Latest / Sri Aurobindo Studies / Realization of the Divine Consciousness and Ananda Requires Control of Sexual Energies

Transcript

Realization of the Divine Consciousness and Ananda Requires Control of Sexual Energies · Sri Aurobindo Studies

• 0:00
  Success in attaining the objectives of any spiritual
• 0:04
  practice is based on achieving 1 pointed concentration.
• 0:09
  This means focusing the aspiration on the spiritual
• 0:12
  source and maintaining that focus without diverting energy
• 0:17
  and attention away to any other objective.
• 0:21
  The integral Yoga, with its focus on the transformation of
• 0:25
  life on earth into a divine life requires similar commitment.
• 0:31
  As the individual takes up the spiritual practice of yoga, he
• 0:34
  begins to understand and appreciate the various parts of
• 0:37
  the being and the way they strive for attention and what
• 0:41
  they accept as their natural fulfilment.
• 0:45
  The vital nature is especially attracted to development of
• 0:49
  power and domination, wealth as well as sexual enjoyment.
• 0:55
  These represent, therefore, deeply embedded drives,
• 0:58
  instincts, urges and cravings that constantly distract the
• 1:03
  attention. The practice of brahmacharya,
• 1:07
  which involves celibacy in the deepest sense of removing any
• 1:11
  receptivity to the sexual energy and its expression through the
• 1:15
  lower vital nature, is enjoined on spiritual practitioners from
• 1:20
  many paths as a basic requirement founded in the
• 1:23
  knowledge of the deepest teachings of yoga and
• 1:27
  spirituality. In the context of a spiritually
• 1:31
  focused community, these forces can be especially disruptive as
• 1:36
  they impact not just the individual practitioner but also
• 1:40
  others and the social environment in general.
• 1:45
  This occurs whether the actions are overt and take on a physical
• 1:49
  form or whether they are a cult through the inner concentration
• 1:54
  and energetic practices. The impact of sexual energy was
• 1:59
  observed some years ago by an individual who recounted a
• 2:02
  particular incident. He happened to be in a room with
• 2:06
  a number of people gathered together.
• 2:08
  A person entered the room who clearly carried an intense
• 2:12
  sexual vibration with him. He focused on a young woman on
• 2:16
  the other side of the room, a stranger to him, and she
• 2:20
  suddenly turned and noticed his gaze and intensity.
• 2:25
  She responded and they left to carry out their sexual
• 2:28
  practices. The vibration travelled without
• 2:32
  sound, touch or anything else across the room and awakened the
• 2:38
  similar response in the other individual.
• 2:42
  Certain higher forces cannot descend and stay in the
• 2:45
  consciousness. If there is an admixture or
• 2:48
  misuse of that energy due to the expression of lower vital
• 2:52
  energies, there is leakage or even worse and overall
• 2:56
  distortion of the energy that is trying to manifest the higher
• 3:00
  consciousness, which can be destructive to both the
• 3:04
  individual and others in their spiritual practice and
• 3:08
  fulfillment. Another incident was relayed
• 3:12
  about a person who went to Europe from India and who took
• 3:15
  on the guise of a Swami or guru. He used this role to seduce
• 3:20
  young women and bring them Rasputin like under his sexual
• 3:25
  spell. He then used them to gain
• 3:28
  control of young men who were tasked with working and bringing
• 3:31
  money, with the implied reward of a sexual relationship with
• 3:35
  the woman designated to act upon that individual.
• 3:39
  Otherwise, he insisted on complete sexual abstinence in
• 3:43
  the group so that he maintained full control over both the young
• 3:48
  women and the young men. This individual eventually was
• 3:52
  jailed for his crimes against minor children.
• 3:56
  Some of the individuals impacted by his actions never recovered
• 4:00
  from the trauma they suffered. These incidents represent some
• 4:05
  of the ways that focus on sexual energies can impact a community
• 4:09
  or social setting, and they highlight the need in such a
• 4:13
  setting of dedicated individuals to ensure that this type of
• 4:18
  energy is not being disseminated and either distracting the
• 4:22
  individual Sadak from his concentration nor impacting the
• 4:26
  general environment. Clearly, not every individual
• 4:30
  who is called to take up the path of yoga is able to, from
• 4:34
  the outset, gain full control over these energies.
• 4:38
  It is a process and it can develop in stages.
• 4:42
  Progress takes place on many levels and in many different
• 4:45
  aspects of the being. As Sri Krishna advises Arjuna in
• 4:50
  the Bhagavad Gita, no effort towards spiritual growth is ever
• 4:55
  lost. Those few individuals who are
• 4:59
  called to dedicate their lives to the spiritual path wholly and
• 5:03
  without any reservations, with full surrender, are especially
• 5:08
  advised to not allow any vital forces to intervene and distract
• 5:12
  or dilute the effort. They are like Miller Reppa who
• 5:16
  determined to achieve liberation in just one lifetime and who
• 5:20
  gave everything to achieve that objective, Sri Aurobindo notes
• 5:26
  quote. The whole principle of this Yoga
• 5:29
  is to give oneself entirely to the Divine alone and to nobody
• 5:33
  and nothing else, and to bring down into ourselves by union
• 5:37
  with the Divine Mother power, all the transcendent Light,
• 5:42
  force, wideness, peace, purity, truth, Consciousness, and Ananda
• 5:49
  of the Super Mental Divine. In this Yoga, therefore, there
• 5:54
  can be no place for vital relations or interchanges with
• 5:58
  others. Any such relation or interchange
• 6:01
  immediately ties down the soul to the lower consciousness and
• 6:04
  its lower nature, prevents the true and full union with the
• 6:09
  Divine and hampers both the ascent to the supermental Truth
• 6:14
  Consciousness and the descent of the supermental Ishwari Shakti.
• 6:20
  Still worse would it be if this interchange took the form of a
• 6:25
  sexual relation or a sexual enjoyment, even if kept free
• 6:29
  from any outward act. Therefore, these things are
• 6:33
  absolutely forbidden in the Sadhna.
• 6:36
  It goes without saying that any physical act of the kind is not
• 6:40
  allowed, but also any subtler form is ruled out.
• 6:44
  It is only after becoming one with the Supermental Divine that
• 6:49
  we can find our true spiritual relations with others in the
• 6:53
  Divine. In that higher unity, this kind
• 6:57
  of gross, lower vital movement can have no place.
• 7:01
  End Quote Reference Sri Aurobindo Bases of Yoga, Chapter
• 7:07
  4 Desire Food Sex pages 70 to 71.