Spiritual Growth Articles

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We are generally so tied to our exte al ego-personality that we identify with it as what we consider to be our ‘self’. We then refer to this body-life-mind complex as our reality and we say that we ‘have a soul’. The reality is far different. The reality is that the soul, the psychic being, takes on a particular existence for its own purposes of experience and growth. The difference in viewpoint is profound and has far-reaching implications.

The vital ego is impatient. It wants to keep pressing on regardless of the impact on the body or the mind, or even its own native energy. It wants to get somewhere and begrudges the journey and the time and the waypoints along the path. It believes that haste will achieve the goal sooner, while in fact, it usually sets the achievement further away, due to the inevitable breakdowns, and the very energy that is circulating, which does not permit the Divine Force to act in its own way and its own time to carry out the complex, detailed and enormous task of transformation of human nature.

The vital nature, under the influence of the Guna of Rajas, tends to create drama. Struggle, disruption, aggressive responses are all a part of this vital play. One of the manifestations of this drama is to raise the temperature about any resistance, obstacle, delay etc. that the individual experiences. Another is to seek out a culprit and label it as a ‘hostile force’ thereby accentuating the challenge being faced and increasing the dramatic effect.

The spiritual seeker tends to struggle with the constant recurrence of old thoughts, feelings, reactions and desires. He is also constantly confronted by changes in his energy levels and focus. Much of this is due to the underlying and deeply embedded energies that he has inherited as part of human nature as it has been developed and manifested. Some of this is due to education, expectations and societal pressures that have helped shape his being in this lifetime. Another portion are due to the constant changing of the three Gunas as they adjust their predominance from one moment to the next.

For the practitioner of the integral yoga, it becomes evident that the transformation of human nature is not something that can be done by his own capacity alone. His mental ideas, the will power, vital drives and physical powers have their limitations and remain relatively fixed within the framework of the untransformed human nature as we recognise it. Some progress can be made, but it reaches a point where the change cannot progress any farther and a new power needs to be brought into the picture to work through the subsequent steps.

As the seeker begins to go inwards in his awareness, theare are innumerable new experiences that take place. He generally is not able to determine exactly what they mean. In this case, the guidance of an experienced practitioner or of a Guru can be of immense assistance. If a seeker is proceeding without a guide, or if an experience comes upon an individual more or less suddenly without conscious intention or preparation, he needs to appreciate that the exploration of inner space with bring forward many things formerly unknon and unseen previously.

When the higher spiritual forces begun to enter the being through any kind of opening, they interact with the existing framework of the body-life-mind. Any time energy is introduced into a system, it activates the existing patterns of response, so that the mind begins to create its thoughts and ideas, the vital being responds with its emotions, and vital reactions and the physical body responds with its normal actions. Any embedded habitual patterns or locked in reactions from past samskaras will naturally arise.

There are powers at work in the world that have a vested interest in maintaining the current status. They have control, they have power, they can exult in their predominance. They do not want to see their power or influence wane or disappear. On the contrary, they may seek further control and domination. Thus, they treat any progressive development as a threat to their situation and even, in some cases, their very existence. These powers act to hold back change and progress.

When we reflect on our normal state of conscious awareness, we recognise a primary seat of awareness in the mind, while also finding that we respond to impulses that originate in the other chakras, subtle energy centres, from the base of the spine to the crown of the head. Yogic science has long recognised that energy traverses the sublte channels that connect the chakras.

Spiritual seekers face a long and difficult road trying to sort out what thoughts, emotions, feelings, movements, actions and responses are expressive of and related to their spiritual calling, and which ones are part of the old ways of the exte al nature and the vital ego. They frequently experience doubt, and during periods of difficulty when the old ways seem to overwhelm them, they may experience depression, despair or intense internal suffering. The ‘dark night of the soul’ is something that spiritual aspirants everywhere can relate to at some point along the way.

