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When it comes to the question of control, rejection and mastery over the vital nature and its desires, there is considerable confusion. For the most part this confusion is caused by a lack of clear definition between the different modes of observation, response and action that the seeker can adopt in relation to this concern.
The question of ‘hostile forces’ is one that generally needs a certain amount of reflection. In the West, the major religious denominations frequently speak of the devil, the fallen angels, Satan, and other beings to which they attribute a malignant power that pressures human beings to commit ‘sins’. Thus, the West is very much aligned with the idea of such hostile forces active in our lives.
By putting emphasis on ‘headline’ spiritual experiences and attempting to hold onto them or repeat them, the seeker is potentially losing sight of the larger process that is taking place to effect the transformation of the nature. All progress represents what may be called a ‘vertical ascent’ to a higher level of conscious awareness. This may come through an experience that either takes the seeker to that higher plane for a time, or else, brings the force of that plane down into his normal awareness for a time.
As the seeker begins to enter and experience the inner and higher realms of consciousness, he comes into contact with beings, forces, planes and worlds that transcribe experiences into his awareness, yet do not generally function under the same methods and laws that are operative in the normal mind-life-body complex and the world of Matter which we inhabit.
The Purusha, the witness consciousness, resides in each of us. Why then do we have to seek for liberation? If we examine our psychological standpoint, we can see that we tend to identify with, to become, the exte al ego-personality that we have assumed. It is as if we put on a suit of clothes, a costume, and in so doing we become what that suit of clothes or costume represents, and we forget, for the time being, the person inside the costume.
There are powers at work in the world that have a vested interest in maintaining the current status. They have control, they have power, they can exult in their predominance. They do not want to see their power or influence wane or disappear. On the contrary, they may seek further control and domination. Thus, they treat any progressive development as a threat to their situation and even, in some cases, their very existence. These powers act to hold back change and progress.
Both panic and inertia are responses to situations that arise in the life of individuals. They come about when something new or unexpected comes forward to challenge the individual. In the case of panic, there is clearly a perception of danger, and the rising of fear in the being. This drives the individual into what is generally regarded to be a manifestation of the “fight or flight” reaction. There is no ‘thought’ involved. It is a reaction of the vital being that drives the individual’s response to the situation.
One of the issues that every spiritual seeker eventually faces is what to do about the vital nature. The vital being is an essential element of life on earth. Normally however it is distracted with its needs and desires, the seeking for pleasure and enjoyment, the avoidance of pain and suffering. The difficulty of dealing with the drives of the vital being have led many spiritual seekers to attempt to suppress it, or overpower it through an action of the mental will.
We live in a time of extreme challenge where the entire fate of humanity, and of the planet we live on, is at risk. We have explored in every possible direction and created thereby the ultimate fragmentation, pitting every religion, philosophy and creed against one another in a battle for the hearts and minds of people everywhere. At the same time we have, through modern technology and communication, brought the entire world together and thereby accentuated the clash of ideologies. We find however no solution and no satisfaction in the doctrines of the past.
There is a general bias in our society that holds that someone who has a developed mentality, and who is ‘well-read’ is smarter or more intelligent than those who cannot read or who have limited reading capacity. Yet it must be recognised that intelligence cannot be measured, as is done in the West, on tests that validate reading skills and memorization of ‘facts’. Intelligence is actually a measure of how well an individual actually understands what the ‘facts’ mean and has the ability to go behind the surface meanings to get at the real root significance.
Whatever we focus on intensely becomes stronger. If we focus entirely on the lower nature and its weaknesses, we actually are empowering them and giving them energy. In order to effectuate change in the lower nature, there must be an awareness of the areas that require change, of course, but not a fixation on them to the exclusion of anything else. Additionally, the focus on the weaknesses and resistances of the lower nature and the difficulty in making real progress for change can be depressing.
In his epic poem, Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol, Sri Aurobindo writes: “He who would save himself lives bare and calm; He who would save the race must share its pain: Renunciation of the world, avoidance of interacting with the objects, actions, events and needs of the exte al life, is frequently a chosen route for those who seek personal salvation. For those who wish to participate in the development of the divine manifestation, the idea of total immersion in the exte al life, is not a solution either.
There is considerable confusion between the concept of occultism and the idea of the practice of magic (whether considered ‘white’ magic or ‘black’ magic). Occultism essential is the science of dealing with forces subliminal to our outer senses, but nevertheless active and acting upon our being. On the material plane, electricity is essentially an occult force, working unseen but having palpable results of its action. Those who learn how to generate, channel and put electricity to work are essentially practicing occultism on the material plane.
