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Transitioning From Mental Consciousness to Spiritual Consciousness While Controlling the Vital Nature · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  The mind provides a filter to manage and control the vital
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  forces to a certain degree. While it is not perfect, without
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  it, an individual can become subject to whatever vital energy
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  is active and rising up within him.
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  At the same time, the mind acts as a limitation on the ability
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  of the individual to shift the standpoint to the spiritual
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  level of existence. Those who take up spiritual
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  practices thus have to navigate the issue of how to move beyond
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  the mind while not simultaneously becoming a victim
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  of the resurgence of vital energies.
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  No longer restrained by the mental control, the spiritual
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  consciousness operates from an entirely different standpoint
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  than the mental consciousness. It is capable in its own yet
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  different way to manage the vital forces.
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  So the real issue becomes one of how to make the transition from
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  the mental level to the spiritual level without being
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  overwhelmed. In Questions and Answers 1929,
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  the mother writes quote. The first effect of yoga,
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  however, is to take away the mental control, and the hungers
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  that lie dormant are suddenly set free.
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  They rush up and invade the being.
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  What you should do is to keep the thing away from you, to
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  disassociate from it, take as little notice of it as possible,
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  and even if you happen to think of it, to remain indifferent and
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  unconcerned. End Quote.
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  The mother adds, Quote. This is much more difficult than
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  to sit upon a difficulty. It is much more difficult to
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  stand back from the difficulty than to sit upon it, to look at
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  it as something which does not concern you, which does not
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  interest you, does not belong to you, which belongs to the world
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  and not to you. But it is only by doing this
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  that you can succeed. This demands a kind of
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  liberation of spirit and a confidence in your inner being.
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  You must believe that if you take the right attitude, it is
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  the best that will happen to you.
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  But if you are afraid when something unpleasant happens to
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  you, then you can do nothing. You must have this confidence
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  within you. Whatever the difficulty,
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  whatever the obstacle, most of the time when something
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  unpleasant happens, you say, is it going to increase?
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  What other accident is yet going to happen?
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  And so on. You must tell yourself these
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  things are not mine, they belong to the subconscious world.
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  To be sure, I have nothing to do with them, and if they come
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  again to seize me, I am going to give a fight.
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  Naturally, you will answer that this is easy to say, but
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  difficult to do. But if you truly take this
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  attitude of confidence, there is no difficulty that you will not
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  be able to conquer. Anxiety makes the difficulty
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  greater. End Quote Reference Srioro Bindu
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  and the Mother Looking from Within, Chapter 4, Ordeals and
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  Difficulties, pages 87 to 88.