When an individual withdraws from most exte al activities to focus on spiritual sadhana, people tend to interpret this as a sign of weakness or failure in the outer life. They believe the seeker could not ‘make it’ in the competition in the exte al world and therefore retreated from it so he did not have to face it. This view, however, is inaccurate. While it is true that some individuals retreat from the difficulties they face in the world, they soon find that spiritual practice requires far more strength than they could have imagined.

An individual reaches an absolute low point in his life. He may be suffering under intense grief, he may have made mistakes that led to catastrophic consequences, he may be faced with exposure and embarassment for actions he has undertaken, he may be in intense pain and suffering from a terminal disease. He may have been rejected by a person he was attached to. He may be under the influence of various disorienting drugs. These are all predisposing circumstances that lead some individuals to contemplate suicide.

We frequently hear the advice that we could have much more peace and satisfaction in our lives if we were not always trying to ‘manage’ things. We are encouraged to just ‘go with the flow’. Even spiritual seekers are frequently asked to let the ‘force’ work without interference from our mind or vital being. At the same time, we are asked to exercise insight and discrimination to monitor the forces that are at work trying to move us, and to not accept whatever happens to come along. Not every force aids the sadhana. … some of them actually inhibit or distract from the spiritual pursuit.

The change of human nature does not happen all at once, nor does it change every aspect or part of the being instantaneously. Once the divine Force begins to descend, it works its way systematically through the various parts of the being, starting with those that are most receptive to its action and thereby presenting the least resistance. In the ordinary course, the mind and the emotional center tend to be the most receptive and able to begin to adapt their action under the influence of the psychic being and the descending Force.

We like to believe that we are independent actors in control of our own destiny and our own lines of development. We want ‘freedom’ to express ourselves. The ego-personality acting in the outside world is very much a captive of past energies, whether those of the formation of physical and vital life, or those that have been acquired and developed through the process of evolution of the mental power. We have been educated, pressured, traumatized, and socialized to make certain decisions and act in certain ways, all while believing that we are free and independent actors.

A human birth is prized as it is the gateway to evoution and development. In the Indian tradition, even the gods need to take a human birth if they want to achieve any new form of development or progress. The gods reside normally in a static world which does not have the impetus for change.

The first impulse of religious or spiritual paths with respect to the sex impulse has frequently been to simply suppress and deny it. When any form of energy is forcefully suppressed, it acts like a coiled spring, storing that energy and building up its potential power, until such time as it is able to overcome the force of the suppression and then is released with a tremendous uprising of that energy. The result can be explosive, similar to the eruption of a volcano. Pressures build up until the cover can no longer contain it and it bursts forth.

Desire can take many forms, some of them subtle, inasmuch as they are linked to prayer and thus seem to confirm the aspiration. There is a subtle form of bargaining that can take place where the dedication of the seeker is tied to the Divine providing a specific anticipated form of realisation, support or result. In some cases this is couched in such a way as to make it seem that the bargaining is so that the individual can better carry out the Divine Will, as the individual understands it.

There is a dual significance to the term ‘the Mother’s Force’. First, this is the Divine Shakti, which manifests the universal creation, and which acts to bring forth the sequential expression of the consciousness involved in Matter. At the same time, there is the specific reference to the Mother of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, who so embodied and focused this divine Force that those who came into her presence or aura of influence were profoundly impacted by that Force.

We feel a desire and try to fulfil it. It may be a desire or craving for some type of food or drink, or for a particular object of material enjoyment, or it may be a sexual desire, or a desire for companionship, excitement, or any other vital drive that wells up in us. In some cases we try to satisfy that desire. In other cases, we determine we would like to rid ourselves of that desire, not fulfill it, and be at peace without whatever it is that we crave.

Material possessions are always an issue for the spiritual aspirant, as they tend to distract the focus and lead to vital reactions that are not helpful to overcoming the pull of the exte al world and its measures of success which is attached to the acquisition, holding and use of the possessions. Dealing with objects directs the attention toward those objects and thus, away from the spiritual sadhana.

