What is the Right Attitude in Integral Yoga for Observing our Defects?
Sri Aurobindo wrote: "I don’t know whether dwelling on the defects and weaknesses is very wholesome. To know that they are there is one thing, to keep them always before the eye may be depressing and retard the progress."
Yet we have been told over and over by both Mother and Sri Aurobindo that it is absolutely necessary to be aware of our defects. How do we balance this with what Sri Aurobindo wrote above?
One of my favorite writings from the Mother, from "Words of Long Ago”, speaks of the need for a LIFELONG effort to balance consecration with becoming conscious of one's defects.
There's also a statement in Bases of Yoga where Sri Aurobindo writes to a disciple, it's not enough to have a general sense of your defects; you need have a precise detailed knowledge.
And of course, there's that absolutely wonderful list of all our stupidities:
"rejection of the movements of the lower nature
― rejection of the mind‘s ideas, opinions, preferences, habits, constructions, so that the true knowledge may find free room in a silent mind,
― rejection of the vital nature’s desires, demands, cravings, sensations, passions, selfishness, pride, arrogance, lust, greed, jealousy, envy, hostility to the Truth, so that the true power and joy may pour from above into a calm, large, strong and consecrated vital being,
― rejection of the physical nature’s stupidity, doubt, disbelief, obscurity, obstinacy, pettiness, laziness, unwillingness to change, tamas, so that the true stability of Light, Power, Ananda may establish itself in a body growing always more divine;" (Sri Aurobindo, 'The Mother')
But actually, the spirit of it is quite simple.
Obviously, as the Mother wrote in Her essay on consecration and becoming conscious of deficits, as a daily discipline (and also in Q&A 1950-51 where several times she speaks of a need for a daily discipline of seeing ALL that obscures the realization of the psychic being and subsequent transformation), it is absolutely necessary.
All we have to do is step back into a place of calm, look at all limitations with love, compassion, peace and equanimity, then we are no longer negatively "dwelling" on deficits.
I personally find it enormously helpful to look at what contemporary psychology and neuroscience tells us, as it fills in many details that aren't spelled out in Mother and Sri Aurobindo's writings. Given that most of us spent much of our waking life in the outer physical consciousness, and no matter how much we may tell ourselves (as Sri Aurobindo wrote),"Consciousness is the fundamental thing in the universe," clearly - physical evidence has a strong effect, at least on our limited subconscient mental/vital/physical beliefs, attitudes, assumptions etc.
So, to give an example of how a calm, equal attention can bring about physical changes in the cells of the brain:
Say I have excess sugar cravings and constantly dwell on how awful it is. There are thousands of nerve cells in the brain that I am "converting" into strong neural pathways as I dwell on this negative attitude. Ironically, this kind of vital, aversion-based dwelling STRENGTHENS the "I am a terrible yogi because I can't control my sugar cravings" neural pathway.
But extensive research shows if I observe directly the sugar cravings, but now from a calm, peaceful place, this results in PHYSIOLOGICAL changes in the cells of my brain, weakening the "I can't control my cravings" neural pathway.
If along with this (this is the consecration part of what Mother wrote), I regularly affirm, "I am a child of the Divine Mother, United to Her; these sugar cravings have no power over my True Being," I now am creating NEW neural pathways strengthening my aspiration to consecrate all that I have, all that I think and feel, all that I do, and all that I am, to the Divine.
- Don Salmon, USA
Keywords: Attitude, Rejection, Becoming conscious, Overcoming defects, Self-change, Neuroscience, Psychology, Integral Yoga
Thanks Don for this lucid and simple explanation into an area we struggle with daily. Indeed, a non-judgmental self-observation along with consecration - that balance based on a sincere self-vigilance - is the key. Thanks for making the connection with neuroscience. It helps.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Don. This is a very timely post, since I am working on my own habits in the here and now. Both the vigilance without attaching mental and vital formations and the consecration to Mother is very well described.
