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The Law of Attraction and Spiritual Practice · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  In recent years there has been a lot of focus on what is called
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  the Law of Attraction. It has been mainly used to act
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  as some kind of a wish fulfilling action that one
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  undertakes by focusing on specific affirmations or
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  visualizing results which then are attracted to your focus and
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  create the result you are seeking.
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  This is, however, a very limited application of a much more
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  general action of the universal consciousness of Oneness.
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  What we frequently fail to appreciate, however, is that
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  this Law of Attraction operates mostly without our conscious
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  intervention, through the vibratory patterns that we
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  radiate out and the corresponding response we
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  receive from the external creation.
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  People frequently remark how they suddenly thought of someone
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  they had not heard from in a long time, and then contact took
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  place shortly thereafter. Or they find out that they had a
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  dream about some relative dying and later determine that the
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  individual died just at that time.
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  We hear people speak about inexplicable synchronicity
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  between what they were thinking about and what came into their
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  presence. Of particular note is the role
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  of a strong emotion, such as fear to bring the feared object
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  or event upon one. For the spiritual seeker, this
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  synchronicity or law of attraction works to highlight
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  the higher aspiration that brings forth the aid and in many
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  cases manifests the teacher at the time the student needs that
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  help. Paramahamsa Yogananda describes
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  in his Autobiography of a Yogi the spiritual aid and solace he
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  received at various times of crisis as well as the appearance
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  of his guru at the right stage to further his spiritual
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  progress. This same function of attraction
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  also brings the spiritual seeker very clear indications of needed
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  progress by placing in front of him circumstances, events and
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  situations that highlight the ongoing operation of the old
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  external being and its reactions.
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  This provides the seeker the opportunity, if he takes these
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  things in the right spirit, to recognize the weakness and the
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  limitation that he is called upon to address at that time to
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  make the next stage of progress in his spiritual path.
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  Srioro Bindo writes quote. What we have within us creates
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  the circumstances outside us. When one does sadhna, it is
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  constantly seen that so long as there is an important defect
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  somewhere, circumstances so happen that the occasion comes
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  for the defect to rise until it is thrown out of the being.
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  If one can take the coming of these circumstances
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  clairvoyantly as a call and an opportunity for conquering the
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  defect, then one can progress very quickly.
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  When the soul is meant to go forward and there is an external
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  weakness, circumstances do come to help the external being
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  against itself. There must be a truly sincere
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  aspiration behind. Otherwise it does not happen.
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  When someone is destined for the path, all circumstances, through
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  all the deviations of mind and life, help in one way or another
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  to lead him to it. It is his own psychic being
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  within him and divine power above that used to that end.
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  The vicissitudes both of mind and outward circumstance.
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  End Quote. The Mother notes quote Always
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  circumstances come to reveal the hidden weaknesses that have to
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  be overcome. End Quote Reference Srioro Bindu
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  and the Mother, Looking from Within, Chapter 1 Looking at
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  Life and Circumstances, pages 20 to 21.