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.
Vital Forces and Spiritual Forces and the Evolution of Consciousnessr Posted on January 8, 2026r
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.
The spiritual seeker is so close to the movements and reactions of the mind, life and body, in most circumstances, that he can easily become confused or conce ed about the process, timing and steps of the desired changes to responses of the exte al nature. It is frequently noted that it is easier to see the difficulties and the solutions for others than for oneself.
C.G. Jung described what he called the ‘collective unconscious’, a repository of archetypal images and experiences that are universal to humanity. Sigmund Freud explored the subconscious realms of the individual and how they impacted the lives and responses of those individuals. The understanding they gained and shared is the first opening in Western psychology to the deeper implications of the working of consciousness, which is both a unified field of oneness, and an individual experience factor built into each person’s own unique interactions with that universal reality.
In a certain sense, pursuing one of the paths that lead to liberation from human life is actually simpler and less complicated than a path that calls for the total change and transformation of human nature. In the first case, the seeker can choose to disregard the exte al life and the exte al nature, focus on the spiritual objective and, with sufficient concentration, can reach the objective, whether it is called liberation, moksha, or nirvana, or possible attainment of heaven after the death of the body.
It is essential for the spiritual seeker to maintain his view of the long-term objectives and the time frames of the evolution of consciousness in Nature, in order for him to avoid becoming overly anxious about specific setbacks or delays in completing transforming the exte al physical consciousness. When an individual takes up the practice of yoga, he begins to observe the defects and limitations of the existing formulation of not only his own exte al being, but of the exte al life, in general.
The waking consciousness takes notice of only a very small fraction of all of the impressions that reach the senses. Not all impressions are direct sense impressions, as some impinge directly on the aura or on the mental substance without involving the 5 exte al senses. Of those directly noted, only a small percentage are actually accepted consciously and acted upon. While we do not generally take cognizance of them, these impressions are captured and held in the subconscient being.
While we tend to believe that our consciousness is centered in the region of the brain, or in some cases, the heart, there is really a much broader framework for consciousness. There are different forms that consciousness takes. These forms vibrate at different frequencies and are then taken up and processed by the various subtle energy centers aligned along the spine, based on which vibratory pattern and frequency can be picked up by these centres or chakras, as they are called. Thus, vibrations that occur at a level that we call ‘mental’, i.e. thoughts, perceptions, etc.
The physical consciousness is very much driven by habit, routine and fixed response patterns. We can observe this in our eating routines, our sleep routines, and other habitual actions. The mind and the vital can influence the physical consciousness through programming routines or habits into it, essentially training the physical to respond to specific stimuli and act in a certain manner when presented with the situation. All forms of physical exercise and repetitive activity are building new habits into the physical consciousness.
In his play Hamlet, William Shakespeare has the protagonist proclaim “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
The natural seat of the Guna of sattwa is in the mental being; rajas in the vital being and tamas in the physical being. This is not to imply that there are not times and situations where one of the othe qualities comes forward in any of these three aspects of our exte al being; on the contrary, we can identify tamasic and rajasic elements in the mental being, as well as sattwic and tamasic elements in the vital being, and sattwic and rajasic elements in the physical being.
There is a proverb that says that changing human nature is like trying to straighten out a dog’s tail. As soon as the hold is taken off of the tail, it reverts to its usual shape. When we reach the level of the material consciousness, we are at the point where the ‘solidity’ of matter makes change much more challenging than in the more flexible levels of the mental consciousness, the vital consciousness, etc. Another proverb says that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks.
It is obvious. If a system is set up to carry out vital demands, desires and wants, and it is provided more energy, it will simply expand its ability to achieve those desires. That is the reason that undertaking practices that increase the vital force, without first ensuring that the focus and direction has been changed, actually increases lust, greed, pride, ambition and other forms of desire.
The integral yoga operates on the principle of the Force descending from above and working through the mind, the emotions, the vital and finally into the physical nature. While some action may take place in the sadhana out of a specific order, this is the general case, as the issue of addressing and definitively changing the embedded habits and predilections of the physical nature naturally is easier if the mind, the heart and the vital nature are all cooperating in the process.
Medical researchers tell us that bacteria that can cause various disease conditions are always present in our environment, to some degree, including within our bodies. Yet for the most part, we do not become ill or remain ill all the time. The bacteria may be in a diffused or weak form, or our various immune system defenses reject their attempt to overpower our system in a way that creates an active illness.