ReplyDeletei've been at this for - well, more years than at least some folks here have been on the planet (at least in this incarnation). I continue to be amazed, in myself and in my others who have been on the path for a "long" time - no matter how many "awakenings" or at least "glimpses" of the Divine, of our soul, the vastness of the Self, and so on - some of the most powerful ways of giving oneself to the Mother involve being deeply honest and sincere about the most everyday challenges - and the simple ones;
ReplyDelete1. turning off the alarm and "sleeping in just a little" - a little past when we had planned to sit and meditate and offer ourselves to the Divine
2. Taking just 'one extra helping" of food when we intuitively know we've had enough
3. Just getting in that one extra word to "show" the other person (or people) how special we are (come on - now, whoever you ever - you've done that once in awhile:>)))
So you're welcome Anuradha and Gomathy - and I join you in aspiring for more vigilance in recognizing (and loving!) those mental/vital formations.
And yes, Anuradha, the neuroscience makes it so concrete for our physical minds:>))
My pranams to you.I am Mukta Singh-Nagpal.
ReplyDeleteMy take away:
Do not dwell on one's limitations negatively. Be watchful when limitations raise their head in your mind. Your attitude/stance is to be full of love, compassion, peace and equanimity. At the same time I pray: I am a child of the Divine Mother , United with her, and these limitations have no power over my True Being.'
Which is true as all human beings are inherently Saat, Chitt, Anand. Then the limitations fade away.
For additional protection one could pray:
O Divine Mother Guard and protect me from all distractions.
For her Divine Force knows and sees more and farther than my limited self today.
And my praams to you.
DeleteI love your take away:
"Do not dwell on one's limitations negatively. Be watchful when limitations raise their head in your mind. "
And yes, in prayer, united with the Divine Mother, the limitations "fade away".....
for now..
I would only add - I notice many times, praying, and there is a subtle desire, "Mother, please, take these limitations away," and in the back of my mind, there is a demand, NOW!
And if I'm particularly attached to the results of the Mother's work, I will simply fall into believing the limitations are gone.
And at worst, I will now be imposing these limitations (fear, impatience, irritation, etc) on others thinking I no longer have them.
So I would add, when praying, to truly allow whatever is to be - "Mother, You know what to do. If You see I need to learn more about them, no matter how painful to my limited egoic mind, let them be there. I know You have the power to remove them any time; it is up to me (supported by Your Grace) to truly let go of them so when the time is right, they will no longer have any power over me and then will be transformed by Your Light, Love, Power and Grace.
Dear Don,
DeleteClarification on these lines of your advice:
I would only add - I notice many times, praying, and there is a subtle desire, "Mother, please, take these limitations away," and in the back of my mind, there is a demand, NOW!
And if I'm particularly attached to the results of the Mother's work, I will simply fall into believing the limitations are gone.
And at worst, I will now be imposing these limitations (fear, impatience, irritation, etc) on others thinking I no longer have them.
I do have faith that the Divine energy will work to purify me.
I have noticed that life keeps hammering you till you learn your lesson and grow.
The aim of a human birth is to achieve perfection.
I still have in me anxiety (fear), impatience, and irritation. Every time I am in that state I either react or (when discretion is present) close my eyes and offer it to the Divine saying - However bad this is - it is what I have to offer at this moment. I feel absolutely rested after offering the negative energy. My take is the Lord's omnipresence will settle it. That I have reached this state because I have willy-nilly gathered 'What is not me' and the Lord knows best how to settle things.
What I did not understand is - How am I imposing these limitations on others - fear, impatience, irritation, etc. on others?
(Don here). Thank you, RT's, for your reflections.
DeleteLet's see - I too have in my anxiety/fear, impatience and irritation.
Jumping to your closing question - I think I wrote unclearly. I don't mean I'm LITERALLY imposing something ON another. Let's see if I can say it more concretly.
I'm sitting with a friend. There's some irritability and impatience within, and there is no surface awareness of it. I'm speaking with a somewhat irritable, impatient tone, then they react to my tone, and I don't understand why they are irritable and impatient, as I'm not aware of my own tone.
not a problem.
It doesn't really matter at all whether the mind can figure out a 'cause.". And whether the impatience/irritability is in my tone or theirs, I can meet it the same way - without reactivity, with love, understanding and compassion.
If I've truly rested and let go of concern for it, and I can open myself to some FEELING of that omnipresence you refer to - not as an idea of the mind "I"m offering now so it's taken care of" - but a genuine inner resting and a genuine FEELING connection to Her, then I've "done" what i need to do and She will certainly take care of the rest (though most likely not within the time frame my ego would like it to be taken care of - it seems to me this path takes infinite patience and trust - I may say "Mother, this is Yours a thousand times, and then be ready to say it again a million times"
I hope that is clearer. Thank you again for your reflections.
