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There is a dual significance to the term ‘the Mother’s Force’. First, this is the Divine Shakti, which manifests the universal creation, and which acts to bring forth the sequential expression of the consciousness involved in Matter. At the same time, there is the specific reference to the ... Views: 66
We feel a desire and try to fulfil it. It may be a desire or craving for some type of food or drink, or for a particular object of material enjoyment, or it may be a sexual desire, or a desire for companionship, excitement, or any other vital drive that wells up in us. In some cases we try to ... Views: 66
Humanity develops habits of response that tend to become ingrained in almost all approaches to any particular topic. This is found to be especially true when it comes to the question of religious dedication and spiritual aspiration. The default response to religious or spiritual devotion has ... Views: 65
When an individual takes up religious or spiritual practices, he becomes aware of the force of desire and the need to curb it. In some cases, particularly in religious pursuits, there are a set of moral rules or monastic rules that provide set guidelines for the practitioner. Usually these ... Views: 65
In the ordinary life in society, food plays an especially important and high profile role. We treat food as a centerpiece of our various celebrations, as rewards, as comfort when we are under stress and as something we consumer out of boredom or inattention. Food taste, food preparation, food ... Views: 65
People tend to get very defensive about the idea of celibacy, sexual abstinence, Brahmacharya, however it may be termed. They argue that it is unhealthy. They argue that this is a process in Nature that ensures the continuity of the race, they argue that the suppression of sexual expression ... Views: 64
There is a well-known and widely described concept in the spiritual traditions of India whereby the basic force of the first chakra that manifests in the ordinary course through that centre as sexual energy is converted through various processes of tapasya, yogic concentration, into a force that ... Views: 64
When we consider the objective of the transformation of human nature, we begin to understand that it is not a simple or quick process. We carry within us the physical, vital and mental habits of life on earth, including instincts, set modes of action and response, and the rsult of the training ... Views: 64
Success in attaining the objectives of any spiritual practice is based on achieving ‘one pointed concentration’. This means focusing the aspiration on the spiritual source and maintaining that focus without diverting energy and attention away to any other objective. The integral yoga, with its ... Views: 64
There is a vast difference between the goals of the ordinary human individual and those who have chosen to take up spiritual sadhana. This difference defines the way they respectively look at things, including the various normal and natural functions of human life. For the ordinary individual, ... Views: 64
A human birth is considered to be an important and valuable step in the growth of the soul and in the evolutionary development of consciousness in furtherance of the divine manifestation. It is not to be wasted. The traditions of India indicate that even the gods, who are static beings, would ... Views: 64
Until such time as we become capable of drawing infinite energy from the universal force of creation, we have the issue of choosing how we utilize the energy that we have available to us. Through certain types of practices we can actually increase the available energy. The radical transformation ... Views: 64
When an individual takes up the spiritual path, he seeks guidance, perhaps from books or through online blogs, podcasts, videos, webinars, perhaps from people who are treading the path, perhaps from a teacher or Guru who has come into his life. Generally he comes away with some guidelines to ... Views: 63
Human beings have a tendency to move from one extreme to the other, like a pendulum swing. When we are faced with a particular concern we want to resolve, we apply this tendency. When it comes therefore to the force of desire and the attraction of material objects, we either become attached to ... Views: 63
Every spiritual discipline, every path, has its unique challenges and difficulties. One cannot minimize the issues that anyone taking up the spiritual life must face. Almost all of these paths traditionally have focused on liberation of the individual seeker, regardless of the specific ... Views: 63
In his book, The Mother, Sri Aurobindo describes sex as one of the three forces, “power, wealth, sex — that have the strongest attraction for the human ego and the Asura and are most generally misheld and misused by those who retain them.”
The force of the sex-impulse is one that impacts not ... Views: 63
There is a factor of enjoyment of taste of various foods which is called rasa in Sanskrit. We experience this when we eat something that excites our taste buds and sends signals of pleasure to the brain. For many people, the sweet taste, and more particularly the taste of rich chocolate, seems ... Views: 63
Dealing with the Desire or Craving Related to Food
Posted on December 27, 2025
Vast numbers of people face the difficulty of the craving for food, whether in the form of eating more than their body requires, or eating foods that carry little nutritional benefit but which represent large ... Views: 62
Fasting has often been utilized by spiritual and religious practitioners as a way of gaining some measure of control over the vital desires, cravings and urges, as well as a means for increasing the vital and mental energy available to them. In some cases, it has been used to induce altered ... Views: 62
The objective is almost unimaginably complex and difficult. Changing human nature, including the inheritance humanity brings from the animal evolutionary process, is not something that is quickly or easily accomplished. It cannot also be done entirely by the action of human mind and will power. ... Views: 62
The practitioner of the integral yoga has set before himself the change of what we consider to be basic human nature, the established workings and principles of action of the body, the life-force and the mind. These elements have developed over countless millennia as part of the evolutionary ... Views: 62
Typically, in moments of extreme hardship or intense suffering, individuals often seek a path to escape their pain, suffering and misery. It is during these times that the aspiration to attain a god-like state may arise.
