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Slogging Through the Dense and Dull Consciousness of the Physical Being · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  The natural seat of the guna of Satwa is in the mental being,
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  rajas in the vital being and tamas in the physical being.
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  This is not to imply that there are not times and situations
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  where one of the other qualities comes forward in any of these
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  three aspects of our external being.
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  On the contrary, we can identify tamasic and rajasic elements in
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  the mental being, as well as Sutwick and temasic elements in
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  the vital being and Sutwick and rajasic elements in the physical
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  being. The natural seat simply implies
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  that the most prominent general location for a particular guna
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  in action lies in a portion of the being that is prone to
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  express the kind of characteristics associated with
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  that guna. If we focus then on the physical
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  being and the situation of the coming to the fore of the
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  quality of Thomas, we can experience it as a dullness,
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  unwillingness to do anything, emptiness, darkness, and a sense
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  of nothing being able to move forward.
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  For a spiritual aspirant, this is an extremely uncomfortable
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  status, yet he may feel quite overwhelmed by the intensity of
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  the darkness and the potential despair that accompanies it.
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  In these moments, it is difficult for the seeker to see
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  that there's any way out of this morass.
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  It is important that he recognize that the gunas are
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  always in motion and that none of them can hold the field
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  forever. Eventually, the only solution is
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  to keep going, putting 1 foot in front of the other and moving
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  forward. However slow, however difficult,
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  however tiresome, and however hopeless it seems.
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  It may help to reflect on Milarepa's experience.
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  Wracked by all consuming guilt for the suffering he had caused,
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  seeking revenge through use of black magic, he sought out a
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  guru to guide him towards spiritual realization.
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  In one lifetime. The guru, rather than providing
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  the teachings he was granting to other disciples, put Milarepa to
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  work doing back breaking, building and then unbuilding of
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  stone structures without taking any assistance, using his own
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  physical body as the sole means of carrying out this work.
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  This went on for some years and eventually Milarepa reached a
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  state of extreme despair that he would ever get the necessary
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  teachings and achieve the realization to the point that he
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  even considered committing suicide.
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  It was only after this long dark period that he was actually
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  given the teachings which would eventually lead to a liberated
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  state of consciousness. His tribulations go far beyond
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  what most people immersed in the dull routine of the physical
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  consciousness have to bear, and they went on for far longer than
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  most people are stuck in that dull, meaningless routine of the
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  daily round without seeming purpose or even energy to make
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  it interesting or even remotely leading to progress.
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  Srioro Bindu observes quote at the mercy of the external sounds
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  and external bodily sensations. No control to drop the ordinary
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  consciousness. It will the whole tendency of
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  the being away from yoga. All that is unmistakably
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  applicable to the physical mind and the physical consciousness,
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  when they isolate themselves, as it were, and take up the whole
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  front, pushing the rest into the background, When a part of the
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  being is brought forward to be worked upon for change, this
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  kind of all occupying emergence, the dominant activity, that part
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  as if it alone existed, very usually happens.
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  And unfortunately it is always what has to be changed, the
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  undesirable conditions, the difficulties of that part which
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  rise 1st and obstinately hold the field and recur in the
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  physical. It is inertia, obscurity,
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  inability that come up, and the obstinacy of these things.
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  The only thing to do in this unpleasant phase is to be more
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  obstinate than the physical inertia and to persist in a
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  fixed endeavor, steady persistency without any restless
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  struggle to get a wide and permanent opening made even in
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  this solid rock of obstruction. End Quote Reference Sri Robindo,
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  Bases of yoga, Chapter 5. Physical consciousness,
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  subconscious sleep and dream illness.
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  Pages 84 to 85.