Namaste Don. As you rightly said there are innumerable things in our personality that needs change. Of which we are very well aware and by reaching out to Mother they can be transformed. But in my case, I think that I feel pleasure in clinging to them. Because whenever I am praying to Mother about my weakness/ limitation and request to transform, somewhere at the back of my mind a tone utters 'No,No ...I am good like this, I have pleasure in this and don't want any change ' and as a result I don't get what I must have got by praying to Mother. Can you please throw some light on this? Thank you .🙏
ReplyDeleteVery true.
ReplyDeleteWhat i feel that you start from the very big problem(according to your feeling) and try to conquer it with the help of sweet mother and you will feel that many other impurities are attached with that very problem. And guaranteed success comes without notice.
I think I understood Shyamala's question and have a number of thoughts about it. But I don't understand, Anonymous, what you said at the end. You seem to be saying at first that you acknowledge problems do not necessarily go away when the ego would like them to go away just because we "claim" we're surrendering (something the ego loves to do; as long as it can claim to surrender without actually surrendering, it can go on it's whole life without changing anything!!). But then at the end, when you speak about guaranteed success = I'm not sure what you're referring to. Could you say a bit more?
DeleteI know VERY well that tone in the back of MY mind uttering no no.
It's like when I was 4 or 5 years old, playing with my older brother, and then finally he'd pin me down, and say, "Alright, you give up?". And I'd say, I GIVE UP I GIVE UP and of course, as soon as he let me go, I'd shout I DON"T GIVE UP (which was an expected part of the game) and we'd start chasing each other again.
Well, we do that as adult sadhaks all the time, but don't realize we're just overgrown kids playing the same game (I don't give up I don't surrender) until finally we get tired of it and think maybe it IS time to grow up.
TO repeat, I have a number of thoughts about your excellent comments, Shamala, but I'd like ot get clarity from Anonymous first, if possible.
Oops, I'm on my iPad and I see my name didn't go with the last comment - the one starting "I think I understood". This is Don. Ok, if the other anonymous doesn't get back to us soon, I'll go ahead and share my thoughts about what Shyamala asked - SUCH a great question!!!
DeleteThank you Mr. Don for the article🙏🏽
DeleteHi again. Ok Shyamala. I guess I'll go ahead and offer some reflections. perhaps the person who responded as anonymous will return.
ReplyDeleteI don't know specifically what challenges you're talking about but I'll share one of mine - procrastination. I'm spending my usual morning time answering email and checking the news, and in 30 minutes am planning to start going through a LONG list of tasks my marketing coach has given me for promoting 2 online courses (on effortless sleep and effortless mindfulness). Some of the tasks involve learning what for me have been VERY difficult, time consuming and often frustrating software applications.
So let's see it's 9 AM and I'm sitting at my computer. I call up the PDF my coach made and I have a WORD doc where I'm re-writing her instructions and prioritizing my work.
I'm aware of an ENORMOUS fear, resistance, anxiety, insecurity, and a host of vital egoic feelings as well as subconscious mental beliefs regarding my age, inability to learn software as fast as I think I "should" learn it, etc.
So, one IY approach is simply to say, "Mother, please take these vital/mental subconscient egoic formations and purify and transform them with Your Light."
My sense is, much if not most of the time, when I hear people in the IY community say this, there's an assumption, "Well, ok, that's done, now I will never procrastinate again."
What is amazing to me is how tenacious this view is when the person procrastinates for decades, and they're still saying, "Well all I have to do is surrender to the Mother."
So what's actually happening (besides the obvious, that they're not actually surrendering anything in this case, they're just saying the words)?
Well, it's not that they're ONLY saying the words. Let's assume the best - there's a genuine psychic contact, an ability to step back into a deeper, more silent consciousness, perhaps even a capacity for widening, deepening, heightening - one may be open to promptings from the higher spiritual mind regions, getting insights and guidance as to how to proceed.
But I think for many of us, it's just not pleasant (to put it lightly - it's EXTREMELY unpleasant) to look directly, without flinching, at the extent of egoic darkness, confusion, ignorance, etc.
