The Value of the Witness Consciousness in the Yogic Endeavour

The witness consciousness is an extremely useful mode for the seeker to adopt in any attempt to overcome the limitations and deformations of the exte
al nature, whether to try to attain liberation and release from the world, or, as Sri Aurobindo suggests, to work toward the eventual divinsation of life on earth through the evolution of consciousness.

If we look upon our being as a receiving and transmitting instrument of the forces active in the universal manifestation, we begin to recognise that stepping back from the process and observing it from a different standpoint provides an incredible power to both avoid entanglement with the forces that are operative normally, as well as manage those forces, utilizing the understanding provided by this observational viewpoint to align with the higher forces, the aspiration of the psychic entity at the center of the being, and to become receptive to and allow the action of the higher forces waiting to manifest here.

Without the instrumentality of the witness consciousness, we are enmeshed in the mix of forces at work that impinge upon our body, life and mind, in a confused and relatively undirected manner. The witness consciousness acts to align the being in one direction and to focus the attention on those energies that are helpful to the process of the evolutionary action.

Sri Aurobindo observes: “By so standing back it will be easier also for you to find a quiet poise in yourself, behind the surface struggle, from which y ou can more effectively call in the hlep to deliver you. The Divine presence, calm, peace, purity, force, light, joy, widensss are above waiting to descend in you. Find this quietude behind and your mind also will become quieter and through the quiet mind you can call down the descent first of the purity and peace and then of the Divine Force. If you can feel this peace and purity descending into you, you can then call it down again and again till it becomes to settle; you will feel too the Force working in you to change the movements and tranform the consciousness. In this working you will be aware of the presence and power of the Mother. Once that is done, all the rest will be a question of time and of the progressive evolution in you of your true and divine nature.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 3, In Difficulty, pg. 44