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NAMAH Body, mind and spirit journal

Integral Health

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Two Case studies in Integral Health

Dr. Soumitra Basu

Editor’s note

These case studies are important from one point of view. They reveal that there can bealternative ways of viewing the same phenomenon and relating to it, not only in differentsystems but even in the same paradigm. They reveal the insufficiency of outer data and theneed to explore the hidden ranges of our existence. Since all paradigms are mental and hencenecessarily limited, this paradigm too has been employed by the mind of the therapist andhence will have its necessary limitations. For instance, the view is narrowed down to onelifetime’s experience. In relation to the psychic entity in man, one has to look at life as asequential, and spiral growth through many lives. It is hoped that one day, the doctor wouldbe able to see and manipulate the hidden forces of life, while attempting a holistic cure of his

patients. But meanwhile, one has to begin somewhere and here are these cases which provide auseful beginning.

The interaction of a disease and the type of the person who has it, has an important

bearing in m edicine. In fact, this was a great su bject of debate between the Platonic

and Hippocratic schools in the West. In the East however, in Ayurveda, the general

app roach to disease necessarily includ ed a p sychosomatic dimen sion.

Numerous studies have correlated the diverse psychological and psychosocial

conflicts and personality traits with various ailments; yet the holistic approach to

health ha s been more eclectic than integral. Evidently, a mere m ass of correlated d ata

cannot suffice, if it does not also fit into a totipotentially integrated and

devolutionary mod el of positive health.

The Gnostic base of the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo an d The Mother provides a

suitable paradigm for such a holistic approach to health. There are three important

seed-ideas that need to be considered d eeply and elaborated:

(a) Firstly, Integral Yoga posits that the outer nature of man can be viewed along

different planes or p arts of Consciousness — the Physical, the Vital and the Mental,

each of which has a separate personality. Ordinarily, these are confused and

combined with one another and as a result require careful discrimination. Thus,

while the Vital combines with the Mind to become the Higher Vital, it can also

combine with the Physical to become the Lower Vital. Of the various combinations

the Physical Mind , the Vital Mind and the Vital-Physical have importan t imp lications

in health. By the yogic practice of self-perfection; the Physical, the Vital and the

Mental can be separated from each other and progressively developed as

independent entities.

(b) Second ly, the developmen t of Physical, the Vital and the Mental as ind epend ent

personalities can have its full significance only w hen they relate to an integrating and

harmonising centre — the Psychic Being. The Atman (soul) of the Indian tradition, in

its evolving form is called the Psychic Being in Integral Yoga, to distinguish it from

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Integral Health


the soul as th e pr esiding spiritual fact. The d evelopment of th e Psychic Being brings

in the true harmony between the different parts of our being. However, in the

ordinary consciousness the Psychic Being is veiled by the ego. (which cannot bring

about an integration of the personality). At a certain stage of inner progress, the ego

has to be surpassed for the full blossoming of the ind ividu al.

(c) Thirdly, besides the observable state of awareness that we call ‘ourselves’, thereare other r anges of consciousness yet un explored. In add ition to th e subconscious of

the psychoanalysts, Integral Yoga brings in new dimensions — viz. (i) the

Superconscious that covers the consciousness of the Psychic Being and of the higher

planes beyond the Mind and whose exploration opens up all our future possibilities;

(ii) the Subliminal that is the meeting ground of the individual and the universal

spheres of consciousness; (iii) the Circumconscient layer in the universe that

surrounds us.

Evidently, this hologram provided by Integral Yoga is most suited to study for all

aspirants who attempt to live out the Universal and the Transcendent in their

individual spheres. It would be interesting to study the inner existential conflicts of

two such individuals who outwardly manifested the same clinical picture – drugdependency.

Case I

S was a young man in his twenties wh o had an intellectual flair for creative writing

and a strong vital urge for socialisation. He also desired to effectively integrate these

two aspects of his character. He left his small semi-urban home town for his

university studies at a big cosmopolitan city where he was greatly shocked to find

that the intellectual and political role-models wh om h e had cherished so long w ere in

reality far below his rather utopian expectations. This unexpected bankruptcy of

eulogised values and ideals led to a recoil in his Vital Being and he felt a subjective

vacuum . He d ecided to have an ‘experience of the zero feeling’ from w here he w ouldstart his life afresh. Thus began his experimentation with drugs. Initially his Vital

drew immense satisfaction from what he considered to be a bold venture. The vital

however is never satisfied and when S found that drugs could not provide the inner

light for progress, his drug abusing habit had already become a Vital-Physical

fixation — a phenomenon that clinically qualifies for the diagnosis of drug

dependency.

At this juncture, S’s contact with Integral Yoga led him to speculate that a life of

seclusion would give him enough time for introspection, that would enable him to

discover an alternative source of inner stimulation. Subsequen tly, through intensive

practice, he could dissociate partially the separate parts of his being (the Physical, the

Vital and the Mental) and also un derstan d th e necessity for surpassing the ego. Eventhis initial, premature and amateurish realisation opened up several avenues for

progress. He successfully conqu ered the n ecessity of stimu lating his Lower Vital by

dru gs. Instead h e sought to stimulate his Higher Vital through altruistic activities. He

left his seclusion and went to an illiterate village in the countryside as a

schoolteacher where he pursued his activities with a missionary zeal — the Good

Samaritan who was destined to be a saviour for deprived children. His Vital felt a

great pride in this ‘selfless’ work. He however was continuing his sadhana of the

Integral Yoga and aspiring for a life centred aroun d the Psychic Being. He w as also

concurrently developing the Mental and Physical parts of his being. The former he





Integral Health


attempted by compiling studies on he Vedas and Upanishads in the light of Integral

Yoga. S had a great fascination for symbols and he used an artist friend to

symbolically portray some of his inspiring movements. One such favourite symbol

was that of the Vital surrendering to the Divine represented by a dragon at the

World-Mother’s feet. The artist drew the cover of S’s compilations on the Vedas and

Upanishads. Besides his artist friend, S also gathered some other like-minded

persons with the aim of pursuing a collective sadhana. His social group thusun derw ent a metam orph osis — the neo-political roman ticists followed by a

decadent drug-culture, now sublimated into a quasi-spiritual group. Things

app eared to m ove smooth ly un til S’s artist friend committed su icide. This anti-climax

brought S to the ground reality. He had replaced the stimulation of his Lower Vital

(through dru gs) by a stimulation of the H igher Vital (through altruistic activities). He

had attempted to strengthen his Mental Being by individually sharpening his

intellectual acumen in spirituality and reinforcing it through enlightened discourses

with his Sat-Sang comrad es. Yet all these only help ed to in flate his ego. S realised th at

he w ould h ave to replace his ego by the Psychic Being and the first thing need ed w as

heroic — a yogic effort to be humble. He attempted to cultivate humility by

voluntarily agreeing to listen to his parents for the first time by sitting for the State

Civil Services examination, wh ich he su ccessfully got throu gh. H e subsequ ently took up adm inistrative work in the sp irit of a Karmayogin.

He later summed up his experiences with drugs vis-à-vis the yogic effort towards

self-perfection: “I took up drugs to have the experience of the zero-feeling. I realised

that the zero I sought was the zero of the nadir — of the inconscience — full of

darkness. I also realised that there was another zero — that of the zenith — the

higher archetypal zero of the superconscience full of resplendent light. Indeed, that

discovery motivates one to prep are oneself for the pu rsuit of a higher ideal.”

Case II

A was a highly qualified professional. He had an over-protective childhood with adominating mother and a passively supporting father debarring him from physical

activities so that he could be an ideal bookworm. He grew up with an inflated

intellectual p ride. He could not socialise with girls and was highly selective about his

male acquaintances whom he chose for their ‘intellectuality’. His intellectual

activities as a technocrat could not be fully utilised at the office due to widespread

recession in the business world. In his mid-twenties he discovered that the

intellectual edifice he had built and nurtured was now no longer able to provide a

sense of fulfillment. He comments on that period of his life, “I felt lonely and sought

newer and newer experiences, not through intellectuality but through vital

sensations.”

At this jun cture he came in contact with two diverse forces. On th e one han d h e feltdrawn to the Integral Yoga and on the other hand he was fascinated by the drug

culture. Thus began a tormenting war between the lower vital plane of his

personality, that needed d rugs for stimulation and the higher vital plane of his being

that yearned for an eulogised utopian life through the yogic practice of self-

perfection. This struggle was so strenuous in him that he could not consistently

maintain the motivation to remain drug-free despite being in and out of

detoxification wards. He made a desperate attempt to leave drugs by visiting the

ashram at Pondicherry. Though he outwardly did not succeed in his mission, he

mad e a significant discovery by realising th at the Men tal, the Vital and the Physical





Integral Health


are separate beings that need to be developed and harmonised around a central

Psychic being. This initial realisation spurred hum to maintain his motivation to

remain d rug -free. He d isplayed a great sincerity when he again got himself adm itted

for detoxification.

He progressed well, but immediately following the detoxification developed a

clinical picture that simulated a hyp omaniac state. He d id not resp ond app reciably totranqu ilizers and a closer scrutiny r evealed th at he w as having a new type of crisis —

something he never experienced before. There wa s an up surge of whatever h ad been

repressed during the shaping of his personality. He realised that he had vainly

sought to make friendships based on the ‘intellect’ whereas his heart’s choice was

more important for him. Now he started making friends w ith all and sund ry with the

result that he got involved with people whose consciousness was low and who

poked him to indulge in cheap sensational affairs. He had always avoided girls.

When he took to Yoga, he had thought of conquering his libidinal upsurges by

forcefully repressing them. Now suddenly, for the first time in his life, he grew

restless for a female companion. He actually approached an unknown lady who was

a co-passenger in the office-bus, but th e latter’s somewh at stoic attitud e helped A to

restrain himself. He tried to become an extrovert (though by n ature h e always was anintrovert). The result was, he became too talkative, without being productive — a

state that eventu ally was labelled as ‘hyp oman iac’ by the med ical personn el.

Despite all these difficulties, he was praying for the Divine Grace whose hand he

could detect in the various mishaps. Once he had been assaulted by a mob for

abusing drugs in a public place and he inwardly accepted this occasion as an

opportunity to overcome his ego. His ‘hypomaniac’ state improved not by

med ication but on introspection.

Counsellors and health professionals who work with drug-dependents consider

‘cure’ to be a hypothetical concept that evolves when a subject, after leaving drugs

(or on controlled use of drugs) attempts to rehabilitate himself into the socialnetwork. How ever, that d oes not suffice from th e Yogic point of view. In the case of

our first subject, withdrawal from drugs gave place to altruism and ‘spiritual

intellectuality’ that h amp ered h is inner grow th by inflating his ego. In the case of the

second subject, the withdrawal from drugs was maintained at the cost of an upsurge

of all that had been forcefully repressed during his formative years, leading to an

awkw ard situation. For a seeker of self-perfection, one must go beyon d the ord inary

notions of cure and rehabilitation. Integral health does not signify an eclectic

combination of several perspectives, but a sincere and integrated attempt to

harmonise the different parts of one’s personality around the Psychic Being. This

alone can establish the stable equilibrium needed as a base and sup port for a holistic

health and inner growth.







NAMAH

Body, mind and spirit journal

Integral Health


Integral Health

Dr. Alok Pandey

Editor’s noteThis article is based on a talk given by the author at SACAR, Pondicherry. It takes the reader from health and illness through life and death to the root question: what does health really meanand can we grow into it without any doctor.This article goes beyond frameworks into a vast infinite space beyond….

Integral Health, as I understand it, is the science of the Infinite. There are two perfect

ways of d iscovering tru th, whether it be biology, physics or anything else. Either d ive

deep , deep, deep into it — that is one movement w hich is taking p lace today. Go right

into the heart of the thing, and discover the truth which resides in its core. Or, become

vast, so vast, that the total movement, not just individual phenomena but the totality isseen. Then from that height or from that dep th und erstand the whole. Whether this can

be Integral Health or not I really do not know because one cannot give a term to it.

I remem ber one of the experiences of the Mother. She recounts it very beau tifully. She

sees many people of different religions, different systems, philosophies, schools, sects,

wh o call Her, and try to show H er someth ing. She sees a little wind ow opening

somew here. Some fields are nice, some rough, and each one says,

“Come, come, look at me, look at me.”

There is a man sitting by a pillar wearing a pu rple robe wh o says,

“Com e, I have someth ing to offer you. You w ill like it. Try this.”

So the Mother tastes wh at he has given,

“Oh, this is very sweet and d elicious. What is your path?” He says, “I have no path .”

