I will fill in some of the information here and see how far it answers your questions. The surface soul in man described in the Life Divine is just the soul of desires. This has nothing to do with Gods and reincarnation. In fact, the chapter states, "It follows that in this surface or desire-soul there is no true soul-life, but a psychic deformation and wrong reception of the touch of things." The psychic being projects itself out as the mental, vital or physical Purusha. Those who are strongly developed mentally (intellectuals) see their mental Purusha as the surface soul. Those developed vitally (businessmen) see their vital Purusha as the surface soul. Lastly, athletes the correspondence would be the physical Purusha. It is a mix of all these three in most people. Spiritual life begins when we start searching for the subliminal soul - the psychic being. Regarding Gods, there are Gods on every plane. Gods from the plane of the mind already have a mental body - a body made of substance of that plane. The Vital Gods have a vital sheath. Gods are akin to energy formations and bear only one sheath while man has all five sheaths of consciousness. Gods are spineless - they lack the spinal cord with Chakras. Hence, Gods can only experience their native plane of consciousness while Man, if he evolves and activates the Kundalini, can potentially experience all planes of consciousness. That is why human body is called pindanda (microcosm) of the brahmanda (universe). What happens after a God born on Earth leaves his body? Is he reborn? Does he get to keep his psychic being and become a man forever ? Hmmm... Your question 5. Starting from an original descent as psychic being what are the main landmarks in the life-cycle of psychic being? like first being able to individualise itself, life-expression, mind-expression etc. ? This is the cycle of evolution wherein the Divine starts out as a tiny psychic presence and evolves through plants, animals and then becomes the psychic being in man.