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It is interesting that people are willing to believe the ‘secret’ of the law of attraction, spend time, energy and money trying to learn it, for the purpose of manifesting wealth, enjoyment and the powers available in the world, but they do not tend to apply the principle behind this ‘law of attraction’ to the focus, and actions, that take place in their inner lives.
In The Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo devotes a chapter to the ‘sevenfold ignorance’. While we are fixated on our exte al mind, life and body and the life we lead in the exte al world, we remain ignorant of the forces at work, behind the scenes, to create what we call our being and personality, and to bring about the circumstances that we require in the exte al live to realise the purpose of our existence (even if we fail to recognise or acknowledge that purpose overtly). Our surface personality is like the tip of the iceberg, with the scope and mass of that iceberg hidden from our view.
We frequently hear people complaining about how they are locked into and trapped in the lives they are leading. They feel like there is nothing they can do and nothing can change it. This was exemplified in a motion picture called ‘Groundhog Day’ which told the story of an individual who continually repeated the events of life on the same day. Each day he woke up and it was once again the prior day that he had just finished before he fell asleep.
Establishing peace and quietness in the being is not a matter of intellectual determination; rather, it is a concrete experience that comes with the action of the Force that descends into the being from higher ranges of consciousness. Many believe that it is a matter of disciplining oneself not to react to circumstances. Stoicism and similar disciplines try to suppress and overcome the reactions and to a certain degree, such methods may provide some help initially.
There are many methods that have been tried to shift ideas, thoughts, motives and actions in the world. Some of these methods involve subtle, or not so subtle, use of various forms of propagandizing, proselytizing, sermonizing, or dominating others through use of covert or overt force, including brute physical force, vital force, economic force or mental force. There are also those who harness what we may call a religious force or a patriotic force or a force of ‘belonging’ to a particular group, at a broader level.
When we reflect on the time we have in our lifetime and how we utilize it, we find that after we calculate time spent in sleeping, eating, bathing, growth in childhood, earning a living, exercising, we have a very limited amount of what may be called “free time” available to us. In a culture and society that wants to keep us ‘occupied’ at all times, this free time is generally allocated to various forms of recreation or dissipation of our focus and energies. Any moment when we do not have a specific task or activity is considered empty and we deal with the feeling of boredom.
Virtually everybody, at some point in their lives, has the experience of entering a room or a gathering of some sort and feeling the movement of some vital force rising up within them. It could be a room filled with the energy of greed, or sexual tension or anger.
Once the yogic sadhana moves to the physical consciousness, it runs into the nature of the physical and material world that predominates in the quality of Tamas, with its characteristics of darkness, sloth, indolence and dullness, inertia and slowness to change.
We are able to perceive and respond to specific frequency ranges. Anything above, or below the frequency ranges to which we are attuned, does not register with us consciously, although there may be some subtle impact and energetic action that takes place, even so. We see that in the case of the opera singer who can shatter glass when she reaches a certain note and pitch, that the glass vibrated only when that frequency was attained and otherwise, remained stable in its constitution of being a vessel of glass.
The mental framework frequently wants to find an “either/or” option rather than looking at the nuance needed to resolve multiple views of pending questions. Thus, when we are asked to consider achieving a poise of equality in the face of provocation of any sort, positive or negative, we will tend to shift toward a poise of indifference and thereby give up the initiative to action. It is difficult for us to conceive of maintaining such a standpoint and at the same time engaging in the action needed to fight for a principle or to achieve the evolutionary goal before us.
Evolution takes time. Hundreds of millions of years were required to move even small steps forward, as universal “time” does not fit into the “human” time-sense. Humanity measures things in terms of an individual lifespan, and in increments that we have devised from our humanity-centric viewpoint. Thus we speak of generations, and look for change to occur in months, years or decades. Centuries seem like ete ity to us, and millennia are beyond our immediate ability to truly understand.
Entropy is a scientific theory that holds that the universe tends towards increasing disorder and dissolution over time, eventually having ordered patterns break down into randomness or chaos, and dissolution. While it is set forth in Western science as the second law of thermodynamics in a very specific way, it has taken on a much broader meaning when it is applied to the creation of the universe and its eventual dissolution. It is one of the key concepts that has ruled Western scientific thinking for a considerable period of time.
When we think about what qualities within ourselves are aids to achieving conscious contact with the psychic being, the soul, we would likely not name ‘enthusiasm’ as one of them. The Mother, however, makes the case for this quality. Those things that motivate us to learn, to expand our capacities, to go beyond our current limits, to reach for something greater and higher than what we are now, are the key to the kind of evolutionary progress that we are attempting to achieve. The motivating force may work in the mind, in the emotions, in the vital level or even on the physical plane.