This touches a very deep truth . If we look at the wh ole movement of things, we

discover that each system of medicine is essentially a window glimpse of an infinite

hap pen ing. And w e observe just a p rocess, a line of events, give it a nam e and formulate

it, simply because the mind cannot observe the totality. Because we have observed just

one strand of Nature, it is bound to be imp erfect. Meaning thereby, what we need to

discover is not a cure for the maladies of man but a cure for the malady called man.

That is wh at I und erstand Integral Health is abou t. So long as man is wh at he is, so long

as he remains a limited, ego-bound, divided entity, any amount of medicine, whether of

this system or tha t, is only pa lliative and not d eeply curative of his suffering.

The process of creating illness















Integral Health


So what do we observe wh en we enter into the heart of vastness? We observe that there

is a great mov ement of Nature going on. Natu re is offering everything to the Lord,

everything. She is trying to go up, go up toward s the source. And this movement is

essentially evolutionary. Different par ts of Natu re however move at different speed s

and some cast a shad ow. Parts wh ich are not ready for the pace that has been set, resist

and grate. They cause all kinds of frictions and up heavals — cyclones, social

path ologies, catastrophes etc. This is the root of the malady, i.e. the consciousness d oes

not flow sm oothly.

One can imagine a stone in a stream. It does not allow th e stream to flow as smooth ly as

it could. So grooves form on the stone in different pattern s, or maybe the stone is just

throw n aside if the current is very strong at that point. Thus it is with N ature’s forces

(the stream) and th e individu al (stone) resistance. If we look carefully there is a pattern

in the whole thing. There is a universal pattern and an ind ividual pattern . Also, this

distortion which takes place due to different parts moving at different speeds, is first

seen throu gh an energy imbalance. So the energy imbalance is also only a reflection of

another imbalance.

Later as the grooves deepen there is a little unease, a disease, and we observe a small

tumou r or d iabetes, or sudd enly we are told we h ave hypertension or even AIDS.

Just a few days back, I had a patient who was HIV positive, infected through her

hu sband. She had to go through a lot of trauma resulting in d epression. I spoke to her,

“Look, everything is possible. You can cure you rself. Align yourself and observe the

wh ole process going on.” She came out with something very interesting. I was trying to

tell her that H IV positive does not mean th at one has the disease. She said,

“But you know everybody keeps reminding me of AIDS. Every morn ing du ring theirrounds, everyone, from the intern to the specialists ask me, ‘Are you feeling lethargic?

Are you experiencing loss of appetite?’ etc. So I start feeling that yes, perhaps I am

lethargic, perh aps I am su ffering from AIDS. I am n ot just HIV positive.”

Now , look at this: we are not relieving d isease, we are creating it! Disease and treatm ent

have to become not disease-oriented but health-oriented. That is the shift. Instead of

focusing so mu ch on the problem, we can focus on the solution. And this app lies to all

wa lks of life. Take a criminal. You p ut him in pr ison. You are now emp hasising the fact

that he is an outcast. It mak es matters worse. Let him rectify his mistake and labour

hard for it, open him to his inner light and beauty, and watch the change which takes

place.

The shift from illness to health

So Integral Health is someth ing about shifting the wh ole need le toward s health. What

does that mean?







Integral Health


Archimedes said,

“Give me a small place outside the earth and a hand le — I will move the earth.”

In a sense this applies at other levels too. We see it hap pen ing at the physical level in the

field of communications. Till now we were tapping into means of communication that

were only available on the physical earth. When w e went into space, in a second the

world became one. This is the science of the Infinite: you en ter into space and h ave

immen se possibilities of working up on earth. It is a parad ox.

Similarly, for hum an n ature, as long as w e try to stud y one of its parts through another

i.e. the mind throu gh an alysis or the vital throu gh em otions, we will not succeed or on ly

get temporary imp erfect relief. This is wh ere a new science steps in.

Sri Aurobindo wr ites in Savitri,

“A consciousness stand s behind the bru te machine.”

There is a consciousness behind all these phenomena which has the power to remove

itself, the power to detach itself from the phenomena and thereby work upon them

mu ch better. It is possible for hum an consciousn ess, to disengage itself from th e entire

process and observe for example that disease and death are not opposites of life, but

processes of life.

Life is evolving, and in the process it throws up phenomena of disease that keep telling

us,

“Look, here is an imperfection!”.

Sri Aurobindo has beautifully said that pain is a reminder, that there is ignorance. If

anyone says,

“Continu e to remain with your desires and ego yet I w ill cure you,”

he is telling a lie. There can be no cure. There may be sup pression of symp toms, there

may be a temporary elimination of suffering, bu t the disease will return. This is because

of a very simp le reason. As long as we are limited, egobou nd w e cann ot let go. In a par t

of us we cling to the illness. ‘I don’t want to move fur ther. I have certain ideas which I

mu st hold onto, if I am to be Me’. The same thing hap pen s at the level of emotions.

When th ere is a loss, when th ere is a tragedy, I must react with grief. That is a kind of formation.

“I mu st be depressed because nobody u nd erstands me”.

So we h old on to that emotion and don ’t wan t to let go. But there is a current w anting

to move us forward .









Integral Health


The same thing applies to the level of the body and our vital energy. They are inherent

with millenn ia of conditioning. The body is conditioned to make certain responses,

there is a shrinking the momen t, let us say, one sees a snake. When it shrinks there is a

wh ole mov ement which is distorted. This respon se is a problem because it is a

separative response. If a breach is made, I succumb. So what wou ld be the right

response?

Or wh at is the ideal state towards which we must mov e? As long as the body feels

separate from the wh ole, there will be suffering, death and illness. What d oes this mean

wh en we talk abou t it in terms of the most concrete ph ysical ph enomena? What it

mean s is that, if a bacillus o r a viru s enters m y system, I react as a separate self. ‘This is

me, that is a virus.’ And there is a wh ole chain of events. I want to devour th e virus but

the paradox is that may be the virus devours me. This is the irony of man. With all his

intelligence, hi-tech equipment, time and mon ey he brings ou t a d rug. It is a very

painstaking task. After years an antibacterial, antibiotic or antiviral comes to the market

and we start using it. But the small virus with no mon ey, no technical labour, within 6

mon ths discovers a cure to the antibiotic. It hap pen s. It is hap pen ing everyd ay and we

seem to be knocking at the w rong d oors. Natu re is playing a gam e of hide and seeks.

Na ture is telling u s,

“I have a secret hidd en in my heart, unveil it.”

“No, no, I will get the secret in my laboratory. Na ture is a mechanical, inconscient

something”, persists man.

“Oh I shall show you wh at a won derful mechanic I am”, responds N ature.

So the m echanics of Nature are th at the m an w ho tries to outsmart and conqu er disease,

cannot even conqu er the most p rimitive organism, a ‘virus’.

If one’s bod y is built on onen ess, even w hen a bacillus or virus en ters, it w ill und ergo a

process of synthesis. That is what is meant by building the body on th e principle of

oneness. It does not shun an d reject. It accepts, or rather, wh atever enters it is

automatically transformed. This is the process towards which we are moving in this

millenniu m. This is wh at usually hap pens within the bacillus on repeated contact with

an antibiotic.

Perhaps in no age has man kind been bombard ed w ith so man y chemicals, includ ing our

med icines. It is sometimes difficult to imag ine the kind of chem icals we pu mp into our

systems, but even they are serving a p urp ose.

“Almighty p owers are shut in N atur e’s cells.”

Now by this very chemical bombardm ent and , by this exposure to everything p ossible

in the world, perhaps the body is being stimulated to bring out its original strength,

harm ony and oneness, which alone can effectuate a chan ge. The key does not lie

outside. If any p hysician believes that he can provid e that key, he is perhap s living in a





Integral Health


grand illusion. The physician is just a catalyst, the key is inside u s — and som etimes w e

see it. The key is deep within our soul. Stand ing aloof from the mov ements of Nature,

and working upon them stationed here, we can realign the elements, giving them the

right turn , which as the Vedas say

“mak es the crooked straight”.

Then everything d rops d own , all the doshas, all drop away w hen the touch of the soul is

up on our lives. Perhap s that is the cure.

The key

Let me close with som e lines from Savitri,

“Thou thinkest term an d end for thee are not

but thou gh thy pride is great thou hast forgot

the sph inx that waits for thee beside the way

All questions thou mayst answ er

But on e day h er question shall await thee.”

This is the question Natu re is asking us through every disease. Every time we see death

we exclaim,

“Oh , this too had to perish? Desp ite all these rem ed ies still I fall sick?”

Death replied:

“For they w ho cannot d ie.

She slays them and their mang led bod ies lie up on the highw ays of eternity.”

That is our grow th’ the highw ays of eternity’...

“So if thou would st live

Answ er first this one thing

Who art thou in this dungeon labouring?”

So, that is the question w e need to answ er. Not wh at is the cure but w ho is searching for

the cure. And I think in that answ er lies the solution to the malady called man .






Integral Health


A programme for Integral health

Dr. Soumitra Basu

Editor's noteDr. Soumitra Basu, the author of ‘Integral Health,’ explores how this could be applied in aclinical and research setting. These ideas are only hints for one of the frameworks of Integral Health, which in its essence goes beyond boundaries.

Principle

Illness is a disequilibrium at one plane of consciousness. It points to an inner

disharmony which can be corrected by moving to a higher level of harmony. Integral

Health is a dynamic equ ilibrium betw een the different p lanes of consciousn ess. It can be optimally achieved when one shifts from the outer physical, vital and mental

consciousness to the consciousness of the psychic being. The psychic being represents

the Atman of the Ind ian tradition in its evolving form. It surpasses the ego and is the

real integrative principle of the human personality. It imparts a sense of wholeness,

integrality, peace and joy even in adv erse situations. The qu intessence of Integral Health

lies in th is shift to the p sychic consciousness.

There is also an inexhaustible source of energy in the universe which is represented in

man as the prD Kic Q akti. Ord inarily we are not aware of this prD Kic Q akti, though its outer

formu lations p rovide th e field o f action for different therapeu tic techn iques. By yogic

endeavour, we can gain access to this inner source of energy and use it for maintaining

health and overcoming illness. Finally, the personality integrated arou nd th e psy chic

being can utilise the pure prD Kic Q akti not only for health and healing but also for an

evolutionary grow th in consciousness.

It follows as a corollary that an integral healing approach does not depend upon an

eclectic combination of different therapeutic systems. Each therapeutic system

represents a p artial truth.

All these systems work through energy-states underlying different planes of

consciousness (the physical, vital and mental). The higher energies can modify,

transm ute and u plift the lower energies. Thus each therap eutic system can be used a s a

starting-point for moving through subtler and subtler realms, till one reaches the

inexhaustible source of the Universal or DivineQ akti within oneself.

Strategies at different planes of consciousness

Physical plane






















Integral Health


1. Health Education a) To focus on ho w inertia or tamas, characteristic of the physical plane and

manifested through resistance, mechanical repetitiveness, slow arousal and

weakness of will, need to be w orked throu gh.

b) Method ical discipline of different functions of the bod y (food , sleep, hygiene,

positions, p ostures etc.).

c) Development of bod y-consciousness (with help of variou s bod y-techn iques as

Ha tha Yoga).

2. Therapeutic

(a) Focus on h ow to d isturb the bod y as little as possible viz. more emph asis on non -

invasive techniques, as laser surgery, avoidance of unnecessary medication,

d iscou raging chemical solutions for existential problems.

(b) Clinics for E yurveda, dietary therap y, massag e, ph ysiotherapy , yoga therap y etc.

(c) Clinics/ program mes for ph ysically hand icapp ed p eople.

Vital Plane

1. Health Education

(a) Development of an inner poise by matching dynamic activity with a base of

static power. Useful in stress-management programmes and for Type-A

personality types w ho are m ore prone to heart ailments.

(b) Strengthening higher vital movements by refinement of senses, including the

aesthetic sense, over-coming d esires and m astering emotions.

(c) Activation of vital energy by any of the following:

i. Universalising individu al vitality

ii. Activation of Cakras

iii. Op ening to the Universal Q akti.

2. Therapeutic

(a) Focus on therap ies using sub tle, vital energies likehomoeopathy etc.

(b) Strengthen outer vital-physical envelope through PrDK ic therapy, Reiki, Magnetictherapy etc.





Integral Health


Mental Plane

1. Health education

(a) Silencing the mind so tha t habitual thou ght p atterns can cease.

(b) Cu ltivating a witness attitude and p ractising non-jud gmental d etachment.

(c) Integration of hemisp heric fun ctioning (viz. cognition an d creativity).

(d) Und erstand ing dream s for p sychological growth.

