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Restraining the Response to the Impulses Attractive to the Vital Nature Is the First Step Towards Mastery · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  A lesson in control of impulses was described by Homer in The
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  Odyssey. The protagonist, Odysseus, is on
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  his ship trying to return home after the Trojan War.
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  He approaches an area that was home to the Sirens, whose
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  alluring voices would lure sailors to their death.
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  As the ships crashed among the rocks, he wanted to experience
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  the call of the Sirens without succumbing to their force.
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  He had his crew stuff their ears with wax and then had himself
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  tied firmly to the mast so that he could not do anything to
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  steer the ship towards them. He successfully experienced the
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  magnetic force of the Siren's call while saving his ship and
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  crew from destruction. We can learn several things from
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  this. First, that survival sometimes
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  requires the ability to tune out the forces that try to get us to
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  act. Second, even a mental knowledge
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  in advance of the doom awaiting any response is insufficient to
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  prevent an individual from reacting and responding to
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  certain forces, thus necessitating restraints that
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  prevent the response from manifesting.
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  Third, some forces are so powerful that they are
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  difficult, if not virtually impossible, to resist.
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  This tale illustrates the difficulty the seeker faces when
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  he confronts the inducements and enjoyments that the vital nature
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  seeks and tries to control them. The mother advises us that
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  development of the strength to resist these calls is something
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  that can occur, but it takes time and continued effort as one
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  slowly builds up the inner strength of resistance through
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  repeated practice in exercising restraint.
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  The 1st and most important step is to not give in to the impulse
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  one way or the other, similar to the steps Odysseus had to take
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  to successfully resist the lure. The shift to the witness
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  consciousness of the nature is an enormous aid in accomplishing
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  this, as the individual creates some amount of distance between
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  his conscious awareness and the actions of the nature, thus
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  making it somewhat easier to detach oneself from the
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  enjoyments and allures that the vital nature seeks and desires.
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  The mother writes. Quote.
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  It happens only when you have decided, Well, this time I am
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  going to try not to do it and I shall not do it.
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  I shall apply all my strength and I shall not do it.
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  Even if you have just a little success, it is much not a big
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  success, but just a small success, a very partial success.
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  You do not carry out what you yearn to do, but the yearning,
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  the desire, the passion is still there, and that produces worlds
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  within but outside. You resist.
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  I shall not do it, I shall not move.
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  Even if I have to bind myself hand and foot, I shall not do
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  it. It is a partial success, but it
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  is a great victory because due to this, next time you will be
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  able to do a little more. That is to say, instead of
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  holding all the violent passions within yourself, you can begin
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  calming them a little, and you will calm them slowly at first,
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  with difficulty. They will remain long, they will
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  come back, they will trouble you, vex you, produce in you a
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  great disgust, all that. But if you resist well and say
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  no, I shall carry out nothing, whatever the cost, I shall not
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  carry out anything. I will stay like a rock.
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  Then little by little, little by little, that thins out, thins
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  out, and you begin to learn the second attitude.
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  Now I want my consciousness to be above those things.
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  There will steep still be many battles, but if my consciousness
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  stands above that, little by little there will come a time
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  when this will return no longer. And then there is a time when
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  you feel that you are absolutely free, you do not even perceive
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  it, and then that is all. It may take a long time, it may
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  come soon. That depends on the strength of
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  character, on the sincerity of the aspiration.
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  But even for people who have just a little sincerity, if they
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  subject themselves to this process, they succeed.
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  It takes time. They succeed in the first item,
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  in not expressing. All forces upon earth tend
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  towards expressing themselves. These forces come with the
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  object of manifesting themselves, and if you place a
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  barrier and refuse expression, they may try to beat against the
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  barrier for a time, but in the end they will tire themselves
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  out and not being manifested, they will withdraw and leave you
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  quiet. So you must never say I shall
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  first purify my thought, purify my body, purify my vital, and
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  then later I shall purify my action.
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  That is the normal order, but it never succeeds.
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  The effective order is to begin from the outside.
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  The very first thing is that I do not do it, and afterwards I
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  desire it no longer. And next I close my doors
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  completely to all impulses. They no longer exist for me.
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  I am now outside all that. This is the true order, the
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  order that is effective first not to do it, and then you will
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  no longer desire, and after that it will go out of your
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  consciousness completely. End Quote.
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  Reference. Fiora window and the Mother
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  looking from within. Chapter 4, Ordeals and
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  Difficulties, pages 78 to 80.