The Vital Envelope Surrounding the Body and the Ability to Ward Off Illness

Many people have had the experience of a feeling that something is happening in the body, such as a feeling of a “cold coming on”. In some cases the feeling is very strong and the pressure is great. There may be some sneezing, some tickle in the throat, some coughing, some amount of congestion. In other cases there is a very faint sense of pressure. This pressure is felt in the vital envelope that surrounds the body and then in the subtle physical level, before they manifest into a full-blown illness in the physical body itself. By responding immediately to the pressure on the vital envelope, the incipient illness can be thrown off. Some people do this through action of the will-power, others use mantras. Still others, particularly those who have not developed a strong dynamic force directly at that level, may use herbs or other ‘remedies’ to convince the body and the vital envelope that help is being provided, and then the immune system takes over to throw off the illness before it fully manifests.

Through regular practice, attending to the subtle feelings that come, through a quiet receptivity to the sensations, feelings, and pressures, an individual can habituate himself to pay attention to the state of the vital protective envelope and work to strengthen and enhance it.

What is not normally recognised is that various states of mind or emotions can actually weaken the envelope and let in the illnesses. Feelings of fear, in particular, create an attraction to the force that is being feared. We see this frequently in the case of a pandemic or highly communicable diseases, that many people succumb simply through fear of the illness which draws it to them and opens the door, so to speak.

A disciple asks: “Illnesses enter through the subtle body, don’t they? How can they be stopped?”

The Mother writes: “Ah! Here we are…. If one is very sensitive, very sensitive — one must be very sensitive — the moment they touch the subtle body and try to pass through, one feels it. It is not like something touching the body, it is a sort of feeling. If you are able to perceive it at that moment, you have still the power to say ‘no’, and it goes away. But for this one must be extremely sensitive. However, that develops. All these things can be developed methodically by the will, You can become quite conscious of this envelope, and if you develop it sufficiently, you don’t even need to look and see, you feel that something has touched you. I can give you an instance of this, there are many similar ones.”

“Someone was seeking to establish a constant and conscious contact — absolutely constant and conscious — with the inner Godhead, not only with the psychic being but the divine Presence in the psychic being, and she had decided that she would be like this, that she would busy herself with nothing else, that is to say, whatever she might be doing, her concentration was upon this, and even when she went out walking in the street, her concentration was upon this. She lived in a big city where there was much traffic: buses, tramways, etc., many things, and to cross the street one had to be considerably careful, wide-awake and attentive, otherwise one could get run over, but this person had resolved that she would not come out of her concentration. One day when she was crossing one of the big avenues with all its cars and its tramways, still deep in her concentration, in her inner seeking, she suddenly felt at about an arm’s length a little shock, like this; she jumped back and a car passed just by her side. If she had not jumped back she would have been run over…. This is an extreme point, but without going so far one can very easily feel a kind of little discomfort (it is not something which is imposed with a great force), a little uneasiness coming near you from anywhere at all: front, behind, above, below. If at that moment you are sufficiently alert, you say ‘no’, as though you were cutting off the contact with great strength, and it is finished. If you are not conscious at that moment, the next minute or a few minutes later you get a queer sick feeling inside, a cold in the back, a little uneasiness, the beginning of some disharmony; you feel a maladjustment somewhere, as though the general harmony had been disturbed. Then you must concentrate all the more and with a great strength of will keep the faith that nothing can do you harm, nothing can touch you. This suffices, you can throw off the illness at that moment. But you must do this immediately, you understand, you must not wait five minutes, it must be done at once. If you wait too long and begin to feel really an uneasiness somewhere, and something begins to get quite disturbed, then it is good to sit down, concentrate and call the Force, concentrate it to the place which is getting disturbed, that is to say, which is beginning to become ill. But if you don’t do anything at all, an illness indeed gets lodged somewhere; and all this, because you were not sufficiently alert. And sometimes one is obliged to follow the entire curve to find the favourable moment again and get rid of the business. I have said somewhere that in the physical domain all is a question of method — a method is necessary for realising everything. And if the illness has succeeded in touching the physical-physical, well, you must follow the procedure to get rid of it. This is what medical science calls ‘the course of the illness’. One can hasten the course with the help of spiritual forces, but all the same the procedure must be followed. There are some four different stages. The very first is instantaneous. The second can be done in some minutes, the third may take several hours and the fourth several days. And then, once the thing is lodged there, all will depend not only on the receptivity of the body but still more on the willingness of the part which is the cause of the disorder. You know, when the thing comes from outside it is in affinity with something inside. If it manages to pass through, to enter without one’s being aware of it, it means there is some affinity somewhere, and the part of the being which has responded must be convinced.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Powers Within, Chapter XIV Power Over Illness and Pain, pp. 113-115