The Food of the Vital Being

We can observe that there are times when the vital nature is energetic, enthused, active, and makes efforts. There are other times when it is dull, withdrawn, sullen, lacking energy and clearly is not taking interest in doing anything. The difference between these two states generally lies in the way the vital nature obtains its ‘food’. Food in this sense is the method by which the vital nature becomes energized. Whereas the physical body is fed by imbibing material and converting it to energy, the vital nature is fed by taking in sensations and energy from a variety of sources, including, but not limited to, the energy created by eating of food in the physical sense. The Mother describes the various forms of sustenance that underpins the action of the vital nature.

The Mother notes: “In fact, the vital has three sources of subsistence. The one most easily accessible to it comes from below, from the physical energies through the sensation.”

“The second is on its own plane, when it is sufficiently vast and receptive, by contact with the universal vital forces.”

“The third, to which it usually opens only in a great aspiration for progress, comes to it from above by the infusion and absorption of spiritual forces and inspiration.”

“To these sources men always strive more or less to add another, which is for them at the same time the source of most of their torments and misfortunes. It is the interchange of vital forces with their fellows, usually in groups of two, which they most often mistake for love, but which is only the attraction between two forces that take pleasure in mutual interchange.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Our Many Selves: Practical Yogic Psychology, Chapter 2, Planes and Parts of the Being, pg. 29