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Conscious Powers of Light and Darkness Oppose One Another in the External World We Inhabit · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  Everywhere we look, whether in material nature or in the vital
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  or mental domains, we see a play of forces, attraction and
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  repulsion, centrifugal and centripetal force, positive and
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  negative, dark and light, et cetera.
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  It appears to be a core principle of the creation to
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  utilize these opposing forces to create the dynamic needed for a
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  progressive evolution of consciousness.
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  Opposition appears to strengthen the forces of growth.
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  We find that trees and plants subjected to somewhat strong
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  winds, for instance, tend to root themselves more firmly.
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  What is not so obvious to us is the conscious intentionality
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  behind the operation of these forces.
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  This is mainly due to our limited viewpoint that treats
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  what we cannot directly see and understand as simply a
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  mechanism, rather than the actions and resultant impacts of
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  conscious entities making conscious choices.
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  We may experience various negative consequences in the
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  world. We may become angry, enraged,
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  lustful, or otherwise extremely passionate, and we simply treat
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  this as a response to events that occur without specific
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  conscious causation. We can see, and in fact often do
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  learn about manipulation that takes place among human society
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  to pressure people into responding or acting in a
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  certain manner. This is done through creation of
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  fear, desire, pressure of various sorts, Appeals to
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  vanity, offers of fame, power, wealth, or sex, and through
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  false or misleading information. Rumor and gossip are also
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  powerful means of dissemination, of implied meaning that 'cause
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  people to respond in very predictable ways.
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  Generally, the pressure tends to create specific types of
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  responses based on the guna that is predominant in the situation.
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  It should not surprise us, then, that it is possible, indeed
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  likely, that beings who operate on another plane, such as the
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  Vital plane, would work to manipulate our responses for
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  their own benefit or enjoyment. Since most people have little
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  direct experience with beings on these other planes, they tend to
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  disregard this potential source of what they experience in the
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  outer world. That is, however, like saying
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  that because we cannot see it, electricity has no impact.
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  There are individuals who have had direct experience of vital
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  beings and their interactions in the human world, and they report
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  what could be expected based on what others see occurring in the
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  outer world. In other words, just as
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  electricity has a cause and an effect, so too do the vital or
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  mental beings and their action have cause and effect.
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  We see in all the great religious traditions and even in
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  the great literature of the world, an individual or multiple
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  individuals having such relations and interactions.
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  Jesus was tempted by the devil. Buddha was confronted by Mara.
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  Moses had direct interaction with God to free the Israelites
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  from Egyptian slavery and to lead his people to Palestine and
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  to establish the 10 Commandments to be followed by them.
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  Zoroastrianism described the conflict between light and
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  darkness. The Rig Veda told of the hiding
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  of the light and the need to liberate it from the control of
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  the forces of darkness. Hamlet was visited by the ghost
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  of his father, who drove him to action of revenge.
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  Richard, the third of England, was visited by the spirits of
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  those he had wronged in his ascent to the throne.
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  Brutus had an experience just prior to a decisive battle that
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  evidenced the action of vital powers to undermine his
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  confidence. The piranhas are filled with
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  stories relating the interaction of various gods with human
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  individuals to accomplish some purpose in the world.
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  All of these forces are seen to act with conscious intention and
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  to act upon situations, events, circumstances, and individuals
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  in the external world we inhabit and within which we live and
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  act. Sri Aurobindo observes, quote
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  There are forces, and subliminal experience seems to show that
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  there are superphysical beings embodying those forces that are
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  attached in their root nature to ignorance, to darkness of
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  consciousness, to misuse of force, to perversity, of
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  delight, to all the causes and consequences of the things that
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  we call evil. These powers, beings, or forces
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  are active to impose their adverse constructions upon
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  terrestrial creatures eager to maintain their reign.
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  In the manifestation they oppose the increase of light and truth
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  and good, and still more are antagonistic to the progress of
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  the soul towards a divine consciousness and divine
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  existence. It is this feature of existence
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  that we see figured in the tradition of the conflict
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  between the powers of light and darkness, good and evil, cosmic
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  harmony and cosmic anarchy. A tradition universal in ancient
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  myth and in religion in common to all systems of occult
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  knowledge. End Quote.
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  Reference Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, The Hidden Forces of
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  Life, Chapter 4, Cosmic and Universal Forces, pages 86 to
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  87.