Vital Impatience and a Hurried Effort Are Obstacles to the Transformation of the Human Instrument

The vital ego is impatient. It wants to keep pressing on regardless of the impact on the body or the mind, or even its own native energy. It wants to get somewhere and begrudges the journey and the time and the waypoints along the path. It believes that haste will achieve the goal sooner, while in fact, it usually sets the achievement further away, due to the inevitable breakdowns, and the very energy that is circulating, which does not permit the Divine Force to act in its own way and its own time to carry out the complex, detailed and enormous task of transformation of human nature.

The human ego believes it can understand and judge the process and the steps along the way, and thereby undertake to manage how things will proceed. Yet it does not have even the remotest sense of everything that needs to be changed, or the order in which the change needs to occur to move things steadily onward without breakdowns or diversions, or the specific areas of human nature that any aspirant is called upon to work out at any point in time as a representative of the larger pool of the human species.

Sri Aurobindo notes: “There are always pauses of preparation and assimilation between two movements. You must not regard these with fretfulness or impatience as if they were untoward gaps in the sadhana. Besides, the Force rises up lifting part of the nature on a higher level and then comes down to a lower layer to raise it; this motion of ascent and descent is often extremely trying because the mind partial to an ascent in a straight line and the vital eager for rapid fulfilment cannot understand or follow the intricate movement and are apt to be distressed by it or resent it. But the transformation of the whole nature is not an easy thing to accomplish and the Force that does it knows better than our mental ignorance or our vital impatience.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 3, In Difficulty, pg. 49

Dealing With Periods of Dissipation and Distraction in the Spiritual Sadhana

Spiritual aspirants tend to have periods of concentration, intense experiences, positive forward movement centered around our deepest aspirations, only to find that after some time the energy withdraws, or they sink back into old habits or comfortable patterns of the past. They may look for activities that do not take serious concentration and they act as distractions or which dissipate the energy. In today’s world, scrolling social media or watching mindless video reels can be added to traditional forms of distraction.

There is a truth behind this alternation between spiritual focus and periods of dissipation. The human instrument is not normally capable of sustained concentration and focus over long periods of time. Until the mind, the vital and the physical being have been trained for endurance and provided with the core ability to hold a focus, they will naturally back off from time to time.

These periods of apparent retrogression may cause the seeker to experience feelings of guilt, or fear of incapacity, when in fact, they are natural periods of recovery and assimilation in the long and arduous process of the spiritual sadhana and the transformation of the nature. They also act as signs of where effort can be fruitfully expended to create a new development or expansion of the spiritual force. They highlight immediate areas of restriction or weakness that can become the spur towards a new leap forward.

Sri Aurobindo observes: “An occasional sinking of the consciousness happens to everybody. The causes are various, some touch from outside, something not yet changed or not sufficiently changed in the vital, especially the lower vital, some inertia or obscurity rising up from the physical parts of nature. When it comes, remain quiet, open yourself to the Mother and call back the true conditions and aspire for a clear and undisturbed discrimination showing you from within yourself the cause of the thing that needs to be set right.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 3, In Difficulty, pg. 49

Understanding Fluctuations in the Force of the Spiritual Sadhana

The spiritual seeker tends to struggle with the constant recurrence of old thoughts, feelings, reactions and desires. He is also constantly confronted by changes in his energy levels and focus. Much of this is due to the underlying and deeply embedded energies that he has inherited as part of human nature as it has been developed and manifested. Some of this is due to education, expectations and societal pressures that have helped shape his being in this lifetime. Another portion is due to the constant changing of the three Gunas as they adjust their predominance from one moment to the next. And then, there is a portion that is based in the complex interaction between the different parts of the being and their characteristic (and varying from one another) ways and modes of acting and reacting.

As the seeker starts from the ego-consciousness and the external personality, he may be somewhat overwhelmed and not truly appreciate either what is taking place within his psychological makeup, nor the way to resolve the issues. Thus, he may become confused, despondent and dissatisfied with what he perceives to be a lack of progress or focus as these constant variations arise within him.