So to sum up, here's what happens:
1. CONSCIOUS THOUGHT: "Mother, shine Your Light and take away my procrastinating tendency.
2. SUBCONSCIOUS ATTITUDE: "THIS - this pathetic, unyogic, procrastinating fool - THIS is what I truly am. Even Mother's Infinite Power has no capacity to undo this fool. I might as well give up."
Well, you can "surrender" for 5 lifetimes, and if for all 5 lifetimes, you hold unto this kind of subconscious identity, then it is true, Mother will not completely undo your choice unless you open to Her.
And meanwhile, besides the verbal and possibly psychic attitude of wanting to surrender, there's countless things that even the average therapist knows we can do to prepare the mental, vital, physical nature, to learn to be better acquainted with all of our subconscious resistances, and ultimately, to prepare us for the true surrender.
I can't say any more specifically, without knowing when your specific concern is, and besides, if I write too much more just now, it will just be a means of procrastinating on my work:>)))))
Thank you Don, for your wonderful explanation.
DeleteOf course, the top one in the list of things to change is "Procrastination". But, now-a-days, when I am trying to learn to look into self and observe, I am seeing that I am not a very good person as I always used to think. I do have comparisons, jealousy, ego, fear, blaming others etc. etc. etc. I would not have accepted these things in me earlier but now I am able to. So, I have to change.
Once again thank you for your words which can help me out to work on myself.
Regards
Shyamala
" I am not a very good person as I always used to think"
ReplyDeleteI know sometimes people have hesitation about referring to teachers "outside" the Integral Yoga. For those who may be concerned about what I'm about to write, I'll refer you to the opening of "The Yoga of Works" in The Synthesis of Yoga (by Sri Aurobindo, in case there's some new folks here:>) He says the sadhaka MAY choose to focus on the teachings of one tradition - say, the Vedanta, Tantra, Vedas, etc. But the sadhaka may also find sustenance i the world's vast spiritual teachings, not satisfied until finding the same One Divine in all.
Ok, so - Jan (my wife) and I have been listening to (and more recently, attending) satsangs of Craig Holliday. Craig is inspired by both Christian and Buddhist contemplative teachings as well as Vedanta, but considers Sri Aurobindo to be among his most fundamental inspirations. He teaches an evolutionary view, and in my decades of exploration, is one of the simplest and clearest teachers regarding what he often humorously describes as "Fully Human, Fully Divine."
Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki put it in more "homely" language:
YOU'RE PERFECT AS YOU ARE AND THERE'S ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT."
Shyamala, YOU are not a very good person - you're perfect. This is not some New Age/Christian prosperity/New Thought nonsense. In introducing the Yoga of Self Perfection (again from Synthesis) giving a quick overview of essential yogic psychology, Sri Aurobindo writes (I'm writing from memory)
"Though it may be hard for the mind to fathom, the truth is, AT THIS VERY TIMELESS MOMENT, YOU are an infinite spiritual being. This is the Truth. That Thou Art" (sorry integral yoga purists; I took a lot of liberties)
This is not something just to put in our mental grab bag of spiritual thoughts. Some years back, I was reading - for probably the 10,000th time, "You are the Self."
I don't know what was different but I read it and almost heard a Voice saying, "OH, they REALLY mean it. It's TRUE."
You see these comparisons, jealousy, ego, fear, blame (and believe me, there's SO much more as you learn to accept that!!!)
And all that keeps you from seeing the Truth of what you REALLY are is identification. You think (FEEL/VISCERALLY) that "I AM comparison, I AM jealousy, I AM fear.
But you're not.
Now, this is very easy to understand mentally. But how to KNOW this?
FOLLOW UP FROM PREVIOUS COMMENT:
ReplyDeleteFirst, Ask the Mother to show you this. She will if you're sincere.
Second, logic is not altogether useless on the spiritual path. If you SEE the comparisons, fear, etc you can't BE the comparisons, fear, etc.
Does that make sense?
Third, in your meditations, begin to adopt this attitude. Fully accept, welcome, embrace LOVE the ego, the fear, the comparisons, rather than condemning (blaming yourself as well as others!!) them. Mother doesn't need your help. She knows how to handle them. But She won't impose Her Will on you. When you fully accept them, see them, embrace them, THEN let go (letting go is the part that so many who say "just surrender" forget about:>) - they want to let go as fast as possible to get rid of those horrible jealousies, fears, etc - which is not letting go but aversion!).
