{"id":4028,"date":"2013-07-13T01:52:57","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:52:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4028"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:52:57","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:52:57","slug":"06-12-may-1929-vol-03-questions-and-answers-volume-03","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/03-questions-and-answers-volume-03\/06-12-may-1929-vol-03-questions-and-answers-volume-03","title":{"rendered":"-06_12 May 1929.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

\n12 May 1929 <\/font> <\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

There
\nare some human beings who are like vampires. What are they and why are they
\nlike that? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

They are not human; there is only a human form or appearance. They
\nare incarnations of beings from the world that is just next to the physical,
\nbeings who live on the plane which we call the vital world. It is a world of
\nall the desires and impulses and passions and of movements of violence and
\ngreed and cunning and every kind of ignorance; but all the dynamisms too are
\nthere, all the life-energies and all the powers. The beings of this world have
\nby their nature a strange grip over the material world and can exercise upon it
\na sinister influence. Some of them are formed out of the remains of the human
\nbeing that persist after death in the vital atmosphere near to the earth-plane.
\nHis desires and hungers still float there and remain in form even after the
\ndissolution of the body; often they are moved to go on manifesting and
\nsatisfying themselves and the birth of these creatures of the vital world is the
\nconsequence. But these are minor beings and, if they can be very troublesome,
\nit is yet not impossible to deal with them. There are others, far more
\ndangerous, who have never been in human form; never were they born into a human
\nbody upon earth, for most often they refuse to accept this way of birth because
\nit is slavery to matter and they prefer to remain in their own world, powerful
\nand mischievous, and to control earthly beings from there. For, if they do not
\nwant to be born on earth, they do want to be in contact with the physical
\nnature, but without being bound by it. Their method is to try first to cast
\ntheir influence upon a man; then they enter slowly into his atmosphere and in
\nthe end may get complete possession of him, driving out entirely the real human
\nsoul and personality. These creatures, when in possession of an earthly body,
\nmay have the human appearance but they <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 42<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/span>have not a human nature.
\nTheir habit is to draw upon the life-force of human beings; they attack and
\ncapture vital power wherever they can and feed upon it. If they come into your
\natmosphere, you suddenly feel depressed and exhausted; if you are near them for
\nsome time you fall sick; if you live with one of them, it may kill you. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

But
\nhow is one to get such creatures out of one’s environment when they are once
\nthere? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The vital power incarnated in these beings is of a very material
\nkind and it is effective only within a short distance. Ordinarily, if you do
\nnot live in the same house or if you are not in the same company with them, you
\ndo not come within their influence. But if you open some channel of connection
\nor communication, through letters, for example, then you make possible an
\ninterchange of forces and are liable to be influenced by them even from a far
\ndistance. The wisest way with these beings is to cut off all connection and
\nhave nothing to do with them \u2013 unless indeed you have great occult knowledge
\nand power and have learned how to cover and protect yourself \u2013 but even then it
\nis always a dangerous thing to move about with them. To hope to transform them,
\nas some people do, is a vain illusion; for they do not want to be transformed.
\nThey have no intention of allowing any transformation and all effort in that
\ndirection is useless. <\/span><\/p>\n

These beings, when in the human body, are
\nnot often conscious of what they really are. Sometimes they have a vague
\nfeeling that they are not quite human in the ordinary way. But still there are
\ncases where they are conscious and very conscious; not only do they know that
\nthey do not belong to humanity but they know what they are, act in that
\nknowledge and deliberately pursue their ends. The beings of the vital world are
\npowerful by their very nature; when to their power they add knowledge, they
\nbecome doubly dangerous. There is nothing to be done <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 43<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