Just as we cannot see electricity, but we can observe its results, or we cannot see the mental process objectively (although one can indeed observe thoughts processing internally), but we can see its impact in the world, so with the spiritual development, which is more subtle than the mental power, the observation is truly based on changes that take place for the individual in both the perception of one’s own being, body-life-mind, and the way one responds to events, circumstances and perceptions.
The first point that should be considered is why one wants to meditate and what the expected result should be. This is important because it helps set the internal expectation and helps thereby in understanding the different aspects, both internal and exte al, that can influence the result. Meditation, or “success” in meditation, is not a goal in itself. Meditation is a means to an end, the end being the shifting of the conscious awareness and focus away from the outer, surface ego-personality to the divine consciousness, universalising, and widening the consciousness in the process.
The Divine Consciousness encompasses both a vast peace which can fill the being and bring the seeker to a realisation that all the exte al life details, about which so much worry and fretting take place, are relatively inconsequential in the larger scheme of things. When the peace descends, the seeker may feel separate from the action of the world, including his own individual mind-life-body as part of that exte al action. This is the experience that the Sankhya defines and which Sri Aurobindo describes as the separation of Purusha and Prakriti.
Seekers wonder how they can be sure that the true shift of consciousness to the divine standpoint, or even a soul-centric standpoint has occurred. The status is so ‘real’ that it permits no doubt whatsoever. When one combines this sense of reality with the way in which one reacts totally differently than the ego-personality prior to this shift, it becomes obvious and there need be no doubt whatsoever at that point.
There is a long history of debate about what we believe and how we know what we know. Science and religion have historically taken opposite positions in this debate. Science takes the view that the mind must be able to ascertain objective facts, and draw conclusions based on them. This includes potentially developing hypotheses and testing them, discarding or modifying those that do not bear themselves out in the test. Science is therefore most comfortable with phenomena that are observable, or at least measurable, as to their existence, their result and their uses.
There are so many obstacles and difficulties that confront the spiritual seeker, precisely because the work of transforming human nature in each element involves dealing with endless numbers of embedded habits, instincts, trained responses, etc. It is virtually a constant effort to address each and every one of these conce s as they arise.
Yoga has historically focused on liberation of the individual soul from the illusion of the outer world. The seeker is advised to see through the transitory nature of all exte al rewards, undertake practices that help him to discover his true self, and once that is done, live a life, free from the normal sense of human bondage, until such time as he can escape the cycle of rebirth entirely. The practice s focused on individual salvation. The goal is ‘other-worldly’.
It is often said that animals do not suffer in the same way that humans do. They experience pain and can suffer from it, but they seem to not be tortured by all of the mental suffering that we go through in our lives.
Surveys done of young people today indicate a strong movement to reduce the role of the mainstream organised religions with people claiming to be “spiritual” not “religious”. What is spirituality and how does it differ from being religious?
There is a verse in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad which illustrates the essential principle of an evolutionary cycle of the development and growth of consciousness, when it indicates a progression ‘from the darkness to the light, from light to greater light.” The Upanishad foresees that eventually the darkness that shadows awareness, that dominates the material consciousness, is lifted somewhat in the successive stages of the vital and mental consciousness, will eventually disappear as further evolution of consciousness occurs.
Spiritual seekers throughout the ages have been confronted with internal anguish about whether they actually have the capacity and ability to succeed in their spiritual endeavour. They go through periods of enthusiasm and joy as they feel the spiritual force working in them, bringing them insights, spiritual experiences and what appears to be progress. When these periods are abated for some time, they may be subject to doubt, despair or depression as they feel they may be unfit.
To explore the hidden forces, both in our own lives, and in the larger framework of the universal manifestation and the evolution of consciousness over time, a new way of ‘knowing’ needs to be developed, one that can experience and interact with these hidden forces on a more direct and aware manner. We can see the direct responsiveness of the vital nature as it experiences life with what we call ‘instinct’ or ‘habit’.
As the evolutionary pressure begins to develop individuals who undergo the spiritual transformation we have been discussing, there is still the issue of how these individuals can impact the wider life of humanity. Isolated individuals surrounded by an untransformed mass of humanity and the ordinary human social order have really only a couple of viable choices. The first is to withdraw themselves and develop their own inner life. The second is to do the best they can to help and guide humanity in its slow effort of transformation.