(e) Exercise for increasing one’s cogn itive and creative faculties an d for

strengthening will-power.

(f) Inculcating peace, faith and d etachm ent so that one opens to a state of Grace and

allows h ealing forces to act.

2. Therapeutic

(a) Practice widen ing, deep ening an d heightening of consciousness th rou gh

techniques like relaxation, bio-feedback, guided imagery, meditation, psycho-

synth esis and allied techn iques.

(b) H ypn otherap y and oth er techn iques acting at the level of the ph ysical mind .

(c) Cognitive and cognitive-behavioural therapies acting at the level of the vitalmind.

(d) Other p sychotherap eutic techniques acting at different levels of the mind.

(e) Music therapy.

Growth of consciousness

(a) To become aw are of the physical, vital and m ental planes.

(b) To recognise one’s subconscious and sup erconscious roots.

(c) The subconscious is respon sible for recur rence of chron ic illness, perpetu ation of

habits and rigidity of character. The sup erconscious gives us the urge to

progress.





Integral Health


(d) To recognise the limitations of the ego an d the p resence of a d eeper Beyond -Ego

pr inciple (the psychic being).

(e) To organise ou r wh ole life and different par ts aroun d th e psychic being.

(f) To allow this persona lity integrated arou nd the psy chic being to move along

higher p lanes of consciousness.

Society and Integral health

(i) Health Education

(a) To integrate the ind ividu al with the collectivity.

(b) Imp roving th e qua lity of social grou ps (family, peer-group etc.).

(c) Identification and prevention of social problems: drug abuse, juveniledelinquency, divorce, communal problems.

Activities possible in an Integral Health Clinic

Health Multi-disciplinaryPersonality

Special

programmesFor Health

professionals

Can be presented aspackages / modu les

through workshops

for target group s

(viz. stud ents,

clinic- p opu lation,

executives).

Literature on

integral Health,

Diet, Self-help,

Natu ral Therapies,cassettes for Music

Therapy, Relaxation

video programmes

on

health to be

collected for b oth

building u p library

Physical:Allopathy,E yurveda,

Physiotherapy an d

massage, Dietary

Therapy , Yoga

Therapy, clinics for

handicapped.

Vital-physical:

PrDK ic Therapy,

Reiki, Magn etic

Therapy.

Vital:

Homoeopathy,

Acupuncture.

Mental:

Counselling,

(a) Stressman agement for

executives,

(b) Coping

strategies for

students

(examinees)

a) Introd uction tothe concept of

Integral Health.

(b) Bio-eth ics.

(c) Academ ic

interaction of

different disciplines.













Integral Health


and for sale

(even clinic shou ld

have a sales

counter)

Relaxation and

Biofeedback clinics.

Socio-cultural:

Family counselling,

child guidance,dru g counselling.

Some of these

therap ies will be

available at th e

clinic on a regu lar

basis; others can be

periodically

presented through

camps.

(ii) Ecological Health

(a) Keeping the environm ent aroun d us free from pollution.

(b) Finding w ays that conn ect us to Na ture.

(iii) Therapeutic

(a) Child gu idan ce, family counselling, ma terial counselling.

(b) Healing the earth.

Culture and Integral health

Health Education

(a) To integrate ethics and aesthetics.

(b) To und erstand the natu re of existential crisis.

(c) Au gmentation of cultural resources.

Therapeutic

Throu gh Bio-ethics and its app lications in h ealth.

Dr. Soumitra Basu is an unconventional psychiatrist who has integrated the universal conceptsof soul and its evolution into his practice.








Integral Health


ABC of the transformation of the body1

Why does the body get tired? We have more or less regular activities, but one day we are full of energy and the next day we are quite tired.

Generally this comes from a kind of inner disequilibrium. There may be many reasons

for it, but it all comes to this: a sort of disequilibrium between the different parts of the

being. Now, it is also possible that the day one had the energy, one spent it too much,

though this is not the case with children; children spend it until they can no longer do

so. One sees a child active till the moment he suddenly falls fast asleep. He was there,

moving, running; and then, all of a sudd en, pluff! finished, he is asleep. And it is in th is

way that he grows up, becomes stronger and stronger. Consequently, it is not the

spend ing that harm s you. The expend iture is made u p by the n ecessary rest — that is setright very w ell. No, it is a d isequilibrium: the harmony between the different parts of the

being is no longer sufficient.

People think they have only to continue doing for ever wha t they were d oing or at least

remain in the same state of consciousness, day after day d o their little work, and all will

go well. But it is not like that. Sudd enly, for some reason or other , one part of the being

— either you r feelings or your though ts or your vital — makes p rogress, has discovered

something, received a light, progressed. It takes a leap in p rogress. All the rest rem ains

behind. This brings abou t a d isequilibrium. That is enough to make you very tired. But

in fact, it is not tiredness: it is something which makes you want to keep quiet, to

concentrate, remain within yourself, be like that, and build up slowly a new harmony

among the different parts of the being. And it is very necessary to have, at a given

mom ent, a sort of rest, for an a ssimilation of what one has learnt an d a harm onisation of

the d ifferent p arts of the being.

Now, as you know, from the physical point of view human beings live in frightful

ignorance. They cann ot even say exactly... For instance, would you be able to tell

exactly, at every meal, the amount of food and the kind of food your body needs? —

simply that, nothing m ore than that: how mu ch should be taken and when it should be

taken .... You know nothing about it, there’s just a vague idea of it, a sort of imagination

or guesswork or dedu ction or... all sorts of things wh ich have nothing to do w ith

knowledge. But th at exact know ledge: “This is what I mu st eat, I mu st eat this much”—

and then it is finished. “This is wh at m y body needs.” Well, that can be d one. There’s a

time wh en one knows it very well. But it asks for years of labour, and above all years of

work almost withou t any mental control, just w ith a consciousness that’s subtle enough

to establish a connection with the elements of transformation and progress. And to

know also how to determine for one’s body, exactly, the amount of physical effort, of

material activity, of expenditure and recuperation of energy, the proportion between

1 Heading is given by the editor.





Integral Health


what is received and what is given, the utilisation of energies to re-establish a state of

equilibrium which has been broken, to make the cells which are lagging behind

progress, to build cond itions for the possibility of higher p rogress, etc... it is a

formidable task. And yet, it is that w hich must be done if one hop es to transform one’s

body. First it must be put completely in harmony with the inner consciousness. And to

do that, it is a work in each cell, so to say, in each little activity, in every movement of

the organs. With this alone one could be busy day and night without having to do

anything else.... One does not keep up the effort and, above all, the concentration, nor

the inner vision.

I have put to you quite a superficial question: it seems astonishing to you that one can

know the exact amount of what one should eat, and what should be eaten at a certain

time, and at what time one should take one’s meal, and when one is ready for another!

Well, that is an altogether superficial part of the problem, yet if you enter into the

combination of the cells and the inner organ isation in ord er that all this may be read y to

respond to the descending Force... First, are you conscious of you r physical cells and

their d ifferent characteristics, their activity, the degree of their receptivity, of what is in a

healthy condition and what is not? Can you say with certainty when you are tired, why

you are tired? When there’s something w rong somew here, can you say, “It is because of

this that I am su ffering”?... Why do people rush to the d octor? Because they are und er

the illusion that the doctor knows better than they how to look inside their body and

find out what’s going on there — which is not very reasonable, but still that’s the habit!

But for oneself, who can look inside himself quite positively and precisely and know

exactly what is out of order, why it is disturbed , how it has been d isturbed ? And all this

is simp ly a work of observation; afterward s one mu st do w hat is necessary to pu t it back

into order again, and that is still more d ifficult.

Well, this is the A B C of the transformation of the body . Voilà.

— The Mother2

2 The Mother. Collected Works of the Mother,Vol.6. Pondicherry; Sri Aurobindo Ash ram,

1979, pp. 35-7.



http://www.sriaurobindoashram.org/






NAMAH

Body, mind and spirit journal

Integral Health


The body-consciousness1

How can the physical manage to aspire, since it is the mind that thinks? As long as it is the mind th at thinks, your p hysical is something tha t’s three-four ths inert

and without its own consciousness. There is a physical consciousness proper, a

consciousness of the body; the body is conscious of itself, and it has its own aspiration.

So long as one th inks of one’s bod y, one is not in on e’s p hysical consciou sness. The bod y

has a consciousness that’s quite personal to it and altogether independent of the mind.

The body is completely aware of its own functioning or its own equilibrium or

disequ ilibrium, an d it becomes absolu tely conscious, in q uite a p recise way , if there is a

disord er somew here or other, and (how sh all I put it?) it is in contact with th at and feels

it very clearly, even if there are no external symptoms. The body is aware if the wholewo rking is harmonious, well balanced, qu ite regular, fun ctioning as it should ; it has that

kind of plenitude, a sense of plenitude, of joy and strength — something like the joy of

living, acting, moving in an equilibrium full of life and energy. Or else the body can be

aware that it is ill-treated by the vital and the mind and that this harms its own

equilibrium and it suffers from this. That may produce a complete disequilibrium in it.

And so on.

One can develop one’s physical consciousness so well that even if one is fully

exteriorised, even if the vital goes completely out of the body, the body has a personal,

independent consciousness which enables it to move, to do all kinds of very simple

things without the vital’s being there, quite independently. The body can learn how tospeak: the mind and the vital may be outside it, very far away, busy elsewh ere, but d ue

to the link joining them with matter, they can still find expression through a body

wh erein there is no mind or vital, and w hich yet can learn to speak and repeat wh at the

others say. The body can move; I don’t mean that it can exert much, but it can move. It

can do small, very simple things. It can write, for instance, learn how to write as it can

learn to speak. It does speak: a little (how to put it?) slowly, with a little difficulty, but

still it can speak clearly (sufficiently clearly) for one to understand. And yet the mind

and vital may have gone out altogether, may be completely outside. There is a body-

consciousness.

And so, when one has developed this body-consciousness, one can have a very clear

perception of the opposition between the different kinds of consciousness. When the

body needs something and is aware that this is what it needs, and the vital wants

something else and the mind yet another, well, there may very well be a discussion

among them, and contradictions and conflicts. And one can discern very clearly what

the poise of the body is, the need of the body in itself, and in what way the vital

interferes and destroys this equilibrium most often and harms the development so

1 Heading is given by the editor









Integral Health


much, because it is ignorant. And when the mind comes in, it creates yet another

disorder w hich is ad ded to the one betw een the vital and the ph ysical, by introdu cing its

ideas and norm s, its principles and ru les, its laws and all that, and as it doesn’t take into

account exactly the needs of the other, it wants to do what everybody does. Human

beings h ave a m uch m ore delicate and un certain h ealth than animals because their mind

intervenes and d isturbs the equ ilibrium. The bod y, left to itself, has a very sure instinct.

For instance, never will the body if left to itself eat when it doesn’t need to or take

something which will be harmful to it. And it will sleep w hen it needs to sleep, it will act

when it needs to act. The instinct of the body is very sure. It is the vital and the mind

wh ich d isturb it: one by its d esires and caprices, the other b y its principles, d ogmas, laws

and ideas. And unfortunately, in civilization as it is understood, with the kind of

education given to children, this sure instinct of the body is completely destroyed: it is

the rest that dominate. And n aturally things hap pen as th ey do: one eats things that are

harmful, one doesn’t take rest when one needs to or sleeps too much when it is not

necessary or does things on e shou ldn’t do and spoils one’s health completely.

— The Mother*

* The Mother.Collected Works of the Mother,Vol.5. Pondicherry;Sri Aurobindo Ashram,1976, pp. 294-6.








Integral Health


The secret Will

James Anderson

Editor's note:

This article describes the author's inner journey to align his body to the Divine. Heuses some unusual tools to help him in this way.

“Wheth er i t seem good or ev i l to men ’s eyes ,

Only for good th e secre t Wil l can work .

Our des t i ny i s wr i t t en i n dou b l e t erm s :

Th rough Na t u re ’s con t r a r i e s we d raw n ea r God ;

Out o f the da rkness w e s t il l g row to l igh t .

Death i s our road to imm orta l i ty .”1

My Teachers have unravel led so many mys ter ies before my eyes . They have

t augh t m e t ha t beh i nd t he t rud ge o f t i m e t he re is a pu rpos e and a p l an ; t ha t

wi th in th i s unwinding process o f evo lu t ion there i s indeed an a im. The a im,

they af f i rm, i s an ever g rea ter per fec t ion . I t i s a per fec t ion tha t i s dynamic

and neve r r e s t s . As Sr i Aurobindo s t a t es , it aw a i t s t he hou r i n m an t oo :

“The p er fect ion of ma n l ies in th e u nfo ld ing of th e ever-per fect Sp i r i t (1) .”

