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The Role of the Vital-Physical Aspect of Our Being · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  When we observe the nerves and their role in our actions, we
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  see that they carry vital sensations within a physical
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  frame to connect our senses and responses to external pressures
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  to the brain, and then carry impulses back to the organs of
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  action. Most people do not recognize the
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  essential role of this interface between the vital and the
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  physical. In determining how we react and
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  then how we respond to the situations of our lives, the
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  pressure on the nervous system has become dramatically more
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  intense with the advent of modern society and its increased
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  levels of noise, electronic impulses and distractions, not
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  to speak of the chemicals that impact the being and the drugs
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  that are so commonly prescribed. Were used without prescription
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  to try to modulate certain conditions of the physical body
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  or the mind. The practitioner of yoga finds
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  that nervous weakness and disturbance represents an
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  enormous obstacle. There are methods recommended
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  for the purification of the nerves to calm them and prepare
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  them to carry the force of an enhanced energetic flow in the
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  being many of these methods. Developed over many centuries
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  can be helpful, but they were frequently coupled with
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  withdrawal from the external life and seclusion in quiet,
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  concentrated environments in today's world, and with a focus
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  on transformation of life rather than escape from life, it is
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  essential that the additional insight be brought to ensuring
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  that the nervous system is solid, stable.
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  And calm. Much of the disruption we note
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  in the nervous system comes through what we consume.
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  Not just food but also media, social interactions, the air we
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  breathe, the thoughts we accept, the work we do, the constant
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  bombardment of sights, sounds and smells as we go through
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  daily life. Some of these things are
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  virtually impossible to avoid. Others can be modulated or
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  moderated. Instead of imbibing a constant
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  diet of television, radio, Internet, social media, mobile
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  phone use, the seeker can find a balance that reduces the impact
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  of these disrupting factors. Many people do not recognize the
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  impact that use of recreational drugs as well as pharmaceutical
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  prescription drugs actually have on the nervous system.
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  The long term impact of these inputs can take years to clear
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  up, assuming they have been discontinued.
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  For the practitioner of yoga, the understanding of the vital
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  physical nervous system is of considerable importance in
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  gaining mastery over the reactions and the very health of
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  the physical body as the foundation of the life in the
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  material world. Three or Abendo notes Quote the
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  vital physical, on the other hand, is the vehicle of the
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  nervous responses of our physical nature.
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  It is the field and instrument of the smaller sensations,
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  desires, reactions of all kinds to the impacts of the outer
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  physical and gross material life.
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  This vital physical part supported by the lowest part of
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  the vital proper. Is therefore the agent of most
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  of the lesser movements of our external life.
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  Its habitual reactions and obstinate pettinesses are the
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  chief stumbling block in the way of transformation of the outer
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  consciousness by the yoga. It is also largely responsible
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  for most of the suffering and disease of mind or body to which
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  the physical being is subject in nature.
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  End Quote. Reference Sriorobindo and the
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  Mother Our Many Selves, Practical Yogic Psychology,
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  Chapter 2, Plains and Parts of the Being, page 16.