Every spiritual discipline, every path, has its unique challenges and difficulties. One cannot minimize the issues that anyone taking up the spiritual life must face. Almost all of these paths traditionally have focused on liberation of the individual seeker, regardless of the specific methodology employed. The stories are legendary.

In the ordinary life in society, food plays an especially important and high profile role. We treat food as a centerpiece of our various celebrations, as rewards, as comfort when we are under stress and as something we consumer out of boredom or inattention. Food taste, food preparation, food choices all become major topics of consideration and discussion.

When we consider the objective of the transformation of human nature, we begin to understand that it is not a simple or quick process. We carry within us the physical, vital and mental habits of life on earth, including instincts, set modes of action and response, and the rsult of the training and socialization we have received in the current lifetime, which represents the combined force of the past development of human society acting in the present.

When an individual takes up religious or spiritual practices, he becomes aware of the force of desire and the need to curb it. In some cases, particularly in religious pursuits, there are a set of moral rules or monastic rules that provide set guidelines for the practitioner. Usually these things revolve around control of the impulse for sex in some manner, including potentially complete abstinence.

It is tempting for a spiritual seeker to undertake some form of extreme fasting. The practice of fasting has been used since time immemorial all around the world to increase the vital force by reducing the ‘drag’ of the physical body and its operations around acquiring, preparing, eating and digesting food. Additionally, extreme fasting has been reported to help the seeker achieve various altered states of awareness, in what has been called a ‘vision quest’ in certain traditions.

Humanity develops habits of response that tend to become ingrained in almost all approaches to any particular topic. This is found to be especially true when it comes to the question of religious dedication and spiritual aspiration. The default response to religious or spiritual devotion has historically been to give up, abandon, the focus on life in the material world.

In his book, The Mother, Sri Aurobindo describes sex as one of the three forces, “power, wealth, sex — that have the strongest attraction for the human ego and the Asura and are most generally misheld and misused by those who retain them.”

There is a factor of enjoyment of taste of various foods which is called rasa in Sanskrit. We experience this when we eat something that excites our taste buds and sends signals of pleasure to the brain. For many people, the sweet taste, and more particularly the taste of rich chocolate, seems to occupy such a position. Others however may find enjoyment in any of the other primary tastes identified by Ayurveda, salty, sour, sharp/spicy, astringent or bitter. Some of these tastes are considered to impact the doshas or predominant elements active in the being, vata, pitta and kapha.

People tend to get very defensive about the idea of celibacy, sexual abstinence, Brahmacharya, however it may be termed. They argue that it is unhealthy. They argue that this is a process in Nature that ensures the continuity of the race, they argue that the suppression of sexual expression leads to all kinds of perversions and criminality, including pedophilia, rape, or utilization of power dynamics to pressure others into sex. All of these arguments have some basis in fact.

A human birth is considered to be an important and valuable step in the growth of the soul and in the evolutionary development of consciousness in furtherance of the divine manifestation. It is not to be wasted. The traditions of India indicate that even the gods, who are static beings, would have to take birth in the body in order to evolve, change, transform and develop.

Dealing with the Desire or Craving Related to Foodr Posted on December 27, 2025 Vast numbers of people face the difficulty of the craving for food, whether in the form of eating more than their body requires, or eating foods that carry little nutritional benefit but which represent large caloric content or which satisfy a particular craving for a specific taste. There are substantial downsides to indulgence in food cravings, including unnecessary weight gain and the health impacts that come along with that.

Fasting has often been utilized by spiritual and religious practitioners as a way of gaining some measure of control over the vital desires, cravings and urges, as well as a means for increasing the vital and mental energy available to them. In some cases, it has been used to induce altered states of awareness to help achieve vision and clarity of purpose by the seeker.

Human beings have a tendency to move from one extreme to the other, like a pendulum swing. When we are faced with a particular conce we want to resolve, we apply this tendency. When it comes therefore to the force of desire and the attraction of material objects, we either become attached to them and try to grab and hold onto them (the materialist approach) or else, we try to remove their influence from our lives and thereby deny our relation to these objects (the ascetic approach).