with these creatures; you should avoid having any dealings with
\nthem unless you have the power to crush and destroy them. If you are forced
\ninto contact with them, beware of the spell they can cast. These vital beings,
\nwhen they manifest on the physical plane, have always a great hypnotic power;
\nfor the centre of their consciousness is in the vital world and not in the
\nmaterial and they are not veiled and dwarfed by the material consciousness as
\nhuman beings are. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Is it
\nnot a fact that these creatures are drawn by some peculiar fascination towards
\nthe spiritual life? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, because they feel they do not belong to this earth but come
\nfrom somewhere else; and they feel too that they have powers they have half
\nlost and they are eager to win them back. So whenever they meet anyone who can
\ngive them some knowledge of the invisible world, they rush to him. But they
\nmistake the vital for the spiritual world and in their seeking follow vital and
\nnot spiritual ends. Or perhaps they deliberately seek to corrupt spirituality
\nand build up an imitation of it in the mould of their own nature. Even then it
\nis a kind of homage they pay, or a sort of amends they make, in their own way,
\nto the spiritual life. And there is too some kind of attraction that compels
\nthem; they have revolted against the Divine rule, but in spite of their revolt
\nor perhaps because of it, they feel somehow bound and are powerfully attracted
\nby its presence. <\/span><\/p>\n

This is how it happens that you see them
\nsometimes used as instruments to bring into connection with each other those
\nwho are to realise the spiritual life upon earth. They do not purposely serve
\nthis use, but are compelled to it. It is a kind of compensation that they pay.
\nFor they feel the pressure of the descending Light, they sense that the time
\nhas come or is soon coming when they must choose between conversion or
\ndissolution, choose either to surrender to the Divine Will and take their part
\nin the Great Plan or to sink into unconsciousness and <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 44<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

cease to be. The contact with a seeker of Truth gives such a being
\nhis chance to change. All depends upon how he utilises his chance. Taken
\nrightly, it may open his way to liberation from falsehood and obscurity and
\nmisery, which is the stuff out of which these vital creatures are made, and
\nbring him to Regeneration and to Life.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Have
\nnot these beings a great control over money power? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes. The power of money is at present under the influence or in
\nthe hands of the forces and beings of the vital world. It is because of this
\ninfluence that you never see money going in any considerable amount to the
\ncause of Truth. Always it goes astray, because it is in the clutch of the
\nhostile forces and is one of the principal means by which they keep their grip
\nupon the earth. The hold of the hostile forces upon money-power is powerfully,
\ncompletely and thoroughly organised and to extract anything out of this compact
\norganisation is a most difficult task. Each time that you try to draw a little
\nof this money away from its present custodians, you have to undertake a fierce
\nbattle. <\/span><\/p>\n

And yet one signal victory somewhere over
\nthe adverse forces that have the hold upon money would make victory possible
\nsimultaneously and automatically at all other points also. If in one place they
\nyielded, all who now feel that they cannot give money to the cause of Truth
\nwould suddenly experience a great and intense desire to give. It is not that
\nthose rich men who are more or less toys and instruments in the hands of the
\nvital forces are averse to spend; their avarice is awake only when the vital
\ndesires and impulses are not touched. For when it is to gratify some desire
\nthat they call their own, they spend readily; but when they are called to share
\ntheir ease and the benefits of their wealth with others, then they find it hard
\nto part with their money. The vital power controlling money is like a guardian
\nwho keeps his wealth in a big safe always tightly <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 45<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

closed. Each time the people who are in its grasp are asked to
\npart with their money, they put all sorts of careful questions before they will
\nconsent to open their purses even a very little way; but if a vital impulse
\narises in them with its demand, the guardian is happy to open wide the coffer
\nand money flows out freely. Commonly, the vital desires he obeys are connected
\nwith the sex impulses, but very often too he yields to the desire for fame and
\nconsideration, the desire for food or any other desire that is on the same
\nvital level; whatever does not belong to this category is closely questioned
\nand scrutinised, grudgingly admitted and most often refused help in the end. In
\nthose who are slaves of vital beings, the desire for truth and light and
\nspiritual achievement, even if it at all touches them, cannot balance the
\ndesire for money. To win money from their hands for the Divine means to fight
\nthe devil out of them; you have first to conquer or convert the vital being
\nwhom they serve, and it is not an easy task. Men who are under the sway of
\nvital creatures can change from a life of ease, cast away enjoyment and become
\nintensely ascetic and yet remain just as wicked as ever and even by the change
\nturn worse than before. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Why
\nis one person allowed to exercise his will over another? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It is not that one is allowed to exercise his will over another,
\nbut that there is a universal will and those who are more or less capable of
\nmanifesting this force seem to have a stronger will-power. It is like vital
\nforce or light or electricity or any other power of nature; some are good
\nchannels or instruments for manifesting the power, others are poor channels.
\nThere is no question of morality here. It is a fact of nature, a law of the
\ngreat play. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Can
\none meet the beings of the vital in their own domain?\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/i>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 46<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

