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The Means of Focus and Receptivity in the Integral Yoga · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  The human instrument is essentially a receiver.
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  Through the various energy centers, vibrational patterns
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  are picked up. Most of what is received is not
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  consciously attended to, but it has its subtle impact.
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  The human being is able to respond to a limited range of
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  vibrations on the electromagnetic spectrum.
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  Vibrations above and vibrations below our normal range of
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  response are active, but we do not consciously attend to them
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  and their impact is relatively minor if they cannot set up a
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  corresponding vibratory pattern through any of our energy
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  centers. The small percentage of impulses
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  that are attended to are then reviewed by the conscious
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  awareness, analyzed, classified, stored and responded to.
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  If we shift our attention from one of the subtle energy
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  centers, chakras or another, we respond actively to whatever
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  forces or energetic influences are active there at the moment.
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  For the practitioner of the Integral Yoga, this background
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  helps to Orient the secret to the general idea and method for
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  opening to the greater knowledge, power and bliss that
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  can come with the shift of attention and the corresponding
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  reception of the forces active there.
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  Traditionally, seekers are advised to concentrate behind
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  the heart for access to the psychic center and the
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  aspirational and devotional energies that are received
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  there, or else between the eyebrows at the traditional
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  locus of the Ajnet chakra, the Chakra of Knowledge Will in the
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  Integral Yoga 1/3 focus area is actually above the crown of the
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  head, which opens the seeker to the wider universal
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  consciousness and insight. Each seeker finds that one or
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  another focus is more natural for him, and thus he may use
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  that shift of attention as his predominant mode of sadhna.
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  There are times, however, when a seeker may actually find that
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  one of the other areas of concentration comes to the
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  forefront. Most people find the heart
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  center to be the easiest to relate to, and it is through
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  that, therefore, that they most frequently come to understand
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  the reality of aspiration, consecration, receptivity, and
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  surrender to the higher force. For those who take that path,
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  they find that opening to the spiritual and psychic power of
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  the Mother can bring enormous aid.
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  The Mother is both the divine force of creation and, as
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  embodied in the Mother of the Srioro Bindo Ashram, a dynamic
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  and powerful spiritual force in her own being able to
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  communicate that force to those who are able to experience and
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  be receptive to its action and influence.
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  Srioro Bindo notes quote In this Yoga all depends on whether one
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  can open to the influence or not.
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  If there is a sincerity in the aspiration and a patient will to
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  arrive at the higher consciousness in spite of all
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  obstacles, then the opening in one form or another is sure to
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  come. But it may take a long or short
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  time according to the prepared or unprepared condition of the
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  mind, heart and body. So if one has not the necessary
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  patience, the effort may be abandoned owing to the
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  difficulty of the beginning. There is no method in this Yoga
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  except to concentrate, preferably in the heart, and
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  call the presence and power of the mother to take up the being
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  and by the workings of her force transform the consciousness.
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  One can concentrate also in the head or between the eyebrows,
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  but for many this is a too difficult opening.
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  When the mind falls quiet and the concentration becomes strong
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  and the aspiration intense, then there is a beginning of
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  experience. The more the faith, the more
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  rapid the result is likely to be.
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  For the rest, one must not depend on one's own efforts
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  only, but succeed in establishing a contact with the
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  Divine and a receptivity to the Mother's power and presence.
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  End Quote. Reference.
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  Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 2, Faith, Aspiration
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  Surrender, pages 24 to 25.