Latest / Sri Aurobindo Studies / The Supramental Transformation Represents a Radical Upgrade of Animal and Human Nature
Transcript
- 0:00Until such time as we become capable of drawing infinite
- 0:04energy from the universal force of creation, we have the issue
- 0:08of choosing how we utilize the energy we have available to us.
- 0:13Through certain types of practices, we can actually
- 0:16increase the available energy. The radical transformation of
- 0:20the mental, vital and physical being requires large amounts of
- 0:26focused energy. One of the primary sources of
- 0:30the energy needed is already available to us through the
- 0:32operation of the subtle energy centers.
- 0:35If we harness that energy for the spiritual work.
- 0:39As we undertake this process, we find that additional energy
- 0:43becomes available from the Universal Source as we naturally
- 0:47open and can receive and manage greater forces than in our
- 0:52normal, mostly closed off status.
- 0:56The energy of the first chakra, known as the Moladara and as the
- 1:00root chakra, is a primary foundational energy that
- 1:04provides support and energy to the physical body.
- 1:08When it is utilized for sexual expression, it gets dispersed.
- 1:13It is a well known phenomenon that after sexual union, the
- 1:17partners frequently tend towards sleep, highlighting the
- 1:21exhausting impact of the sexual activity.
- 1:25We can understand the process by looking at the use of money.
- 1:29We work and earn money. We then can spend the money,
- 1:34save it or invest it. Some of the spending goes
- 1:37towards the basic process of supporting the life activities,
- 1:41food, clothing, shelter, transportation and support.
- 1:46We provide taxes, etcetera to the Commons and the organization
- 1:52of society. Anything leftover can be
- 1:56allocated toward other things. Many people spend the
- 1:59discretionary money to entertain themselves, to enjoy pleasures
- 2:04such as the use of alcohol or recreational drugs, acquiring
- 2:09various luxuries, or spending money on travel and
- 2:12entertainment, et cetera. In this way, substantial money
- 2:17is leaked and is only a short term impact in terms of a
- 2:20pleasurable experience and may actually have long term negative
- 2:25effects depending on what type of pleasures have been chosen
- 2:29and what they actually do to the body, life force and the mind.
- 2:35Those who exercise some control over the use of money may forego
- 2:39some of these short term pleasures in favour of long term
- 2:42benefits or objectives They invest, or at least their use of
- 2:48discretionary funds is focused on things that build up the
- 2:51mind, life and body, not lead to its dissolution or breakdown.
- 2:58Similarly, the sexual energy as a foundational force for the
- 3:02physical body and the lower vital centers can either be
- 3:06dispersed and the energy dissipated or it can be invested
- 3:11in creating positive, uplifting and directed focus on a longer
- 3:16term benefit. This is the underlying concept
- 3:20of the control of the sexual force in the spiritual practice.
- 3:25Humanity tends to extrapolate from its current understanding
- 3:29and forms of fulfillment at the physical, vital, and mental
- 3:33levels to imagine what some future form of fulfillment would
- 3:38turn out to be. They expect to see the physical
- 3:42capacities expanded as an extension of current
- 3:46capabilities. Training the body may take an
- 3:49individual to new levels of performance, but they are within
- 3:54a fixed range. Similarly, the mind can be
- 3:58developed and trained but remains still the basic
- 4:01apparatus of the mind. Srioro Bindu and the Mother
- 4:06foresee that just as the advent of the vital consciousness began
- 4:11to radically change physical nature, and just as the advent
- 4:16of the mental consciousness radically altered both the
- 4:19physical and vital existence, so the advent of the next
- 4:23evolutionary stage, the development of the Super mental
- 4:27consciousness, will necessarily radically change the function
- 4:31and relations of the physical, vital and mental powers.
- 4:36Thus, a direct extrapolation within limit is not actually the
- 4:40process that nature is following.
- 4:43Rather, we can expect entirely new expressions of consciousness
- 4:47and power, and new forms of action and relationship to
- 4:51develop. The energy required to
- 4:55accomplish these things will necessarily come from the
- 4:58Divine. The working of this energy
- 5:01within the individual comes through aspiration, tuning and
- 5:06receptivity to this higher force.
- 5:09By refocusing the use of the existing physical, vital and
- 5:13mental energy on the spiritual Sadhna, the seeker creates the
- 5:17pathway, the opportunity and the readiness to receive and use
- 5:23that higher force without wasting or spilling it.
- 5:28Sri Orobindo notes quote the transformation of the sex centre
- 5:33and its energy is needed for the physical city.
- 5:37This is the support in the body of all the mental, vital and
- 5:40physical forces of the nature. It has to be changed into a mass
- 5:45and movement of intimate light, creative power, pure divine
- 5:50Ananda. It is only the bringing down of
- 5:53the supermental light, power and bliss into the centre that can
- 5:58change it. As to the working afterwards, it
- 6:02is the supermental truth and the creative vision and will of the
- 6:05Divine Mother that will determine it.
- 6:08But it will be a working of the conscious truth, not of the
- 6:11darkness and ignorance to which sexual desire and enjoyment
- 6:16belong. It will be a power of
- 6:18preservation and free, desireless radiation of the life
- 6:22forces, and not of their throwing out and waste.
- 6:27Avoid the imagination that the supermental life will be only a
- 6:31heightened satisfaction of the desires of the vital and the
- 6:34body. Nothing can be a greater
- 6:37obstacle to the truth and its descent than this hope of
- 6:41glorification of the animal and the human nature.
- 6:45Mind wants the supermental state to be a continuation of its own
- 6:49cherished ideas and preconceptions.
- 6:52The vital wants it to be a glorification of its own
- 6:55desires. The physical wants it to be a
- 6:58rich prolongation of its own comforts and pleasures and
- 7:01habits. If it were to be that, it would
- 7:05be only an exaggerated and highly magnified consummation of
- 7:09the animal and the human nature, not a transition from the human
- 7:14into the divine. Reference Sri Aurobindo Basis of
- 7:21Yoga Chapter 4 Desire Food Sex page 72 to 73.