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

There are sound reasons to establish calm, peace and equality in the being as the foundation for the spiritual practice. When an individual takes up some form of concentrated practice, tapasya, it can lead to the uprising of powerful energies, as well as an influx of thoughts, emotions, feelings and sensations to which the normal human experience is not acclimated. There is a long history in the yogic tradition that speaks about the dangers attendant on any attempt to awaken the kundalini energy at the base of the spine without adequate guidance and preparation. Such an awakening can lead to nervous disorders, mental imbalance, emotional upsets and in some cases, physical ill health and various disorders of the body. Similarly, if the energy descends from above, as is frequently reported by practitioners of the integral yoga, there can be an imbalance if the being, the body, the vital force, the nerve structure, and the mind are not ready to handle that energy. In that case, the energy is subject to being ‘spilled’. This is a term used to describe the kind of imbalances historically known to occur in an unprepared individual who opens precipitously and without proper guidance to the powers and energies available when one shifts the awareness away from and outside the protective limits of the physical body.

What does the seeker do when he suddenly experiences rushes of energy that increase his vital drives or desires, or which give him a feeling of invulnerability or a sense of his own destiny which leads to arrogance, seeking and exercising of power, and a form of blindness to the excesses and extremes to which he is subjecting himself?

There are well-known cases of individuals who feel like they are being guided and protected, but who have not discriminated the source of the voices or promptings they are receiving. Without the prior grounding and guidance, it is easy to go astray and cause oneself, and others, considerable harm.

Sri Aurobindo counsels the development of the basis of peace and equanimity to help the seeker avoid falling under the power of the forces which enter and try to commandeer him to their purposes. With the proper foundation, the being can widen and absorb the advent of new knowledge and power without spilling them, and thus, without the same degree of risk that is associated with a process not grounded in a calm, quiet and observant standpoint.

Sri Aurobindo writes: “At present your experiences are on the mental plane, but that is the right movement. Many sadhaks are unable to advance because they open the vital plane before the mental and psychic are ready. After some beginning of true spiritual experiences on the mental plane there is a premature descent into the vital and great confusion and disturbance. This has to be guarded against. It is still worse if the vital desire-soul opens to experience before the mind has been touched by the things of the spirit.”

“Aspire always for the mind and psychic being to be filled with the true consciousness and experience and made ready. You must aspire especially for quietness, peace, a calm faith, an increasing steady wideness, for more and more knowledge, for a deep and intense but quiet devotion.”

“Do not be troubled by your surroundings and their opposition. These conditions are often imposed at first as a kind of ordeal. If you can remain tranquil and undisturbed and continue your sadhana without allowing yourself to be inwardly troubled under these circumstances, it will help to give you a much needed strength; for the path of Yoga is always beset with inner and outer difficulties and the sadhak must develop a quiet, firm and solid strength to meet them.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 1, Calm — Peace — Equality, pg. 13