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The Forces and Beings Active in Places of Worship · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  We tend to attract those energies, beings and forces to
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  us that respond to the vibratory pattern of our thoughts,
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  emotions, feelings, desires, and physical state.
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  Keeping this in mind, we can review our relationship to
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  places of worship, whether a temple, mosque, church, or
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  other. Some individuals and on some
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  occasions bring true devotion to the place of worship.
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  Yet we also see many other drives, desires and motives
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  operating as people visit their local shrine.
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  A major motive is desire. We pray to God to give us
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  something we want, whether it is money, family, children, a
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  better job, a better relationship with someone, et
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  cetera. In some cases, we attend out of
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  a sense of fear that we will not achieve heaven after our death
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  or will endure suffering for sins we have committed.
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  In some cases, we come under the influence or control of a
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  charismatic leader and subordinate ourselves to that
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  individuals dictates. Whatever the motive that brings
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  us to the place of worship, we create thereby an opening to and
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  action of corresponding beings and forces that represent the
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  vibrational patterns of our own energies.
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  Thus, to the extent we bring our desires, fears and wishes into
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  the place of worship, we attract those beings and entities that
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  act on the vital plane. They may take a brilliant form
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  that can mislead us into believing they are divine beings
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  answering our prayers. In reality, they are harvesting
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  and feeding off of our energies and do what they need to do to
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  elicit more of those energies from us.
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  For those who come with a sincere sense of devotion,
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  without desire, without fear, without any personal demands,
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  but with a sense of consecration and dedication, they of course
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  attract those forces that aid their devotional feelings.
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  And in such cases, they are not misled by vital forces residing
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  in the place of worship due to the collective force of the
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  people who come with desire or fear.
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  Sometimes the simplest, humblest and least ostentatious shrine is
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  the one that holds the deepest and truest devotional energies.
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  The Mother observes. Quote in all religious
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  monuments, in monuments considered the most well as
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  belonging to the highest religion, whether in France or
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  any other country or Japan, it was never the same temples or
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  churches, nor the same gods. And yet my experience was
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  everywhere almost the same, with very small differences.
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  I saw that whatever concentrated force there was in the Church
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  depended exclusively upon the faithful, the faith of the
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  devotees, and there was still a difference between the force as
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  it really was and the force as they felt it.
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  For instance, I saw in one of the most beautiful cathedrals of
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  France, which from the artistic point of view is one of the most
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  magnificent monuments imaginable.
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  In the most sacred spot I saw an enormous black vital spider
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  which had made its web and spread it over the whole place
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  and was catching in it and then absorbing all the forces
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  emanating from people's devotion, their prayers and all
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  that. It was not a very cheering
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  sight. The people who were there and
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  were praying felt a divine touch.
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  They received all kinds of boons from their prayers, and yet what
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  was there was this, this thing? But they had their faith which
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  could change that evil thing into something good in them.
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  They had their faith. So truly, if I had gone and told
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  them, do you think you are praying to God?
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  It is an enormous vital spider that's feeding upon all your
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  forces. That would really not have been
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  very charitable. And that's how it is most of the
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  time, almost everywhere. It is a vital force which is
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  there, for these vital entities feed upon the vibration of human
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  emotions. And very few people, very few,
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  an insignificant number, go to church or temple with a true
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  religious feeling. That is not to pray and beg for
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  something from God, but to offer themselves, give thanks, aspire,
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  give themselves. There is hardly one in a million
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  who does that. So they do not have the power of
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  changing the atmosphere. Perhaps when they are there they
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  manage to get across breakthrough and go somewhere
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  and touch something divine. But the large majority of people
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  who go only because of superstition, egoism and
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  self-interest create an atmosphere of this kind.
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  And that is what you breathe in when you go to a church or
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  temple. Only as you go there with a very
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  good feeling, you tell yourself, oh, what a quiet place for
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  meditation. Reference Sri Aurovindo and the
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  Mother, The Hidden Forces of Life, Chapter 5, Occult Forces,
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  pages 117 to 118.