How To Deal With Hostile Forces

Forces at work in the world try to effectuate themselves and perpetuate their action. They seek for receptive vessels to manifest and carry out their line of action. As these waves of energy, these vibrations move out into the world, they naturally come across elements and beings that are not subject to vibration within that range, and thus, do not react. They also come across those that are able to vibrate to the force that is moving, and this sets up a ‘sympathetic’ vibratory pattern, or, if passed along, a ‘repeater’ or ‘signal booster’ that enhances the impact of that vibration as it continues to move.

If we look within ourselves, we can see what occurs. Someone comes and starts shouting in anger about something we may (or may not) have done that they are upset about. Or someone has their feelings hurt and a conversation gets out of hand. Soon there is a shouting match, or even blows can be exchanged. We have responded to the vibration of anger with a ‘sympathetic’ vibration of anger! Similarly, most people have been in situations where fear is being systematically promulgated, perhaps through the news media reporting, or through armed confrontations. In the early 1970’s there were protests against the Vietnam War that took place in Washington D.C. The response of the government was to send highly armed and shielded police into the area to break up the crowds, arrest people and put an end to the peaceful protests. The same thing took place in the late 1960’s in other parts of the country. Many of the participants, who were peaceful, law abiding and concerned citizens trying to let their government know about their concerns about the war, experienced extreme instances of fear, as the intimidation factor raised up the fear vibration within them.

Various vital beings provoke responses in order to feed off the energy released. Pandemic diseases tend to send out a wave of fear across broad swaths of the population. Similarly, an accident in a venue such as a stadium or club tends to spark a panic rush for the exits and many people are injured in the ensuing crush.

It is a quite common experience that is illlustrated by these extreme examples, but which occurs daily in most lives. We can observe ourselves vibrating along with the energy that is coming at us, seen or unseen! We are however, not meant to be puppets, playthings or victims to every force that moves in the world. We have certain capacities we can cultivate to reduce or even eliminate the corresponding ‘sympathetic vibration’ within ourselves. This is the cultivation of equanimity which the Mother speaks about, the development of calm, peace and equality which Sri Aurobindo often references. As long as we are capable of receiving the vibration and allow ourselves to be captured by that vibration, we can recognise that we harbour that energy within ourselves. Otherwise, we would be unshakable and the vibration would simply pass us by. It is not by our human strength that we can overcome all these powerful forces. We need to be able to shift our focus and energy to a higher force that will vibrate within us at a level that neutralizes, rejects and, in some cases, even transforms the vibration as it reaches us.

A disciple asks: “How is one to meet adverse forces — forces that are invisible and yet quite living and tangible?”

The Mother writes: “A great deal depends on the stage of development of your consciousness. At the beginning, if you have no special occult knowledge and power, the best you can do is to keep as quiet and peaceful as possible. If the attack takes the form of adverse suggestions try quietly to push them away, as you would some material object. The quieter you are, the stronger you become. The firm basis of all spiritual power is equanimity. You must not allow anything to disturb your poise: you can then resist every kind of attack. If, besides, you possess sufficient discernment and can see and catch the evil suggestions as they come to you, it becomes all the more easy for you to push them away; but sometimes they come unnoticed, and then it is more difficult to fight them. When that happens, you must sit quiet and call down peace and a deep inner quietness. Hold yourself firm and call with confidence and faith: if your aspiration is pure and steady, you are sure to receive help.”

“Attacks from adverse forces are inevitable; you have to take them as tests on your way and go courageously through the ordeal. The struggle may be hard, but when you come out of it you have gained something, you have advanced a step. There is even a necessity for the existence of the hostile forces. They make your determination stronger, your aspiration clearer.”

“It is true, however, that they exist because you gave them reason to exist. So long as there is something in you which answers to them, their intervention is perfectly legitimate. If nothing in you responded, if they had no hold upon any part of your nature, they would retire and leave you. In any case, they need not stop or hamper your spiritual progress.”

“The only way to fail in your battle with the hostile forces is not to have a true confidence in the divine help. Sincerity in the aspiration always brings down the required succour. A quiet call, a conviction that in this ascension towards the realisation you are never walking all alone and a faith that whenever help is needed it is there, will lead you through easily and securely.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Looking from Within, Chapter 4, Ordeals and Difficulties, pp.91-92

Close Observation Can Identify the Influence of Vital Beings and Forces

One of the key points in any attempt to change one’s actions or reactions, one’s behaviour or characteristic ways of responding to situations, is to determine, through careful observation, that these things are not an essential part of oneself or one’s character; rather, that they are external to oneself, and thus, can be changed or dispensed with more easily than if one accepts their centrality in one’s own being.

One of the most powerful methods is to bifurcate the being inwardly and shift the stance of observation from the surface nature to what Sri Aurobindo calls the ‘witness consciousness’, the standpoint of the Purusha, observing the actions of the nature, Prakriti. The Purusha is unmoved and does not accept these actions as its own. It thus gains the power to deny, remove or modify that is not readily available when one feels bound up and intimately connected to the actions of the nature as essential components of one’s existence.

Once one attains the standpoint of the witness, however, even further understanding results. One begins to recognise that most, if not all, that one takes as one’s own decisions or reactions actually originates outside oneself. A vibration occurs and it strikes the consciousness, perhaps in a very subtle manner, enters into the being, sets off a ‘sympathetic’ vibration internally, which then can rise to the surface and suddenly we are reacting based on that vibrational pattern.

