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The Vital Envelope Surrounding the Body and the Ability to Ward Off Illness · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  Many people have had the experience of a feeling that
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  something is happening in the body, such as a feeling of a
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  cold coming on. In some cases the feeling is
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  very strong and the pressure is great.
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  There may be some sneezing, some tickle in the throat, some
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  coughing, some amount of congestion.
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  In other cases there is a very faint sense of pressure.
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  This pressure is felt in the vital envelope that surrounds
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  the body and then in the subtle physical level before they
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  manifest into a full blown illness in the physical body
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  itself. By responding immediately to the
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  pressure on the vital envelope, the incipient illness can be
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  thrown off. Some people do this through
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  action of the willpower, others use mantras.
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  Still others, particularly those who have not developed a strong
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  dynamic force directly at that level, may use herbs or other
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  remedies to convince the body and the vital envelope that help
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  is being provided. And then the immune system takes
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  over to throw off the illness before it fully manifests.
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  Through regular practice, attending to the subtle feelings
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  that come through a quiet receptivity to the sensations,
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  feelings and pressures, an individual can habituate himself
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  to pay attention to the state of the vital protective envelope
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  and work to strengthen and enhance it.
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  What is not normally recognized is that various states of mind
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  or emotions can actually weaken the envelope and let in the
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  illnesses. Feelings of fear in particular,
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  create an attraction to the force that is being feared.
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  We see this frequently in the case of a pandemic or highly
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  communicable diseases, that many people succumb simply through
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  fear of the illness which draws it to them and opens the door,
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  so to speak. A disciple asks.
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  Illnesses enter through the subtle body, don't they?
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  How can they be stopped? The mother writes quote.
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  Ah, here we are. If one is very sensitive, very
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  sensitive, one must be very sensitive.
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  The moment they touch the subtle body and try to pass through, 1
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  feels it. It is not like something
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  touching the body, it is a sort of feeling.
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  If you are able to perceive it at that moment, you have still
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  the power to say no and it goes away.
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  But for this one must be extremely sensitive.
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  However that develops, all these things can be developed
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  methodically by the will. You can become quite conscious
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  of this envelope, and if you develop it sufficiently, you
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  don't even need to look and see. You feel that something has
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  touched you. I can give you an instance of
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  this. There are many similar ones.
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  Someone was seeking to establish a constant and conscious
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  contact, absolutely constant and conscious, with the inner
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  Godhead, not only with the psychic being, but the divine
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  presence in the psychic being. And she had decided that she
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  would be like this, that she would busy herself with nothing
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  else, that is to say, whatever she might be doing.
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  Her concentration was upon this. And even when she went out
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  walking in the street, her concentration was upon this.
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  She lived in a big city where there was much traffic, buses,
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  tramways, etcetera, many things. And to cross the street one had
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  to be considerably careful, wide awake and attentive, otherwise
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  one could get run over. But this person had resolved
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  that she would not come out of her concentration.
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  One day when she was crossing one of the big avenues with all
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  its cars and tramways still deep in her concentration, in her
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  inner seeking, she suddenly felt at about an arm's length a
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  little shock like this. She jumped back and a car passed
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  just by her side. If she had not jumped back, she
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  would have been run over. This is an extreme point, but
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  without going so far, one can very easily feel a kind of
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  little discomfort. It is not something which is
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  imposed with a great force, a little uneasiness coming near
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  you from anywhere at all, front, behind, above, below.
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  If at that moment you are sufficiently alert, you say no,
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  as though you were cutting off the contact with great strength,
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  and it is finished. If you are not conscious at that
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  moment, the next minute or a few minutes later, you get a queer
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  sick feeling inside, a cold in the back, a little uneasiness,
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  the beginning of some disharmony.
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  You feel a maladjustment somewhere, as though the general
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  harmony had been disturbed. Then you must concentrate all
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  the more, and with a great strength of will, keep the faith
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  that nothing can do you harm, nothing can touch you.
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  This suffices. You can throw off the illness at
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  that moment, but you must do this immediately.
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  You understand? You must not wait 5 minutes, it
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  must be done at once. If you wait too long and begin
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  to feel really an uneasiness somewhere and something begins
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  to get quite disturbed, then it is good to sit down, concentrate
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  and call the force. Concentrate it to the place
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  which is getting disturbed, that is to say, which is beginning to
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  become ill. But if you don't do anything at
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  all, an illness indeed gets lodged somewhere.
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  And all this because you are not sufficiently alert.
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  And sometimes one is obliged to follow the entire curved to find
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  the favorable moment again and get rid of the business.
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  I have said somewhere that in the physical domain all is a
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  question of method. A method is necessary for
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  realizing everything, and if the illness has succeeded in
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  touching the physical, physical well, you must follow the
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  procedure to get rid of it. This is what medical science
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  calls the course of the illness. One can hasten the course with
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  the help of spiritual forces, but all the same, the procedure
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  must be followed. There are some four different
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  stages. The very first is instantaneous,
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  the second can be done in some minutes, the 3rd may take
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  several hours, and the fourth several days.
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  And then, once The thing is lodged there, all will depend
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  not only on the receptivity of the body, but still more on the
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  willingness of the part which is the cause of the disorder.
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  You know, when the thing comes from outside, it is in affinity
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  with something inside. If it manages to pass through,
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  to enter without one's being aware of it, it be it means
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  there is some affinity somewhere, and the part of the
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  being which has responded must be convinced.
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  End Quote. Reference Srioro Bindu and the
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  Mother. Powers within, Chapter 14.
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  Power over Illness and Pain, pages 1:13 to 1:15.