Understanding the Influence of the Subconscient on Our Conscious Experience

While we tend to believe that our consciousness is centered in the region of the brain, or in some cases, the heart, there is really a much broader framework for consciousness. There are different forms that consciousness takes. These forms vibrate at different frequencies and are then taken up and processed by the various subtle energy centers aligned along the spine, based on which vibratory pattern and frequency can be picked up by these centres or chakras, as they are called. Thus, vibrations that occur at a level that we call ‘mental’, i.e. thoughts, perceptions, etc. are processed through centers in the brain, while those that characterize various vital activities are processed through the centers in the sacral, solar plexus and the heart area primarily, and those that deal with pure physical energies are primarily processed through the first chakra, called the Muladhara.

Just as we now recognize that the electro-magnetic spectrum is far broader than our senses can perceive and process, that is, there are colors and sounds, for example, that are in ranges both above and below those that our senses capture, so also there are ranges of consciousness both above and below those normally captured within the subtle energy centers that process the vibrations that define what we call the human consciousness.

The forces vibrating either above or below our level of perception still impact us. For example, Ultraviolet (UV) can cause blindness even if not directly seen, and Infra-red causes heating and burns, again without being directly seen. Similarly, forces of consciousness above the vibratory pattern captured by the 7 primary chakras, or below them, also impact human consciousness, which provides us with an understanding of how various lower vibrational forces can drag us down in our energies, feelings, emotions and thoughts; or how various higher vibrational forces can uplift and energize us.

Sri Aurobindo observes: “The Muladhar is the centre of the physical consciousness proper, and all below in the body is the sheer physical, which as it goes downward becomes increasingly subconscient, but the real seat of the subconscient is below the body, as the real seat of the higher consciousness (superconscient) is above the body. At the same time, the subconscient can be felt anywhere, felt as something below the movement of the consciousness and, in a way, supporting it from beneath or else drawing the consciousness down towards itself. The subconscient is the main support of all habitual movements, especially the physical and lower vital movements. When something is thrown out of the vital or physical, it very usually goes down into the subconscient and remains there as if in seed and comes up again when it can. That is the reason why it is so difficult to get rid of habitual vital movements or to change the character; for, supported or refreshed from this source, preserved in this matrix, your vital movements, even when suppressed or repressed, surge up again and recur. The action of the subconscient is irrational, mechanical, repetitive. It does not listen to reason or the mental will. It is only by bringing the higher Light and Force into it that it can change.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 5, Physical Consciousness — Subconscient — Sleep and Dream — Illness, pp. 86-87

Changing or Eliminating a Habit of the Physical Consciousness

The physical consciousness is very much driven by habit, routine and fixed response patterns. We can observe this in our eating routines, our sleep routines, and other habitual actions. The mind and the vital can influence the physical consciousness through programming routines or habits into it, essentially training the physical to respond to specific stimuli and act in a certain manner when presented with the situation. All forms of physical exercise and repetitive activity are building new habits into the physical consciousness. When we undertake a diet, or begin fasting, or take up bodybuilding, or swimming or any other activity that requires physical training, we are working to break established patterns of caloric intake, or timing of meals, or find ways to upgrade the responsiveness of the physical being to achieve what it is being called upon to do, etc.

Once we understand both the nature of the physical consciousness with respect to its habitual patterned action, and the manner in which the mind and vital can train or retrain the physical nature to acquire new habits, we can actually initiate various changes in the physical consciousness.

If we look at any form of training, we understand that it takes precise instruction from the mind, repetition of the action and time for the body to form a new habit of response. Similarly, if we look at breaking or changing an existing habit, such as set mealtimes, snacking routines, or any other physical habit, we see that this also takes consistency and time to bear fruit.

