... s and the practice, this working becomes almost automatic. As for what you say about the stimulus of vital interchange, it is true of the vital life. Men are constantly spending their vital energy and need to renew it; one way to do it is by pulling from others in a vital interchange. This however is not necessary if one knows how to draw from the universal Nature or from the Divine, i.e. from... gives a temporary pleasure, but that does not last and it is certainly not profitable. After a time the vital interchange can no longer satisfy and the vital itself gets tired of it and turns away elsewhere. Of course for the spiritual aim it is a great interference. A human vital interchange cannot be a true support for the sadhana and is, on the contrary, sure to impair and distort it, leading... leading to self-deception in the consciousness and a wrong turn of the emotional being and vital nature. Talking, Letter-Writing and Vital Interchange It is quite possible for one person to get depressed by talking with another. Talking means a vital interchange, so that can always happen. Whether they have observed rightly in a particular case is another matter. The disturbance in talking ...
... followed after in the spiritual life. This movement [ of vital interchange ] is a wrong and a dangerous one. It is not so much repeating the old game under the garb of Yoga, but, what is worse, turning the Yoga-power itself into the instrument of satisfaction of a vital force. There must be absolute abstention from all vital interchange with others. The warning has often been given that no special... sex-movement is a force in itself, impersonal and not dependent on any particular object. It fastens on one or another only to give itself body and a field of enjoyment. When it is checked in the vital interchange, it tends to lose its vital character and attacks through its most physical and elemental movement. It is only when it is thrown out from the vital physical and most physical that it is conquered... only when there is either secret indulgence of a perverse kind replacing the normal sexual activity or else an indulgence of it in a kind of subtle vital way by imagination or by an invisible vital interchange of an occult kind,—I do not think harm ever occurs when there is a true spiritual effort at mastery and abstinence. It is now held by many medical men in Europe that sexual abstinence, if it ...
... person whom we like or dislike but have no physical contact? Page 89 There can be and usually is, but not so much as by physical contact. Does a good vital interchange, due to our liking a person, interfere with the sadhana? It can interfere, if it is strong and brings an attachment. The physical vital has made some progress. Though it... the surface of the mind so that they can be dismissed or taken up at will and not allowed to fasten on the mind and occupy it against its will. Page 93 TALKING AND VITAL INTERCHANGE Yesterday I was talking with A before I went to bed. This morning when I got up, I found my vital unusually restless. But there had been no conflict or opposition in our talk. Why... vital active and cheerful, whereas solitude and repression of the social instincts makes one shut up in oneself and can lead to moroseness and melancholy. One can forgo the ordinary freedom of vital interchange only if one has something to support one within, peace or joy or the satisfaction of the inner life. When this inner peace, sukha, or satisfaction (atma-rati) is there, then the need of social ...
... work, she can't! Of course not—because she is not sincere about it. The idea of sadhana through her own line is a mere excuse—it is a vital satisfaction she is after. What exactly is vital interchange? Difficult to specify. There is always a drawing of vital forces from one to another in all human social mixture that takes place automatically. Love-making is one of the most powerful ways... if I can have her replaced as, evidently, it would be better if she did not do public work. May 2, 1938 Guru, I learned from Ishwarbhai that you want me to send up this letter [on vital interchange]. I wonder if you can deal with the subject a little more liberally on the typed sheet, as it is rather an important and interesting phenomenon. My impression was that I had written much more—but... as contagious or infectious; one can even by will draw another's illness into oneself as did Antigonus of Macedon accepting death in this way in order to save his son Demetrius. This fact of vital interchange, which seems strange and unfamiliar to you, becomes quite intelligible if one realises that ideas, feelings etc. are not abstract things but in their way quite concrete, not confining their movements ...