Wi thout th i s goal , I fee l , no th ing e l se rea l ly has a ny p ur pose .

But a p lan requi res a wi l l and Sr i Aurobindo an d t he M ot he r have a l so

taught me tha t there i s indeed a secre t Wi l l a t work beh ind a l l th ings . I t i s

secre t because i t s work usual ly goes unnot iced — too ref ined for our g ross

senses to d i scern . But i t i s a lways presen t and Sr i Aurobindo te l l s us tha t i t

wor ks in every par t i c le o f the un iverse .

Reading about th i s wi l l to per fec t ion comple te ly s t i r red my imaginat ion

wh en I st a r t ed s t ud y i ng t he works o f Sr i Aurob i nd o an d t he M ot he r . At las t I

cou l d g ras p an exp l ana t i on and even a s o l u t i on beh i nd t he m adnes s o f

everyd ay l i fe . They s imp ly mad e sense ou t o f the sense less . The evolu t ionary

sway , they s ta ted , i s wor k ing in every d i rec t ion and every d e ta i l. It wor ks in

the vas tn ess o f the cosmos r igh t d own to the ind iv idu al ce l l. The p lan sh apes

and m ou l ds t he i nd i v i dua l , t he m i crocos m , a s w e l l a s t r an s fo rm i ng t he en t i r e

universe . I t works , they expla ined , because i t i s involved in every range of

consciousness . I t works in every a tom of mat ter i t se l f and as the Spi r i t

1 . Sri Aurobindo. Savitri, SABCL, Vol.29. Pondicherry; Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust,

1970, p . 424.

























Integral Health


invades mat ter , the body assumes an in t r ins ic par t o f th i s t rans format ion : i t

becomes a crucib le fo r th e en t i re p rocess .

So knowing tha t there was , a f t er a l l , such a p lan , i t was on ly log ica l fo r me

to t ry to l ive in accordance wi th i t . The Mother has of ten s t ressed the

impor tance of iden t i fy ing wi th the Div ine Wi l l and I l a rgely rece ived th i s

app roach w i t h open ea r s . So when t he com m and cam e , I was r eady . I t ru l y

wanted i t . At l eas t the f i r s t p rerequis i t e was presen t : the wi l l to change.

Wi thout th a t , no th ing i s p oss ib le . But th e w hole be ing need s to iden t i fy i t se lf

wi th th i s idea l . The body , no t l eas t o f a l l , seemed to want to share in th i s

per fec t ion too .

First steps

I t i s a wel l -worn t ru th tha t i f one wants to ach ieve anyth ing wor thwhi le in

th i s wor ld , a wi l l mus t be beh ind i t . The Mother expla ins th i s po in t wi th

typical clar i ty:

“In order to accompl i sh someth ing , one mus t have the wi l l to do i t , and to

have t he w i ll t o do i t , one m us t know wh a t one w an t s t o do . I f one d oes n ’t

know wha t one wan t s t o do , one can ’ t do i t . F i r s t one m us t know, have a

p l an , a pu r pos e , a p rog ram m e i f you l i ke; one m u s t know w ha t one wan t s t o

do , and then one m us t w i ll to do i t , and then on e can do i t (2 ).”

But I be l i eve tha t there i s one th ing tha t cannot go unheeded i f th i s p rocess

i s to t ake p lace . I fee l tha t w e need to m ake a few sma l l s t eps on th e pa th of

knowl edge . Pu t s i m p l y , we m us t s om ehow becom e m ore cons c i ous o f ou r

i nne r and ou t e r m ovem en t s . We s hou l d t ry t o b r i ng t h i s awarenes s t o t he

f ron t .

My f i r s t t en ta t ive s teps were very hes i t an t indeed . Never the less , I found

them very d i f f i cu l t to l earn and , even now, I s t i l l occas ional ly f ind mysel f

l aps ing back in to o ld ways . For some, inc lud ing mysel f , th i s i s no t such an

easy task . I had to l earn to be aw ake and a t t en t ive to the bod y i t se lf . I don’ t

be l ieve a l l o f us rea l i se w hat i t rea l ly m eans to be a l ive in the b ody . I f there

i s no exper ience , then no un ders ta nd ing can pr evai l .

L ike mos t people , the body had largely been lef t unobserved f rom t ime of

in fancy , a lmos t cons igned to a s t a te o f ‘au to-p i lo t ’ . The consciousness was

s im p l y no t awake and t he body w as l e ft t o o f t en d rows e . Even t he w ake-upcal l of c r i t ica l i llness d id n’ t en t i re ly sh ake m e ou t o f th i s s t a te . Actu al ly , the

t rauma induced a sense of reco i l and d i s tas te . I t was on ly af ter I a r r ived in

Pond i che r ry t ha t I s t a r t ed un der s t and i ng t he i m por t ance o f s im p l y obse rv i ng

my w hole na tu re . I a l so rea li sed tha t the wi tness po i se could ex tend over the

en t i re be ing i t se l f . I found tha t th i s p rocess was necessary because a l l our

pa r t s a r e s om ehow con fus ed and i n t e rconnec ted . Eve ry m ovem en t c rea t e s an

inf luence e l se-where and the l as t ou tpos t i s a lways the body . Every th ing









Integral Health


seemed to eventual ly mani fes t there . For me, th i s s imple revela t ion had a

major in f luen ce in sha p ing a new af f in i ty w i th the p hys ica l be ing i t se l f. The

Mother’s w ord s very accura te ly descr ibe the reason for th i s sh i ft :

“Peop l e u s ua l l y do t h i ngs s o au t om at i ca l l y and s pon t aneous l y , w i t hou t

watch ing themselves do ing them, tha t i f they were to ask themselves how i t

comes about , they would requi re some t ime before the process becomes

conscious to them. You are so used to l iv ing tha t you don’ t even know how

i t happens….you are no t even aware tha t the whole of l i fe i s l ike tha t . I t

seems qu i te na tur a l to you , i t i s ‘l ike tha t ’ . That m eans tha t you a c t in a w ay

which i s hard ly semi-conscious ; i t i s au tomat ic , i t i s a k ind of spontaneous

hab i t and you don ’ t wa t ch wha t you ’ re do i ng . And s o , i f you wan t t o have

some cont ro l over your movements , the f i r s t th ing i s to know what i s

happ en i ng….Ot he rwi se one i s a k i nd o f m ore o r l e s s coo rd i na t ed m ed l ey o f

ac t ions and r eac ti ons , o f m ovem en t s and i m pu l s es and one d oes n ’t know a t

a l l how t h i ngs happen ….

”But th a t i s the very first little s tep tow ard s becoming conscious of onese l f in

the m ater ia l wor ld (3) .”

Somehow the Grace ensured tha t , f rom the beg inn ing , these sor t o f answers

very qu ick ly reboun ded back a t me. I no t iced too tha t my en t i re re la t ionsh ip

wi th mat ter g radual ly go t redef ined . As the Presence i s involved in a l l

th ings , I was t aught to t rea t a l l mater ia l ob jec t s wi th grea ter d i l igence and

ca re . Th i s m ay s ound l i ke a m i no r de t a i l , bu t a s m y a t t i t ude t o m a t e r i a l

t h i ngs r e fi ned , I s oon r ea l is ed t ha t m y pe rcep t i on o f t he body had s t a r t ed t o

shif t too.

Divided will

The Mother says tha t ,“ . . . i f you rea l ly want i t , no th ing in the wor ld can

p reven t you f rom d o i ng wha t you wan t . (4 ). ”

The t rue wi l l i s l ike an ar row f i red prec i se ly and d i rec t ly a t i t s t a rget . Our

whole be ing i s beh ind i t . But the rea l i ty i s usual ly very d i f feren t and our

usual o f fer ing i s rare ly a homogenous whole . When the t rue wi l l i s p resen t ,

a l l our energ ies ge t channel led to the po in t tha t needs mos t a t t en t ion . But I

fee l tha t we of ten f ind ourse lves be ing pu l led in a l l sor t s o f d i rec t ions

ins tead of p roceeding in a s t ra igh t l ine . Also , i f we are hones t wi th

ourse lves , we would probably d i scover tha t our ‘wi l l ’ i s , to a cons iderab le

deg ree , no t h i ng bu t a t ang l ed bund l e o f in s t inc t s and d es ir e s .

Because such movements are d i spersed , they may even co l l ide or wres t l e

wi th on e another in an a t t emp t to ach ieve pre-eminence . This s i tua t ion of ten

re tards the phys ica l as the body wi l l on ly rece ive mixed messages . As a

consequence , the ins t ruc t ions lack clar i ty . The body can then of ten lapse

in to a s ta te o f to ta l bewi lderment and confus ion . I a l so f ind tha t , in the

wors t c i rcumstances , these compet ing ‘wi l l s ‘ can drag the body down. I









Integral Health


of ten f ind too tha t when they are enforced , the body wi l l o f ten shr ink . I t

yearns for gu idan ce and leadersh ip , ye t wi thers w hen faced wi th coerc ion .

The Mother cont inues :

“I t i s because on e doesn ’t know how to wi l l i t . I t is because one i s d iv ided in

one’s wi l l . I f you a re no t d iv ided in your wi l l , I say tha t no th ing , nobod y in

t he wor l d can m ake you change you r w i ll …

”To lea rn how t o w i l l is a ve ry i m p or t an t t h i ng . And t o w i l l t ru l y , you m us t

un i fy you r be ing . In fac t to be a be ing , one mu s t f ir s t u n i fy onese l f. I f one i s

pu l led by abso lu te ly oppos i te t endencies , i f one spends th ree- four ths o f h i s

l i fe wi thout be ing conscious of h imsel f and the reasons why he does th ings ,

i s one a rea l be ing? One does no t ex i s t . One i s a mass of in f luences ,

movements , fo rces , ac t ions , reac t ions , bu t one i s no t a be ing . One beg ins to

become a be ing when he beg ins to have a wi l l . And one can’ t have a wi l l

un less he i s un i fi ed .

”And when you have a wi l l , you wi l l be ab le to say , say to the Div ine: ‘ I

wa nt w hat You w ant . ’ But no t before tha t . Because in o rder to wan t wh at the

Div ine wants , you mus t have a wi l l , o therwise you can wi l l no th ing a t a l l .

You would l ike to . You would l ike i t very much . You would very much l ike

to wan t wh at the Div ine wa nts to do . You d on’ t possess a wi l l to g ive to Him

and to pu t a t His serv ice . Someth ing l ike tha t , ge la t inous , l ike j e l ly -

f ish…there… a mass of good w i ll s — and I am cons ider ing th e be t ter s ide of

th ings and forget t ing the bad wi l l s — a mass of good wi l l s , ha l f -conscious

and f luctuat ing…. (5) .”

I t might be f ru i t fu l to pau se here and ref lec t on the Mother’s use of w ord s . Iti s now m y u nder s t and i ng t ha t t he re is on l y one way t o t ru l y un i fy t he be i ng .

In t ru t h , we a re s uch a m i x t u re . Under l y i ng a l l ou r na t u res , Sr i Aurobindo

af f i rms , lu rk the ins t inc t s , des i res and impulses o f our an imal pas t . Perhaps

the in f luence goes back even to p lan t and s tone! So there i s ev iden t ly a need

for g rea ter o rder . In i t i a l ly , I had been taught tha t the menta l wi l l was the

only ef fec t ive w ay of ach iev ing th i s . I don’ t be li eve tha t m y up br ing ing w as

pa r t i cu la r l y un i que an d I gues s t ha t m any peop l e i n t he Wes t , if no t i n Ind i a ,

may s t i l l swear by th i s too . The menta l wi l l has i t s uses : i f the mind i s the

h ighes t ins t rument tha t we have a t our d i sposal , i t cer ta in ly serves a

purpose . In i t i a l ly a t l eas t , I a l so found tha t th i s menta l wi l l somehow gave

me the gr i t to surv ive . I t s topp ed m e cav ing in bu t n ow I f ind i t genera l ly tobe a cons idera b le h ind rance .

I be l ieve tha t th i s i s because the m ind lacks the a b i l ity to h arm onise . In i t s

own domain , i t can cer ta in ly organ ise and shed a cer ta in l igh t bu t i t i s no t

our t rue sea t o f knowledge. At bes t , Sr i Aurobindo tel ls us , i t can only

modi fy those phys ica l and l i fe cur ren t s tha t course th rough our be ing . So i f

there i s to be a w ay of un i fy ing the be ing tow ard s per fec t ion , there mu s t be a











Integral Health


por t ion w i th in us tha t i s , indeed , t rue an d p er fect . That i s the sou l i t se lf . The

t ru e w i ll , fo r m e, i s s imp ly the expr ess ion of tha t per fect ion tha t l i es ins ide

u s.

