Latest / Sri Aurobindo Studies / Vital Beings Utilize Vital Drives to Control Human Action for Their Own Benefit and Enjoyment
Transcript
- 0:01Vital beings, by their very nature, take advantage of our
- 0:05ambitions, desires, greed and fears to convince us to interact
- 0:12with them, and they then use these responses for their own
- 0:16enjoyment or nourishment. The more we are motivated by
- 0:20these vital drives, the easier it is for such beings to toy
- 0:24with us, as a cat will toy with a mouse before finally
- 0:29delivering it to its death. Spiritual seekers are generally
- 0:34enjoined not to give in to these vital reactions so as to avoid
- 0:37distractions. The preliminary purification
- 0:41practices, Yama and Niyama, are intended not primarily as some
- 0:47kind of code of morality or ethics, but as a training to
- 0:51help the seeker avoid the drives that can waylay him along the
- 0:55path. Such inner discipline and
- 0:58strength could be a huge benefit for people generally, not just
- 1:02those undertaking a spiritual discipline, the mother writes.
- 1:08Quote. In some cases vital entities
- 1:11really get hold of you and there it is dangerous.
- 1:15But fortunately these cases are not very frequent.
- 1:18Then it becomes very dangerous. A very long time ago when I was
- 1:24in France, I knew the case of a man who, through practices of
- 1:28this kind, had put himself into contact with a vital entity.
- 1:33This man happened to be a gambler and he spent his time
- 1:36speculating and playing roulette.
- 1:39He spent part of the year at Monte Carlo playing roulette and
- 1:42the rest of the time he lived in the South of France and
- 1:45speculated on the Stock Exchange.
- 1:48And now some being was really using him.
- 1:51It was through automatic writing using him and for years it gave
- 1:56him absolutely precise exact indications.
- 2:00When he played roulette, it used to tell him bid on this number
- 2:04or this place and he would win. Naturally.
- 2:08He just worshipped the spirit which gave him such sensational
- 2:12revelations. And at the exchange it also told
- 2:16him, speculate on this or on that and gave him all the
- 2:21indications. This man became colossally rich.
- 2:26He used to boast to all his friends about the method by
- 2:29which he had grown rich. Someone put him on his guard,
- 2:33told him be careful, this doesn't look very honest.
- 2:37You should not trust this spirit.
- 2:40He fell out with this person a few days later.
- 2:43He was in Monte Carlo and he always played for high stakes,
- 2:48you see, since naturally he always won and would break the
- 2:52bank, he was much feared. Then the spirit told him, stake
- 2:57everything, everything you have. On this he did and at a single
- 3:03stroke lost everything. And yet he still had some money
- 3:07left from his Stock Exchange speculations.
- 3:10He said to himself, it is bad luck.
- 3:14Again, he received a very precise indication.
- 3:17Do this as usual. And he did it.
- 3:21He was completely cleaned out and to finish the job, the
- 3:25spirit told him, just for the fun of it, now you are going to
- 3:29commit suicide, put a bullet through your head.
- 3:34And he was so much under its influence.
- 3:37He did. So.
- 3:39That's the end of the story. And this is an authentic story,
- 3:44so the least one can say is that it is dangerous.
- 3:47It is much better not to indulge in occupations of this kind.
- 3:51No, Either they are rather senseless amusements, or else
- 3:57they are unwholesome occupations.
- 4:00End Quote. Reference Sri Aurobindo and the
- 4:04Mother, The Hidden Forces of Life, Chapter 5, Occult Forces,
- 4:09pages 1:30 to 1:31.