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Hostile Forces, the Law of Attraction and Progress in Spiritual Development · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  There are powers at work in the world that have a vested
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  interest in maintaining the status quo.
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  They have control. They have power.
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  They can exult in their predominance.
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  They do not want to see their power or influence wane or
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  disappear. On the contrary, they may seek
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  further control and domination. Thus, they treat any progressive
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  development as a threat to their situation and even in some
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  cases, their very existence. These powers act to hold back
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  change and progress. There are other vital powers
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  that feed off of strong emotional reactions and they
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  consciously act to provoke extreme reactions, whether for
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  individuals in the form of provoking anger, lust, greed,
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  fear, etcetera, or on a larger scale through promoting pain,
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  suffering, fear through the advent of wars, pandemics,
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  etcetera. These powers also have a vested
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  interest in gaining and maintaining control over human
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  beings in order to harvest the energies they are able to
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  provoke. These forces can be collectively
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  termed as hostile forces. The human vital nature likes to
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  attribute delays, obstacles, obstructions, et cetera, to
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  these hostile forces, but in most cases they are actually
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  simply dealing with the embedded habits and evolutionary stages
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  that are common to all human life, and in many cases to life
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  in general as it has developed through time.
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  Once we set aside the basic actions, drives, reactions that
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  are part of the process of transformation for which the
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  spiritual aspirant is dedicated, the actual intervention of truly
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  hostile powers takes on a smaller, although not
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  insignificant role. Particularly when there is a
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  potential for enormous progress in the evolution of
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  consciousness, the action of truly hostile forces can be seen
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  as they feel threatened and see their own interests put at risk.
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  Srioro Bindo and the Mother face just such an uprising of hostile
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  forces with the rise of Nazism and the worldwide conflagration
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  known as World War 2, which threatened to set back
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  evolutionary progress for decades, if not centuries.
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  The question then arises as to what the seeker can or should do
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  about the hostile forces. There's an occult truth that one
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  attracts that upon which one focuses.
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  This is known in certain circles as the Law of Attraction.
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  A corollary to this law of attraction is that fear attracts
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  that which one fears. Thus, fixation of 1's attention
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  on the hostile forces and an attempt to engage and fight
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  directly with them is likely to increase their action and the
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  difficulties they bring with them.
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  That does not imply simply leaving them to overwhelm the
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  forces of progress and development.
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  Of course, a balance must be found that starts with the core
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  focus on the positive developments that are in view.
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  Aspiration, focus on the forces that aid the development,
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  Consecration to the larger purpose are steps toward focus
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  on and attracting the powers of light and harmony that are then
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  able to guide, protect, and eventually defeat the powers of
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  darkness. It is not within the purview of
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  the individual seeker to fight with these vital forces and
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  overcome them on the basis of his own effort.
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  The focus on the forces of light and their intervention provides
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  a solution. Along the way the seeker gains a
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  deeper understanding of how various forces try to impede the
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  progress and through the support of the higher spiritual powers
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  he is able to gain the power to withstand the pressures and the
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  manipulation that are employed by forces hostile to the
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  evolutionary progression. Srioro Bindu observes quote.
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  The hostile forces have a certain self chosen function.
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  It is to test the condition of the individual, of the work of
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  the earth itself, and their readiness for the spiritual
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  descent and fulfilment. At every step of the journey
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  they are there, attacking furiously, criticizing,
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  suggesting, imposing despondency or inciting to revolt, raising
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  unbelief, amassing difficulties. No doubt they put a very
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  exaggerated interpretation on the rights given them by their
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  function, making mountains even out of what seems to us a
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  molehill, a little trifling false step or mistake, and they
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  appear on the road and clap a whole Himalaya as a barrier
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  across it. But this opposition has been
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  permitted from of old, not merely as a test or ordeal, but
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  as a compulsion on us to seek a greater strength, a more perfect
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  self knowledge, an intenser purity and force of aspiration,
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  of faith that nothing can crush, a more powerful descent of the
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  Divine grace. End Quote.
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  Reference Sri Aurobindo, Basis of Yoga, Chapter 3 in
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  difficulty, pages 55 to 56.