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Close Observation Can Identify the Influence of Vital Beings and Forces · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  One of the key points in any attempt to change one's actions
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  or reactions, one's behavior or characteristic ways of
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  responding to situations, is to determine through careful
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  observation that these things are not an essential part of
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  oneself or one's character, rather that they are external to
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  oneself and thus can be changed or dispensed with more easily
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  than if one accepts their centrality in one's own being.
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  One of the most powerful methods is to bifurcate the being
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  inwardly and shift the stance of observation from the surface
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  nature to what Sri Aurobindo calls the witness consciousness.
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  The standpoint of the Purusha Observing the actions of the
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  nature prakruti, the Purusha is unmoved and does not accept
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  these actions as its own. It thus gains the power to deny,
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  remove, or modify that is not readily available when one feels
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  bound up and intimately connected to the actions of the
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  nature as essential components of one's existence.
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  Once one attains the standpoint of the witness, however, even
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  further understanding results. One begins to recognize that
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  most, if not all, that one takes as one's own decisions or
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  reactions actually originate outside oneself.
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  A vibration occurs and it strikes the consciousness,
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  perhaps in a very subtle manner, enters into the being, sets off
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  a sympathetic vibration internally, which then can rise
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  to the surface and suddenly we are reacting based on that
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  vibrational pattern. It is through this means that
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  one can begin to recognize the action of vital forces and
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  beings as they attempt to take control of one's reactions.
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  Sometimes one feels a ripple in one's vital envelope as the
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  vibrations work their way into the being.
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  Sometimes it may register as a feeling of discomfort in the
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  physical body. In other cases it may become a
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  nagging thought or idea that pushes 1 into a certain line of
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  action. In many cases, the vibration is
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  contrary to one's own normal state of being, and thus an
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  observant witness can spot the anomaly and recognize the
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  foreign nature of the pressure. This understanding may take time
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  to develop through repeated inner attempts at observation.
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  Many people have taken up the practice of mindfulness or
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  vipassana. This practice requires the
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  individual to undertake each action consciously with full
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  attention. It also means that every
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  internal reaction or response needs to be observed, and thus
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  it can potentially aid in gaining the observational
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  leverage needed to spot the influx of the vital influences
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  the mother observes. Quote there it is a little
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  easier to recognize the influence, for if you are the
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  least bit attentive, you become aware of something that has
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  suddenly awakened within you. For example, those who are in
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  the habit of losing their temper.
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  If they have attempted ever so little to control their anger,
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  they will find something coming from outside or rising from
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  below which actually takes hold of their consciousness and
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  arouses anger in them. I don't mean that everybody is
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  capable of this discernment. I am Speaking of those who have
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  tried to understand their being and control it.
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  These adverse suggestions are easier to distinguish than, for
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  instance, your response to the will or desire of a being who is
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  of the same nature as yourself, another human being who
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  consequently acts on you without this giving you a clear
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  impression of something coming from outside.
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  The vibrations are too alike, too similar in their nature, and
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  you have to be much more attentive and have a much
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  sharper discernment to realize that these movements which seem
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  to come out from you are not really yours, but come from
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  outside, but with the adverse forces.
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  If you are in the least sincere and observe yourself
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  attentively, you become aware that it is something in the
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  being which is responding to an influence, an impulse, the
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  suggestion, even something at times very concrete, which
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  enters and produces similar vibrations in the being there.
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  Now that is the problem, the remedy.
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  It is always the same goodwill, sincerity, insight, patience,
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  oh, an untiring patience and a perseverance which assures you
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  that what you have not succeeded in doing today, you will succeed
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  in doing another time and makes you go on trying until you do
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  succeed. And this brings us back to Sri
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  Aurobindo's sentence. If this control seems to you
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  quite impossible today, well, that means that not only will it
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  be possible, but it that it will be realized later.
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  End Quote. Reference Sri Aurobindo and the
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  Mother, The Hidden Forces of Life, Chapter 3.
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  Hidden Forces around pages 61 to 62.