Addressing Physical Fatigue Experienced by the Spiritual Seeker

Many paths of spiritual practice disregard the needs of the physical body as being irrelevant, distracting, or obstructive to their spiritual development. This has not always been the case. The ancient Greek culture focused on a ‘sound mind in a sound body’ as an ideal. The ancient Vedic tradition recognised the need for a strong body, strong vital force and strong mind as a foundation for spiritual fulfillment. For the integral yoga, which focuses on the transformation of human life, not the ascetic ideal which leads away from life, the body, life energy and mind need to be optimized and strengthened, both to hold and to deploy the force that descends from above into the being.

Whenever, and in whatever manner, the body receives nourishment of any sort, it needs to utilise energy to assimilate it. We can see this when we eat food, that afterwards the body may seem lethargic, we may want to nap or take some form of rest, to allow the digestive processes of the body to accomplish their task. A similar process takes place when the higher spiritual force descends and begins to put its pressure on the body. To the extent the body is unable to fully hold and sustain the force, particularly in the early stages, it may experience a deep sense of tiredness that indicates it is overwhelmed momentarily trying to assimilate what is being presented to it.

Sri Aurobindo describes various potential causes for the sense of physical fatigue that can arise for the spiritual seeker.

Sri Aurobindo writes: “Physical fatigue like this in the course of the sadhana may come from various reasons: (i) It may come from receiving more than the physical is ready to assimilate. The cure is then quiet rest in conscious immobility receiving the forces but not for any other purpose than the recuperation of the strength and energy. (ii) It may be due to the passivity taking the form of inertia — inertia brings the consciousness down towards the ordinary physical level which is soon fatigued and prone to tamas. The cure here is to get back into the true consciousness and to rest there, not in inertia. (iii) It may be due to mere overstrain of the body — not giving it enough sleep or repose. The body is the support of the Yoga, but its energy is not inexhaustible and needs to be husbanded, it can be kept up by drawing on the universal vital Force but that reinforcement too has its limits. A certain moderation is needed even in the eagerness for progress — moderation, not indifference or indolence.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 5, Physical Consciousness — Subconscient — Sleep and Dream — Illness, pp. 103-104