Willings

Sri Aurobindo is very prec i se in d i s t inguish ing between the d iv ine Wi l l and

our mor ta l imi ta t ions . He descr ibes the processes o f our menta l wi l l as

‘wi l l ings ’ . These wi l l ings a re borr owed : they come to u s second-han d . They

em erge ou t o f t he i gno rance and s om ehow a l ways m i s s t he m ark when i t

comes to embracing the essen t ia l t ru th :

“This d iv ine Wi l l is no t an a l i en Power or Presence; it i s in t imate to u s and

we ourse lves are par t o f i t : fo r i t i s our own h ighes t Sel f tha t possesses and

sup por t s i t . Only , i t i s no t our conscious m enta l w i ll ; i t re jec t s o ften enou gh

what our conscious wi l l accep ts and accep ts what our conscious wi l l re jec t s

(6).”

Und er s t and i ng t h i s t rue w i ll is ve ry m u ch a p a r t o f ou r ongo i ng edu ca t ion

he re . A lt hough i t is one t h i ng a dhe r i ng t o Sr i Au robind o’s teachings, I also

bel ieve tha t to t ru ly rea l i se th i s d i s t inc t ion more fu l ly one mus t exper ience

i t . But so of ten His w ord s ac t as a ca ta lys t fo r the n ecessary exper ience . And

the d i f ference can be of ten qu i te sub t le : I f ind the menta l wi l l can be qu i te

craf ty a t t imes and i t somet imes t r i es to masquer ad e as the d ef in i t ive wi l l . I t

i s a lmos t as i f the menta l wi l l has an exaggera ted sense of i t s own

i m por t ance .

Distinction

Nowhere has t he d i s t i nc t i on becom e c l ea re r t o m e t han w i t h work on t he

body . When I am s t and i ng i n m y t ru t h , I know t ha t a m ore po t en t w i l l can

spontaneous ly r i se th rough me. I don’ t be l i eve th i s i s a un ique exper ience

because anyone can wi tness i t fo r themselves . In a way though , i t i s un ique

because what we then see i s the emergence of our inheren t na ture . I t i s my

unders tanding tha t th i s na ture i s ind iv idual to each of us ; i t i s a l l a par t o f

the fasc ina t ing p lay of mu l t ip l i c ity .

I f ind tha t the psychic be ing expresses a t rue wi l l and I f ind tha t th i s en t i ty

can gu i de t he body i n a way wh i ch i s m uch m ore un -p rem ed i t a t ed and

spontaneous . The sou l observes and then ef fec tuates . And what i t sees , i treso lves . But somet imes I can even fee l the two processes to be

ins tan taneous . These are such prec ious moments in which one can become

vas t and f ree . To some ex ten t , I might even f ind mysel f s t epp ing ou t s ide th i s

r ig id f ramework of causa l i ty and t ime. Perhaps i t i s a t such t imes tha t the

cell s themselves can be i l lumined by th e sou l ’s f l ame.









Integral Health


So, in such c i rcumstances , the phys ica l be ing natura l ly f inds a way of

a t t un i ng i t s el f t o i t s own na t u ra l rhy t hm and t he m ovem en t can becom e one

of harmony and beau ty . Somehow al l the miss ing p ieces seem to magica l ly

come together . These moments s imply can’ t be coerced — the connect ion

comes in g l imp ses and th i s k ind of wi l l ra re ly seems to impose . I have found

the force to be very sub t le and exp er ience show s tha t any in t ru s ion from th e

s u r face na t u re w i ll d i s rup t t he t r an s fe r i m m ed i a t e ly .

I can cont ras t th i s p rocess wi th the sweat and to i l o f the menta l wi l l . To

some ex ten t , I fee l tha t app ly ing i t in th i s domain i s l ike t ry ing to p lug a

t hous and ho l es i n a l eak i ng boa t ! The m i nd s i m p l y does no t have t he

capaci ty to a t t end to every de ta i l . Eventual ly , i t t i res and wavers . I t a l so

loses pa t ience . Wi th bodywork in par t i cu lar , i t might be ab le to concent ra te

on one p a r t o f t he body and c rea t e m ore o rd e r a t t ha t po i n t . Bu t i t l acks t he

capaci ty to in tegra te — there are a count less de ta i l s to fu l ly mas ter wi th in

t he body and I fi nd t he m i nd qu i t e incapab l e o f keep ing u p . Harm ony has t o

be ins t i l l ed over the en t i re lower na ture too , no t jus t the body , fo r the

ph ys ica l be ing to opera te in an op t imu m w ay. Because of th i s, a vas ter v i s ion

i s r equ i r ed and I know t ha t t h i s can on l y happen when t he p s ych i c be i ng

s t eps forwar d s o t ha t a t rue r w i ll can m an i fes t .

I now a l so f ind tha t the very ef for t o f ‘app ly ing’ the wi l l to the body i s

to ta l ly counter -product ive . This fo rce s imply cannot be coerced : i t mus t be

embr aced . The s ign of the t ru e sh i f t seems to l ie in i t s spontan ei ty . I be l ieve

that th e dom ain of the t rue w i ll is the sou l i t se lf and th e very ef for t seems to

i nh i b it t he s ou l f rom s t epp i ng fo rward .

Alignment

I be l i eve tha t i f we want to mani fes t our t ru th , no t l eas t in the phys ica l , we

have to l earn to a l ign ourse lves . I fee l tha t th i s i s work tha t each one of us

can do . A l l o f u s have ou r own i nd i v i dua l na t u re and em body a un i que

amalgam of ce l l s . We a l so have a more conscious par t o f our be ing tha t can

put them al l back in o rder . This i s our f i e ld o f ac t ion . I be l i eve tha t i t i s a

mat ter o f ins t i ll ing h arm ony ins ide so tha t th i s s t a te can ra d ia te ou t s ide too .

The body ce r t a i n l y depends on t h i s i nne r ha rm ony , pe rhaps m ore t han we

th ink . I t seems to me too tha t as the t rue wi l l s t a r t s i t s work ins ide the

surface s tar t s to change. I now fee l th i s s t a te o f a f fa i rs very t ang ib ly in the

body . Because of th i s , i f th ings ge t knot ted and awry ins ide , I f ind tha t the

body becomes a l imp vesse l . Every th ing becomes a huge s t ra in . So perhapst ha t i s one r eas on w hy t he M ot he r em p has i sed t he n eed t o un i fy ou r be ing .

This p rocess , I fee l , amounts to a l ign ing ourse lves around the cen t re o f our

t ru th . Only then , as She says , can anyth ing l ike a t rue wi l l emerge . As the

wi l l i s the express ion of our na ture we have to f ind our t ru th f i r s t . And

wi thout a t rue wi l l , I don’ t be l i eve anyth ing wor thwhi le can be ach ieved in

l ife . I t i s a conscious p rocess , bu t wh ether d one in a sys tem at ic way or n o t i s





Integral Health


perhaps un impor tan t . But i f one i s a t a l l s incere , I don’ t be l i eve i t can ever

be avo ided .

We of ten hear t he M ot he r ta lk ing about the ‘search l igh t ’ and tha t , in a very

rea l sense , i s what the v i s ion of the sou l represen t s . But crea t ing the r igh t

s ta t ion in the f i r s t p lace i s so impor tan t . By ca l l ing for the he lp of Sr i

Aurob i ndo and t he M ot he r , I fee l the i r gu idan ce is a lways a t han d . I t i s they

who g i ve m e t he ans wers and t he channe l t hey u s e appea r s t o m e t o be t he

soul .

I t i s a l i t t l e l ike search ing th rough a ce l l a r wi th a b r igh t to rch . When the

mind i s s t i l l , I can then qu ie t ly inspect every h idden corner wi th the l igh t

t ha t She ho l d s up for m e . I u s ua l ly s t a r t by i nw ard l y obs e rv i ng f rom t he t op

o f m y head and g radua l l y m ove downwards . When one beg i n s wa t ch i ng

deep i n s i de , t he ou t l ook can i ndeed be ve ry b l eak . An eno rm ous pa t i ence

and per s i s tence is requ i red . Dis tor t ions may app ear ; res i s tances may em erge .

At such t imes , I fee l l ike I am being sucked in to a huge dark ho le . I have to

hold on t igh t and fo l low wherever the to rch l eads me. Somet imes a l i t t l e

courage i s requ i red too . I f a s t a in s tar t s to sur face , I t ry to penet ra te i t wi th

an enqu i r i ng gaze . I p l unge deepe r and deepe r i n t o i t i n o rde r t o f i nd t he

source of the diff icul ty .

Bu t I a l ways t ry t o m a i n t a i n a de t ached po i s e and no t i den t i fy w i t h t he

images tha t a re appear ing before me. This i s t ru ly a work one can do wi th

t he M ot he r . Long -bu r i ed pa t t e rn s and hab i t s s t a r t em erg i ng ; ug l y pa t ches

may come to l igh t . The natura l t endency i s to squ i rm but tha t i s s imply no t

necessary when She i s by my s ide . Sooner o r l a ter , i f one remains v ig i l an t

and connected , the answer wi l l come. When i t does , I f ind tha t i t i s the

M ot he r who p l ucks t he w eed ou t by i t s very roo t s .

Harmony

Som et h i ng new t hen beg i n s t o t ake ove r . The s pon t aneous know l edge b r i ngs

a m om en t ous s h i f t . A l i gh t des cends and s a t u ra t e s t he en t i r e na t u re . The

t w i s t s o f t he m i nd s t a r t t o un rav e l and t h e v i t a l beg i n s t o s om ehow pu r i fy .

The lower members can then reconvene a t the i r t rue funct ions and p lace! A

feel ing of wholeness re turns . I t ’ s as i f a l l the f ragments o f consciousness

have been m ag i ca l ly d rawn t oge t he r . The bod y t ang i b l y expand s w i t h i n t h i s

v i b ra t i on o f ha rm ony and l ove . A new s t r eng t h and v i gou r r e t u rn s . The

Mother’s Force a lways br ings someth ing u n ique an d s ingu lar , bu t inev i tab ly , a peace w i l l des cend and i n t he hus h o f t ha t s i l ence a t rue r m ovem en t can

emerge . I t i s a peace wh ich i s t ru ly dyna mic . A vas t hor izon might th en open

before my eyes .

At such t imes , I fee l tha t someth ing l ike a t rue wi l l can mani fes t . I t s

ha l lmark i s i t s spontanei ty . The sou l ’s command seems to a t tune

automat ica l ly to the very f ib res o f the body . The work of ou ter a l ignment
















Integral Health


can now begin and i t i s a l l done in the s t i l lness o f the moment : no th ing i s

spoken and ideal ly no thought in tervenes . Essen t ia l l inks can be made

be t ween s ou l and m a t t e r .

Thes e a re p rec i ous g l i m ps es bu t ou r na t u re i s s uch t ha t t hes e m om en t s a r e

not eas i ly sus ta ined . Eventual ly the exper ience recedes and our phys ica l

being s tar t s to cont rac t . I o f ten f ind tha t th i s secre t Wi l l a r r ives and

wi t hd raws a l m os t unno t i ced . A t i t s depa r t u re , t he m i nd s ooner o r l a t e r

s tar t s heav ing a gain . So i t i s w or th t ry ing to p r o long the contac t a t each t ime

of s i t t ing . A persever ing nature i s a g rea t boon here because ins tan t resu l t s

seem to be rare ly ach ieved , par t i cu lar ly when they re la te to work on the

b o d y .

Transition

Sri Aurobindo aff irm s tha t ra i s ing our w i ll to t ruer he igh t s can be a long and

rocky passage . This is one inescapable t r i a l tha t every asp i ran t mu s t face :

“Fo r ou r h um an w i ll is a m i sl ed and wan der i ng r ay t ha t has pa r t ed f rom t he

supreme Puissance . The per iod of s low emergence ou t o f th i s lower work ing

in to a h igher l igh t and purer fo rce i s the va l ley of the shadow of death for

the s t r iver a f ter p er fect ion ; it i s a d read fu l passage fu l l o f t r i a ls , suf fer ings ,

sor rows , obscura t ions , s tumbl ings , e r rors , p i t fa l l s . To abr idge and a l l ev ia te

th i s o rdeal o r to penet ra te i t wi th the d iv ine de l igh t fa i th i s necessary , an

increas ing sur render o f the mind to the knowledge tha t imposes i t se l f f rom

wi t h i n and , above a l l , a t rue a s p i r a t i on and a r i gh t and un fa l t e r i ng and

sincere p ract ice (7).”