Fourth, pause as often as possible during the day (stop reading for 10 seconds and try it now). FEEL Her Presence. Feel in your body the unpleasantness, the contraction in your belly, the closed loneliness of the heart that compares, that blames, that is afraid of taking responsibility for anger, sadness, etc. And allow all of this with love, compassion, etc. Feel the Mother embracing you with Her Love.
And finally, do all this without expecting ANY results. Don't do it IN ORDER TO feel better. Do it because you are in love with the Mother, and when you love someone all you want to do is give to them.
And get back to us. I'm not speaking as a superior or teacher. I'm just about to start going over some software which I've been struggling with for months. I'm terrified (well, that's a bit drama queen - i'm very nervous about it); angry (or very annoyed at least). Craig led me through a little 5 minute exploration of this - feeling that vast spacious openness of Consciousness behind, while STILl acknowledging the fear, allowing it to be embraced IN the Mother's Presence.....
we can share how it works out (you don't have to if you don't want to reveal too much private stuff; but I"ll see if I can remember later today to stop by and share what happens....
Hi again - as promised, a report from this morning.
ReplyDeleteWell, it's only one morning, but two things seem to have made a significant difference:
(1) taking the time last night and this morning, before starting work, to fully acknowledge and embrace the fears and to more consciously aspire for abiding in Presence;
(2) (Perhaps just as if not more important!) making a promise to you (Shyamala) to return.
I personally can't say enough positive about the extraordinary power of the very human need to be accountable to each other. Knowing that I had made this promise and wanting to follow through made at least a significant part of the difference.
Thank you!
Thank you so much for each single word. I would try to follow as you suggested 🙏
ReplyDeleteInteresting exchange Don & Shyamala... "the closed loneliness of the heart" resonates... in the endeavour to walk the path, one can be too harsh with oneself... and at other times, too laid-back : ) Sincerity, as The Mother says, is the key... always.
ReplyDeletethanks Anuradha - sincerity and vigilance. I also would say, there's a kind of loving, sincere, calm, equanimous vigilance that can persist whether one is too laid back OR too harsh. It was suggested to me, the other day, to "hug" the emotions of anger and fear. It could sound superficial and silly; but some time later, that "hug" turned into an all embracing Presence - so these little psychological observations can sometimes be spiritual keys!
DeleteExcellent suggestion for all the problem solving issues: "But extensive research shows if I observe directly the sugar cravings, but now from a calm, peaceful place, this results in PHYSIOLOGICAL changes in the cells of my brain, weakening the "I can't control my cravings" neural pathway."
ReplyDeleteThanks Vladimir. This is the kind of thing I want to focus a lot on in September when I start posting more regularly here and at LaGrace.
DeleteI've been learning an astonishing amount from Craig Holliday about subtle ways the Force works with these neural pathways. Very very practical down to earth stuff.
I don't know if I told you this story but for others here I think it will be quite beautiful to share.
Almost 30 years ago, Craig was sitting with his teacher (named David - who prefers to work in the shadows, mostly unknown). Neither of them knew anything about Integral Yoga.
One day, eyes open, they both said an intensely vivid image appear of an Indian man. They did not recognize him but were both overwhelmed with the astonishing Force emanating from him, filling the room and beyond, entering deep into their psyches.
Over the next few weeks, it was like the entire integral yoga teaching was being "downloaded" into their psyches. But it was only when a friend sent a book with a picture of Sri Aurobindo on the cover that they realized that was who they say.
I find Craig's teaching to be among the most practical, simple and down to earth I've ever come across in the world of Integral Yoga. I'm particularly impressed by how much he is able to convey of the practice AFTER the initial awakening (to the Self and/or psychic being). Truly astonishing, beautiful, heart-warming stuff.
I strongly recommend his 'Yoga of Liberation." Scholars will find it not so well written with seeming "errors' in terminology, but if you get beneath that, the Force in it is life changing, and the insights for purification as well as post awakening integration are unique and indispensable.
Sorry, that should have been : "they realized that was who they saw."
Delete