Recognising this process, we have both a “negative” and a “positive” method to put into practice. To the extent that the mind or the vital nature approves and supports the habit, it will continue and actually be reinforced. Even if we give in to it, time after time, it should not be with consent but with a patient and quiet will to reduce or eliminate the unwanted response or habit. For example, one has a craving for some snack, say a piece of chocolate. One feels the ‘urge’ to get a piece of chocolate. The mind, observing this impulse, can turn down the request, or at least can send forth a ‘directive’ to the physical that it really does not want to support this request. If the urge is strong, and repetitive, it may overpower the mental will for a time, but eventually the mental will can prevail and change the habit. Many people who formerly consumed meat diets have switched to vegetarian or vegan diets in this way. Even if they gave in to an impulse or craving at some point along the way, the direction and force was set, and eventually they succeeded.

On the positive side, the mind and vital can send affirmative statements to the physical being encouraging it to do positive things that support the aspiration, improve the health and well-being of the body and make it more capable of achieving the intended result. In such case, it is important for the mind and vital to recognise the process and the time and not injure the body through taking it far beyond its current limits; rather, using the process of repetition over time to inculcate a new set of responses and habits.

Sri Aurobindo writes: “You should not allow yourself to be discouraged by any persistence of the movements of the lower vital nature. There are some that tend always to persist and return until the whole physical nature is changed by the transformation of the most material consciousness; till then their pressure recurs — sometimes with a revival of their force, sometimes more dully — as a mechanical habit. Take from them all life-force by refusing any mental or vital assent; then the mechanical habit will become powerless to influence the thoughts and acts and will finally cease.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 5, Physical Consciousness — Subconscient — Sleep and Dream — Illness, pg. 86

The Need for Patience and Perseverance to Bring About Evolutionary Change of Consciousness

It is essential for the spiritual seeker to maintain his view of the long-term objectives and the time frames of the evolution of consciousness in Nature, in order for him to avoid becoming overly anxious about specific setbacks or delays in completing transforming the external physical consciousness. When an individual takes up the practice of yoga, he begins to observe the defects and limitations of the existing formulation of not only his own external being, but of the external life, in general. If he does not take the path of abandonment of that life, the path of the ascetic, but chooses instead the integral path of unification of spirit and matter and the transformation rather than the abandonment of the external life, he finds that the entire structure of the mental life, the vital life and the physical life needs to change.

Looking back at the history of the evolution of consciousness provides needed context for the daily setbacks and difficulties. Evolution of a next stage of consciousness in the world takes place, not overnight, but over time frames that far exceed our short human life experience. The development of life out of matter took millions of years. Similarly, the development of mind out of life itself took a long time, although this occurred somewhat faster in geological time than the prior stage.

We are now at a threshold of the evolution of the next phase of consciousness, a stage which takes awareness beyond the mind, which Sri Aurobindo calls the ‘supramental’ consciousness. This phase may proceed more quickly than the prior stages, if we look at the evolutionary process, but that does not mean that all the existing formulations, habits, instincts, reactions, and responses change overnight just because a seeker wants it to happen.

It is with this perspective that the seeker needs to both carry out the concentration and focus needed, while at the same time maintaining the patience and understanding of the lengthy process involved, and the persistent efforts needed constantly to help shepherd these changes along. The process is necessarily one with day to day failure acting as the stepping stone to the eventual success, given the nature of the process, the embedded resistance and conservative principle, and the time Nature requires to fix definitive changes into the prior evolved principles so that they can operate in the new environment brought about by the newly evolved powers.

Sri Aurobindo notes: “These variations in the consciousness during the day are a thing that is common to almost everybody in the sadhana. The principle of oscillation, relaxation, relapse to a normal or a past lower condition from a higher state that is experienced but not yet perfectly stable, becomes very strong and marked when the working of the sadhana is in the physical consciousness. For there is an inertia in the physical nature that does not easily allow the intensity natural to the higher consciousness to remain constant, — the physical is always sinking back to something more ordinary; the higher consciousness and its force have to work long and come again and again before they can become constant and normal in the physical nature. Do not be disturbed or discouraged by these variations or this delay, however long and tedious; remain careful only to be quiet always with an inner quietude and as open as possible to the higher Power, not allowing any really adverse condition to get hold of you. If there is no adverse wave, then the rest is only a persistence of imperfections which all have in abundance; that imperfection and persistence the Force must work out and eliminate, but for the elimination time is needed.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 5, Physical Consciousness — Subconscient — Sleep and Dream — Illness, pg. 85

