The Divine Manifests In Various Ways Through the Different Aspects of Existence

Spiritual seekers have difficulty creating a harmony between their external being and the various parts or elements of that being, and the spiritual aspiration. In some cases, they treat the body, the vital life-force and the mind as distractions or obstructions to their spiritual growth. In other cases, they wind up using the higher forces that come to them as a means of satisfying their vital desires and impulsions, or as a way to emphasize their own mental predilections. Some treat the body with disdain or as an enemy to their spiritual path, and they undergo various forms of torture to try to beat the body into submission. Others try to utilize the body, and enjoy the process, under the guise of some spiritual practice.

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother take a balanced approach based on the unity of Matter and Spirit. The need for a new viewpoint to move beyond the limitations and obstructions of the past methods and views is obvious. The body, life-force and mind are not necessarily distractions or obstacles if they are harmonized with the aspiration of the psychic being. The physical world, when we open our senses to it, contains an incredible array of highly organised and extremely beautiful forms that can awaken us to the awe-inspiring sense of the richness of the divine creation. The vital level of being exudes force and creates the dynamic energy needed for the fullness of the creation. The mental level enlightens our understanding and opens us up to new viewpoints and opportunities.

When we live in our surface being we tend to see things as separate and fragmented. When we shift our standpoint to the divine standpoint, we see one unified creation that has its own inherent and indivisible harmony. Physical nature, vital forces, mental and spiritual planes are all arranged along the vibratory spectrum and each partake of the divine Nature. In Savitri, Sri Aurobindo alludes to this when he proclaims “Matter shall reveal the Spirit’s face.”

The Mother notes: “On the physical plane, the Divine expresses himself through beauty, on the mental plane through knowledge, on the vital plane through power and on the psychic plane through love.”

“When we rise high enough, we discover that these four aspects unite with each other in a single consciousness, full of love, luminous, powerful, beautiful, containing all, pervaiding all.”

“It is only to satisfy the universal play that this consciousness divides itself into several lines or aspects of manifestation.”

reference: Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, The Psychic Being — Soul: Its Nature, Mission and Evolution, Section 6 More Lights on the Psychic Being, pp. 185-186