Power is disconcerting. Humanity is attracted to it, while at the same time, it fears raw power. It is often said “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.” What is then to be done with our vital nature that expresses power and provides the motive force for our lives? Those inclined to asceticism respond that power needs to be avoided, rejected, disregarded. The only thing that matters from that viewpoint is knowledge based in Oneness. If powers arise they are considered to be temptations and should not be developed or followed.
The yogic trance state called ‘samadhi’ has several levels, including one that is known as ‘with seed’ and one ‘without seed’. The difference essentially is that the level ‘with seed’ means that it still retains the capacity to be broken by the intrusion of exte al stimuli and internal reaction or awakening of suppressed items in the consciousness.
Most people identify closely with their active exte al personality, and as a result, they consider that to be the extent of their existence. They leave on the surface, interact with others, family, friends, acquaintances, associates and other members of society, and respond to the outer environment, the weather, the economic and political conditions, etc. This constitutes the framework of their lives.
The ancient sages developed a basic ‘life plan’ for people to be able to pursue in their lives a balanced agenda consisting of Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. Dharma essentially was following the individual life purpose and being true to one’s own life and destiny. Artha was the pursuit of remunerative activities so one could support oneself and others. Kama was the pursuit of pleasure in life. Moksha was the pursuit of liberation from the ties of the exte al life, after having experienced and lived out the other three.
Most people are not directly aware of their soul, although it is frequently talked about. There seems to be much confusion. Western scientists have tried to determine the existence of the soul like they would measure particular chemical elements within the body. They weigh the body immediately before and then immediately after the time of death, and try to determine if there is any difference in weight. This approach assumes that the soul has weight and mass that would be measurable by our exte al measuring capabilities.
Anxiety and fear are constant companions in life for animals, as well as for human beings. Becoming food for a predator is an existential fear that stalks the animal kingdom, but it is not just this fear that human beings engage in. There is fear of failure, fear of being humiliated, fear of being attacked, robbed, raped, or arrested. Fear of being scammed or scapegoated. Fear of loss, fear of injury, fear of illness, and fear of death. There is also the constant undercurrent of anxiety that represents a low level manifestation of fear.
However difficult it is to predict specifically the destiny of any individual, due to the complex interactions that create that destiny (or shall we say ‘destinies’), there is still a sense that life carries out the path of the energies at work, as well as the trajectory those energies follow. There is thus a ’cause and effect’ that drives the individual forward and which we call destiny, otherwise known as the fruits of karma.
The objective of the integral yoga is to support the evolutionary process of the development and integration of the next stage of consciousness, beyond the mental consciousness. This step is necessary to overcome the limitations of the current mental framework which have helped create the existential crisis we are facing in the world today. This is not a yoga intended solely for individual salvation. As it is working to support an evolutionary process, it necessarily involves all of humanity in some way or another.
We understand that there is an electro-magnetic spectrum, ranging from very short wavelengths to extremely long wavelengths. We can visualize the color spectrum with a similar range. There is also a sound spectrum. In each instance of a vibrational spectrum, there is a range within which we can consciously perceive the energetic movement, and there are ranges, both above, and below our range of perception.
Due to the nature of the mind, which always seeks for “black and white” solutions and answers, it is easy to fall into the idea that everything depends on one’s own efforts, or alte atively, that one’s efforts do not matter as the Divine controls what occurs. In actuality, there is no real opposition between the two extremes — they are complementary concepts. The solution is to appreciate the different standpoints involved and the way that the Divine action takes place through the mechanics of the individual and the universal manifestation.
In his poem Savitri, Sri Aurobindo provides imagery to describe the nature and role of the soul, and the significance of the psychic being hidden deep within, carrying our human experience and human life to its eventual fulfillment. Sri Aurobindo writes: "But since she knows the toil of mind and lifer As a mother feels and shares her children's lives, She puts forth a small portion of herself, A being no bigger than the thumb of manr Into a hidden region of the heartr To face the pang and to forget the bliss, To share the suffering and endure earth's woundsr
As long as the mental consciousness remains insulated within its own range of awareness, it believes it has a power of knowledge and action that can be made practically infallible. Even when its shortcomings are made patently obvious, it believes that an improvement in its processes, or the input of new facts available to it now or in the future, will lead to the desired result. It thus believes itself to be self-sufficient and thus, is self-satisfied. It has not cause to look outside of its own functionality to resolve any pending conce s.