When we are focused on our exte al being, we tend not to recognise that forces unseen actually not only impact how and what we perceive, understand, and respond to impressions and pressures, but actually very much define who we believe we are. There are forces that are subconscient to our exte al awareness which send up suggestions, thoughts, impulses, drives, habits, and instincts that drive our action. There are also forces superconscient to our exte al awareness that help us see, and grow beyond the limits of our physical-vital-mental existence.
We are constantly being inundated by forces active in the world. These forces may be physical, such as the radiation from the sun, radioactivity from the earth, the power of wind, waves, gravitational influences, etc. They may also be vital forces that provoke sympathetic vibrations within us based on long habit or instinctive reaction or some trained response we have developed with respect to events, circumstances, relationships or traumas in our past experience. They may also be mental forces which may feed us ideas, opinions, speculations, imaginations that are circulating in the world.
Physical Austerities, Self-Torture, Fasting and the Mastery of the Sexual Impulser Posted on January 21, 2026r
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Most people, when asked, attribute consciousness to the mind, and center it in the brain. But consciousness does not stop there and, indeed, there are various types of consciousness associated with different aspects of the being. There is a mental consciousness, an emotional consciousness, a vital consciousness and even a physical consciousness. People do not generally recognise the physical consciousness for what it is, and therefore, they tend to underestimate it and its potential as an aid in the spiritual development.
We see the world from the individual standpoint and place ourselves at the center of it. We believe we originate the thoughts, feelings, emotions and responses we give. This, however, is very much the illusion of the ego-sense.
As the seeker begins to observe the movements of the exte al nature closely, he can identify certain repetitive patterns of response, including impulses to stimuli of various sorts, cravings, desires, fears, frustrations, anger, and attraction. All of these are for the most part virtually automatic without conscious decision or control by the higher elements of the being. While we tend to think of ourselves as being in control of our life-responses, the reality tends to be far different than our superficial assessment. We call these movements instincts, habits or trained behaviour.
The chakras are subtle energy centers, not physical centers in the body, although they generally correspond to various physical capacities ranged along the exte al body. They essentially act as vibrational ‘receptors’ and transmitters of energies. When they are closed or very much shut down, the energy that would normally work through them tends to be weak or missing in the manifestation of any being. Evolution of consciousness and its expression in the exte al being involves the systematic development and opening of the higher subtle energy centers.
In the Rig Veda, there is a legend about a cave of the Panis which Sri Aurobindo has explained as a description of how the subconscient captures and holds the higher divine Light and encloses it away in the darkness. The illumined mind and the higher powers of awareness break open this subconscient level and free the light from that encompassing darkness. In The Secret of the Veda, Sri Aurobindo describes the meaning of Indra, Sarama,the ‘cows’, representing the rays of Light, the battle of Light against the Darkness, and the significance of freeing these ray-cows from the subconscient.
Free E-books, MP3's, Workshops, and Personal Intuitive Guidance to help you live your Dharma - your life purpose, by developing your mindset, your intuition, and your sense of self worth. Dedicated to helping you live the divine life that is your Divine Birthright.
Spiritual Teacher and World Renowned Psychic - Sylvia Browne and Sylvia's Spiritual Movement; The Society of Novus Spiritus
I help people awaken to who they truly are and live a more peaceful, purposeful, and joyful life. I do this through Awakened Life Coaching, Art, Music, and Books. Visit my site to discover how you can live an Awakened Life.
"Am I Going Mad?, the Unsettling Phenomena of spiritual Evolution" the book, is a combination true stories, Jungian Psychology, Shamanism and Quantum Physics. It has been described as "a spiritual masterpiece for the sake of human evolution".
I help individuals of all walks of life identify and remove their fears, their masks, to reveal and nurture their natural way of being and unlock their real potentials.
Since 1998, Dr. Bob Waxman has been President of The Open Center in Sarasota, FL. He is an author, educator, and featured speaker on Eastern & Western Spiritual Traditions. Bob has been interviewed on national TV and radio and is the author of (3) books. He holds a Masters Degree and a Ph.D.
Specializing in Spiritual Empowerment, Cindy: Teaches how to redefine our attitudes and receive innate self-worthr Explains how to incorporate life skills that lead to personal empowerment
Website provides spiritual preparation for our world's emergence into the Greater Community of life.
Helping Human Beings Come Closer to God and Their Own Hearts. Reawaken your sense of Self and connectedness to God and all of humanity. Welcome
www.chiara.com.au is a site for self healing - to awaken to one's true potential - one's possibility. Chiara is a Reiki Teacher, Author and Metaphysical Counsellor. Amongst other features, her site holds links to information on her book and Meditation CD.
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