Endless amounts of patience are required as the seeker begins to appreciate the enormity of the work of transformation of human nature and the time frames and complexity involved in the process. He also needs to gain both an appreciation for and a continual focus on shifting the standpoint away from the external personality so that he can more and more shift the focus of the being away from external considerations, stay in contact with the psychic being and thereby create and maintain the conscious link to the higher forces of consciousness that actually carry out the transformative changes that are required.

Sri Aurobindo writes: “These fluctuations in the force of the aspiration and the power of the sadhana are unavoidable and common to all sadhaks until the whole being has been made ready for the transformation. When the psychic is in front or active and the mind and vital consent, then there is the intensity. When the psychic is less prominent and the lower vital has its ordinary movements or the mind its ignorant action, then the opposing forces can come in unless the sadhak is very vigilant. Inertia comes usually from the ordinary physical consciousness, especially when the vital is not actively supporting the sadhana. These things can only be cured by a persistent bringing down of the higher spiritual consciousness into all the parts of the being.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 3, In Difficulty, pp. 48-49

The Separation of States of Conscious Awareness Between the Waking State, the Sleep State and the Spiritual Realms

When we sleep we are generally oblivious to our waking state of consciousness; and conversely when we are awake, we are oblivious to what takes place during the sleep state. We sometimes get a few glimpses when we are in that ‘twilight’ condition between sleep and waking, or when we are aware of our dreams, but otherwise, what takes place during deep sleep remains very much a mystery. People do not generally reflect on this and they just take sleep for granted without exploring the consciousness active at that time; however, technological instruments are able to measure brainwave activity during sleep and it is quite certain that such activity takes place without our awareness of the content of that activity.

Similarly, there are stages of meditation, as well as various experiences of the spiritual planes where the awareness goes there, but when the individual returns to the waking consciousness, he does not have a clear conception of ‘what happened’ during that ‘other’ state of consciousness. Sometimes, as with our occasional awareness of elements of the sleep state, we bring back a feeling, a glimpse or an idea from that other realm of consciousness. For the most part however, there are generally partial transcriptions but not a full understanding and awareness of the status on the other side of the border beyond the waking state.

Mostly this turns out to be a lack of experience, or a lack of language, to describe something that is not part of the usual pattern of life. If the experiences repeat themselves, and the person becomes habituated to transitioning between the two statuses, it actually becomes possible to bring the power and understanding of that experience into the waking consciousness.

Sri Aurobindo notes: “The entire oblivion of the experience means merely that there is no sufficient bridge between the inner consciousness which has the experience in a kind of samadhi and the exterior waking consciousness. It is when the higher consciousness has made the bridge between them that the outer also begins to remember.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 3, In Difficulty, pg. 48

Addressing Obstacles, Weaknesses and Limitations Through the Connection with the Divine Power

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 concerns as they arise. Because the seeker generally starts from the standpoint of the ego, he tends to treat these things as personal failures or weaknesses, and he then tends to become fixated on addressing them with his own efforts, through exercise of willpower, or other means he has at his disposal.

He soon finds out, however, that these issues are larger and more deeply entrenched, being part of the general development of Nature in the world, than his own unaided effort can solve. The more he focuses on and fixates himself on these weaknesses, limitations and difficulties, the more they tend to overwhelm his efforts and he can quickly sink into a state of despair of ever finding the solution.

The solution lies, therefore, not in trying to accomplish the result using human powers, but through moving his focus away from this fixation, and shifting his attention to the Divine and his connection to the Divine. Through identification with the psychic being, he can get in touch with the deep aspiration, consecration, devotion, faith and dedication that links him to the Divine Power, which then can work in him to accomplish what he cannot do on his own.

Sri Aurobindo observes: “While the recognition of the Divine Power and the attunement of one’s own nature to it cannot be done without the recognition of the imperfections in that nature, yet it is a wrong attitude to put too much stress either on them or on the difficulties they create, or to distrust the Divine working because of the difficulties one experiences, or to lay too continual an emphasis on the dark side of things. To do this increases the force of the difficulties, gives a greater right of continuance to the imperfections. I do not insist on a Coueistic optimism — although excessive optimism is more helpful than excessive pessimism; that (Coueism) tends to cover up difficulties and there is, besides, always a measure to be observed in things. But there is no danger of your covering them up and deluding yourself with too bright an outlook; quite the contrary, you always lay stress too much on the shadows and by so doing thicken them and obstruct your outlets of escape into the Light. Faith, more faith! Faith in your possibilities, faith in the Power that is at work behind the veil, faith in the work that is to be done and the offered guidance.”

