Latest / Sri Aurobindo Studies / Dealing With Material Possessions in the Spiritual Practice

Transcript

Dealing With Material Possessions in the Spiritual Practice · Sri Aurobindo Studies

• 0:00
  Material possessions are always an issue for the spiritual
• 0:04
  aspirant as they tend to distract the focus and lead to
• 0:08
  vital reactions that are not helpful to overcoming the pull
• 0:12
  of the external world and its measures of success which is
• 0:16
  attached to the acquisition, holding and use of the
• 0:21
  possessions. Dealing with objects directs the
• 0:25
  attention towards those objects and thus away from the spiritual
• 0:30
  sadhna. They also tend to breed
• 0:33
  interpersonal conflict as an individual works to acquire
• 0:37
  possessions and others respond with counter attempts or forms
• 0:42
  of jealousy or envy, anger or dissatisfaction when they are
• 0:47
  faced with what appears to be an imbalance or unfair relation
• 0:51
  between the possession and the person of the possessor.
• 0:56
  Many religious and spiritual traditions have treated wealth
• 0:59
  and material possessions at the individual level to be a serious
• 1:03
  distraction and thereby harmful to the seeker.
• 1:08
  Thus has arisen the idea of the vow of poverty or the
• 1:12
  development of an austere lifestyle that reduces
• 1:15
  interaction with material objects to a bare minimum.
• 1:20
  This does not solve the underlying tensions between
• 1:23
  spiritual focus and living and acting in the material world,
• 1:28
  but simply avoids the solution. In his book The Mother, Sri
• 1:34
  Aurobindo describes the role of money, which can be seen as a
• 1:38
  symbol for material possessions, as follows.
• 1:42
  Quote. You must neither turn with an
• 1:46
  ascetic shrinking from the money power, the means it gives, and
• 1:50
  the objects it brings, nor cherish A rajasic attachment to
• 1:55
  them, or a spirit of enslaving self indulgence in their
• 1:58
  gratifications. End Quote and quote.
• 2:04
  The ideal sodic in this kind is one who, if required to live
• 2:08
  poorly, can so live, and no sense of want will affect him or
• 2:14
  interfere with the full play of the divine consciousness.
• 2:18
  And if he is required to live richly, can so live and never
• 2:23
  for a moment fall into desire or attachment to his wealth, or to
• 2:28
  the things that he uses, or servitude to self indulgence, or
• 2:34
  a weak bondage to the habits that the possession of riches
• 2:37
  creates. The divine will is all for him
• 2:41
  and the divine Ananda. End Quote.
• 2:46
  Working out the details of this ideal of the right relationship
• 2:50
  to possessions implies inner work to deal with issues of
• 2:54
  attachment, desire, demand and any signs of upset, anger,
• 3:00
  resentment, jealousy, envy or self dealing, any falsehood or
• 3:06
  dissimulation that is part of the external life for the normal
• 3:10
  acquisitive vital impulse, Sri Robindo observes.
• 3:15
  Quote The necessities of a sodic should be as few as possible,
• 3:21
  for there are only a very few things that are real necessities
• 3:24
  in life. The rest are either utilities or
• 3:28
  things decorative to life or luxuries.
• 3:33
  These a yogin has a right to possess or enjoy only on one of
• 3:37
  two conditions, 1. If he uses them during his
• 3:42
  sadness solely to train himself in possessing things without
• 3:45
  attachment or desire, and learns to use them rightly in harmony
• 3:50
  with the divine will, with a proper handling, a just
• 3:54
  organization, arrangement and measure.
• 3:58
  Or two, if he has already attained a true freedom from
• 4:02
  desire and attachment and is not in the least moved or affected
• 4:07
  in any way by loss of withholding or deprival.
• 4:12
  If he has any greed, desire, demand, claim for possession or
• 4:17
  enjoyment, any anxiety, grief, anger, or vexation when denied
• 4:22
  or deprived, he is not free in spirit, and his use of the
• 4:27
  things he possesses is contrary to the spirit of sadhna.
• 4:32
  Even if he is free in spirit, he will not be fit for possession
• 4:37
  if he has not learned to use things not for himself, but for
• 4:41
  the Divine will as an instrument with the right knowledge and
• 4:46
  action in the use for the proper equipment of a life lived not
• 4:51
  for oneself, but for and in the Divine.
• 4:56
  End Quote reference. Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga,
• 5:01
  Chapter 4. Desire Food Sex page 64.