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Vigilance · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  The ancient texts such as the Upanishads or the Dhammapada
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  focus on distinguishing the true and eternal from the transitory
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  and illusory existence upon which most people spend their
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  time and attention. Thus, the term vigilance means
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  something entirely different than what a person awake in the
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  external world would take it to mean in the case of the seeker
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  of liberation or spiritual realization.
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  Vigilance thus means the attention on that which is not
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  transitory, that which survives the changes we undergo in the
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  external life, including the birth and death of a particular
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  individual in a particular body. We thus have to reorient our
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  viewpoint to understand the sense.
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  The Atyatma Upanishad states this most clearly in verses 14
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  to 17 when it says quote. Never should 1 be heedless in
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  devotion to Brahman. Heedlessness is death.
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  So aver the philosophers of Brahman in regard to this
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  science. Just as a pulled up water reads
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  Days, not still even for a moment, so does Maya ceaselessly
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  envelope even a wise man if he averts his face from the truth.
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  With the vision of the non dual self through unwavering
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  concentration comes the dissolution without residue of
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  the knots of ignorance in the heart.
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  Whosoever wins absoluteness while alive continues to be
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  absolute even after death. Rooted in concentration, O
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  Sinless 1 remains steadfast. End Quote from the 108
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  Upanishads, page 698 of the Gita Society.
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  This theme of heedlessness or lack of vigilance is implied in
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  other Upanishads, particularly in the KATU Upanishad, which
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  explores the question of life and death, the eternal and
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  immortal status versus the transitory and mortal existence.
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  The Lord of Death describes for the seeker Nachicetus what is
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  true and should be the object of 1's focus.
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  He offers Nachiketas all the possible enjoyments of the
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  external world for the human individual, which Nachiketas
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  turns down as he remains heedful of the real object of his
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  seeking. A similar theme appears in
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  various places in Hindu, Buddhist, or Islamic scriptures
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  as a recognition of what is true and what is illusion.
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  Immortality is associated with vigilance or heedfulness, and
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  death attends those who are unfocused, drifting in the world
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  of samsara, Maya, illusion, et cetera.
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  Vigilance in this sense implies that one pays attention to the
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  self, which transcends birth and death.
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  Such an individual does not die in the sense that we ordinarily
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  describe death because they see a continuous cycle of birth,
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  life, death and rebirth. 1 existence for which death is an
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  illusory concept. Those who are fixated on the
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  external life of the world and thus heedless of the eternal are
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  the ones who suffer death as they have no foundation of
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  awareness in the Oneness, the Dhammapada states quote
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  Vigilance is the way that leads to immortality or Nirvana.
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  Negligence is the way that leads to death.
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  Those who are vigilant do not die.
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  Those who are negligent are dead already.
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  End Quote. The mother observes.
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  Quote Vigilance means to be awake, to be on one's guard, to
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  be sincere, never to be taken by surprise.
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  When you want to do sadhna at each moment of your life, there
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  is a choice between taking a step that leads to the goal and
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  falling asleep, or sometimes even going backwards, telling
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  yourself oh later on, not immediately sitting down on the
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  way. To be vigilant is not merely to
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  resist what pulls you downward, but above all to be alert in
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  order not to lose any opportunity to progress, any
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  opportunity to overcome a weakness, to resist a
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  temptation, any opportunity to learn something, to correct
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  something, to master something. If you are vigilant, you can do
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  in a few days what would otherwise take years.
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  If you are vigilant, you change each circumstance of your life,
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  each action, each movement, into an occasion for coming nearer
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  the goal. There are two kinds of
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  vigilance, active and passive. There is a vigilance that gives
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  you a warning if you are about to make a mistake, if you are
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  making a wrong choice, if you are being weak or allowing
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  yourself to be tempted. And there is the active
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  vigilance, which seeks an opportunity to progress, seeks
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  to utilize every circumstance to advance more quickly.
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  There is a difference between preventing yourself from falling
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  and advancing more quickly, and both are absolutely necessary.
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  He who is not vigilant is already dead.
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  He has lost contact with the true purpose of existence and of
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  life. So the hours, circumstances,
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  life pass in vain, bringing nothing, and you awake from your
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  somnolence in a hole from which it is very difficult to escape.
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  End Quote. Reference Srioro Bindu and the
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  Mother looking from within, Chapter 5.
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  Attitudes on the Path, pages 1:45 to 1:46.