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The Difference Between Suppression and Self-Control of the Forces of Vital Desire · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  When it comes to the question of control, rejection, and mastery
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  over the vital nature and its desires, there is considerable
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  confusion. For the most part, this
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  confusion is caused by a lack of clear definition between the
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  different modes of observation, response and action that the
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  seeker can adopt. In relation to this concern,
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  Fioro Bindo has provided us a clear distinction between what
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  we call suppression, which leaves the issue unresolved and
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  liable to reappear time and again until worked out
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  completely, and what we call self-control, which is a first
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  step towards complete mastery and the elimination of the
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  response to the object of desire as it presents itself to the
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  individual awareness. For example, one has a craving
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  for a certain food, 1 struggles with the craving to avoid
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  fulfilling it, one succeeds in overcoming it, but the
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  underlying cause of the craving has not been resolved, that is
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  suppression. In another instance, 1 is
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  offered a particular food and simply has no desire for it as
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  it does not touch the being. One simply says no and that's
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  it. That is an example of
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  self-control and rejection of the desire for people who've
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  become vegetarian or vegan from non vegetarian background, this
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  dynamic is quite easy to identify.
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  Giving up the non vegetarian food may begin as something of a
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  struggle if there was any attachment to it during the
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  transition. Cravings may arise at a certain
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  point or if one is born into a vegetarian family.
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  Eating non vegetarian food is simply not an option, not a
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  desire, not a craving, not something that is felt as any
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  kind of sacrifice. It is simply not seen as food.
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  Similarly, one may meet friends at a restaurant or other
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  location that sells alcoholic drinks.
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  The friends may indulge in the alcohol, but someone who does
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  not have any connection to the alcohol or who has given up
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  alcohol and overcome any issue of craving will simply say no
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  thank you and leave it at that. These reactions are
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  self-control. For someone who has an addiction
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  or serious issue with the use of alcohol, there is likely at
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  least initially, an element of suppression needed, particularly
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  to clear the chemical response and withdrawal symptoms out of
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  the system. The indulgence is avoided while
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  the individual works to solve the underlying issue to reach a
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  stage of total non attachment, essentially an absence of
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  connection between the object of desire and the vital nature of
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  the individual. However that comes about and
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  however long it takes, by taking the poise of the witness of the
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  nature and recognizing that all these impulses of desire
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  actually come from outside and can either be admitted or denied
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  admittance. The distinction between
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  suppression, when something is already inside and self-control
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  where it is simply denied entrance is more easily
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  recognized, Sriorabindo observes.
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  Quote not necessarily suppression if the refusal of
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  food to a desire is accompanied by detachment in the major part
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  of the being. The difference between
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  suppression nigraha and self-control samyama is that one
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  says I cannot help desiring but I will not satisfy my desire,
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  while the other says I refuse the desire as well as the
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  satisfaction of the desire. Nigraha means holding down the
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  movement, but a movement merely held down is only suspended.
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  It is better to reject and dismiss detaching yourself from
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  it. End Quote.
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  Reference Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Looking from Within,
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  Chapter 5, Attitudes on the Path, pages 154 to 155.