Slogging Through the Dense and Dull Consciousness of the Physical Being

The natural seat of the Guna of sattwa is in the mental being; rajas in the vital being and tamas in the physical being. This is not to imply that there are not times and situations where one of the other qualities comes forward in any of these three aspects of our external being; on the contrary, we can identify tamasic and rajasic elements in the mental being, as well as sattwic and tamasic elements in the vital being, and sattwic and rajasic elements in the physical being. The ‘natural seat’ simply implies that the most prominent general location for a particular Guna in action lies in a portion of the being that is prone to express the kind of characteristics associated with that Guna.

If we focus then on the physical being in the situation of the coming to the fore of the quality of tamas, we can experience it as a dullness, unwillingness to do anything, emptiness, darkness and a sense of nothing being able to move forward. For a spiritual aspirant, this is an extremely uncomfortable status, yet he may feel quite overwhelmed by the intensity of the darkness and the potential despair that accompanies it.

In those moments, it is difficult for the seeker to see that there is any way out of this morass. It is important that he recognise that the Gunas are always in motion, and that none of them can hold the field forever. Eventually, the only solution is to keep going, putting one foot in front of the other and moving forward, however slow, however difficult, however tiresome and however hopeless it seems.

It may help to reflect on Milarepa’s experience. Racked by all-consuming guilt for the suffering he had caused seeking revenge through use of black magic, he sought out a Guru to guide him toward spiritual realisation in one lifetime. The Guru, rather than providing the teachings he was granting to other disciples, put Milarepa to work doing backbreaking building, and then unbuilding of stone structures without taking any assistance, using his own physical body as the sole means of carrying out this work. This went on for some years, and eventually, Milarepa reached a state of extreme despair that he would ever get the necessary teachings and achieve the realisation, to the point that he even considered committing suicide. It was only after this long dark period that he was actually given the teachings which would eventually lead to a liberated state of consciousness. His tribulations go far beyond what most people, immersed in the dull routine of the physical consciousness, have to bear, and they went on for far longer than most people are stuck in that dull, meaningless routine of the daily round without seeming purpose or even energy to make it interesting or even remotely leading to progress.

Sri Aurobindo observes: ” ‘At the mercy of the external sounds and external bodily sensations.’, ‘no control to drop the ordinary consciousness at will’, ‘the whole tendency of the being away from Yoga’ — all that is unmistakably applicable to the physical mind and the physical consciousness when they isolate themselves, as it were, and take up the whole front, pushing the rest into the background. When a part of the being is brought forward to be worked upon for change, this kind of all-occupying emergence, the dominant activity of that part is if it alone existed, very usually happens, and unfortunately it is always what has to be changed, the undesirable conditions, the difficulties of that part which rise first and obstinately hold the field and recur. In the physical it is inertia, obscurity, inability that come up and the obstinacy of these things. The only thing to do in this unpleasant phase is to be more obstinate than the physical inertia and to persist in a fixed endeavour — steady persistency without any restless struggle — to get a wide and permanent opening made even in this solid rock of obstruction.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 5, Physical Consciousness — Subconscient — Sleep and Dream — Illness, pp. 84-85

The Physical Consciousness and the Method of Effectuating Change in It

The integral yoga operates on the principle of the Force descending from above and working through the mind, the emotions, the vital and finally into the physical nature. While some action may take place in the sadhana out of a specific order, this is the general case, as the issue of addressing and definitively changing the embedded habits and predilections of the physical nature naturally is easier if the mind, the heart and the vital nature are all cooperating in the process.

It thus frequently occurs that the seeker is encouraged and uplifted by experiences of peace, clarity, wideness, spiritual insights and experiences, devotion, consecration etc. as the Force opens the higher levels. It is thus something of a shock when these things seemingly disappear and the physical nature comes to the forefront. One suddenly appears to lose the direct connection to the higher aspiration and the working of the Force, and faces a period, which can be somewhat lengthy, when everything becomes a chore, when one feels like nothing is moving, when the seeker experiences waking, eating, working, sleeping, with nothing to inspire or uplift him. The connection withdraws and many have described such experiences as a ‘dark night of the soul’ or they cry out with soulful lament about the withdrawal of the Divine Beloved from immediate presence.