“There cannot be any high endeavour, least of all in the spiritual field, which does not raise or encounter grave obstacles of a very persistent character. These are both internal and external, and, although in the large they are fundamentally the same for all, there may be a great difference in the distribution of their stress or the outward form they take. But the one real difficulty is the attunement of the nature with the working of the Divine Light and Power. Get that solved and the others will either disappear or take a subordinate place; and even with those difficulties that are of a more general character, more lasting because they are inherent in the work of transformation, they will not weigh so heavily because the sense of the supporting Force and a greater power to follow its movements will be there.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 3, In Difficulty, pp. 47-48

Ascent and Integration Define Spiritual Progress for the Seeker

Transforming human nature does not happen overnight. There are thus periods when the spiritual force is actively experienced and descending into the being; and then, there are other periods where it needs to adjust the responses of the mind, the life energy and the physical body to both hold and accommodate the impact of the force and thereby create the needed changes. Sri Aurobindo describes this process as one of ascent and integration. Both are essential elements in the transformational process and the seeker soon learns that he can only receive a certain amount of Force at a time until the being is widened, the receptivity is enhanced and the necessary changes are being made to use that force. If the seeker ‘pulls’ the force it can be ‘spilled’ if the being is not prepared to hold it, and this can lead to various forms of imbalance, disruption or disturbances.

Eventually the seeker also recognises that the yoga is not fixated on accumulating experiences, but on the actual work of change needed to manifest the next stage of the evolution of consciousness, a work that involves addressing virtually every part of the being, every response, every reaction, every habit, every instinct, every trained action, to open the being to a new way of seeing, acting and responding. Thus the need for perspective, receptivity, continual faith and patience with the process.

Sri Aurobindo writes: “The length of your period of dullness is also no sufficient reason for losing belief in your capacity or your spiritual destiny. I believe that alternations of bright and dark periods are almost a universal experience of Yogis, and the exceptions are very rare. If one inquires into the reason of this phenomenon, — very unpleasant to our impatient human nature, — it will be found, I think, that they are in the main two. The first is that the human consciousness either cannot bear a constant descent of the Light or Power or Ananda, or cannot at once receive and absorb it; it needs periods of assimilation; but this assimilation goes on behind the veil of the surface consciousness; the experience or the realisation that has descended retires behind the veil and leaves this outer or surface consciousness to lie fallow and become ready for a new descent. In the more developed stages of the Yoga these dark or dull periods become shorter, less trying as well as uplifted by the sense of the greater consciousness which, though not acting for immediate progress, yet remains and sustains the outer nature. The second cause is some resistance, something in the human nature that has not felt the former descent, is not ready, is perhaps unwilling to change, — often it is some strong habitual formation of the mind or the vital or some temporary inertia of the physical consciousness and not exactly a part of the nature, — and this, whether showing or concealing itself, thrusts up the obstacle. If one can detect the cause in oneself, acknowledge it, see its workings and call down the Power for its removal, then the periods of obscurity can be greatly shortened and their acuity becomes less. But in any case the Divine Power is working always behind and one day, perhaps when one least expects it, the obstacle breaks, the clouds vanish and there is again the light and the sunshine. The best thing in these cases is, if one can manage it, not to fret, not to despond, but to insist quietly and keep oneself open, spread to the Light and waiting in faith for it to come; that I have found shortens the ordeals. Afterwards, when the obstacle disappears, one finds that a great progress has been made and that the consciousness is far more capable of receiving and retaining than before. There is a return for all the trials and ordeals of the spiritual life.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 3, In Difficulty, pp. 45-47

The Practitioner of the Integral Yoga Will Face Difficulties, Obstructions and Challenges With the Support of the Divine Force to Meet Them and Overcome Them

In Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol, Sri Aurobindo poses the question: ‘How shall he cure the ills he never felt’, in reference to the world redeemer’s task. There is a truth here that impacts every disciple and devotee of the integral yoga. Sri Aurobindo has set the objective as the transformation of all of human nature through the descent and integration of the next stage of evolution beyond the mental level. This power of consciousness cannot simply accept the ways of body, life and mind, as previously developed, without addressing the deformations, weaknesses, and resistance that they bring with them based on millennia-long habits and developed ways of seeing, thinking, acting and reacting.

