Growth
The Occult Resistance
The aspirant for personal growth, even after advancing long on the path, is always vulnerable to unforeseen, unexpected occult attacks. Paradoxically, some of these occult attacks may result when the inner being xpands to such a great extent that, together with positive vibrations, negative vibrations also enter the being and, in the absence of an integral control, one can involuntarily succumb. Besides, whenever there is a genuine consolidation and orchestration of forces aspiring to reach out to the Divine, antagonistic occult forces are activated to invade the being and retard the work done. In fact, both history and legend bear testimony that the forerunners of humanity, the Messiahs, the Avatars, the Prophets had to bear the occult brunt against Divinity as representative beings, had to suffer jeers, insults, revolts, persecution and crucifixion, though their mighty death was always a sacrifice for the cause of human progress.
Relapse of Occult Attacks
Sri Aurobindo observed that a complete resolution of adverse and hostile forces can take a long time as these vital beings are very persistent and always return to attack. Thus, even an occult intervention cannot usually prevent relapses unless one develops a will in the mind to change. It is because something in the subject takes pleasure in the hostile force and the invading presence is called back even if centrally rejected. Or else, the subject has narcissistic or histrionic traits that facilitate the recall as the Mother has indicated (1).
The Mother explains:
“You have something in you which attracts this force; take, for example (it is one of the most frequent things), the force of depression, that kind of attack of a wave of depression that falls upon you: you lose confidence, you lose hope, you have the feeling you will never be able to do anything, you are cast down. It means there is in your vital being something which is naturally egoistic, surely a little vain, which needs encouragement to remain in a good state. So it is like a little signal for those forces which intimates to them: ’You can come, the door is open.’ But there is another part in the being that was watching when these forces arrived; instead of allowing them to enter, the part which sees clearly, which knows, which has power, which resists, says: ‘No, I do not want that, it is not true. I do not want it’, and sends them back. But you have not necessarily been cured of the little thing within you which permitted them to come. You must go very deep within, work within you persistently to be able to efface all possibility of calling. And so long as you have not completely effaced it, the attack will recur almost unexpectedly. You push it back — it is like a ball you throw against the wall, back it returns — until the moment there is no longer anything to attract it. Then it does not return again.
Therefore, the most important thing to do when you are attacked by an adverse force, is to say yourself: ‘Yes, the force comes from outside and the attack is there, but there must certainly be some correspondence in my nature, otherwise it could not have attacked me. Well, I am going to look and find within me what allows this force to come and I am going to send it back or transform it or put the light of consciousness upon it so that it may be converted, or drive it away so that it remains no longer within me…’ There is a way, you see? When the force comes, the adverse force, when it attacks, the part which corresponds rushes out to meet it, it goes forward. A kind of meeting takes place. If at that time, instead of being altogether overwhelmed or taken by surprise and off your guard, you observe very closely what it was within you that vibrated (it makes the sound tat, tat. tat: another thing has entered), then you can catch it. At that moment, you catch it and say to it: ‘Get out with your friends, I don’t want you any longer!’ You send away the two together, the part that attracted and the thing it attracted; they are sent away and you are absolutely clear.
For that, you must be very vigilant and have a little courage, in the sense that at times you have to grip it hard and then pull it out — it hurts a little — and then you throw it out along with the forces you send away. After that, it is finished. And so long as this is not done, it comes back again and again; and then if one is not in oneself sufficiently courageous or vigilant or persevering, the fourth or fifth time one falls flat and says: ‘That’s too much, I have had enough!’ So the force installs itself, contented, satisfied with its work; and then you can see it laughing, it enjoys itself immensely, it got what it wanted. Now to send it back again means a very considerable work. But if you follow the other method, if you look closely this way: ‘Well, I am going to catch the thing that has allowed it to come’, you see somewhere within you something rising, wriggling, coming up in response to the evil force which is approaching. That is the moment to seize it and throw it out with all the rest.
“But when we throw it out, it does not die. Then it can go elsewhere once, for it remains in the world.
“Exactly. It remains in the world and it will surely go elsewhere — until it meets someone who has sufficient spiritual and occult power to dissolve it, and that is very difficult… (2)”
Combative and Inclusive Forces
What is interesting and important, from the standpoint of yoga psychology, is whether it is psychologically easier to deal with adverse forces and hostile beings if they are considered to originate ‘outside’ oneself. From the psychological and personal standpoint, it is easier to deal with adverse forces if they are not considered to be part of one’s nature, but intruders from the external world. However, the truth according to Sri Aurobindo is that everything, including the adverse and hostile forces, originate in the same all-pervading Consciousness. The Mother favoured accepting this poise, as it could replace combative action that consumes a lot of resources and energy by an inclusive action that, if consistently pursued, will finally render the adverse forces unnecessary:
“Sri Aurobindo insisted rather on Oneness: he used to say that even what we consider to be the worst adversaries are still a form of the Supreme, which, deliberately or not, consciously or not, helps in the general transformation. This seems to be vaster, deeper, more comprehensive. And I tried to base action on this rather than on constant battle with opposing forces. Because, granted this idea, it makes sense that if you make the necessary progress, if you have the divine knowledge and consciousness, the very purpose of those forces disappears, and consequently they can’t stay (3).”
The ordinary subject pursuing a programme for personal growth has to follow an integral approach that deals simultaneously with many fronts. Such a multi-dimensional yet integralist approach can also be a deterrent to occult invasions.
References
1. Basu S, Miovic M. Consciousness Based Psychology – Sri Aurobindo’s Vision of Yoga, Health and Transpersonal Growth. Pondicherry: Auroshakti Foundation; 2022, p. 122.
2. The Mother, The Collected Works of the Mother Volume 5. 2nd ed. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust; 1998, pp. 93-95.
3. (Ed.) Satprem. The Mother. Mother’s Agenda, Volume 5. Mysore: Mira Aditi Centre; [English translation] 1988, p. 215.
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