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Facing and Overcoming the Dangers of an Opening to Forces of the Vital Plane Without Sufficient Foundation in Peace and Calm in the Being · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  There are sound reasons to establish calm, peace and
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  equality in the being as the foundation for the spiritual
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  practice. When an individual takes up some
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  form of concentrated practice to Persia, it can lead to the
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  uprising of powerful energies as well as an influx of thoughts,
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  emotions, feelings and sensations to which the normal
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  human experience is not acclimated.
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  There is a long history in the yogic tradition that speaks
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  about the dangers attended on any attempt to awaken the
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  kundalini energy at the base of the spine.
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  Without adequate guidance and preparation.
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  Such an awakening can lead to nervous disorders, mental
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  imbalance, emotional upsets, and in some cases, physical ill
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  health and various disorders of the body.
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  Similarly, if the energy descends from above, as is
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  frequently reported by practitioners of the Integral
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  Yoga, there can be an imbalance if the being, the body, the
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  vital force, the nerve structure and the mind are not ready to
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  handle that energy. In that case, the energy is
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  subject to being spilled. This is a term used to describe
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  the kind of imbalances historically known to occur in
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  an unprepared individual who opens precipitously and without
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  proper guidance to the powers and energies available when one
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  shifts the awareness away from and outside the protective
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  limits of the physical body. What does the seeker do when he
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  suddenly experiences rushes of energy that increase his vital
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  drives or desires, or which give him a feeling of invulnerability
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  or a sense of his own destiny which leads to arrogance,
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  seeking and exercising of power, and a form of blindness to the
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  excesses and extremes to which he is subjecting himself?
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  There are well known cases of individuals who feel like they
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  are being guided and protected, but who have not discriminated
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  the source of the voices or promptings they are receiving.
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  Without the prior grounding and guidance, it is easy to go
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  astray and cause oneself and others considerable harm.
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  Triorbindo counsels the development of the basis of
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  peace and equanimity to help the seeker avoid falling under the
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  power of the forces which enter and try to commandeer him to
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  their purposes. With the proper foundation, the
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  being can widen and absorb the advent of new knowledge and
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  power without spilling them and thus without the same degree of
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  risk that is associated with a process not grounded in a calm,
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  quiet and observant standpoint, Sriorabindo writes.
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  Quote. At present your experiences are
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  on the mental plane, but that is the right movement.
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  Many sonics are unable to advance because they open the
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  vital plane before the mental and psychic are ready.
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  After some beginning of true spiritual experiences on the
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  mental plane, there is a premature descent into the vital
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  and great confusion and disturbance.
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  This has to be guarded against. It is still worse if the vital
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  desire soul opens to experience before the mind has been touched
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  by the things of the spirit. Aspire always for the mind and
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  psychic being to be filled with the true consciousness and
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  experience and made ready. You must aspire especially for
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  quietness, peace, a calm faith, an increasing steady wideness,
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  for more and more knowledge, for a deep and intense but quiet
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  devotion, to not be troubled by your surroundings and their
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  opposition. These conditions are often
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  imposed at first as a kind of ordeal.
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  If you can remain tranquil and undisturbed and continue your
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  sadhna without allowing yourself to be inwardly troubled under
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  these circumstances, it will help to give you a much needed
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  strength. For the path of yoga is always
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  beset with inner and outer difficulties, and the sodic must
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  develop a quiet, firm and solid strength to meet them.
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  End Quote. Reference Srioro Bindo Bases of
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  Yoga, Chapter 1. Calm, Peace and Equality, page
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  13.