... and are ego-held at their centre. It is because of the pleasure of being loved, the pleasure of enlarging the ego by contact, mutual penetration of spirit, with another, the exhilaration of the vital interchange which feeds their personality that men usually love—and there are also other and still more selfish motives that mix with this essential movement. There are of course higher spiritual, psychic... is a flame of the ego sometimes turbid and misty, sometimes more clear and brightly coloured—sometimes tamasic based on instinct and habit, sometimes rajasic and fed by passion or the cry for vital interchange, sometimes more sattwic and trying to be or look to itself disinterested. But fundamentally it depends on a personal need or a return of some kind inward or outward and when the need is not satisfied ...
... will begin to act for themselves and all go into confusion and a wrong movement. It is still worse to try to draw these lower universal energies from those around you and keep up with them a vital interchange; what gain can there be in that? On the contrary, it will lead to greater confusion and even bring in all kinds of mischief and trouble. Often the association of these universal energies with ...
... the union cannot be spiritual or real. That is the great mistake which so many make here: they put the whole emphasis on the external vital or physical relation with the Mother, insist on a vital interchange or else physical contact and when they do not get it to their satisfaction, enter into all kinds of disturbances, revolt, doubt, depression. This is a wrong viewpoint altogether and has caused ...
... to emphasise right thinking. The need of company which people feel is really their need to interchange forces. What after all is the passion of man and woman for each other? Nothing but a vital interchange, a drawing in of forces from each other. Of course, the interchange or drawing in of forces takes place unconsciously and sometimes in spite of oneself. Thus when a person doesn't like another ...
... of the Ashram. It was not meant either as an opportunity for a joyful social life and a flow of sentiments and attachments between the sadhaks and an expression of the vital movements, a free vital interchange whether with some or with all. "The work was meant as a service to the Divine and as a field for the inner opening to the Divine, surrender to the Divine alone, rejection of ego and all ...
... for supremacy and domination, and even among the best they are full of misunderstanding and irritability, of friction and incomprehension." (M C W, Vol. 12, p. 69) (ix)"A human vital interchange cannot be a true support for the sadhana and is, on the contrary, sure to impair and distort it, leading to self-deception in the consciousness and a wrong turn of the emotional being and vital ...
... is a flame of the ego sometimes turbid and murky, sometimes more clear and brightly coloured—sometimes tamasic based on instinct and habit, sometimes rajasic and fed by passion or the cry for vital interchange, sometimes more sattwic and trying to be or look to itself distinterested. But fundamentally it depends on a personal need or a return of some kind inward or outward and when the need is not satisfied ...
... one who is weak and depressed and needs vital force, you may have your forces pulled from you by his or her need and yourself feel depressed or weak or empty. April 7, 1933 Is this vital interchange one of the reasons why many sadhaks segregate themselves? Yes. Not the drawing of vital forces alone, but the invasion by the ideas, feelings, atmosphere of others, hampering the sadhana, ...
... only when there is either secret indulgence of a perverse kind replacing the normal sexual activity or else an indulgence of it in a kind of subtle vital way by imagination or by an invisible vital interchange of an occult kind,—I do not think harm occurs when there is a true spiritual effort at mastery and abstinence. It is now held by many medical men in .Europe that sexual abstinence, if it is genuine ...
... of the Asram. It was not meant either as an opportunity for a joyful social life and a flow of sentiments and attachments between the sadhaks and an expression of the vital movements, a free vital interchange whether with some or with all. The work was meant as a service to the Divine and as a field for the inner opening to the Divine, surrender to the Divine alone, rejection of ego and all the ordinary ...
... greatly fortunate who can approach the Mother often. If they know how to approach her which hardly any do. If you say that there is always an interchange going on between people ... A vital interchange. But there is a difference between the interchange of "people" and interchange with Mother. surely one who often comes to Mother, will automatically take something precious from her. And ...
... of the Ashram. It was not meant either as an opportunity for a joyful social life and a flow of sentiments and attachments between the sadhaks and an expression of the vital movements, a free vital interchange whether with some or with all. The work was meant as a service to the Divine and as a field for the inner opening to the Divine, surrender to the Divine alone, rejection of ego and all the ordinary ...
