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The Need to Prepare the Being to Receive, Hold and Utilize the Influx of the Higher Forces · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  The raw power generated by an electricity power plant is far
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  greater than any single house can sustain.
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  Thus, the utility company utilizes step down Transformers
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  to systematically bring the power down to a level that the
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  homes and the wiring to the homes can sustain.
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  A similar principle is at work with regard to the universal
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  forces and the ability of any individual to receive and hold
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  those forces. This is the reason that much of
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  the work done in any yogic practice is to prepare the being
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  to receive and utilize the force that descends.
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  Raja Yoga provides a great example.
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  The 1st 2 steps, Yama and Niyama, include various vital
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  purifications and control and management of the vital forces
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  active in the being such as non injury, non stealing,
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  truthfulness, contentment, et cetera.
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  If any of these vital predilections is active, it can
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  either misuse the energy coming in or waste it without
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  accomplishing the spiritual objective.
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  The next stage includes asana in terms of maintaining a solid
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  physical frame and capacity to hold and move energy.
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  While this is mostly associated with the physical frame,
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  actually the term asana can signify the entire being at all
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  its levels. The goal of a solid seat,
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  therefore, is to have a framework, physical, vital and
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  mental, that can hold the yogic forces when they enter and are
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  activated in the being. The next step is pranayam, which
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  is the management of the prana, or the vital force that
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  activates and operates within the physical body.
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  The prana is also the link between the external forces and
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  the physical frame and is usually controlled through
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  management of the breathing process.
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  There is a direct link also between the management of the
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  thoughts and the management of the breath.
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  So it is an essential step to gain control of the breath,
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  purify the channels through which the various forms of prana
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  move, and bring the thoughts also under control, eventually
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  leading to a quieting of the mental process.
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  It is only after these four preliminary stages are
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  accomplished that Raja Yoga moves on to the deeper practices
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  that bring direct connection to the spiritual reality and the
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  forces that are at work at those levels.
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  A disciple asks, quote, sweet mother, do the universal vital
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  forces have any limits? End Quote.
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  The mother answers, quote. I don't think that forces have a
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  limit because in comparison with us they are certainly unlimited,
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  but it's our capacity of reception that is limited.
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  We cannot absorb them beyond a certain measure, and then we
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  must keep a balance between the expenditure and the capacity to
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  receive. If one spends suddenly in a kind
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  of impulse, for example in an impulsive movement, if one
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  spends much more than one has received, one needs a brief
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  moment of concentration, calm receptivity, to absorb universal
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  forces. You must put yourself in a
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  certain condition to receive them, and then they last for a
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  certain time and once you have spent them, you must begin again
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  to receive them. It is in this sense that there
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  are limits. It isn't the forces that are
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  limited, it is the receptivity. End Quote reference Shriyaro
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  Bindu and the Mother, The Hidden Forces of life, Chapter 4.
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  Cosmic and Universal Forces, page 96.