First, the process implies that everyone, including of course all seekers, carry this legacy mode of acting within themselves, and thus, they will be faced with all kinds of obstructions, difficulties and limitations. Second, since the process of the yoga is intended to speed up the normally slower pace of Nature, it requires the conscious participation of the yogic practitioner. This in turn implies that the sadhak of the yoga will be confronted with all these pre-existing conditions and will need to work through them to reorient the entire ways of responding at each level of consciousness, down to the physical and even the subconscient levels.

It is therefore not realistic to assume that the sadhak is not faced with difficulties and challenges all along the way as the divine Force works through the mental obstructions, the emotional knots, the vital deformations and the physical resistance, tackles then the embedded reactions in the subconscient and then carries out the transformation while withstanding the impact of the unreformed general nature of humanity.

Sri Aurobindo encourages the sadhak by pointing out elsewhere that “He who chooses the Infinite has been chosen by the Infinite.” Any soul that is moved to take up this work has the support and aid of the evolutionary consciousness that is in the process of manifesting. Human doubts and fears are a result of the sadhak still responding from the ego-consciousness, which is doubtless going to occur for quite some time along the way.

Sri Aurobindo notes: “The existence of imperfections, even many and serious imperfections, cannot be a permanent bar to progress in the Yoga. (I do not speak of a recovery of the former opening, for according to my experience, what comes after a period of obstruction or struggle is usually a new and wider opening, some larger consciousness and an advance on what had been gained before and seems — but only seems — to be lost for the moment.) The only bar that can be permanent — but need not be, for this too can change — is insincerity, and this does not exist in you. If imperfection were a bar, then no man could succeed in Yoga; for all are imperfect, and I am not sure, from what I have seen, that it is not those who have the greatest power for Yoga who have too, very often, or have had the greatest imperfections. You know, I suppose, the comment of Socrates on his own character; that could be said by many great Yogins of their own initial human nature. In Yoga the one thing that counts in the end is sincerity and with it the patience to persist in the path — many even without this patience go through, for in spite of revolt, impatience, depression, despondency, fatigue, temporary loss of faith, a force greater than one’s outer self, the force of the Spirit, the drive of the soul’s need, pushes them through the cloud and the mist to the goal before them. Imperfections can be stumbling-blocks and give one a bad fall for the moment, but not a permanent bar. Obstructions due to some resistance in the nature can be more serious causes of delay, but they too do not last for ever.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 3, In Difficulty, pg. 45

The Value of the Witness Consciousness in the Yogic Endeavour

The witness consciousness is an extremely useful mode for the seeker to adopt in any attempt to overcome the limitations and deformations of the external nature, whether to try to attain liberation and release from the world, or, as Sri Aurobindo suggests, to work toward the eventual divinisation of life on earth through the evolution of consciousness.

If we look upon our being as a receiving and transmitting instrument of the forces active in the universal manifestation, we begin to recognise that stepping back from the process and observing it from a different standpoint provides an incredible power to both avoid entanglement with the forces that are operative normally, as well as manage those forces, utilizing the understanding provided by this observational viewpoint to align with the higher forces, the aspiration of the psychic entity at the center of the being, and to become receptive to and allow the action of the higher forces waiting to manifest here.

Without the instrumentality of the witness consciousness, we are enmeshed in the mix of forces at work that impinge upon our body, life and mind, in a confused and relatively undirected manner. The witness consciousness acts to align the being in one direction and to focus the attention on those energies that are helpful to the process of the evolutionary action.