... the nature. In place of desire there must be a single-minded aspiration towards the Divine. As for love, the love must be turned singly towards the Divine. What men call by that name is a vital interchange for mutual satisfaction of desire, vital impulse or physical pleasure. There must be nothing of this interchange between sadhaks; for to seek for it or indulge this kind of impulse only leads ...
... learn with difficulty the other's being and nature, to arrive at understanding and mutuality and harmony from outside instead of inwardly through a direct sense and grasp, so that all mental and vital interchange is hampered, rendered ego-tainted or doomed to imperfection and incompleteness by the veil of mutual ignorance. In the collective gnostic life the integrating truth-sense, the concording unity ...
... It is well understood that you must meet only for the work and at the time of work. If while working you forgot everything except the work it is all right. But always be careful to avoid all vital interchange. 5 July 1930 ...
... Always to maintain an attitude of concentration on the Divine Life is more important than making rules that are too rigid. It would be better to resolve not to smile in expectation of a vital interchange. 21 May 1934 Isn't it true that one should know all one's impurities? Knowing them is indeed necessary, but it is not good to fix one's Page 38 attention too constantly ...
... Divine, you will leave him sole judge as to how he is to protect you and defend you Page 84 against the misunderstanding and bad will of others." (Ibid., p. 70) (4)"A human vital interchange cannot be a true support for the sadhana and is, on the contrary, sure to impair and distort it, leading to self-deception in the consciousness and a wrong turn of the emotional being and vital ...
... gets depressed. Could mere talking with another person bring in such a lower state? It is quite possible for one person to get depressed by talking with another. Talking means a vital interchange, so that can always happen. Whether they have observed rightly in a particular case is another matter. At present if I speak more than a few sentences at a time my peace is ...
... becomes a mixture. If you say that there is always an interchange going on between people, surely one who often comes to Mother, will automatically take something precious from her. A vital. interchange. But there is a difference between the interchange of "people" and interchange with Mother. And what if their condition is such that it merely passes or is spilt or spoilt by their reactions ...
... That is why Buddha used to emphasise right thought etc. You find some people cannot do without meeting others. What is after all the passion of man and woman for each other? Nothing but this vital interchange, this drawing in of forces from each other. When a woman has a need of someone else, that means she is in need of a vital force from him. Woman and man running after each other means this interchange ...
... life is good for everybody or at every stage. The disadvantage of a free jolly outward social life without restrictions is that one becomes entirely or mostly externalised and that all sorts of vital interchanges are part of it which can hamper the inner growth or the total self-consecration to the Divine. The disadvantage of too complete a retirement is that it makes the person one-sided and shut up... 14 October 1936 I always thought that in other Yogas seekers first had to undergo a rigorous disciplined period of 12 years of Brahmacharya, and only when the Guru certified their physical, vital, mental immunity were they allowed to enter into its practical course. Page 138 Never heard of this 12 years affair or of any certificate. Perhaps in European occultism there are noviciates ...
... Forces in Human Interchange There is a constant mental, vital, subtle-physical interchange going on between all who meet or live together, of which they are themselves unaware except in so far as its impacts and interpenetrations touch them as sensible results of speech and action and outer contact: for the most part it is subtly and invisibly that this interchange takes place; for it acts... Practice of Yoga It is not necessary to be so careful as all that. Ordinary vital interchanges are of a slight character. Nobody can take away another’s vital, for the very good reason that if that happened, the person from whom it was taken would die. It is possible of course for one person to drain another’s vital forces so as to leave him limp or weak or dry, but it is only the vampire kind that... But the ordinary movements of interchange are harmless provided they are kept within moderate limits. Sri Aurobindo Letters on Yoga - IV: Interactions with Others and the Practice of Yoga When people mix together there is generally some interchange of vital forces which is quite involuntary… Vampirising is a special phenomenon—a person who lives upon the vital of others and flourishes vitally ...
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