One of the reasons that a seeker is advised to have the assistance of an experienced guide, or guru, in the spiritual path, is that it is easy to be confused about the real meaning of what is written in the texts. For instance, when we hear about the concept of ‘conscious sleep’ or we see Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita extolled as gudakesha, usually translated as ‘conqueror of sleep’, we tend to believe this implies staying awake, and strugglilng to not let the observing mind fall into a state of sleep. What generally results is a state of exhaustion as the body and mind do not get the opportunit
Until an individual takes up the issue of inner growth and development, whether this is for spiritual progress, mental development, emotional growth, vital discipline or some kind of physical control, he tends to take very little notice of any inner conflict or struggle. He just acts ‘naturally’ according to his own idea of what his life is about. This all changes when an individual attempts to undertake any manner of change in some part of his being.
As long as an individual is rooted in his own ego-standpoint, he sees and interprets things from that standpoint and cannot, by definition, ‘see things as they are’ in the wider creation. There is the famous story of 5 different observers of a traffic accident, each one observing from a different standpoint. They came up with 5 different versions of what had happened.
While a reaction may seem to be taking place instantaneously, it is always conditioned by prior acts or events, the chain of cause and effect, dependent origination or the law of karma, however one wants to term it. By adopting the standpoint of the witness consciousness, observing the exte al nature of the body-life-mind complex, one creates a space of distance that allows one to not be so absorbed in the motion that one cannot see the links and the antecedents.
We tend to associate the process we call ‘thinking’ with the linear sequence of words that organize our understanding in our mind. We thus associate thinking with language and indicate that our thinking is limited by the language. A language that is rich in words and nuances will yield more advanced and complex thinking than a language that is simpler and more directly expressive of our outer experience in the world, according to this understanding.
Just about every individual, including those practicing a spiritual discipline of some sort, creates an image of himself that he then projects out into the world. This image is something of a stylized and idealized version of himself that attempts to present the highest and best of his aspiration, whether it be mental development, expressions of faith, compassion, goodwill, purity, and an abstemious nature not given to over-indulgence.
The Bhagavad Gita declares “yoga is skill in works”. For work to be a practice of yoga, there must be first the inward orientation that can make it into a consecrated and focused effort, and outwardly this translates into a skillful organization of the work and a harmonious development, keeping balance that cares for the relationship of the work to the larger framework within which it is taking place.
Understanding the operation of the three Gunas, or qualities of Nature, is an important part of understanding yogic psychology. The Bhagavad Gita devotes considerable effort to describing the Gunas and their functionality. For most people, however, translating things like reactions, responses, attitudes, etc. into the language of the Gunas is a difficult task. This is particularly the case for Westerners who have no background or grounding in the yogic psychology and its terminology. Dr. Dalal has found a way to describe the action of the Gunas as a type of ‘attitude’ of response.
Practitioners of yoga are generally familiar with the usual definitions of the chakras, their forms, colors and major operative powers when they open. In the integral yoga, where evolutionary planes of consciousness are recognised, Sri Aurobindo has expanded the definitions and understanding of the chakras to include their relation to the planes of consciousness and their action in the physical, vital and mental formations of the being.
We are so used to the constant internal dialogue that we have no conception of what it means to have ‘silence of the mind’. We strive to fill up any silence with sound, whether through conversation, consumption of media, music or even treating television or radio as ‘background noise’ for our daily lives. We fear silence in our interpersonal relationships and work to ‘make conversation.’ While we are waiting on the telephone, we hear music. When we ride in an elevator we hear music. Sound is constantly blasting at us wherever we go. Just the idea of silence is terrifying to most people.
Psychological tests and experiments have shown that each individual sees exte al events from their own perspective and thereby bring their personal biases, albeit unintentionally, to what they observe and how they understand situations. What the senses perceive is enhanced and filled in by the mind, using our store of experience, expectations, etc. to create a ‘picture’ of the event that we then interpret from our unique perspective.
It is a somewhat frequent occurrence that the instruction to meditate on the space behind the heart, or between the eyebrows is taken to be the meditation itself. There is a difference between where one “seats” one’s consciousness during meditation and the object of the meditation. Sri Aurobindo makes this difference clear. As one gains insight into the internal space within one’s being, it becomes clear that the location of the awareness is something different than the subject upon which one is concentrating or focusing.
