Page 29 - NAMAH-Jan-2018

Namah Working through the vital

ness to sadness, rage and emptiness. The we have not developed the skill to observe
vital tries to dominate us most of the time ourselves carefully. Our attention is usually
by pressurising the mind to come up with centred outside trying to understand and
reasons that justify all its feelings and demands. master the external world and in the process
This collusion between the vital and the mind we ignore our inner world. We can work
silences the voice of our psychic being, which through the vital part only when we hear
seeks spiritual evolution. The psychic being its voice clearly, understand its functioning
is the dynamic representation of the soul, the manner in which it pressurises the other
a spark of the divine consciousness within parts of our being.
us that seeks to integrate, transform and
evolve different parts of our being in order Throughout the day, different parts of our being
to support the manifestation of divinity in express themselves and demand attention and
life. However, due to the influence of the in response to it our consciousness shifts and
vital, our consciousness remains preoccupied identifies with them. Our understanding of who
with baser and trivial pursuits and is unable we are and what we want is in a constant flux.
to realise its enormous spiritual potential. A dedicated self-observation can gradually
increase our awareness of the different parts
A majority of seekers give up their spiritual within us including the vital. The easiest way
quest when faced with this challenge. Either to do this is to find out with which part of
they blame themselves for being unfit or they our being the ‘I’ consciousness has identified
feel let down that the Divine is not helping in a given moment. Throughout the day and
them enough. There are others who hope that the night, we should pay attention to this ‘I’
maybe things will automatically get better consciousness and its voice. Slowly, we will be
later in this life or in the next life. However, able to see our vital clearly, and comprehend
Sri Aurobindo observed that this attitude its functioning. Once this happens, there can
of passivity and self-degradation is a major be several possibilities to work through the
impediment in our spiritual evolution. He vital.
believed that there is hope once we adopt a
fervently active and conscious effort when Disidentification
dealing with ourselves. Therefore, we need
to devote ourselves wholeheartedly to As we observe the vital more and more, we
understand and deal with our vital part. In come across an interesting phenomenon. The
my work as a psychologist, I have found the vital is so powerful that when it expresses
following methods based on Sri Aurobindo itself, it grabs our complete attention and
and The Mother’s teachings to be extremely we end up feeling one with it. We feel what
useful in working through the vital. the vital feels, we want what the vital wants
and we oppose whatever the vital hates. Under
Self-observation the spell of the vital, people often use the
expression ‘but that’s me’ to justify and
A large part of our life is dominated by the sanction any type of action, impulse or
vital’s influence, but most of the time we feeling. Although this identification seems
are unaware about it. This happens because to be very self-soothing in the short-run, it

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