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Harnessing the Body's Innate Powers for the Transformation of Consciousness · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  We tend to overlook or disregard the capacity of the body and its
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  body consciousness to aid in the spiritual quest.
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  Each element of the being, the mind, the vital nature and the
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  body has its own consciousness and capacity for response.
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  Each element also can either be an aid or an obstacle to the
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  development of the spiritual nature, depending on how we
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  treat it and interact with it. Particularly for those who are
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  centered in the mind or the heart, the body consciousness
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  seems particularly dull and non responsive.
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  Past habit in many spiritual traditions actually dismisses
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  the body from the seeking and looks to minimize its role and
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  eventually put it aside as a higher transcendent level is
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  achieved. This, however, appears to be a
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  misunderstanding about the role and capacity of the body to aid
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  the spiritual development. Each plane of consciousness has
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  its own unique contribution to the totality of the required
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  development. The body, anchored as it is in
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  the external material world, is an important element in the
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  transformation of the external existence.
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  The body is also capable of receiving, holding and radiating
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  back higher energies with which it comes into contact.
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  We are all familiar with the fact that rocks can absorb heat
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  from various sources, hold that heat for quite some time, and
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  let it back out over a period of time.
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  An experiment was done with the vital force of prayer.
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  A researcher took two similar rocks, one of which had been
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  part of an active temple where intensive prayer took place for
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  a long period of time, and the other one with no such
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  provenance. Curly, in photography of the
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  two, showed that the temple rock had a strong radiant aura
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  streaming out from it, while the ordinary rock had no such
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  energetic vibration. It is clear, therefore, that
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  even dense matter can and does pick up and store and radiate
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  energy, not just material energy such as the heat, but also
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  spiritual energy in the form of prayer.
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  This provides us a clue to the important role that the body
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  consciousness can and does play in the transformation of
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  consciousness, both for the individual seeker and for the
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  world. Change the Mother observes.
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  Quote. Then faith awakens in the cells
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  of the body, and you will see that you find a response in your
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  body itself. The body itself will feel that
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  if its inner will helps, fortifies, directs, leads, well,
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  all its limitations will gradually disappear.
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  And so when the first experience comes, which sometimes begins
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  when 1 is very young, the first contact with the inner joy, the
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  inner beauty, the inner light, the first contact with that
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  which suddenly makes you feel, oh, that is what I want.
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  You must cultivate it, never forget it, hold it constantly
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  before you tell yourself, I have felt it once, so I can feel it
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  again. This has been real for me, even
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  for the space of a second. And that is what I am going to
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  revive in myself and encourage the body to seek it, to seek it
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  with the confidence that it carries that possibility within
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  itself and that if it calls for it, it will come back, it will
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  be realized again. This is what should be done when
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  one is young. This is what should be done
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  every time one has the opportunity to recollect
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  oneself, commune with oneself, seek oneself.
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  End Quote. Reference Sri Aurobindo and the
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  Mother Powers within Chapter 16 Body, page 126.