When we reflect on the difficulties involved with both the transformation of the individual to a spiritual, gnostic consciousness and the need for this individual change to proliferate and transform society, it becomes necessary to focus on what the transitional phase or steps might be and how this might be effected. It is not sufficient, obviously, for an individual here or there to undergo this transformation in isolation.
Spiritual seekers face a long and difficult road trying to sort out what thoughts, emotions, feelings, movements, actions and responses are expressive of and related to their spiritual calling, and which ones are part of the old ways of the exte al nature and the vital ego. They frequently experience doubt, and during periods of difficulty when the old ways seem to overwhelm them, they may experience depression, despair or intense internal suffering. The ‘dark night of the soul’ is something that spiritual aspirants everywhere can relate to at some point along the way.
The paradigm that has ruled Western psychology has focused on treating the individual as a discrete entity, separate and apart from everyone else, and independent of his environment. Pressure may be exerted by societal influences, economic influences or family relationships and expectations, but the individual has been treated as a self-standing entity capable of making his own determinations and choosing what to do, or not to do. C.G.
As long as we are enmeshed in the ego-life, it is essentially impossible to conceive of the status or existence of the Atman. We relate to the physical world, we relate to other individuals as if we are just this limited human existence and being, we perceive and react to everything from our own egoistic framework.
Albert Einstein was famously quoted as saying: “We can not solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them”. It is necessary to achieve a new frame of reference and standpoint in order to address the issues of the body-life-mind complex and the transformation of the vital nature is one of the key issues that needs to be so addressed. The vital nature, as we have described, is not subject to change through the normal tools of indulgence or suppression that seekers have tended to employ in past attempts to bring it under control.
The range of spiritual experiences is vast. We tend, in our mental framework, to associate our own practice or religious background or philosophy as the only, or at least, the best, way to attain spiritual realisation; yet, this is actually just a limitation of our ego-consciousness. People following all different practices and religious beliefs will experience what may be known as a spiritual moment, or a revelation, or an illumination.
The concept of maya is frequently described as the world being an illusion that mystifies our senses and our minds, such that we take it for real, when it is not the truth of existence. We are then asked to cut through the illusion to find the actual reality, the Absolute, the consciousness that is coincident with all existence, and which is not bound by any of the forms taken by this exte al, illusory, reality. The Mayavadins have indeed captured a partial truth of existence.
Spiritual seekers are frequently advised not to indulge in or display any ‘powers’ that arise along the way. Patanjali, in his Yoga Sutras, describes a number of powers that can arise naturally through the practice of Yoga, and seekers throughout the ages have validated the reality of powers that develop as the concentration of force, tapasya, effectuates openings in the various energy centres of the being, and as the powers of the vital being and the mind are activated.
When an individual undertakes tapasya, the concentration of conscious force, in any manner, it is certain that the results will bring about new powers for that individual, whether an accentuation of powers that the individual already possessed and exercised to some degree, or the development and expression of new powers that were latent but not actively present, for that individual. The concentration may be in the physical realm, the vital realm, the mental realm, the psychic and spiritual realm, and the impact may manifest powers at any level of the being.
The changes sought in the integral Yoga are of such magnitude and detail that they will naturally take a considerable time to work themselves out in all the levels and aspects of our being. Along the way, there come periods of difficulty which may challenge one’s faith or determination, what is known in some spiritual traditions as the “dark night of the soul” when the higher and deeper experiences recede and one is left with the struggle in the physical and vital areas that are so resistant to change. This can bring about feelings of hopelessness, depression, and doubt.
Every new evolutionary development of consciousness has brought with it changes in the material forms and activity of those forms to accommodate the new powers that are manifesting. It is therefore expected that as the supramental manifestation takes place, it will also bring about changes in the forms and functions to express the needs and the powers of that new consciousness. These changes do not generally take place ove ight.
In The Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo describes the sevenhold ignorance which limits the human being. We live in a world about which we know very little, and we lack a complete understanding of the significance of our lives, the meaning of existence, or the processes of Time. As a result, we act as if we are separate beings living a separate existence and we react to what we do not know, or what we imagine, or what we perceive to be a threat to that individual existence with fear.
As with physical laws and laws of physics, laws of nature, there are laws of occultism which operate when there is vital interchange between people on an occult level. Knowledge of these laws is essential both to protect oneself and to ensure that occult powers are not being misused or misapplied. Practicing occultism is not something that can be taken up lightly or without proper training and preparation, and the consequences can be significant.