Spiritual Growth and the Development and Use of New Powers of Consciousness

Spiritual seekers harness the powers of body, vital being, emotions and mind in order to develop and eventually attain the goal of their seeking. The power of dedicated work, the power of the breath, the power of devotion, the power of concentration all have a part to play in the seeker’s journey toward spiritual fulfillment. This is considered to be acceptable.

At a certain point, however, yogic practice tends to lead to the development and expression of new powers, powers that are uncommon when we look at the state of human development today, and at this point, the seeker is generally faced with a riddle. What should they do about these new forms of power that are arising as a result of their practice. For those who follow a path of renunciation, the advice has always been clear and direct, that the seeker should not take up, develop or become involved with the application of these powers, which become distractions to the seeking rather than aids.

On the other hand, those who follow a path of integration into the life of humanity and who work toward carrying out the divine intention in the manifestation, may recognise that these are evolutionary developments that represent, in all likelihood, powers that are both natural and consistent with the evolutionary process, and thus, should be accepted and utilized in a balanced and harmonious manner in furtherance of their spiritual ideal.

The issue in both cases comes down to the intention behind the acceptance and use of the powers. If they are used to aggrandise the ego, to gain domination, to enhance vanity, to acquire wealth for individual enjoyment, they are clearly a distraction for seekers in either direction. If on the other hand, they are put to work for the general development and support the arc of consciousness as it successively works to manifest higher states of consciousness in the world, without the individual ego attaching itself to this expression, then it represents a power that can, and should, be utilized in the divine work.

We see many attempts to work through this issue in the history of yogic process. Patanjali’s yoga sutras describe various sorts of powers, how and in what manner they develop and how to manage them. Tibetan yoga has extensive teachings on the methodology of developing certain powers. Tantric yoga, in its various forms, seeks to harness and utilize the powers to not only fulfill the force of the life, but as a means toward the spiritual realisation sought in those paths. The Bhagavad Gita shows an integrated approach that appears to accept the powers that come to the individual as long as they are put at the service of the greater truth and destiny that the individual is intended to fulfill. The issue raised by the Gita is to find the right approach, based on undertaking any action with respect to the right circumstance, the right intention, the right balance and a view to the right result to be attained. Tamas approaches, based on darkness and false application, are discouraged. Similarly, rajasic approaches, based on desire and self-interest, are also discouraged. The approach taken by Sri Aurobindo works to realize the evolutionary potential and thereby carry out what he terms the ‘yoga of self perfection’.

Sri Aurobindo observes: “In mystic experience, — when there is an opening of the inner centres, or in other ways, spontaneously or by will or endeavour or in the very course of the spiritual growth, — new powers of consciousness have been known to develop; they present themselves as if an automatic consequence of some inner opening or in answer to a call in the being, so much so that it has been found necessary to recommend to the seeker not to hunt after these powers, not to accept or use them. This rejection is logical for those who seek to withdraw from life; for all acceptance of greater power would bind to life or be a burden on the bare and pure urge towards liberation. An indifference to all other aims and issues is natural for the God-lover who seeks God for His own sake and not for power or any other inferior attraction; the pursuit of these alluring but often dangerous forces would be a deviation from his purpose. A similar rejection is a necessary self-restraint and a spiritual discipline for the immature seeker, since such powers may be a great, even a deadly peril; for their supernormality may easily feed in him an abnormal exaggeration of the ego. Power in itself may be dreaded as a temptation by the aspirant to perfection, because power can abase as well as elevate; nothing is more liable to misuse. But when new capacities come as an inevitable result of the growth into a greater consciousness and a greater life and that growth is part of the very aim of the spiritual being within us, this bar does not operate; for a growth of the being into Supernature and its life in Supernature cannot take place or cannot be complete without bringing with it a greater power of consciousness and a greater power of life and the spontaneous development of an instrumentation of knowledge and force normal to that Supernature. There is nothing in this future evolution of the being which could be regarded as irrational or incredible; there is nothing in it abnormal or miraculous: it would be the necessary course of the evolution of consciousness and its forces in the passage from the mental to the gnostic or supramental formulation of our existence. This action of the forces of Supernature would be a natural, normal and spontaneously simple working of the new higher or greater consciousness into which the being enters in the course of his self-evolution; the gnostic being accepting the gnostic life would develop and use the powers of this greater consciousness, even as man develops and uses the powers of his mental nature.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Powers Within, Chapter I Latent Powers, pp.4-5