"Traumatic" is generally related to experiences that are emotionally ... Views: 61
There is a substantial and well-known danger of the vital nature taking advantage of the force that comes down through the psychic aspiration and using it to advance objectives of the vital rather than those that carry out the intended purpose of the Divine Power. There is a well known ... Views: 58
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 ... Views: 57
Vital Forces and Spiritual Forces and the Evolution of Consciousness
Posted on January 8, 2026
Most people do not recognise the active role and intention of conscious vital forces in their lives. First, the physical body tends to shield them from direct perception of these forces. While they ... Views: 57
As the spiritual seeker begins to address the question of mastery over the sex-impulse, he becomes aware of the difficulties of tackling a deeply embedded process that stretches back into the early phases of animal evolution, and thus, has acquired a strong power base within the being. This ... Views: 56
In his play Hamlet, William Shakespeare has the protagonist proclaim “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
Particularly in the West, anything that references the possibility of past lives, inherited memories or capacities, or experiences, ... Views: 56
Most religious and spiritual paths have addressed the issue of sexuality from a viewpoint that turns it into some kind of sin or morality concern, and proscriptions about sex and responses to the sexual impulse mirror this focus on morality versus immorality. People who engage in sexual ... Views: 56
C.G. Jung described what he called the ‘collective unconscious’, a repository of archetypal images and experiences that are universal to humanity. Sigmund Freud explored the subconscious realms of the individual and how they impacted the lives and responses of those individuals. The ... Views: 56
There are many powers at work in the world, physical powers, vital powers, mental powers, spiritual powers. They are native to their own sphere, but in many cases they are active here in our world, trying to assert themselves and thrive here. Many of these powers are conscious and act with ... Views: 55
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 ... Views: 54
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 ... Views: 54
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 ... Views: 54
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 ... Views: 53
There is a theory, current in various spiritual paths, as well as in various attempts to overcome certain unwanted behaviours in the ordinary life, that by purposeful indulgence, through ‘experience’ (anubhava), the individual can overcome the undesired impulse, craving or desire. The idea is ... Views: 53
An individual dedicated some years to study and spiritual development. He gathered a small group of young people around him and took on the role of a teacher. He had obviously studied the texts and spent some time practicing them. He gained an aura of charisma for the young people who came under ... Views: 53
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, ... Views: 53
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 othe qualities comes forward in any of these three aspects of our external being; on the ... Views: 52
The spiritual seeker is so close to the movements and reactions of the mind, life and body, in most circumstances, that he can easily become confused or concerned about the process, timing and steps of the desired changes to responses of the external nature. It is frequently noted that it is ... Views: 52
It is obvious. If a system is set up to carry out vital demands, desires and wants, and it is provided more energy, it will simply expand its ability to achieve those desires. That is the reason that undertaking practices that increase the vital force, without first ensuring that the focus and ... Views: 51
As the seeker begins to observe the movements of the external nature closely, he can identify certain repetitive patterns of response, including impulses to stimuli of various sorts, cravings, desires, fears, frustrations, anger, and attraction. All of these are for the most part virtually ... Views: 51
We are constantly being inundated by forces active in the world. These forces may be physical, such as the radiation from the sun, radioactivity from the earth, the power of wind, waves, gravitational influences, etc. They may also be vital forces that provoke sympathetic vibrations within us ... Views: 51
In the Rig Veda, there is a legend about a cave of the Panis which Sri Aurobindo has explained as a description of how the subconscient captures and holds the higher divine Light and encloses it away in the darkness. The illumined mind and the higher powers of awareness break open this ... Views: 50
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 ... Views: 50
Medical researchers tell us that bacteria that can cause various disease conditions are always present in our environment, to some degree, including within our bodies. Yet for the most part, we do not become ill or remain ill all the time. The bacteria may be in a diffused or weak form, or our ... Views: 50
When we are focused on our external being, we tend not to recognise that forces unseen actually not only impact how and what we perceive, understand, and respond to impressions and pressures, but actually very much define who we believe we are. There are forces that are subconscient to our ... Views: 50
Every part of the being eventually has to open and become receptive to the higher spiritual forces. This will lead to changes in the way these aspects of the external being respond and function. This is a progressive process over time. If the lower vital parts of the being get a surge of energy ... Views: 48
Physical Austerities, Self-Torture, Fasting and the Mastery of the Sexual Impulse
Posted on January 21, 2026
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 ... Views: 48
A narrow focus of extreme specialisation is a major cause of inaccurate assessment and therefore, inappropriate decisions and action. This is, however, a symptom of our modern-day fixation on mental analysis rather than on an approach that integrates the various parts into a coordinated whole, ... Views: 48
The Greek philosopher Plato, after deep consideration, reached the conclusion that some higher principle was real, which he called ‘Forms” or ‘Ideas’, and that the physical reality we see and experience is the result, not the cause. This concept is in consonance with the Vedic understanding. ... Views: 48