The Role of the Physical Body in the Spiritual Sadhana

A human birth is considered to be an important and valuable step in the growth of the soul and in the evolutionary development of consciousness in furtherance of the divine manifestation. It is not to be wasted. The traditions of India indicate that even the gods, who are static beings, would have to take birth in the body in order to evolve, change, transform and develop. Considered in this light, it becomes clear that abuse or weakening of the physical frame is counter-productive and not indicated as a path forward, particularly for those who take up the integral yoga, which aims to transform life, not abandon it.

There is a considerable ascetic tendency leading toward renunciation of the body based on long historical precedent in spiritual traditions throughout the world. This tendency developed due to the difficulty of overcoming the forces of vital desire in all its forms and manifestations and reactions, including greed, jealousy, envy, anger, lust, cravings, and passions that drive the being out of balance.

Sri Aurobindo proposes to transform not eliminate the vital being and thus, when it comes to dealing with the physical body, he recommends a balanced approach without craving, desire or avoidance. The body should be maintained, kept functional and in balance, even developed to reach its higher potentials, without the seeker falling into the other side of the issue by becoming attached and thereby grasping for physical results. To do this the seeker must overcome the limitations of both the materialst fixation on the exte
al world and its manifestation as well as the limitations of the refusal of the ascetic to participate fully in the divine manifestation by seeking an escape from it.

Sri Aurobindo writes: “It is a msitake to neglect the body and let it waste away; the body is the means of the sadhana and should be maintained in good order. There should be no attachment to it, but no contempt or neglect either of the material part of our nature.”

“In this Yoga the aim is not only the union with the higher consciousness but the transformation (by its power) of the lower including the physical nature.”

“It is not necessary to have desire or greed of food in order to eat. The Yogi eats not out of desire, but to maintain the body.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 4, Desire — Food — Sex, pp. 67-68