Depression and Spiritual Progress

We are all subject to the action of the three Gunas or qualties of Nature. They are always shifting. As they shift, our outlook, mood, physical responsiveness, vital energy and mental framework all undergo corresponding changes. None of the three Gunas remains constantly in the forefront, so there will be times when we are ruled by Sattwa, and other times by Rajas or Tamas.

When Tamas comes to the front, we can experience various forms of dullness, fatigue, tiredness of body, vital force and mind. Naturally, in such a status it is easy to experience the state of depression. Inner work needs to continue, particularly the aspiration, patience and perseverance that reminds us that there are brighter times ahead once the Tamas lifts. During this time, the sadhana continues, even though on the surface we are not focused on this or attending to it due to the influence of Tamas. Once the tamasic energy shifts, we can observe the progress that has taken place in the interim.

As long as we remain under the control of the Gunas, we remain fixed in the actions of the Nature, Prakriti. If we shift to the standpoint of the witness consciousness, we can create a space of separation for ourselves whereby we can observe the play of the Gunas and the changing moods and energies that they bring to the Nature, while remaining free and unaffected in our inner being. The more we identify with this external being, the more we tend to suffer as we undergo these constant changes and their impact.

The Mother observes: “Depression is a sign of weakness, of a bad will somewhere, and bad will in the sense of a refusal to receive help, and a kind of weakness that’s content to be weak. One becomes slack. The bad will is obvious, because there’s a part of your being which tells you at that moment, ‘Depression is bad.’ You know that you shouldn’t get depressed; well, the reply of that part which is depressed is almost, ‘Shut up! I want my depression.’ Try, you will see, you can try. It is always like that…. And then later one says again, ‘Afterwards, afterwards I shall see… for the moment I want it, and besides I have my reasons.’ There you are. It is a kind of revolt, a weak revolt, the revolt of something weak in the being.”

“… When one comes out of the depression and one’s bad will, well, then one realises that there was an attack and that some progress had to be made, and that in spite of everything something within has made progress, that one has taken a step forward. Usually, hardly consciously, it is something which needs to progress but doesn’t want to, and so takes this way; like a child who sulks, becomes low-spirited, sad, unhappy, misunderstood, abandoned, helpless; and then, refusing to collaborate, and as I just said, indulging in his depression, to show that he is not happy. It is specially in order to show that one is not satisfied that one becomes depressed. One can show it to Nature, one can show it (that depends on the case, you see), one can show it to the Divine, one can show it to the people around one, but it is always a kind of way of expressing one’s dissatisfaction. ‘I am not happy about what you demand’, but this means, ‘I am not happy. And I shall make you too see it, that I am not happy.’…”

“But when it is over, and when for some reason or other one has made the necessary effort to come out of it, and has come out, one usually realises that something in the being has changed, because, in spite of all bad will, most often the progress was accomplished — not very swiftly, not very brilliantly, not for one’s greater glory, surely, but still the progress was made. Something has changed.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Looking from Within, Chapter 4, Ordeals and Difficulties, pp..94-95