It is important for the seeker to remember that this is a phase, or stage, that actually implies substantial progress has occurred. The physical nature is only taken up as a focus once preparation has occurred in the mind and the vital. The withdrawal is only apparent, not real. The Divine Force continues to work even though the seeker only can see the full presence of the physical nature for the time being. Eventually, when enough has been prepared, the seeker will see a return of the palpable connection to the spiritual force and a progress at the level of the physical consciousness will have been made.

This implies the seeker must continue to have confidence in the Divine, patience for the time it takes, and peace as the process works itself out. To the extent possible, he should continue to focus on the aspiration and receptivity, even if it seems like it is not having any effect. No effort is without effect!

Sri Aurobindo writes: “It is the most physical consciousness of which you have become aware; it is like that in almost everyone: when one gets fully or exclusively into it, one feels it to be like that of an animal, either obscure and restless or inert and stupid and in either condition not open to the Divine. It is only by bringing the Force and higher consciousness into it that it can fundamentally alter. When these things show themselves do not be upset by their emergence, but understand that they are there to be changed.”

“Here as elsewhere, quiet is the first thing needed, to keep the consciousness quiet, not allow it to get agitated and in turmoil. Then in the quiet to call for the Force to clear up all this obscurity and change it.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 5, Physical Consciousness — Subconscient — Sleep and Dream — Illness, pg. 84

The Material Consciousness and Its Resistance to Change

There is a proverb that says that changing human nature is like trying to straighten out a dog’s tail. As soon as the hold is taken off of the tail, it reverts to its usual shape. When we reach the level of the material consciousness, we are at the point where the ‘solidity’ of matter makes change much more challenging than in the more flexible levels of the mental consciousness, the vital consciousness, etc. Another proverb says that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks.

We all can recognise that training the body to enhance the capacity or skill set, or overcome some limitation is a process that takes time and much consistency in order for it to be achieved. There are, however, embedded deep in the physical consciousness, layers of material consciousness that are so dense and solid that they do not respond to our normal mental and vital methods of exerting pressure for change. At this level are what can be called ‘reflexes’. The action is virtually automatic: when a stimulus is applied in a certain place the material consciousness responds with a known and predictable response.

Some of these reflexes or mechanical reactions are embedded in what we call instincts. There are birds that build a nest in a very specific manner from generation to generation. Salmon are known to return to the exact location where they were born to spawn the next generation. Monarch butterflies migrate thousands of miles from Mexico to Canada and back, going and coming to specific locales from generation to generation, in migrations that span 4 to 5 generations of the Monarch. These types of instinctive behaviour are illustrative of the way Nature has fixed certain routines. The individuals are replaced, the formations remain the same.

In a similar way, the human being also has some deeply embedded behaviours that defy our attempts to modify them. Alpha male behaviour and the response to that by others in the society, pecking orders, fight or flight reactions, responses to trauma, the flood of various hormones and neuro-transmitters under specific conditions, all represent virtually automatic reactions. Then there are the automatic reactions based in attraction/repulsion, the ‘survival instinct’, disgust or revulsion, trust and fear, hunger and thirst, all of which can arise without our conscious intervention when certain forces impinge upon us.

These, and other similar long-established habits of the nature, are part of Nature’s process to ensure that change does not devolve into chaos. It establishes a conservative principle to make change take place through a long period of modification, testing and establishment of a new principle of action. This occurs both at the individual level and at the level of society.

At a certain point, however, this conservative principle can lead to stagnation and decay if there is no opportunity for change, growth, development and modification. A fixed and unchanging response, which lacks adaptability and flexibility, eventually fails the test of Nature. Nature thus has developed also progressive principles that can lead to new manifestations and changes in these deeply embedded responses. Changes at this level can seem to be impossibly slow, but eventually they take hold. The conservative nature and principle of this mechanical consciousness will eventually adopt the modification and then, in its turn, make it into a fixed routine or dogmatic approach, until the next phase of development finally can break through the dense tamasic formation that is created at that level.

