Converting Primal Physical-Vital Force Into Spiritual Force

There is a well-known and widely described concept in the spiritual traditions of India whereby the basic force of the first chakra that manifests in the ordinary course through that centre as sexual energy is converted through various processes of tapasya, yogic concentration, into a force that can join the seeker to the spiritual consciousness. This process, known as converting ‘retas’ into ‘ojas’ is the basis for various actions of hatha yoga, pranayama and the well-known kundalini yoga. The basic force is envisioned as a serpent coiled at the base of the spine, the Muladhara Chakra. These practices are intended to concentrate the raw energy of the first chakra and instead of the energy going outwards in sexual activity, it is driven upwards through the subtle nerve channels energizing the higher chakras and bursting forth at the crown of the head through the 1000-petal lotus of the Sahasrara Chakra where it liberates the being from bondage to the lower nature and joins with the divine consciousness above.

We understand both from the ancient Vedic tradition, and from modern science, that an enormous power is ‘locked up’ in matter. In the Vedas, this power is Agni, the mystic fire, which is released from matter. In modern science, atomic fission and fusion illustrate the convertibility of matter into energy, enormous energy. A similar principle is at work in the liberation of the bound energy held in the first chakra so that it can be channeled and succeeds in liberating the being into pure spiritual consciousness.

In the integral yoga, Sri Aurobindo recognises this power, but he also describes a different process which has less potential for negative consequences to the being, whereby the aspiration calls down the force from above, which successively opens the chakras, purifying and releasing their energy from the top, down. This avoids potential imbalances of the physical body, the vital nature, the nerve framework and the mind that can occur when the primal power of the first chakra is released without proper preparation of the being to hold and channel it effectively.

There is considerable confusion about whether the sexual drive itself is to be used during this conversion process. Even if outward sexual activity is not present, the very action of inward concentration and indulgence creates vibratory patterns that disseminate the sexual energy and which do not, therefore, provide the needed energy at the higher levels. Some seekers are tempted to engage in occult forms of sexual satisfaction, thinking that it is ‘harmless’ and ‘invisible’. Yet this is clearly not the case. Others pick up on the vibrations so created. People feel the sexual tension and the pressure in the atmosphere, and it evokes whatever sympathetic vibrations potentially exist in the others nearby. Occult sex, like other forms of occult actions, has real and palpable impacts in the exte
al world.

Sri Aurobindo writes: “To master the sex-impulse, — to become so much master of the sex-centre that the sexual energy would be drawn upwards, not thrown outwards and wasted — it is so indeed that the force in the seed can be turned into a primal physical energy supporting all the others, retas into ojas. But no error can be more perilous than to accept the immixture of the sexual desire and some kind of subtle satisfaction of it and look on this as part of the sadhana. It would be the most effective way to head straight towards spiritual downfall and throw into the atmosphere forces that would block the supramental descent, bringing instead the descent of adverse vital powers to disseminate disturbance and disaster. This deviation must be absolutely thrown away, should it try to occur and expunged from the consciousness, if the Truth is to be brought down and the work is to be done.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 4, Desire — Food — Sex, pg. 71