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Understanding the Complexity and Risk of Dealing with the Power of Thought Forms · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  There is a famous story in the Mahabharata which has a profound
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  meaning when it comes to the application of any power of
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  action in the world, including the power to create thought
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  formations. One of the protagonists in the
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  Great War that was fought at Kurukshetra was Arjuna.
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  He was the greatest warrior of his time.
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  This story, however, relates to his son Abhimanyu.
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  Arjuna had been teaching Abimanyu all the various
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  stratagems of warfare, but had been unable to fully complete
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  his training. At one point the opposing army
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  formed up in a specific formation on the battleground,
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  which no one present at that moment could Pierce and defeat.
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  Arjuna was away, taking care of other urgent matters in the
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  battle. Abhimanyu recognized the
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  formation and undertook to use his training to Pierce it and
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  break the opposing forces power. He succeeded and entered,
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  wreaking havoc on the other side.
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  However, he was then confronted with major warriors highly
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  proficient in the art of warfare, and he was surrounded
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  and trapped. After putting up a valiant
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  fight, he was overcome and succumbed to the overwhelming
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  force ranged against him. His success with due to the
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  advanced training and understanding he had acquired on
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  how to penetrate the formation. His failure was due to the fact
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  that he had no knowledge about how to then extract himself from
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  the situation he found himself in.
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  The story illustrates an essential point for anyone who
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  undertakes to understand and apply the capacities and powers
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  that lie hidden within them. As the following story related
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  by the mother so aptly describes, The development of
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  thought formations may seem like it is far distant from an
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  application of a strategy in warfare, but the lesson is
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  actually similar. The mother notes quote.
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  I don't know if you have ever heard of Madam David Neal who
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  went to Tibet and has written books on Tibet and who was a
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  Buddhist and Buddhists. Buddhists of the strictest
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  tradition do not believe in the divine, do not believe in his
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  eternity, and do not believe in gods who are truly divine.
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  But they know admirably how to use the mental domain, and
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  Buddhist discipline makes you a good master of the mental
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  instrument and mental domain. We used to discuss many things
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  and once she told me, listen, I made an experiment.
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  She had studied a bit of theosophy also.
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  She said I formed a Mahatma with my thought.
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  I formed a Mahatma and she knew. This has been proved that at a
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  given moment mental formations acquire a personal life
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  independent of the fashioner, though they are linked with him,
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  but independent in the sense that they can have their own
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  will. And so she told me.
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  Just imagine, I had made my Mahatma so well that he became a
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  personality independent of me and constantly came to trouble
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  me. He used to come scold me for one
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  thing, give me advice for another, and he wanted to direct
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  my life and I could not succeed in getting rid of him.
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  It was extremely difficult and I didn't know what to do, Mother
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  continues. So I asked her how she had
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  tried. She told me how.
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  She said he troubles me a lot. My Mahatma is very troublesome.
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  He does not leave me in peace. He disturbs my meditations, he
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  hinders me from working. And yet I know quite well that
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  it is I who created him, and I can't get rid of him.
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  Then I said that's because you don't have the trick.
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  Mother laughs and I explained to her what she should do and the
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  next day I used to see her almost every day in those days.
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  You see, the next day she came and told me, ah, I am freed from
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  my Mahatma laughter. She had not cut the connection
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  because that's of no use. One must know how to reabsorb
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  1's creation. That is the only way to swallow
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  up again one's formations. End Quote.
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  Reference Sri Aurobindo and the Mother Powers within, Chapter 2.
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  Power of Thought, pages 14 to 15.