We can appreciate that the vital force has a limited, yet real, power to effectuate change in material nature. The mental power has shown a greater capacity to bring about change at the level of Matter and the material consciousness, although this too is limited. We can understand that a new higher power of consciousness and action, embodying the next phase of the evolution of consciousness, may be able to create a faster and more supple response to understand and break through the resistance of the material consciousness, while at the same time ensuring that this is not simply wild change for the sake of change, but is actually bringing our existence to its next level of fulfillment.

Sri Aurobindo notes: “What you describe is the material consciousness: it is mostly subconscient, but the part of it that is conscious is mechanical, inertly moved by habits or by the forces of the lower nature. Always repeating the same unintelligent and unenlightened movements, it is attached to the routine and established rule of what already exists, unwilling to change, unwilling to receive the Light or obey the higher Force. Or, if it is willing, then it is unable. Or, if it is able, then it turns the action given to it by the Light or the Force into a new mechanical routine and so takes out of it all soul and life. It is obscure, stupid, indolent, full of ignorance and inertia, darkness and slowness of tamas.“

“It is this material consciousness into which we are seeking to bring first the higher (divine or spiritual) Light and Power and Ananda, and then the Supramental Truth which is the object of our Yoga.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 5, Physical Consciousness — Subconscient — Sleep and Dream — Illness, pp. 83-84

The Physical Consciousness and Its Functions

Most people, when asked, attribute consciousness to the mind, and center it in the brain. But consciousness does not stop there and, indeed, there are various types of consciousness associated with different aspects of the being. There is a mental consciousness, an emotional consciousness, a vital consciousness and even a physical consciousness. People do not generally recognise the physical consciousness for what it is, and therefore, they tend to underestimate it and its potential as an aid in the spiritual development.

The physical consciousness acts independent of conscious control by the mental consciousness. The mind and the vital consciousness can impact the physical consciousness and help to build up its capacity and awareness, or they can interfere with its action, causing severe disruptions. We understand the power of training the body to undertake certain tasks, developing what is called ‘muscle memory’. If we reflect closely however, we see that the body functions best if the mind and vital are not actively trying to ‘micro-manage’ it. There is a well-known phenomenon in sports, such as elite gymnastics, that is called (in that event) the “twisties”. Essentially, the body is trained, tuned and brought to a peak of capacity in certain complex gymnastic skills. At the top world competitive level, such as the Olympic Games, there is considerable mental and emotional pressure to perform and at a certain point, if the gymnast starts trying to manage or control the body through thought, will-power or vital force, the body becomes confused and serious injuries, including fatalities, can occur. In a recent Olympic Games, the top woman’s gymnast withdrew when she noted that she could no longer simply let her body carry out what it knew how to do because of these mental and vital pressures and interventions. It is clear from this example that the body has its own consciousness and it can, and does, function best when it is allowed to do that without admixture from outside beyond it being given the understanding and the training needed to carry out those tasks.

If we delve deeper, however, we see that the physical consciousness carries out instinctive behaviours, and even automatic responses that allow the body to function in the first place and respond to pressures and threats to health and well-being. This consciousness carries out the breath function, the immune system function, the operation of all the internal organs at a level of detail and efficiency that we cannot even fully mentally understand. Just imagine if we had to mentally try to control the working of the kidneys, the liver, the pancreas, the thyroid, or any other internal organ, the heart, the lungs, the movement of impulses through the physical nerves, etc. Everything would break down, and nothing would work properly. One of the risks of undertaking various forms of hatha yoga or kundalini yoga practices is just that they represent an interference with the normal automatic function. To some degree, with guidance and patience, enhancements can be made, but the risk of imbalance is always there.

The cells of the body also store memories! Traumatic events frequently get embedded in various parts of the body and can lead to chronic tension in the shoulders and neck, or other forms of pain that manifest when triggered. Some of the impulses that come to the body actually also act as triggers for awareness that has been stored at the cellular level.