Fo r a l ong t i m e , we f i nd t ha t w e need t o r e ly a g rea t d ea l on ou r ow n e f fo r t .Indeed , as long as we remain in the rea lm of ‘wi l l ings ’ , we have no o ther

choice. The Mother’s com m en t s a re p a r t i cu l a r l y app rop r i a t e :

“And so , when one expresses ‘wi l l ings ’ , to be ab le to ap ply th em in l i fe and

make them ef fec t ive , some ef for t mus t come in — i t i s th rough personal

ef for t tha t one progresses , and i t i s th rough ef for t tha t one imposes one’s

wi l li ngs upon l if e t o m ake i t y ie l d t o t he ir d em and s — bu t when t hey a re no

longer wi l l ings , when i t i s the t rue wi l l express ing the t rue knowledge,

ef for t i s no longer requ i red , fo r the p ower i s omnipoten t (8) .”

Need less to say , th i s mu s t a l so ap ply to work on the bod y . Personal e ffor t isof ten very necessary . Otherwise , I fee l , a t t imes I would s imply s ink . But

there comes a t ime w hen the ef for t i t se l f becomes a ‘bar ’2 to the in ten t ion of

the Wi l l to ac t up on m at ter . As the Mother s ays , t he t rue w i l l r ad i a t es a t ru e

pow er because i t re f lec t s a t ru e know ledge. Here , I o ften seem to f ind m ysel f

2 “ When we have passed beyond willings, then we shall have Power. Effort was the

helper : Effort is the bar.” Sri Aurobind o. SABCL, Volume 16, p. 376.













Integral Health


in a twi l igh t zone of ha l f -answered ques t ions and d imin i shed responses . I

f ee l t ha t we s om ehow have t o l ea rn t o c li m b h i ghe r and h i ghe r t oward s t hes e

summits o f sh in ing Tru th . Somet imes tha t t akes a co lossa l e f for t . Only then

can we p l unge dow n w i t h g rea t er p ower i n t o t he m a t e r i a l abyss . The Mother

says tha t “ . . .we mus t r i se h igher in consciousness : the deeper one wants to

go d own in to ma t ter , the h igher i s it necessary to r i se in consciousness (9) .”

I be l i eve tha t the energy for th i s ascen t comes f rom asp i ra t ion . Wi th

asp i ra t ion , par t i cu lar ly in the body , the work becomes a joy . Wi thout

asp i ra t ion , I fee l , one i s on ly a par t o f tha t vas t mul t i tude of walk ing dead .

Perhaps too , th i s asp i ra t ion prov ides the key to the ‘Energy Inexhaus t ib le’

t ha t t he Mother speaks abou t . And i f the ce l ls o f the body can t r u ly asp i re , I

have a be l i ef tha t the u n iverse wi l l even tu al ly answ er .

Difficulties

I th ink w e a l l find th a t th i s t rans i t ion br ings m any d i ff icu l t i es . It ha s become

very ev iden t to me tha t as I s t a r t o r ien t ing my l i fe more ins ide , the work of

al ignment becomes increasingly cri t ical . I f one leads a superficial exis tence, I

gues s t ha t t he p hys i ca l t ends t o be m ore p rone t o m a t e r ia l p rob l em s on t he

surface . But as one embarks on the pa th of yoga , the cr i t e r i a change and

inner in f luences s tar t to ho ld sway . So the key , fo r me, i s to keep a l igned a t

a l l t imes . Each one of us has h i s o r her ind iv idua l na tur e , so the pa t terns an d

hab i t s t ha t caus e d i s o rde r a r e i ndeed un i que . However I be l i eve t ha t t h i s

s imple so lu t ion of se l f -a l ignment i s a lways a t hand . When my body , fo r

example , i s moving in a mechanica l way , i t i s a sub t le bu t sure s ign to me

that someth ing i s no t r igh t ins ide . That innate joy i s miss ing and there mus t

be someth ing b lock ing i t . That m eans tha t ther e i s a wor k to be done ins ide .

Even fa t igue seems to usu al ly come f rom a breakd own in a l ignm ent . There i s

an eno rm ous r e s e rvo i r o f ene rgy t ha t i s eve r wa i t i ng t o pou r i n t o and

t h rough u s s o one s o l u t i on m ay be t o l ook and s ee wha t i s a r r e s t ing i t .

Obvious ly i t i s good to p rac t i se specia l s i t t ings bu t I rea l i se tha t th i s po i se

mus t eventual ly expand in to everyday l i fe too . I t i s a g rea t chal lenge

because , in such c i rcumstances , I a lways f ind the consciousness be ing

tugged on to the sur face . Apply ing th i s a l ignment in to ac t ion i s the nex t

s tage , i f you l ike , in th i s work of harmonisa t ion . When I am engaged in

m ovem en t an d am ab l e t o m a i n t a in t ha t po i s e , m any d i f fi cu l t i es a r e avo i ded .

I t ry to lov ing ly remember the Presence and a l low i t to unceas ing ly rad ia teouts ide . This i s one t a rget I ’d cer ta in ly l ike to reach and* i t i s such a

beaut i fu l l esson in l i fe . The Tru th mus t mani fes t on the ou t s ide too .

Somehow th i s b r ings to mind Sr i Aurobindo’s words on m ed i t a t i ng i n t he

bat t lef ield….

I f ind tha t a sense of de tachment t ru ly he lps too . Get t ing absorbed in a

d i f f i cu l ty on ly iden t i f i es one more c lose ly wi th i t . I t i s be t t e r to heed Sr i











Integral Health


Aurobindo’s advice and keep one’s s ta t ion above a t a l l t imes . Yes , we mus t

obv i ous l y l ea rn h ow t o i nhab i t ou r body bu t t h a t p r es ence w i ll on l y expand

wi thou t the s t ranglehold of a t t achmen t . That w ay , the poss ib il ity o f eventu al

reco il i s a l so avoided .

Will and resolution

I am conv i nced t ha t a f irm re s o lu t i on i s needed , bu t t ha t can s u re l y am oun t

to more than mere menta l convic t ion . The “wi l l to conquer” mus t ex tend to

“ the very ce l l s o f your body 3.” That i s a h igh ly evolved s ta te indeed , bu t if

one can be reso lu te to the po in t o f obs t inacy , i t can be more than a s tep on

the way . One needs to be more s tubborn than the obs tac les one i s fac ing . I

fee l tha t a pa t i en t perseveran ce i s a lways requ i red .

The supreme wi l l never wavers , bu t I do fee l tha t , by process o f

reaf f i rmat ion , these reso lu t ions can merge in to a more unf l inch ing and t rue

wi l l . Perhaps i t i s a mat ter o f degrees bu t I guess when one reaches the

summit one wi l l know the goal i s reached . I a l so f ind tha t by s incere ly

en t r ea t ing t he Mother’s help , the n ecessary en ergy invar iab ly comes . Jus t to

repeat Her name seems to s t rengthen my reso lve . There i s cer ta in ly

s om et h i ng i n t he mantra of the Mother’s nam e w hich so l id i fi es th i s wi l l.

Of ten too , I f ind mysel f compel led to d raw a l ine on the pas t in o rder to

m ake a f r es h s t a r t . I fi nd t h i s w ork on t he body m us t ve ry o f t en beg in an ew.

In br igh ter moments , a new angle o f approach may even come to l igh t . I t

a l so he l p s t o i nnova t e , o t he rwi s e t he work can becom e hu m d rum and s t a le .

Execution

To open the body to the t rue wi l l i s cer ta in ly an exerc i se in de ta i l . Working

from that cen t re ins ide , i t a lmos t amounts to a t ask of en t i re recons t ruc t ion .

Bu t i s on l y a m a t t e r o f awaken i ng t he body t o i t s i nna t e na t u re and t he

mot ive beh ind t rans format ion i s to b r ing ou t the sou l tha t l i es dormant in

mat ter . The sou l can govern the body: my br ief exper iences have g iven me

the necessary p roof . Because of th i s , chan nel s mu s t be bu i l t to every d i s tan t

ou tpos t o f the phys ica l be ing . The nerve endings themselves can become

al ive to the supreme Force . However , we can on ly of fer our consciousness ,

because , in rea l i ty , it i s the Mother w ho d oes the work .

3 “Wake up in your self the w ill to conquer. Not a mere w ill in the m ind bu t a will in the

very cells of your body. Without that you can’t do anything, e.g. you may take a

hundred medicines but they won’t cure you unless you have a will to overcome the

physical illness.” (The Mother. Health and Healing in Yoga. Pondicherry; Sri Aurobindo

Ashram Trust, 1979, p . 76).
















Integral Health


I now f ind tha t inner a l ignment , though essen t ia l , i s no t suf f ic ien t fo r th i s

work on the phys ica l . I t mus t be re inforced f rom outs ide too . Outer

a l ignment mus t be implemented : I f ind tha t some conscious mot ion and

exercise is also necessary. The Mother t e ll s u s t ha t t he ou t e r na t u re d epend s

on the inner condi t ion bu t , in o rder to comple te the process , I fee l tha t we

need to be a t t en t ive to the sur face aspect s too . I f one can remain a ler t and

t ru ly conscious wh en engaged in ac t ion , I ’m su re tha t the w ork goes so much

fas ter . The Mother says :

“You see , i f the m at ter i s cons idered in i t s mos t mod ern , mos t ex ternal fo rm,

how i s i t t ha t t he m ovem en t s we m ake a l m os t cons t an t l y i n ou r eve ryday

l i fe , o r which we have to make in our work i f i t i s a phys ica l work , do no t

help , o r he lp very l i t t l e , a lmos t neg l ig ib ly , to develop the muscles and to

c rea t e ha rm ony i n t he body? Thes e s am e m ovem en t s , on t he o t he r hand , i f

they are made conscious ly , de l ibera te ly , wi th a def in i t e a im, suddenly s tar t

he l p i ng you t o fo rm you r m us c l e s and bu i l d up you r body . There a re j obs ,

for ins tance , wh ere peop le have to car ry ex t remely heavy loads , l ike bags of

cement o r sacks of corn or coal , and they make a cons iderab le ef for t ; to a

cer ta in exten t they d o i t wi th an acqu i red fac il ity , bu t tha t d oesn’t g ive them

harm ony o f t he body , becaus e t hey don ’t d o i t w i t h t he i dea o f deve l op i ng

thei r m uscles , they d o i t jus t ‘ like tha t ’. And someone w ho fo l lows a meth od ,

e i t he r one he has l ea rn t o r one he has worked ou t fo r h i m s e l f , and who

makes these very movements wi th the wi l l to develop th i s muscle o r tha t , to

crea te a genera l harmony in the body — he succeeds . Therefore in the

conscious w i l l, there i s someth ing w hich add s cons idera b ly to the movemen t

i t se l f . Those who rea l ly want to p rac t i se phys ica l cu l tu re as i t i s conceived

now, every th ing they do , they do conscious ly . They walk downs ta i rs

conscious ly , they do the movements o f o rd inary l i fe conscious ly , no t

mechan ica l ly . An a t t en t ive eye w i l l perh ap s no t ice a l it t l e d i f ference bu t the

grea tes t d i f ference l i es in the wi l l they pu t in to i t , the consciousness theyput in to i t . Walk ing to go somewhere and walk ing as an exerc i se i s no t the

same th ing . I t is the conscious wi l l in a l l these th ings w hich i s imp or tan t , i t

i s tha t which br ings about the progress and ob ta ins the resu l t . Therefore ,

wha t I m ean i s t ha t t he m e t hod one u s es has on l y a r e l a t i ve i m por t ance i n

i t se lf ; i t i s the wi l l to ob ta in a cer ta in resu l t tha t i s impor tan t….

”Bu t you on l y have t o t ry it , t h en you w i l l un de r s t and ve ry w e ll wha t I

m ean . Fo r i n s t ance , a l l t he m ovem en t s you m ake when you a re d res s i ng ,

t ak i ng you r ba t h , t i dy i ng you r room … no m a t t e r wha t ; m ake t hem

conscious ly , wi th the wi l l tha t th i s muscle should work , tha t muscle should

wor k . You wi l l see . You wi l l ob ta in rea l ly ama zing resu l t s .

