Indulgence of Desire Does Not Lead to Rejection

If we reflect on how we learn, how we gain skills, we find that one of the key elements is repetition. We train our muscles through repetition of an exercise regimen. We train our minds through repetition and we train our responses through repetition. At some point we embed the results of the repetition into what we call ‘muscle memory’ or ‘cellular memory’. Our immune systems respond more effectively to provocations that have been seen before. There is thus a ‘memory’ in our immune system. Events and perceptions create a cascade of hormones, neurotransmitters and nervous impulses, all of which can be, and mainly are, encapsulated in our cells as memories which can be ‘triggered’ by similar circumstances, events or perceptions.

This same mechanism of repetition has been explored in the field of human psychology. A general understanding has arisen that we build neural pathways, ‘grooves’ if you will, that move repeated impulses and stimuli more easily and swiftly than anything we experience for the first time, which requires new pathways and linkages to be created.

We can apply this understanding to our vital nature. Repetition builds a pathway for easier entry and response. Our vital nature ‘recognises’ the stimulus and based on prior experience, automatically ‘admits’ it. Eventually this creates a fixed habit of response. Over long periods of evolutionary time, fixed habits tend to become embedded as what we call ‘instincts’. We find that in many cases the idea that indulgence will help eliminate the desire eventually is simply a way the vital nature finds to try to justify the indulgence to the mind. This is frequently supported by cultural and societal norms that may justify the fulfillment of certain types of desires as being something ‘natural’ and ‘necessary’ for health and well-being of the individual. Of course, what may be ‘natural’ based on long vital habit, and therefore, acceptable to normal life in the world, is not the objective or goal of the spiritual seeker; rather, the seeker aspires to transform and uplift human nature to a next level of evolutionary development.

Once a habit of response has been created, it becomes more difficult to reject it than if we make a choice the first time to not accept the impulsion that is asking the vital nature to respond. The deeper the habit becomes embedded, the more strenuous the effort needed to effectuate the rejection later, necessitating patience and perseverance on the part of the seeker.. This is the reason why indulgence is not generally a suitable mechanism for overcoming the force of vital desire.

There is sometimes confusion about the experience of indulgence leading to a sense of satiation, which leads the individual to believe that the action has led to the intended result of rejection. This is simply a shift from the rajasic quality which reaches out to experience the object of desire, and the fall back to the tamasic quality when the desire is fulfilled. This is a temporary experience and when rajas once again comes to the fore, it once again reaches out for the fulfillment of the desire. This repetitive cycle does not lead to rejection, but to an endless series of indulgences followed by the lassitude that follows the fulfilled desire.

There are a variety of methods to change this dynamic over time. Shifting to the witness consciousness and rejecting the entry of the desire when it tries to invade is one method. Opening to the psychic being and changing the focus to the spiritual realisation is another. There are also ‘short-term’ methods that can aid the seeker in particular situations, such as remembering and calling on the Guru or the Divine Presence, which immediately moves the awareness away from the fulfillment of the desire. Some seekers floodi the being with the force of a mantra for short-term immediate relief from pressure of an insistent desire. The vibrations overwhelm the nervous and vital pathways that otherwise would be carrying the desire impulse to the being. Another frequently used method is what is called ‘nada shuddhi’, the purification of the nerve channels through the use of focused breathing techniques, pranayama. Eventually a new habit can be built up to not accept the desire-impulse, or to substitute it with a devotional, spiritual or psycho-spiritual alte
ative.

Sri Aurobindo writes: “Your theory is a mistaken one. The free expression of a passion may relieve the vital for a time, but at the same time it gives it a right to return always. It is not reduced at all. Suppression with inner indulgence in subtle forms is not a cure, but expression in outer indulgence is still less a cure. It is perfectly possible to go on without manifestation if one is resolute to arrive at a complete control, the control being not a mere suppression but an inner and outer rejection.”

“Vital desire grows by being indulged, it does not become satisfied. If your desire were indulged, it would begin to grow more and more and ask for more and more. That has been our constant experience with the sadhaks and it confirms what has always been known about desire. Desire and envy have to be thrown out of the consciousness — there is no other way to deal with them.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Looking from Within, Chapter 5, Attitudes on the Path, pg. 154