With the advent of the supramental evolutionary principle in the physical world, certain expectations arise as to the physical body and its capacities. Supramental consciousness, infused into the very cells of the body, clearly would make the body more adaptable, more powerful and more able to withstand the causes of illness, decomposition and death; in other words, one could expect enhanced health and longevity to result. This prospect obviously captures the imagination of seekers and practitioners.
Sri Aurobindo makes a clear distinction between development of the mind and the heart through various intellectual or artistic pursuits, or through music or devotional activities, and the practice of Sadhana, which is the primary need and focus for the spiritual aspirant. While any of these activities may be supportive and act as aids at various stages of the sadhana, it is essential to not lose track of the objective and to keep that fixed in front of one as one undertakes to practice any exte al forms of development or worship.
As long as we set our standpoint in the exte al surface consciousness, we do not have the leverage nor the tools to easily remove an embedded reaction. We tend to take steps to suppress rather than expunge the unwanted energy. This may take the form of an ascetic denial, or an avoidance of interaction with anything that might trigger the reaction, such as escape to the cave, the monastery, the forest or the desert. Or it may take more severe forms such as physical self-torture or extreme forms of fasting, etc.
Whenever there is some kind of news headline about a major negative event, such as a school shooting, or a catastrophic earthquake or hurricane, we hear major political leaders express “thoughts and prayers” for the victims and their families. Everyone knows that there is no serious force behind this and it is intended to deflect from actually doing anything. It also makes us doubt the efficacy of ‘thoughts and prayers’ at all. Aside from the deliberate hypocrisy at work here, it is clear that no real force of consciousness and development of a powerful thought form was applied at all.
Religious devotees and spiritual aspirants throughout the world have tried to experience a divine revelation through various extreme practices that put the body under severe stress. One of these practices has been extreme fasting, and another, the attempt to overcome the power of sleep and carry out long vigils and prayers ove ight. There is no doubt that in extremis the consciousness can shift out of the normal frame and may open to experiences that are not part of the normal daily outward-facing consciousness.
We are generally so tied to our exte al ego-personality that we identify with it as what we consider to be our ‘self’. We then refer to this body-life-mind complex as our reality and we say that we ‘have a soul’. The reality is far different. The reality is that the soul, the psychic being, takes on a particular existence for its own purposes of experience and growth. The difference in viewpoint is profound and has far-reaching implications.
As the spiritual seeker develops the internal witness awareness, viewing the actions and reactions of the various parts of the being, it is frequently noted that the closeness of the view leads the aspirant to become overly critical of one’s own flaws, weaknesses, habits etc. This same type of perspective leads to the proverb in the outer life that ‘the grass is always greener on the other side of the street’. Distance provides more perspective and one does not fixate so intensely on the flaws.
We are used to superimposing our higher intellectual control on the physical mind and its operations. The physical mind still acts, but we generally limit its application through this process. At the same time, however, we do not consciously pay attention to its action or the impact of that action on our overall ability to understand and function in our lives.
The mind of the modern day wants to analyze facts and draw conclusions based on those facts. For centuries, the movement has been away from reliance on belief and faith to a reliance on facts and rational analysis. One need only look at the history of the rise of Western science and the disputes that occurred with the church over the centuries to understand the spirit of the recent age.
How do we distinguish what is an actual spiritual experience? We have an inherent bias towards believing and accepting perceptions and reactions to outer stimuli, the objects of the senses, and the reactions that arise inwardly from those stimuli. When it comes to an inner feeling or experience, how can we know it is “real” and what it signifies? In some cases, inner feelings actually are validated through exte al factual circumstances or events, and then we can appreciate that there must have been something that we can objectively point to.
When an individual takes up the spiritual quest, he tends to accept certain principles of action which, by definition, contradict the values, principles and life-actions of his past experience. In many cases this causes a considerable amount of doubt and conce as he tries to overlay his present value-set onto the past, and judge the past based on his present understanding. Of course, in every person's past there are numerous actions which can be called up before the mind's eye which do not meet this test.
If we observe the trajectory of human development, we can see a very clear direction taking shape. As we have become more conscious of the stages of life, and the processes that accompany those stages, including the increasing weakening and deterioration of the body and the life energy, and the eventual breakdown and thus, the movement toward the death of the body, we also have taken steps to learn how to increase health, wellness and longevity.
When an individual begins to recognise the existence of his soul, and seeks for a way to come into contact with it, and begin to thereby understand the purpose and significance of his life in the larger creation, the first question that comes to mind is ‘how do I do that?’