”Go ing u p an d dow n t he s t a i r s — you canno t i m ag i ne how u s e fu l t ha t can be

f rom the po in t o f v iew of phys ica l cu l tu re , i f you know how to make use of

i t . I n s t ead o f go i ng up becaus e you a re go i ng up and com i ng d own becaus e

you a re com i ng down , l i ke any o rd i na ry m an , you go up w i t h t he

consc ious nes s o f a ll t he m us c le s wh i ch a re w ork ing and m ak i ng t hem work

harmonious ly . You wi l l see , jus t t ry a l i t t l e , you wi l l see! This means tha t









Integral Health


you can u s e a l l the m ovem en t s o f you r l i fe fo r a ha rm on i ous deve l opm en t o f

y o u r b o d y .

”You bend down t o p i ck s om et h i ng up , you s t r e t ch up t o f i nd s om et h i ng

r i gh t a t t he t op o f a cup board , you op en a d oo r , you c lo s e it , you have t o go

round an obs t acl e, t he re a re a hun d red and one t h i ngs you d o cons t an t l y and

wh i ch you can m ake u s e o f i n you r phys i ca l cu l t u re and wh i ch w i l l

demons t ra te to you tha t i t i s the consciousness you pu t in to i t which

produces the ef fec t , a hundred t imes more than the mater ia l fac t o f do ing i t .

So , you choose the method you l ike bes t , bu t you can use the whole of your

dai ly l i fe in th i s way….To th ink cons tan t ly o f the harmony of the body , o f

t he beau t y o f t he m ovem en t s , o f no t d o i ng any t h i ng t ha t i s un g racefu l and

awkw ard . You can ob t a i n a rhy t hm o f m ovem en t and ges t u re wh i ch is ve ry

except iona l (10).”

I o f ten marvel a t the mechanisms of the body . I occas ional ly no t ice how a

pa r t i cu l a r m ovem en t w i l l b r i ng an i nvo l un t a ry m us cu l a r r e s pons e . Fo r

ins tance , I somet imes rea l i se , how the fa in tes t s t ra in in the neck might

induce a c lenching in the toes o r an arch ing of the back . As Sr i Aurobindo

as s e r ts , ou r body em bod i es a who l e p l e t ho ra o f r epea t ed pa t t e rn s . How ever I

fee l tha t these hab i t s wi l l on ly d i sappear when we are ab le to d i rec t our

consciousn ess in to them. I t i s t ru ly su ch a w ork of per fec t ion! I p ray tha t th i s

awarenes s w i l l go on expand i ng i n m e t oo becaus e m y b i gges t s t um b l i ng

block seems to l i e in th i s a t t en t ion to phys ica l de ta i l . But th i s i s indeed the

essence of w ork ing w i th mat ter , the n u t s an d bo l t s o f the en t i re opera t ion , i f

you l ike . A cer ta in prec i s ion and exact i tude i s requ i red and above a l l one

need s an indefa t igab le pa t ience .

I somet imes observe p eople go ing about the i r everyd ay bu s iness . Wi th a few,there i s such a f lu id i ty and grace in the i r ga i t : there i s a sense of beau ty in

the i r s t eps ! They car ry such a l igh t and they mani fes t i t th rough the i r body .

But i t i s no t my job to rep l ica te them. I have to f ind my unique rhy thm and

l ea rn t o exp res s m y own i nd i v idu a l t une .

Essen t ia l ly , I be l i eve tha t th i s work wi th the body involves awakening the

Tru th th a t i s involved in i t : no th ing m ore . When tha t ha pp ens , I be l ieve tha t

the body can indeed become the t eacher . Ins ide i s con ta ined the knowledge

of the t rue mov emen t . That w isdom m ay be bur ied by hab i t o r i l lness , so i t is

our t ask to recover i t . Wholeness i s i t s d iv ine b i r th r igh t . I fee l tha t i s why

the Mother says tha t , “ th e bod y car r ies wi th in i t se lf the sense of i t s d iv in i ty .There . This i s wh at you mu s t t ry to f ind again in you rse l f i f you h ave los t it

(11).“

Largely for d i f feren t reasons , th i s body has indeed been a t eacher to me for

qu i te a long t ime. One rea l ly needs to be very s t i l l to hear i t s whisper . I t s

vo ice i s a lmos t inaudib le amids t the cus tomary babble bu t a t p rec ious

m om en t s i t s i n t im a t i ons can i ndeed be und er s t ood .









Integral Health


The Supreme Will

As I look up , I rea l i se tha t I have to c l imb ever so h igh to even touch the

smal les t ray of th is Sup reme Wi l l . I t is a per i lous pa th an d th ere i s no secure

foo t ing : one fa lse s tep and I wi l l cascade to th e groun d . At t imes of dou bt , I

fee l so a lone and see no Guide to ho ld my h and on th i s p recar ious ascen t . At

t imes , th i s pa th can be so unremi t t ing . Par t i cu lar ly wi th the work on the

body , there are ins tances when i t i s l ike s tand ing agains t a huge wal l . Th is

wa l l symbol i ses the very d en ia l o f every th ing w e are t ry ing to imp lement . At

s uch t i m es , wh i cheve r way I t u rn , I com e up aga i n s t one m ore dead -end .

These are co lossa l t es t s and u n less one i s a rmed wi th a t rue w i ll one w i ll jus t

crum ple in to a hea p . So shou ld I t ry and assau l t th i s ed i fi ce mysel f? I t wou ld

take a huge end eavou r to ach ieve th i s fea t .

Self-giving

Right a t the beg inn ing of my t ime here , I was indeed confron ted wi th th i s

prospect . In i t i a l ly I had fe l t tha t every aspect o f my being wanted to t ake

th i s rou te : the way of tapasya seemed to f i t . But when the t ime came, when I

truly as ked m ys e l f , m uch t o m y s u rp r i s e , a d i f f e ren t an s wer i m m ed i a t e l y

came. No, I now bel ieve there has to be another way . Perhaps one can even

ent rea t a h igher power to demol i sh th i s wal l ! And th i s , fo r me, i s where the

Mother comes in . How el se can such imposs ib i l i t i es become rea l i t i es? As

long as the Mother i s p resen t th ere i s no t jus t hop e bu t cer ta in ty . L ike man y

of us , I can of ten fee l Her Force in ac t ion . That , fo r me, i s the u l t imate

reassurance .

I don’ t be l i eve there i s any po in t in wai t ing for the nex t l i fe fo r r i cherposs ib i li t ies . We can a lway s t ry to reach ou r a im in th i s l i fe . Perhap s too , i t

doesn’ t necessar i ly have to be a long gr ind ing hau l . One look , one word or

one s ing le exper ience might perhaps be suf f ic ien t . One bo ld l eap in to the

unkn own m ay be a l l t ha t i s r equ ir ed . I t he lp s t o be l ieve i t can hap pen now.

Self-giving, I feel , carr ies us into a realm of perfect synchronici ty . Th e

Mother jus t t akes over : th i s i s the consummat ion of the supreme wi l l . Th is

s u r r end e r m ay s ound ve ry s im p l e and i f one i s p repa red t o d rop abs o l u t e ly

every th ing , I guess i t i s . But , in rea l i ty , i t usual ly t akes a long t ime of

p repara t ion . I t requ i res a cons iderab le t rus t too . But I know f rom br ief

g l impses tha t once there , I en ter a s t a te o f g lor ious f reedom. A fee l ing of expans ion pervades the en t i re be ing . But when the t ime f ina l ly comes , I

bel ieve i t wi l l be qui te effort less . When at las t the toi l i s over , I can s imply

mel t a t H er fee t . I p ray th a t w e can a l l ge t there one f ine day .

References:









Integral Health


1. Sr i Aur obindo . SABCL, Volume 15. Pondicherry ; Sr i Aurobind o Ashram

Tru st, 1971, p . 228.

2 . The Moth er . Collected Works of the Mother, Volume 9 . Pond icherry ; Sr i

Aur obindo Ashram Trus t , 1977, p . 259.

3. Op. ci t . Collected Works of the Mother, Volume 9 . Pond icherry ; Sr i

Aur obindo Ashram Trus t , 1977, pp . 261-3 .



5. Ibid. pp. 347-8.

6. Op. ci t . SABCL, Volume 20. Pondicherry; Sr i Au robind o Ashr am Trus t , 1971,

p . 90.

7. Ibid. p . 208.

8. Op . ci t . Collected Works of the Mother, Volume 8 . Pond icherry ; Sr i




10 . Ibid. pp . 153-5.

11 . Ibid. p . 164.

Mr. James Anderson, a sadhak, is following the Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and workingat SAIIIHR, Pondicherry .






Integral Health


Integral Health(An exploration into health and healing in the light of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother)

Dr. Soumitra Basu

Chapter I

Introduction

The World Health Organization (WHO) has defined health as not merely an absence of

disease but a positive state of ph ysical, men tal and social wellbeing. However, health is

one of those constructs that continually outgrow attempts at clarification. The WHO’s

concept of health has itself undergone such a metam orphosis. It was only in 1976 that

the World Health Assembly officially acknowledged the role of the psychological and

social dimensions of health and encouraged the acquisition of relevant knowledge that

could enrich health plann ing. It took almost a decade for the World Health Assembly to

add a spiritu al dimension to the definition of health at its 37th session held in 1984. This

resolution noted that the spiritual dimension plays a significant role in motivating

people to achieve health ideals. It was also noted that it could not be imposed on

unwilling conglomerations of people but had to arise within the people and

communities in consonance w ith their social and cultural pa tterns (1).

Despite its multi-dimensional, global and holistic outlook, the WHO definition of health

is not truly integral. When w e speak of spiritual, mental, physical and social dimensions

of health, we are actually referring to discrete or semi-discrete sets of spiritual,

psychological, physical and social value systems which have conflicts between and

within themselves. At best, we can conceive of precarious makeshift compromises thatcan break down at any point and the resultant disharmony can manifest in various

forms, of which the foremost is illness. The disharmony may also manifest in aberrant

and deviant behaviour, crime, riots, ethnic conflicts and in alienation and

meaninglessness in life.

It has been postulated that optimal health requires a balanced equilibrium between the

‘milieu interior’ of the body and the ‘external environment’. But the ‘external

environment’ is itself an amalgam of social, cultural, psychological and ecological

systems which are not necessarily in harmony with each other. To harmonize such a

variegated array of systems and re-harmonize the resultant with the human organism

wou ld be hum anly imp ossible.

The WHO definition and concept of health is thus more of a sort of ‘committee

consensus’ difficult to validate by empirical research, specially when a non-material

perspective like the spiritual dimension is taken into consideration. However the

acceptance of a scientific paradigm need not necessarily contradict the acceptance of a

consistent body of knowledge pursued by enlightened seers, mystics and yogis







Integral Health


throughout the ages. Such a repertoire of subjective wisdom can provide us intuitive

clues to link our scattered prem ises and conflicting th ough ts.

Consciousness — a substrate for consideration

The difficulty in integrating the physical, social, mental and spiritual dimensions of health need not debar us from the pursuit. Indeed, an attempt to harmonize these

myriad value-systems(which are not totally independen t) can on ly be possible if we take

into account a substrate to which all these value-systems can relate in a hierarchised

manner. This substrate is most app ropriately found in the yogic description of

consciousness. The seer-wisdom of ancient India considered consciousness to be the

essence of all existence – a concept to which Sri Aurobindo, in recent times, gives a

hierarchised evolutionary perspective, “…consciousness is essentially the same

throughout but variable in status, condition and operation..(2)” and formulates different

planes of existence at different points of a graded universe. Thus, at one plane,

consciousness formulates the material base of existence (the physical plane). At a higher

level, consciousness formulates the life-base (the vital plane) out of the material base. At

a yet higher level, consciousness manifests the mind (the mental plane) out of the life-

base involved in matter. This is not the culmination of evolution. Sri Aurobindo

postulates that higher models of man can still evolve, surpassing the mental plane of

consciousness, if the line of evolution in consciousness can be zealously followed.

Science speaks of an outer evolution of forms necessary for the continuation of the

species. Sri Aurobindo speaks of an inner evolution in consciousness that can lead to a

surpassing of the mental consciousness through successive stages to a new poise of

consciousness (The supramental plane) which can create a new species of man (3).

Consciousness: medical and yogic paradigms

It is important to differentiate the yogic concept of consciousness from the medicalparadigm which invariably links consciousness to the functions of the mind. Medical

science usu ally focuses on th ree d imensions of men tal consciousn ess (4):

(a) the physiological dimension of wakefulness and sleep,

(b) the pathological dimension of lucidity and obfuscation that can be traced to stupor

and coma and

(c) the rather vague dimension of vigilance and absorption that is necessary to

understand altered states of consciousness like trance states and med itative absorption.

