Page 31 - NAMAH-Jan-2018

Namah Working through the vital

duration of the day and the night. Beginning The most powerful way to work through
our day by recollecting our aspiration and the vital is to repeatedly offer its negative
praying that all contemplations, feelings movements to the Divine with a prayer that
and exercises that we carry out must be in they should be converted and complementary
line with it can be extremely helpful. While positive movements should be strengthened.
going to bed, we can once again summon our Through these various steps, the vital gives
desire, with a petition that its fire ought not up its resistance and starts surrendering to
to be diminished during our sleep. Likewise, the higher influence. But even then, there are
throughout the day we must sincerely call on times when we are exhausted, depressed,
our aspiration to take the central position in relaxed or ecstatic and we feel like letting
our consciousness.Just as we put multiple ourselves go. During those moments, we
reminders in different places if we have an need to be even more vigilant and exercise a
important task to finish, we could use the stronger effort so that the negative movements
same technique to remind ourselves of the are unable to find an excuse to reassert
aspiration. For instance, we can put a screen themselves. The goal should be to observe
saver on our laptop, a message in our car, a perfect sincerity in our effort at all times and
small note at visible places in our house. By under all circumstances.
seeing this aspiration many times during
the day we are more likely to remember and “Do you know what perfect sincerity is? ... Never
call upon it. to try to deceive oneself, never let any part of
the being try to find out a way of convincing
Effort the others, never to explain favourably what
one does in order to have an excuse for what
Once the aspiration has been made strong one wants to do, never to close one’s eyes when
by repetitive concentration, we need to something is unpleasant, never to let anything
exercise our effort to materialise it. This pass, telling oneself, ‘That is not important, next
can be done by using our aspiration as a time it will be better (3).’“
constant guide and placing before it all
our feelings, thoughts, needs, desires and Nourishment
actions. At each moment, one needs to
ask oneself whether these are in line with According to the Integral Yoga, everything
our aspiration or they contradict it. If they within us whether big or small, base or refined
support our aspiration, we must express has the potential of evolving and becoming
and reinforce them, but if they oppose it divinised. Thus, the vital need not be looked at
then we need to reject them. During these just as an impediment that has to be plucked
moments we can talk to the vital politely out and thrown away. An integral way of
but firmly as one would talk to a child dealing with it is through love, nurturance
explaining that its movements are self- and implicit faith that it too has the potential
destructive and sabotaging our greater to evolve into something beautiful, pure and
good. We can convince it to change by blissful. The vital cannot abide boredom and
explaining how it will also feel joyful in always seeks intensity. When providing
the long run once our consciousness grows. nourishment to the vital, we are prone to

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