Thus we see the physical consciousness is both real and far more subtle and complex than we ordinarily consider it to be. At a certain point in time, the evolutionary force has to begin to adapt and change this level of the being so that it can receive and hold the new forms of consciousness that are in the process of manifesting. There is also a process of evolution of forms, as noted by Charles Darwin, that represents the slow evolutionary response of the physical consciousness to new demands and needs as higher levels of awareness manifest through time.

Sri Aurobindo observes: “Our object is the supramental realisation and we have to do whatever is necessary for that or towards that under the conditions of each stage. At present the necessity is to prepare the physical consciousness; for that a complete equality and peace and a complete dedication free from personal demand or desire in the physical and the lower vital parts are the things to be established. Other things can come in their proper time. What is needed now is the psychic opening in the physical consciousness and the constant presence and guidance there.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 5, Physical Consciousness — Subconscient — Sleep and Dream — Illness, pg. 83

The Need for Action of the Psychic Being in the Yoga of Transformation of Human Nature

In a certain sense, pursuing one of the paths that lead to liberation from human life is actually simpler and less complicated than a path that calls for the total change and transformation of human nature. In the first case, the seeker can choose to disregard the external life and the external nature, focus on the spiritual objective and, with sufficient concentration, can reach the objective, whether it is called liberation, moksha, or nirvana, or possible attainment of heaven after the death of the body. To the extent that such realisations depend on a particular form of concentration, and removal of distractions to that concentration, there may be a similar path for at least some time as the seeker learns how to undertake tapasya, concentration of conscious force.

After some time, however, the differences begin to appear between those who seek liberation through abandonment of the external world of action, and those who participate in a process of transformation that necessarily involves both the initial need for tapasya, and a new relationship to the external life and the external world.

The integral yoga clearly defines its objective as one of transformation. The question arises whether this can be done through the normal means of isolation, vital suppression, mental focus and concentration of the mental will power, prayer, dedication and devotion, or whether some new force or power is required to overcome the deeply embedded elements of physical, vital and mental powers active in the external being.

After much review and many attempts with various methods, Sri Aurobindo has made it clear that the yoga of transformation, that involves the descent and action of a next stage of the evolution of consciousness, is not something that can be achieved solely by the action of the mental will or the desire soul or the physical body’s capacities. The new higher spiritual force is needed to understand and act upon the obstructions, limitations, embedded instincts and habits, trained responses of the nature. This is called forth through the action of the psychic being, the soul within, that is in contact with the higher spiritual powers and which can tune, focus and disseminate the action of the spiritual power infusing it into the mind, the vital energy and the body.

Sri Aurobindo writes: “Your difficulty in getting rid of the aboriginal in your nature will remain so long as you try to change your vital part by the sole or main strength of your mind and mental will, calling in at most an indefinite and impersonal divine power to aid you. It is an old difficulty which has never been radically solved in life itself because it has never been met in the true way. In many ways of yoga it does not so supremely matter because the aim is not a transformed life but withdrawal from life. When that is the object of an endeavour, it may be sufficient to keep the vital down by a mental and moral compulsion, or else it may be stilled and kept lying in a kind of sleep and quiescence. There are some even who allow it to run and exhaust itself if it can while its possessor professes to be untouched and unconcerned by it; for it is only old Nature running on by a past impetus and will drop off with the fall of the body. When none of these solutions can be attained, the sadhak sometimes simply leads a double inner life, divided between his spiritual experiences and his vital weaknesses to the end, making the most of his better part, making as little as may be of the outer being. But none of these methods will do for our purpose. If you want a true mastery and transformation of the vital movements, it can be done only on condition you allow your psychic being, the soul in you, to awake fully, to establish its rule and opening all to the permanent touch of the Divine Shakti, impose its own way of pure devotion, whole-hearted aspiration and complete uncompromising urge to all that is divine on the mind and heart and vital nature. There is no other way and it is no use hankering after a more comfortable path. Nanyaha pantha vidyate ayanaya.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 4, Desire — Food — Sex, pp. 81-82

Physical Austerities, Self-Torture, Fasting and the Mastery of the Sexual Impulse

There is a considerable history within the religious and spiritual traditions of the world, of the use of various forms of self-inflicted physical suffering to restrain the basic sexual impulse. Part of this arises through an attempt at ‘disciplining’ the physical being to not stray from whatever the specific objective of the particular path happens to be. Another part arises through the dogma that sex is a ‘sin’ and the body is born ‘sinful’ and thus, needs to be punished. Yet another part comes through the vital nature’s desire for excitement, attention and action. If it cannot get it through sexual activity then it substitutes various forms of painful suppression as a sort of sado-masochistic alternative. And part of it comes through a sense of frustration at the inability of the mind and will to simply bring about compliance by the vital nature and the physical body.

