Latest / Sri Aurobindo Studies / Matter, Subtle Matter, the Causative Level and the Ability of Mind-Power or Vital Power to Create, Modify, Influence and Dissolve Material Forms

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Matter, Subtle Matter, the Causative Level and the Ability of Mind-Power or Vital Power to Create, Modify, Influence and Dissolve Material Forms · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  We tend to look at things from the standpoint of the material
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  formation it has taken. If we look deeper, however, we
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  see that the physical forms are a creation or representation of
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  ideas, forces, or processes that occur on a subtle level and
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  manifest into physical form only at the end of the process of
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  their creation, not their start. The Greek philosopher Plato
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  contemplated that physical forms are not the ultimate reality,
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  but are representations of an idea that has been solidified.
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  Basically, the Taitiria Upanishad takes us through a
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  journey of discovery by a young disciple who wants to understand
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  the nature of reality. He begins with the idea that
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  matter is the reality, but through his concentration he
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  eventually recognizes that matter is a result, not a 'cause
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  he successively goes through several realizations that each
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  represent more subtle causative levels until he eventually
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  reaches the knowledge level and then the bliss level of
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  causation. The Vedic Rishis indicated that
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  Agni, the Mystic fire, was contained within the material
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  forms. Scientists concur, indicating
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  that matter can be converted to energy.
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  Burning of wood or other material substances represents
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  the liberation of the force represented by Agni from the
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  material form within which it is contained.
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  Scientists recognize that matter is actually a solidified form of
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  energy. They also describe various
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  states of matter in a variety of energetic phases.
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  For instance, water can be a solid in the form of ice, a
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  liquid in the form of what we call water, a gas in the form of
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  water vapor in the atmosphere, etcetera.
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  What water actually is at the idea or causative level may be
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  something entirely different. We continue to learn about
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  water, and recently it was revealed by a scientist who has
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  studied the matter that while we consider water to be a conductor
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  of energy, it is actually not the water itself that is a
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  conductor, but various ionic minerals dissolved in the water
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  that are the conductors. Purified water, distilled from a
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  process that combines hydrogen and oxygen atoms without these
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  ionic minerals, is apparently not a conductor of electricity
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  as we generally believe it to be.
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  What indeed is water in its true essence or idea?
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  Numerous individuals have experienced things that defied
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  explanation on the purely material external level, but
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  which makes sense if we accept the subtler and causal states of
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  energy and consciousness. Sri Arubinda related at one
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  point an incident he personally observed.
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  His brother was extremely ill. A wandering Sonyazi came by and
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  saw the brother's status. He asked for a cup of water,
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  which he cut through with an implement.
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  While reciting certain mantras, he bade the brother drink the
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  water. Within a short period of time,
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  the brother quickly recovered from the acute illness.
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  The operations of homeopathic medicines are disputed by
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  allopathic practitioners as they cannot see any physical means of
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  action in these highly diluted substances.
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  Yet they have been shown to work not only on humans but on dogs
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  and horses, thus eliminating the action of what is called the
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  placebo effect by those who need to put a name on a more subtle
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  action that they do not understand.
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  Many people recognize the ability of certain individuals
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  through force of will to gain ascendancy and control over
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  other individuals. This power of will domination
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  can occur without any overt physical control over the
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  individual. Clearly, the operation of mind
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  power on the vital or physical planes is evident and widely
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  observed in this context. An incident highlights this
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  point. A young woman gave birth in a
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  hospital to a baby boy. The nursing staff tried to
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  control access to the child and force vaccinations that the
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  young mother clearly did not want her parents.
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  The child's grandparents were visiting at one point when the
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  nurses attempted to exercise this control over the child
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  against the wishes of the mother.
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  The grandfather of the child focused his attention on the
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  nursing staff while seated at the other end of the room and
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  spoke in a quiet but firm manner, disputing the rights of
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  the nursing staff to control the newborn in the way they wanted
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  to. One of the nursing staff reached
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  saying that the grandfather would be banned from the
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  hospital for attacking her, all while the grandfather was seated
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  7 or 8 meters distant and speaking in a quiet voice.
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  Clearly, some other force was operative which the nurse
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  interpreted as a form of pressure or attack, Sri Robindo
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  observes quote. These extraordinary occurrences,
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  which go outside the ordinary course of physical nature,
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  happen frequently in India and are not unknown elsewhere.
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  They are akin to what is called poltergeist phenomena in Europe.
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  Scientists do not speak or think about such supernatural
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  happenings except to Pooh Pooh them or to prove that they are
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  simply the tricks of children simulating supernatural
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  manifestations. Scientific laws only give a
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  schematic account of material process of nature as a valid
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  scheme. They can be used for reproducing
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  or extending at will a material process, but obviously they
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  cannot give an account of the thing itself.
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  Water, for instance, is not merely so much oxygen and
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  hydrogen put together. The combination is simply a
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  process or device for enabling the manifestation of a new thing
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  called water. What that new thing really is is
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  quite another matter. In fact, there are different
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  planes of substance, gross, subtle, and more subtle, going
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  back to what is called causal karana substance.
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  What is more gross can be reduced to the subtle state and
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  the subtle brought into the gross state.
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  That accounts for dematerialization and
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  rematerialization. These are occult processes and
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  are vulgarly described regarded as magic.
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  Ordinarily, the magician knows nothing of the why and wherefore
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  of what he is doing. He has simply learned the
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  formula of process, or else controls elemental beings of the
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  subtler states, plains, or worlds who do the thing for him.
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  The Tibetans indulge widely in occult processes.
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  If you see the books of Madam David Neal, who has lived in
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  Tibet, you will get an idea of their expertness in these
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  things. But also the Tibetan lamas know
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  something of the laws of occult, mental and vital energy and how
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  it can be made to act on physical things.
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  That is something which goes beyond mere magic.
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  The direct power of the mind force or life force upon matter
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  can be extended to an almost illimitable degree.
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  It must be remembered that energy is fundamentally one in
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  all the planes, only taking more and more dense forms.
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  So there is nothing a priori impossible in mind energy or
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  life energy acting directly on material energy and substance.
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  If they do, they can make a material object do things, or
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  rather can do things with a material object, which would be
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  to that object in its ordinary poise or law, unhabitual and
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  therefore apparently impossible. End Quote Reference Shriorobindo
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  and the Mother, The Hidden Forces of Life, Chapter 5.
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  Occult Forces pages one O 2 to one O 3.