Sri Aurobindo observes: “By so standing back it will be easier also for you to find a quiet poise in yourself, behind the surface struggle, from which you can more effectively call in the help to deliver you. The Divine presence, calm, peace, purity, force, light, joy, wideness are above waiting to descend in you. Find this quietude behind and your mind also will become quieter and through the quiet mind you can call down the descent first of the purity and peace and then of the Divine Force. If you can feel this peace and purity descending into you, you can then call it down again and again till it begins to settle; you will feel too the Force working in you to change the movements and transform the consciousness. In this working you will be aware of the presence and power of the Mother. Once that is done, all the rest will be a question of time and of the progressive evolution in you of your true and divine nature.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 3, In Difficulty, pg. 44

The True Foundation of the Yoga

We are generally so tied to our external 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. If we identify with the external personality, we believe that the thoughts, emotions, feelings, reactions, responses, moods and physical action belongs to us, is an essential part of ‘who we are’ and thus, we neither have the needed distance from it to see it clearly and dispassionately, nor do we realistically have the power to excise the movements that we recognise need to be changed or eliminated. We tend, then, to try to suppress these reactions, which only makes them stronger through the factor of compression; or else, we acknowledge our failure and fall into depression because we cannot succeed in our yogic endeavour.

On the other hand, if we look at the external body-life-mind complex as something that the soul chooses to inhabit for its own purposes in the divine manifestation, similar to putting on a suit of clothes, it is much easier to gain perspective and to reject or change reactions or habits as not belonging to anything essential to oneself.

Sri Aurobindo writes: “In your dealing with your difficulties and the wrong movements that assail you, you are probably making the mistake of identifying yourself with them too much and regarding them as part of your own nature. You should rather draw back from them, detach and dissociate yourself from them, regard them as movements of the universal lower imperfect and impure Nature, forces that enter into you and try to make you their instrument for their self-expression. By so detaching and dissociating yourself it will be more possible for you to discover and to live more and more in a part of yourself, your inner or your psychic being which is not attacked or troubled by these movements, finds them foreign to itself and automatically refuses assent to them and feels itself always turned to or in contact with the Divine Forces and the higher planes of consciousness. Find that part of your being and live in it; to be able to do so is the true foundation of the Yoga.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 3, In Difficulty, pp. 43-44

Standing Back from the Reactions of the External Nature

The action of the three Gunas rules our external nature. Rajas active in the vital being tends to fixate on the fulfillment and satisfaction of desires of whatever kind. Desires, however, cannot ever be fully satisfied as the fulfillment of a desire simply increases the vital’s push for more. A ‘groove’ is more or less created that is a known and easy pathway for energy to flow and thereafter, it tends to go down that path more easily than trying to take a different approach.

When a desire is not satisfied, it tends to recoil into the Guna of Tamas, which can bring about dissatisfaction, depression, weakness, lethargy or feelings of incapacity or insufficiency.

The action of the Gunas in the external nature is so automatic that people tend to get caught up in them and just accept them as the reality of their lives.

The spiritual seeker has before him the task of unraveling these reactions and responses and rewiring the direction of the energy flow toward the Divine. One of the most powerful methods is to create within oneself the ‘witness consciousness’ which stands back and observes the action of the external nature, and is able to see these reactions for what they are. He can also note that both satisfaction of the desire, and denial of the desire create results that keep the attention focused on the outer nature instead of on the spiritual aspiration itself. Eventually this witness can become more or less a neutral observer and not provide any sanction or support to those movements; rather, he can consciously turn his focus to the psychic being, and support the soul’s aspiration and the link to the Divine Presence and Reality.

Sri Aurobindo notes: “The rule in Yoga is not to let the depression depress you, to stand back from it, observe its cause and remove the cause; for the cause is always in oneself, perhaps a vital defect somewhere, a wrong movement indulged or a petty desire causing a recoil, sometimes by its satisfaction, sometimes by its disappointment. In Yoga a desire satisfied, a false movement given its head produces very often a worse recoil than disappointed desire.”

“What is needed for you is to live more deeply within, less in the outer vital and mental part which is exposed to these touches. The inmost psychic being is not oppressed by them; it stands in its own closeness to the Divine and sees the small surface movements as surface things foreign to the true Being.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 3, In Difficulty, pg. 43