Latest / Sri Aurobindo Studies / The Vigilance Needed to Ensure That Sattwic Calm, Peaceful Focus Does Not Get Distracted Through the Rise of Rajasic or Tamasic Reactions in the Being

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The Vigilance Needed to Ensure That Sattwic Calm, Peaceful Focus Does Not Get Distracted Through the Rise of Rajasic or Tamasic Reactions in the Being · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  There's a dynamic that frequently occurs when an
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  individual starts to actively take up the yogic path at a
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  certain stage of development. The need to bring peace into the
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  being and the need for a calm, quiet energy to support the
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  practice of meditation may take center stage.
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  At that point, the seeker may take steps to minimize external
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  contacts, create a quiet space and increase the time spent in
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  meditation and study. The active impulsive
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  participation in external affairs recedes.
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  This tendency, if it is a short term action and particularly if
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  it remains dynamic and focused, can be extremely useful for the
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  seeker. In fact, for many it may be a
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  necessary stage. The danger arises if the
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  individual either becomes so habituated to the attitude of
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  withdrawal from an act of life that he becomes imbalanced and
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  unable to withstand the pressures of life in the world,
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  or else that the Sutwick impulse that led to this focus in the
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  1st place gets mixed with talus and turns into a form of
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  indolence or somnolence. In such a case, the individual
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  winds up opening himself to all manner of thoughts, impulses,
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  feelings, emotions and desires that enter through the less
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  vigilant and less conscious state of the Temasek energy.
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  It is very difficult to maintain dynamic and focused meditation
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  constantly for long periods of time.
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  When the concentration slips, it allows the mind to wander,
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  various impulsions to arise, and creates a form of mental fatigue
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  that becomes a field for these opposing thoughts and tendencies
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  to rise up. Similarly, the vital nature has
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  an inherent bias towards activity and excitement.
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  Thus, it treats periods of calm, quiet reflection as unnatural
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  and works to bring some energy to the being.
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  This energy is not always helpful to the sadhna, of
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  course, so it can lead to undesirable consequences,
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  Sriorobindo writes. Quote.
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  It is perhaps that the attitude that you took of going on with
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  the calm within and slowly changing what had to be changed,
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  postponing certain things for the future, though not a wrong
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  attitude in itself, made you somewhat LAX, allowing things to
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  play on the surface, desires, et cetera, which should have been
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  kept in check. This resolution may have opened
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  the way for the old movements to rise through this part, which
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  was not yet ready to change at all, and the hostile forces,
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  finding you off your guard, took the opportunity to push the
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  attack home. They are always vigilant for an
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  opportunity, and there must be a sufficient vigilance on the
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  sodic side to refuse it to them. End Quote Reference Sri
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  Aurobindo and the Mother looking from Within, Chapter 5,
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  Attitudes on the Path, page 147.