We get an intimation of what we should do, how we should respond to a situation. Then all the excuses and justifications and ‘needs’ and temporizing begin, and we find that there are good reasons why we should not do exactly, in the precise way, that the inner guidance tells us something should be done. It is not the time, there are so many issues or obstacles, there may be negative consequences from feedback or pushback when we try to act. Whatever it may be, the guidance gets ‘watered down’.
The ancient Mandukya Upanishad describes OM in considerable detail as the sound-body of the Universe: “OM is this imperishable Word, OM is the Universe, and this is the exposition of OM. The past, the present and the future, all that was, all that is, all that will be, is OM. Likewise all else that may exist beyond the bounds of Time, that too is OM. All this Universe is the Ete al Brahman, this Self is the Ete al, and the Self is fourfold.” (Sri Aurobindo, The Upanishads, Mandukya Upanishad 1-2, pg. 319)
For the practitioner of the integral yoga, it becomes evident that the transformation of human nature is not something that can be done by his own capacity alone. His mental ideas, the will power, vital drives and physical powers have their limitations and remain relatively fixed within the framework of the untransformed human nature as we recognise it. Some progress can be made, but it reaches a point where the change cannot progress any farther and a new power needs to be brought into the picture to work through the subsequent steps.
The transcription of inner events and experiences into our mental framework will generally utilize symbols, images and personalities which fit into our background, education, and experience, so as to build a link and acceptance through use of familiar images. We frequently find recounted the appearance of Jesus or the Virgin Mary to those who follow the Christian faith, while a Hindu may see Krishna (or any other Deity, Saint or Sage in the various traditional forms of worship), and a Buddhist, Lord Buddha.
We struggle with finding meaning in our lives. There is so much strife, so much confusion, so many issues that threaten our very existence as a species. We view enormous changes to the environment, the ever-dwindling supply of fresh water, the imminent collapse of the ocean fisheries, increasing pollution, the sixth planetary species die-off, the clear-cutting of forests and the inexorable warming of the planet, with all the follow on effects that these things have, including income inequality, unequal access to the world’s resources, and the consequence of war, famine, mass migration, etc.
The waking consciousness takes notice of only a very small fraction of all of the impressions that reach the senses. Not all impressions are direct sense impressions, as some impinge directly on the aura or on the mental substance without involving the 5 exte al senses. Of those directly noted, only a small percentage are actually accepted consciously and acted upon. While we do not generally take cognizance of them, these impressions are captured and held in the subconscient being.
The challenge faced by the aspirant trying to bring about the action of a new basis of awareness and action, is that continued reliance on the habitual means and methods of mind, life and body, inhibits the free active intervention of this new consciousness. The process of exceeding the framework of the present requires a methodology that shifts the focus and reliance to that new stance and allows it to determine the modus and timing of the steps along the way. The more we try to control the process, the less opportunity we provide for the higher force to act.
Many people are begin to reflect, and even entertain the notion, that the world we experience on a day to day basis is somehow unreal or illusory. Films such as the dystopian story set forth in The Matrix envision that human beings are fettered and their brains wired so they experience a form of reality while their actual bodies and lives are turned into an energy farming activity. When they are disconnected from the matrix, they wake up to a bleak reality and an enormous struggle to free humanity from subjection to this terrible illusion.
At some point in their spiritual quest, seekers are generally confronted with the question of ‘fasting’. Some paths recommend fasting as a method to lighten the heaviness of the ‘earth consciousness’ and make the being more receptive to higher vibrational energies. Some point out that fasting aids in achieving a ‘vision quest’. Some practice fasting to habituate the body to become less reliant on the material energy and switch its source of energy to higher vital and eventually spiritual realms.
If we reflect on our own efforts to change things in our lives, whether a resolution to follow a diet, exercise regularly, create a work-rest balance, spend more time with our families, or carry out some effort in our religious or spiritual focus, we will quickly see that our resolve does not always get carried out in our lives. We berate ourselves for lack of will power, without fully working out why that seems to be the case that we cannot follow through. We feel compelled in many cases to do things that are self-defeating. Of course, will-power can be practiced, strengthened and developed.
In today’s world we are confronted by politicians and business leaders who act aggressively, beat their chests, berate others, bully and otherwise exhibit behavior that proclaims “might is right” and therefore, due to their financial power or physical strength, they have the right to control others. These aggressive behaviors are frequently mixed up with racism or misogynistic tendencies where they can pick on those weaker than themselves, and rape, torture and sadistic actions are often part of their repertoire.