cosmos originally emerged.

• The intent of the Infinite is not only to bring about Man's individual evolution, but to bring the spiritual Being into the Becoming of life to raise all existence into its greatest consciousness, power, and perfection.

• The transcendent Intent is fulfilled through the universe, and the universe fulfills itself through the individual. A realized Individual lives in his true individual self, as well as a universal and transcendent self.

• Along the way man transforms his essential Ignorance born of creation and away from his seperative consciousness that is the cause of his divided nature. The Ignorance takes 7 essential forms, and is transmuted into seven forms of an Integral Knowledge.

• The constitutional, psychological, practical, the cosmic, and other forms of the Ignorances are replaced by their Integral Knowledge equivalents.

• As Man overcomes his Ignorance and gains Integral Knowledge, he ascend through three successive phases of transformation; the Psychic, the Spiritual, and the Supramental.

• The Psychic transformation is to come in to discover the deepest depths within, coming contact with one's Evolving Soul.

• The Evolving Soul enters the being of successive individuals in its journey to seek its own fulfillment.

• When we fully realize the Psychic, we break the bonds of ego which tie us to our seperative consciousness, which is the support for the exclusivity of Mind and thus the source of our essential Ignorance.

• The Psychic also opens us up to oneness with others and or environment; builds a deep connection to the transcendent Reality, and guides us towards right action, avoiding negative propensities of our being.

• The Spiritual transformation (which follows the Psychic) is to rise above mind to spiritual mind, and have the Light transform mind and other parts of one's being. The Supramental transformation is to rise to the ultimate unitarian consciousness, and have all parts of one's being, including the physical transmuted into an ultimate gnostic, spirit-based being.

• When the physical supramental transformation is completed there is the birth of a new type of supramentalized, Gnostic being -- one who is one with all and everyone, who continually experiences the transcendent, has complete power over life, lives a life of love, bliss, power, truth, oneness, creativity.

• This new Gnostic being is a representative of a new, higher species of human on earth.

• As a large number of individual go through these transformative stages, there begins the possibility of the emergence of a new Divine Life on earth, fulfilling the Divine Intent in enabling a universe of forms, while also fulfilling man's deepest aspirations in life.

• The Divine Life consists of supramentalized beings living in a transformed, ultimate society reflecting the Intent of the Infinite Consciousness and Being.