It is through this means that one can begin to recognise the action of vital forces and beings as they attempt to take control of one’s reactions. Sometimes one feels a ripple in one’s vital envelope as the vibrations work their way into the being. Sometimes it may register as a feeling of discomfort in the physical body. In other cases, it may become a nagging thought or idea that pushes one into a certain line of action. In many cases, the vibration is contrary to one’s own normal state of being, and thus, an observant ‘witness’ can spot the anomaly and recognise the foreign nature of the pressure. This understanding may take time to develop, through repeated inner attempts at observation.

Many people have taken up the practice of ‘mindfulness’ or vipassana. This practice requires the individual to undertake each action consciously, with full attention. it also means that every internal reaction or response needs to be observed and thus, it can potentially aid in gaining the observational leverage needed to spot the influx of the vital influences.

The Mother observes: “There it is a little easier to recognise the influence, for, if you are the least bit attentive, you become aware of something that has suddenly awakened within you. For example, those who are in the habit of losing their temper, if they have attempted ever so little to control their anger, they will find something coming from outside or rising from below which actually takes hold of their consciousness and arouses anger in them. I don’t mean that everybody is capable of this discernment; I am speaking of those who have tried to understand their being and control it. These adverse suggestions are easier to distinguish than, for instance, your response to the will or desire of a being who is of the same nature as yourself, another human being, who consequently acts on you without this giving you a clear impression of something coming from outside: the vibrations are too alike, too similar in their nature, and you have to be much more attentive and have a much sharper discernment to realise that these movements which seem to come out from you are not really yours but come from outside. But with the adverse forces, if you are in the least sincere and observe yourself attentively, you become aware that it is something in the being which is responding to an influence, an impulse, a suggestion, even something at times very concrete, which enters and produces similar vibrations in the being.”

“There, now. That is the problem.”

“The remedy?… It is always the same: goodwill, sincerity, insight, patience — oh! an untiring patience and a perseverance which assures you that what you have not succeeded in doing today, you will succeed in doing another time, and makes you go on trying until you do succeed.”

“And this brings us back to Sri Aurobindo’s sentence: if this control seems to you quite impossible today, well, that means that not only will it be possible, but that it will be realised later.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, The Hidden Forces of Life, Ch. 3 Hidden Forces Around, pp. 61-62

Suggestions Coming from the Vital World Also Impact Our Responses

The vital worlds are generally unseen and unrecognised by us, as they do not take physical forms in the same way as our external world within which we live and act. This does not imply, however, that they do not have interaction with our world and the beings, including ourselves, that inhabit this physical world. Almost everyone has the experience of some event that occurs in a dream-state or in other circumstances where our mind and senses are shifted away from the focus and attention demanded by the outer world. The phenomenon of astral projection is one such circumstance. When one enters one of the vital worlds, there is an interaction with the beings who inhabit the particular locus that one is visiting. These could be fierce and dangerous interactions, but they can also be uplifting, such as interacting with a sage or teacher and being guided and educated in a non-physical setting. The physical body, and our awake mental attention, combined with a strong vital sheath, or aura, are protections for us from the total control by these vital forces.

Just as there are circumstances whereby we can enter into one of the vital worlds, so also vital beings from those worlds can, and do, enter into our world. In some cases it is with beneficent intention; in others, it is to seek to create vital reactions that feed their hunger, or lust, or passionate desire. The physical body, and our awake mental attention, combined with a strong vital sheath, or aura, are protections for us from the total control by these vital forces. The interaction of vital beings in our lives adds another layer of complexity to the issue of identifying and overcoming the power of suggestion that arises within us and moves our actions and reactions.

The Mother writes: “If that were the end of the problem, one could yet come out of the mess; but there is a complication. This terrestrial world, this human world is constantly invaded by the forces of the neighboring world, that is, of the vital world, the subtler region beyond the fourfold earth atmosphere (consisting of the four principles: physical, vital, mental and psychic), and this vital world which is not under the influence of the psychic forces or the psychic consciousness is essentially a world of ill-will, of disorder, disequilibrium, indeed of all the most anti-divine things one could imagine. This vital world is constantly penetrating the physical world, and being much more subtle than the physical, it is very often quite imperceptible except to a few rare individuals. There are entities, beings, wills, various kinds of individualities in that world, who have all kinds of intentions and make use of every opportunity either to amuse themselves if they are small beings or to do harm and create disorder if they are beings with a greater capacity. And the latter have a very considerable power of penetration and suggestion, and wherever there is the least opening, the least affinity, they rush in, for it is a game which delights them.”

“Besides, they are very thirsty or hungry for certain human vital vibrations which for them are a rare dish they love to feed upon; and so their game lies in exciting pernicious movements in man so that man may emanate these forces and they be able to feed on them just as they please. All movements of anger, violence, passion, desire, all these things which make you abruptly throw off certain energies from yourself, project them from yourself, are exactly what these entities of the vital world like best, for, as I said, they enjoy them like a sumptuous dish. Now, their tactics are simple: they send you a little suggestion, a little impulse, a small vibration which enters deep into you and through contagion or sympathy awakens in you the vibration necessary to make you throw off the force they want to absorb.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, The Hidden Forces of Life, Ch. 3 Hidden Forces Around, pp. 60–61