Whatever the reasoning behind adopting any of these methods, the reality is simply that they do not actually succeed. The result tends to be weakening of the body and the focusing of the attention on the suppression of the sex-drive and the physical means being employed, rather than on the aspiration, the tuning of the consciousness to the spiritual force, and the strengthening and increasing the positive supportive action of the body, life and mind in the spiritual transformation. As we know, harsh suppression tends to increase the power of the force being suppressed, so that in the end, it can become even more aggressively powerful when it gets the opportunity to escape from the active conscious will that is suppressing it.

Sri Aurobindo notes: “Hurting the flesh is no remedy for the sex-impulse; though it may be a temporary diversion. It is the vital and mostly the vital-physical that takes the sense-perception as pleasure or otherwise.”

“Reduction of diet has not usually a permanent effect. It may give a greater sense of physical or vital-physical purity, lighten the system and reduce certain kinds of tamas. But the sex-impulse can very well accommodate itself to a reduced diet. It is not by physical means but by a change in the consciousness that these things can be surmounted.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 4, Desire — Food — Sex, pp. 80-81

The Sex Impulse, the Subconscient and the Spiritual Practice

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 external 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. When the waking consciousness withdraws, and along with it the active mental control that it exerts, the unnoticed and ‘undigested’ impressions have the ability to rise and take the form of dreams in many cases, as well as a general restlessness during sleep.

When we live an isolated life, away from modern media and the energetic force of modern society, we obviously do not capture as many of these impressions directly as we do if we are actively involved in the external life of the world. For example, as the world has become hyper-sexualized in its imagery and energy, even those who are focused on other things, or who actively reject sexual energies from their being are exposed to the impressions that get embedded in the subconscient layers of the being, there to arise when the control is absent, or when somehow triggered by some past experience, event or formation.

The spiritual seeker may avoid sexual expression or focus and yet have an experience in dream. This can be seen as a highly positive fact, as it implies that the sexual tendency has been mostly reduced or eliminated from the active consciousness. The risk, and therefore, the area for required vigilance, is that when the sexual dream arises the seeker will accept it or even, allow it to gain a foothold in the waking consciousness through action, or through imagination or visualization.

The sexual impulse, as it is so deeply bound to the physical and vital nature, will always attempt to reestablish itself through environmental pressure, through the rising of sexual impulses in the subconscient, and from there, an attempt to obtain the acquiescence and active support of the waking consciousness.

At a certain point in the sadhana, it is possible for the seeker to become conscious even in sleep, to maintain his dedicated aspiration and thereby to reject the pressure if it tries to arise in dreams. Note that becoming conscious in sleep does not mean fighting to stay awake, but rather, to infuse the aspiration so completely into the consciousness that it permeates even the subconscious realm of the being.

Sri Aurobindo observes: “This kind of sexual attack through sleep does not depend very much on food or anything else that is outward. It is a mechanical habit in the subconscient; when the sexual impulse is rejected or barred out in the waking thoughts and feelings, it comes in this form in sleep, for then there is only the subconscient at work and there is no conscious control. It is a sign of sexual desire suppressed in the waking mind and vital, but not eliminated in the stuff of the physical nature.”

“To eliminate it one must first be careful to harbour no sexual imagination or feeling in the waking state, next, to put a strong will on the body and especially on the sexual centre that there should be nothing of the kind in sleep. This may not succeed at once, but if persevered in for a long time, it usually has a result; the subconscient begins to obey.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 4, Desire — Food — Sex, pg. 80