Vital beings move in a supraphysical world where human beings, if
\nthey chance to enter, feel at sea, helpless and defenceless. The human being is
\nat home and safe in the material body; the body is his protection. There are
\nsome who are full of contempt for their bodies and think that things will be
\nmuch better and easier after death without them. But in fact the body is your
\nfortress and your shelter. While you are lodged in it the forces of the hostile
\nworld find a difficulty in getting any direct hold upon you. What are nightmares?
\nThese are your sorties into the vital world. And what is the first thing you
\ntry to do when you are in the grip of a nightmare? You rush back into your body
\nand shake yourself into your normal physical consciousness. But in the world of
\nthe vital forces you are a stranger; it is an uncharted sea in which you have
\nneither compass nor rudder. You do not know how to go, you do not know where to
\ngo and at each step you do just the opposite of what should be done. Directly
\nyou enter any realm of this world, its beings gather round you and want to
\nencompass and get out of you all you have, to draw what they can and make it a
\nfood and a prey. If you have no strong light and force radiating from within
\nyou, you move there without your body as if you had no coat to protect you
\nagainst a chill and bleak atmosphere, no house to shield you, even no skin
\ncovering you, your nerves exposed and bare. There are men who say, \u201cHow unhappy
\nI am in this body\u201d, and think of death as an escape! But after death you have
\nthe same vital surroundings and are in danger from the same forces that are the
\ncause of your misery in this life. The dissolution of the body forces you out
\ninto the open spaces of the vital world. And you have no longer a defence;
\nthere is not the physical body any longer to rush back to for safety. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is here upon earth, in the body itself,
\nthat you must acquire a complete knowledge and learn to use a full and complete
\npower. Only when you have done that will you be free to move about with entire
\nsecurity in all the worlds. Only when you are incapable of having the slightest
\nfear, when you remain <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 47<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

unmoved, for example, in the midst of the worst nightmare, can you
\nsay, \u201cNow I am ready to go into the vital world.\u201d But this means the
\nacquisition of a power and a knowledge that can come only when you are a
\nperfect master of the impulses and desires of the vital nature. You must be
\nabsolutely free from everything that can bring in the beings of the darkness or
\nallow them to rule over you; if you are not free, beware! <\/span><\/p>\n

No attachments, no desires, no impulses,
\nno preferences; perfect equanimity, unchanging peace and absolute faith in the
\nDivine protection: with that you are safe, without it you are in peril. And as
\nlong as you are not safe, it is better to do like little chickens that take
\nshelter under the mother’s wings. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

How
\ndoes the physical body act as a protection? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The physical body acts as a
\nprotection by its grossness, by the very thing we charge against it. It is dull
\nand insensitive, thick, rigid and hard; it is like a fortress with strong dense
\nwalls. The vital world is fluidic, there things move and mix and interpenetrate
\nfreely; it is like the waves of the sea that ceaselessly flow into each other
\nand change and mingle. Against this fluidity of the vital world you are
\ndefenceless unless you can oppose to it a very powerful light and force from
\ninside; otherwise it penetrates you and there is nothing to hamper its invading
\ninfluence. But the body intervenes, cuts you off from the vital world and is a
\ndam against the flood of its forces. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

But
\nis there any individuality in the forms of the vital world, if it is so fluid? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Individuality there is; only its forms are not so fixed and hard
\nas the forms of embodied beings. Individuality does not mean an unplastic
\nrigidity. A stone has a very rigid form, perhaps the most rigid we know, but
\nthere is very little individuality in it. Take ten or twenty stones together
\nand you will have to be very
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 48<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

careful if you want to discern between them. But the beings of the
\nvital world can be recognised at the very first sight one from another; you
\ndistinguish them by something in the way in which the form is built, by the
\natmosphere which it carries with it, by the manner in which each moves and speaks
\nand acts. As human beings change their expression according as they are happy
\nor angry; these beings also undergo change in the stress of their moods, but
\nthe alteration is more intense in the vital world. Not only the mere expression
\nbut the very forms of the features change.\u00a0
\n<\/span>
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 49<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\n <\/font>H<\/a><\/font><\/span>OME<\/font><\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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