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Until such time as we become capable of drawing infinite energy from the universal force of creation, we have the issue of choosing how we utilize the energy that we have available to us. Through certain types of practices we can actually increase the available energy. The radical transformation of the mental, vital and physical being requires large amounts of focused energy.

There is a well-known and widely described concept in the spiritual traditions of India whereby the basic force of the first chakra that manifests in the ordinary course through that centre as sexual energy is converted through various processes of tapasya, yogic concentration, into a force that can join the seeker to the spiritual consciousness. This process, known as converting ‘retas’ into ‘ojas’ is the basis for various actions of hatha yoga, pranayama and the well-known kundalini yoga. The basic force is envisioned as a serpent coiled at the base of the spine, the Muladhara Chakra.

Success in attaining the objectives of any spiritual practice is based on achieving ‘one pointed concentration’. This means focusing the aspiration on the spiritual source and maintaining that focus without diverting energy and attention away to any other objective. The integral yoga, with its focus on the transformation of life on earth into a divine life, requires similar commitment.

There is a vast difference between the goals of the ordinary human individual and those who have chosen to take up spiritual sadhana. This difference defines the way they respectively look at things, including the various normal and natural functions of human life. For the ordinary individual, it turns out that their lives are very much defined by their interests, their careers, their relationships and the various forms of enjoyment they seek.

When an individual takes up the spiritual path, he seeks guidance, perhaps from books or through online blogs, podcasts, videos, webinars, perhaps from people who are treading the path, perhaps from a teacher or Guru who has come into his life. Generally he comes away with some guidelines to follow. In many instances, the guidelines set forth ultimate desired results but do not provide detailed instruction taking into account the individual’s starting point, situation and circumstances.

The objective is almost unimaginably complex and difficult. Changing human nature, including the inheritance humanity brings from the animal evolutionary process, is not something that is quickly or easily accomplished. It cannot also be done entirely by the action of human mind and will power. If we waited on Nature to accomplish the change, it could take many thousands of years, as we have seen with the development of life, and its increasingly complex formulations out of matter, and the development of mind, and its impact on life and matter.

The practitioner of the integral yoga has set before himself the change of what we consider to be basic human nature, the established workings and principles of action of the body, the life-force and the mind. These elements have developed over countless millennia as part of the evolutionary process of Nature. Many of them have been considered foundational principles of the physical body and the life energy. Effectuating any change therefore requires a process and a force that goes beyond our mental will.

As the spiritual seeker begins to address the question of mastery over the sex-impulse, he becomes aware of the difficulties of tackling a deeply embedded process that stretches back into the early phases of animal evolution, and thus, has acquired a strong power base within the being. This power base for the sexual impulse includes long-established response mechanisms that trigger internal surges of certain hormones that direct the reaction of the mind, the heart, the nervous system, the vital and physical systems.

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There is a substantial and well-known danger of the vital nature taking advantage of the force that comes down through the psychic aspiration and using it to advance objectives of the vital rather than those that carry out the intended purpose of the Divine Power. There is a well known connection, for instance, between the opening of the heart centre and its emotions and the activation of the sexual impulse, when the being has not been sufficiently prepared and purified in its ability to receive and hold the higher force as it descends.

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Most religious and spiritual paths have addressed the issue of sexuality from a viewpoint that turns it into some kind of sin or morality concern, and proscriptions about sex and responses to the sexual impulse mirror this focus on morality versus immorality. People who engage in sexual behaviour itside the accept norm in a particular society are stigmatised for those activities. The determination of what constitutes ‘moral’ or ‘immoral’ is clearly based on the view of specific societies, and thus, can be seen as a ‘temporal’ determination not some kind of universal law or judgment.

There are many powers at work in the world, physical powers, vital powers, mental powers, spiritual powers. They are native to their own sphere, but in many cases they are active here in our world, trying to assert themselves and thrive here. Many of these powers are conscious and act with intentionality. Some support the development of consciousness and represent the spiritual forces that are beneficent, helpful and compassionate.