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The Purusha, the Master of the Nature, Sanctions, Upholds, Directs and Changes the Nature · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  We are not destined to be the puppet or plaything of the
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  external nature property through the working of the three gunas
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  or qualities of nature. When we shift our standpoint to
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  that of the Divine, when we recognize our Oneness with the
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  creative force, we can participate in the ordering and
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  the ordaining of the Divine manifestation.
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  We may be immersed in the play of procrity.
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  When we shift to the standpoint of the Purusha, the witness
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  consciousness, we begin by observing at a certain stage.
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  When we recognize our Oneness with the Eternal, then we can
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  identify as the giver of the sanction for that existence to
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  manifest. Sri Aurobindo translates verse
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  16 of the Ishu Upanishad. O Foster, O soul seer, O
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  Ordainer, O illumining son, O power of the Father of
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  creatures, Marshall thy rays draw together thy light, the
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  luster which is thy most blessed form of all.
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  That in thee I behold the Purusha There, and there he am
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  I. The Mundaka Upanishad affirms he
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  verily, who knows that Supreme Brahman becomes himself Brahman.
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  The Titiri Upanishad makes the oneness quite clear.
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  The spirit who is here in a man, and the spirit who is there in
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  the sun, It is one spirit and there is no other.
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  And I am he that moveth the tree of the universe, and my glory is
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  like the shoulders of a high mountain.
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  And I am He who maketh scripture.
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  I am the first born of the law, before the gods were.
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  I am, Yeah, at the very heart of immortality.
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  Thus the seers of the Upanishad saw the basis for the Purusha
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  taking an active organizing and manifesting role in managing and
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  directing the actions of Prakriti.
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  We are subject to the possibility of self delusion.
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  We may believe we have shifted the standpoint and thus have
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  gained the necessary perspective and freedom to act.
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  The Titiriopanishad has a simple test for this.
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  But when the Spirit that is within us maketh for himself
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  even a little difference in the Eternal, then he hath fear.
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  Yeah, the Eternal Himself becometh a terror to such a
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  knower who thinketh not. The universal manifestation
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  creates modes of action which become fixed as habitual
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  patterns for a time. So long as we are immersed in
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  the external actions of nature, we are moved by the forces and
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  patterns. Yet none of these habits are
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  immutable for all time. When we shift to the standpoint
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  of the Creator, the Divine, the Eternal, we can participate
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  actively in providing the sanction or withdrawing it from
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  accepting the habitual pattern, or working to bring about change
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  through the application of consciousness force.
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  Shrioro Bindu observes quote. Finally the mind will come to
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  know the Purusha in the mind as the Master of nature, whose
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  sanction is necessary to her movements.
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  It will find that as the giver of the sanction he can withdraw
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  the original Fiat from the previous habits of nature, and
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  that eventually the habit will cease or change in the direction
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  indicated by the will of the Purusha.
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  Not at once, for the old sanction persists as an
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  obstinate consequence of the past karma of nature until that
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  is exhausted. And a good deal also depends on
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  the force of the habit and the idea of fundamental necessity
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  which the mind had previously attached to it.
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  But if it is not one of the fundamental habits nature has
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  established for the relation of the mind, life and body, and if
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  the old sanction is not renewed by the mind or the habit
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  willingly indulged, then eventually the change will come.
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  Even the habit of hunger and thirst can be minimized,
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  inhibited, put away. The habit of disease can be
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  similarly minimized and gradually eliminated.
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  And in the meantime, the power of the mind to set right the
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  disorders of the body, whether by conscious manipulation of
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  vital force or by simple mental Fiat, will immensely increase.
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  By a similar process, the habit by which the bodily nature
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  associates certain forms and degrees of activity with strain,
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  fatigue, incapacity, can be rectified.
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  And the power, freedom, swiftness, effectiveness of the
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  work, whether physical or mental, which can be done with
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  this bodily instrument, marvellously increased, doubled,
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  tripled, decoupled. End Quote.
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  Reference. Srioro Bindu and the Mother
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  Looking from Within, Chapter 5. Attitudes on the Path, pages 164
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  to 165.