Freeing the Mind from Subjection to the Life-Force and the Body

The development of the vital, life-force integrated with the physical domain led to changes in the physical in order to accommodate the action of this new energy. At the same time, the life-force had to itself make adjustments in order to operate in the material world as opposed to in its own domain independent of Matter. These adjustments limited the power and scope of the vital, while expanding the capabilities of expression in the material world.

Similarly, with the advent of the mental power in the world of Matter and Life, certain changes were brought about in the action of Matter and Life, but at the cost that Mind had to also make certain accommodations, such that its action was limited and modified by the constraints of Matter and Life. An interactive, mutually supportive relationship was developed and this gave the physical body and the life-force certain abilities to influence the mind and achieve thereby certain objectives native to their domains, although not necessarily relevant to a purely mental action.

These steps in the evolution of consciousness clearly advance the power and action of consciousness in the material world. Each new power brings something valuable and unique to the manifestation of our universe. Each power strives to enhance its own action and influence the others. The mental power is no different. Human beings have recognised the trade-offs and limitations involved and have striven to find a way to create a more powerful, more concentrated and more pure mental action in the world. In order to do this, some have tried to simply abandon or suppress the external life and its demands. Others have focused on trying to shift their concentration purely into the mental realm, disregarding as much as possible the demands of life and body. Still others have attempted to impose the powers of the mind on the life-energy and the physical existence. We have strong and visible evidence of the impacts of Mind on Life and Matter all around us, as we see mind inventing, reshaping and redirecting the other principles (albeit with many unintended consequences that need to be addressed to establish a long-term, beneficial action). . Much of this is done through the development of technological aids. Yet the inherent power of the mind is not dependent on such aids. For this reason, modern research is taking up the questions long posed by yogic practitioners, namely, how to go about liberating and deploying the innate powers of mind.

Research into occult sciences such as clairvoyance, clairaudience, telekinesis, remote viewing and powers to operate technology purely through the power of thought and concentration are first forays into this attempt in the West. In India, powers developed through concentration, tapasya, as well as breath control, pranayama, and the development of a state of inner silence and yogic trance, dhyana and samadhi, have show remarkable results in freeing the mind from the control and influence of the vital and the body. Much of this action in reality is the influence of yet higher statuses of consciousness acting through the being and establishing their initial presence in the evolutionary cycle of which we are a part.

Much work remains to be done to fully establish the Mind as the true leader of the life and body. Currently the mind is in fact very much manipulated by the vital energy in order to carry out the desires and impulsions proposed by the vital. Only through serious inner observation can the mind free itself from this subjection.

In the end, the mental force itself is a limited power and is therefore unable to gain fully control and mastery according to its aspiration. It is the advent of a yet higher power of consciousness that can fully see, organise, understand and control body, life and mind, that such mastery can truly result, and this in turn needs to guidance of the true soul, the psychic being, to turn the focus on contacting, receiving, and expressing the next level of conscious evolution in the world.

Sri Aurobindo notes: “A certain fundamental subjection of Mind to Life and Matter and an acceptance of this subjection, an inability to make the law of Mind directly dominant and modify by its powers the blinder law and operations of these inferior forces of being, remains even in the midst of our greatest mental mastery over self and things; but this limitation is not insuperable. It is the interest of occult knowledge that it shows us, — and a dynamic force of spiritual knowledge brings us the same evidence, — that this subjection of Mind to Matter, of the Spirit to a lesser law of Life is not what it at first appears to be, a fundamental condition of things, an inviolable and unalterable rule of Nature. The greatest, most momentous natural discovery that man can make is this that Mind, and still more the force of the Spirit, can in many tried and yet untried ways and in all directions, — by its own nature and direct power and not only by devices and contrivances such as the superior material instrumentation discovered by physical Science, — overcome and control Life and Matter.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Powers Within, Chapter XVIII Mind, pg. 141