Table 1

Experiments show that subjects practicing

CONSCIOUSNESS

MEDICAL PERSPECTIVE YOGIC PERSPECTIVE

• Essence of existence









Integral Health


• Physiological dimension (sleep-

wakefulness)

• Pathological dimension(lucidity-

comea)

• Altered states (meditative absorption,

trance states)

• Aspects of awareness and creative

Energy

• Evolutionary and involutionary

Movements

• Hierarchised interacting planes

• Planes of consciousness

represented both in the universal

forces and individual personality

Consciousness - Medical and Yogic perspectives.

meditation have certain EEG changes (usually an increase of slow alpha waves in the

frontal and central regions of the brain) along with reduced metabolism. Such

physiological changes a re not seen in tran ce states indu ced throu gh h ypnosis, ritualistic

dan cing and revivalist meetings. In certain trance states associated w ith religious rituals,

piercing tongues and cheeks without shedding blood was possible through changes in

neurovascular functions. Such neurovascular changes could be responsible for

producing skin manifestations like weals, petechiae or bruises characteristic of

evangelical fervor. There is considerable evidence to suggest that the anaesthesia and

euphoria experienced in trance states are endorp hin med iated (5).

In spite of its stress on different dimensions, the medical paradigm of consciousness

does not essentially outgrow the consciousness of that part of the mind which is

reflected in the working of the central nervous system in the body. That is why the

medical model of consciousness is more aptly described by the term ‘sensorium’.However, ‘sensorium’ is only the mental range of consciousness. Sri Aurobind o lucidly

points out,

“..mental consciousness is only the human range which no more exhausts all the

possible ranges of consciousness than human sight exhausts all the grad ations of colour

or human hearing all the gradations of sound — for there is much above or below that is

to man invisible and inaud ible. So there are ranges of consciousness above and below

the human range, with which the normal human has no contact and they seem to it

unconscious, – supramental or overm ental and subm ental ranges (6)”.

A natural corollary of the Yogic concept of consciousness is that there is nothing whichis ‘truly’ unconscious.What is called unconscious in depth psychology is that which lies

outside the awareness of the surface personality. There are ranges of consciousness

below the hu man mind consisting of atavistic, half-evolved and suppressed imp ulses, a

part of which has been identified as the ‘unconscious’ in psychoanalytic terminology.

There are also higher ranges of consciousness that surpass the human mind and fall in

the domain of superconscious described by Yoga. The superconscious is the source of

our h ighly evolved imp ulses and d rives man to exceed h is limitations.





Integral Health


Consciousness and health

Taking the cue from Yogic wisdom, it would be pertinent now to study the relation

between health and the various planes of consciousness that are reflected both in the

universe and in the human personality. Such a study would give us a novel and

innovative plan for health action by developing a progressive and dynamic health

consciousness.

To relate health along a continuum of consciousness, it is necessary to discern the

various levels of consciousness that have progressively unfolded to create the world.

The evolutionary nisus manifested matter (the physical), traversed through life (the

vital) and flowered in the mind . These three un iversal principles of evolution – Matter,

Life and Mind have their representations in the personality of man. There are two

importan t considerations to note:

(a) firstly, a higher plane of consciousness does not reject the lower planes but incorporates,

transmutes and surpasses them (7). Thus, life does not reject matter but the quality of matter inherent in living systems is vastly different from inorgan ic matter. Likewise,

mind does not reject ‘Life involved in Matter’ but uplifts it so that the life of the highly

mentalised human being is qualitatively far superior to the life of an animal with a

rudimentary mind.

(b) Secondly, it is logical to suppose that anything cannot evolve from nothing (8). Sri

Aurobindo explains that any new manifestation must have been potentially dormant at

an earlier stage i.e. a process of involution preceded the evolutionary movement (9).

Matter therefore contains all the potentialities of life, mind and even sp irit.

However Nature has its own pitfalls and backlashes. The upward progress of theevolutionary nisus is not always sm ooth – it may be thwar ted, stifled, stalled, slowed or

deviated. Likewise, the transmuting force of the higher planes on the lower ones may

also meet with resistance, obstruction or denial. The disturbance of these upward and

downward movements along the hierarchies of consciousness can give rise to

disequilibrium and disease.

The sceptic might ask – can such a disequilibrium be corrected? The scope for correction

exists because each plane of consciousness has the potentialities of the higher planes

involved in it in a dormant form. The clue for correction is to move from the plane of

disequilibrium to a higher state of equilibrium. Illness thus gives a chance to exceed

oneself. This gives a new and fresh p erspective to health an d healing.

Chapter II

The physical plane of consciousness and its relation to health

The physical plane of consciousness that is the basis of all manifested existence has

given rise to ‘matter’ and is represented in the ‘body-consciousness’ of the human being.








Integral Health


One of the chief characteristics of the physical consciousness is ‘inertia’ or tamas (10)

wh ich results in the following features:

a) resistance to change

b) mechanical repetitiveness

c) slow arousal

d) passivity

These characteristic features have an adap tive and su rvival value as they

a) help in preservation of the species

b) provide som e sort of stability to the bod ily frame so that it is not easily disrup ted by

non-material universal forces. The vital and mental planes of consciousness are more

fluid in their operation an d interaction and if the p hysical frame d id not offer resistance,

the human body would lose its individuality in the play of the universal vital and

mental forces;

c) due to the property of mechanical repetitiveness, it was possible for the higher levels

of consciousness to continually impinge on matter. These repeated impressions mou lded

the physical consciousness to produce consistent behavioral patterns (11).

However, the same features facilitate disharmony and illness. A few illustrations are

provided to validate this.

a) Resistance to change

Because of the resistance offered by the physical plane of consciousness to transmuting

forces, it is difficult and painstaking to root out illness from this plane of consciousness.

Thus it is difficult to shrug off physical dependence on addictive drugs even if one

conquers the psychological dependence. The resistance of the physical consciousness is

amp ly dem onstrated in the case of psychosomatic diseases. In sp ite of having a sizeable

psychological component, psychosomatic illnesses are not curable by plain

psychotherapeu tic techniques. Psychotherap y m ay act as a palliative in m odifying one’s

attitude to his illness. For effective therapy, a radical remedy has to act at the physical

plane. It would be interesting to note the Mother’s observation that the resistance of the

physical is most aptly demonstrated in skin and dental disorders as they pertain to themost m aterial part of the being (12).

b) Mechan ical repetitiveness

The phenomenon of mechanical repetitiveness which facilitated the moulding of the

physical consciousness to produce consistent behavioral patterns has also its





Integral Health


maladaptive effect in initiating ‘hab it disorders’(13). Some of the habit disord ers like tics

and torticollis are qu ite refractory to therapeutic techniques.

c) Slow a rousal

The inertia of the physical consciousness modifies the reaction-pattern of susceptible

individuals. A subject who is focused more on the physical plane needs a greater

stimulus for arousal than others (14). Such a subject would be more prone to deviant

behaviours like sad ism and masochism to en joy pleasure.

d) Passivity

The passivity of the physical consciousness results in the weakness of will that is

translated as a disturbance of volition (15). It is partly due to this that certain people

have very low m otivation for recovery resulting in a p erpetua tion of their illness.

In spite of its inertia and resistance the physical consciousness can change.Usually, the

physical, vital and mental planes of consciousness intermingle but they can be extricated

from one another and individuated as separate entities through a yogic process of self-

perfection. If this is done w e d iscover that the bod y has a consciousness of its own and

can act indep end ently of the men tal will or even against the mental will (16). The surface

mind remains ignorant of the bod y-consciousness. However it is possible to awaken the

body-consciousness, train it and make of it a good and conscious instrument (17). This is

possible if the higher vital and mental energies are allowed to act upon the physical

plane, influence, mould and tran smute it.

The ancient technique of Hatha Yoga and the modern techniques of Biofeedback and

Autogenic training d emonstrate that it is possible to develop one's body-consciousness.

Hathayogic techniques of Asanas and Pranayama have shown that life can be prolonged,morbidity can be checked and youthful vigour can be maintained for a long time. The

introduction of relaxation, meditation and biofeedback in our modern therapeutic

arm atorium is slowly revealing the potentialities of the body-consciousness. These

techniques help to control one’s autonomic responses (long considered ‘involuntary’)

and mod ify the physiological systems.

Through the development of the ‘body-consciousness’, control and modification of one’s

ph ysiological fun ctioning is possible (18). One can thu s improve one’s quality of sleep or

reduce one’s slavish commitment to food. Sleep can be raised from the level of necessity

to that of free acceptance. One can consciously cultivate the art of passing into a brief

period of luminous, dreamless, restorative sleep; a few minutes of which is morerefreshing than hour s of ordinary sleep. Similarly, one can m ake oneself less dep enden t

on food for energy by making oneself more receptive to the Universal Life-Energy

around us.

The body-consciousness is only one aspect of the physical consciousness. The latter

surp asses the former to perm eate all the other p lanes of consciousness.



Integral Health


Chapter III

The vital plane of consciousness and its relation to health

The Universal Life-Energy is represented in the human being by the vital plane of

consciousness. The vital is the repertoire of our emotions, passions, desires, longings,

cravings, creative urges, revolutions and dyn amic energy. Sri Aurobindo distinguishes

the vital plane from the mind which deals with cognition and intelligence. This

distinction is of crucial imp ortance from the viewpoint of yogic psychology.

The vital has certain characteristics which greatly influence health. Some of these

features are enumerated here.

a) The vital is the seat of desire. In the w orld of hedonistic pu rsuit, very few p eople would

consider ‘desire’ to be a disturbing element in life. Buddha understood that desire

sprang from ignorance. As long as the anguish of desire is present, one cannot have

peace. Thus while satiation of desire gives sensual pleasure, a control of desire gives

greater joy and sense of fullness.

In Sri Aurobindo’s parlance, “Desire is at once the motive of our actions, our lever of

accomplishm ent and the bane of our existence (19).” Yogic psychology describes that th e

very movement of desire is the source of disharmony and disease. Desire grows by

indu lgence and a free play of desires can lead to serious disorders.

b) The vital is the source of disturbing emotional movements wh ich can lead to p sychological

disturbances. The important movements include anxiety, fear, depression, anger and

impatience. Anxieties and fears wh en un abated m ay lead to neurotic states and p hobias.

Depression may shift from a mere mood-state to a full-blown nihilistic disease.

Uncontrolled an ger may lead to aggression that man ifests in d iverse ways ranging fromreckless hostility to psychosomatic diseases. Impatience may exaggerate into a bloated

sense of time-urgency that is the hall-mark of the type-A executive personality.

c) The vital is the seat of contradictory emotions like depression and aggression,

happiness and unhappiness. Thus it is not surprising for a subject suffering from an

Affective disorder to alternately exhibit depression and excitement (mania) in different

ph ases of his illness.

This characteristic of the vital plane of consciousness also explains why children w ho are

depressed often exhibit aggression. The expression and verbalisation of depression

needs som e amou nt of cognitive d evelopm ent. Until children r each that cognitive level,it is more spontan eous for them to express their depression through aggression.

d) Being the reference point of our conflicting emotions like happiness and unhappiness, joy andsorrow, pleasure and suffering, the vital is responsible for perpetuating the drama of life . Grief is

thus an essential component of literature and mu sic as mu ch as joy. In terms of health,

this characteristic is represented in ‘illness-behaviour’ – a phenomenon where one

unconsciously enjoys suffering, perpetuates misery and thus prolongs morbid ity.







Integral Health


e) It is widely ap preciated that the forceful repression of vital impulses and desires may resultin disequilibrium and disease (note that the vital is not the Freudian Id) . However, it would

not be out of place to point out that an overindulgence of the vital by trying to satisfy

desires can also result in disequilibrium and disease. The efflorescence of new types of

diseases like AIDS and the global phenomenon of drug dependence should lead to areapp raisal of our hed onistic culture w hich eulogises the satiation of desire.

In spite of its obstacles and difficulties, the vital in man can be an asset when purified

and expanded. The vital helps the mind to effectuate its theoretical constructs into

reality. A disciplined vital leads to a higher principle named `bliss' that surpasses the

emotional bipolarities and is self-existent and unconditional, unlike the pursuit of

pleasu re. In fact, ‘desire’ is a perversion of that ‘bliss’ at the level of the u np ur ified vital

consciousness. As one progresses, the lower m ovement of desire gets transformed into

an effective will for inner progress.

It has been noted th at the physical, vital and the mental p lanes of our being intermingle.

This results in different combinations. Thus when the physical plane of consciousness

permeates the vital it creates a ‘vital-physical’ plane of consciousness which is an

important subdivision. The vital-physical is involved in the reactions of the nervous

system, sensations an d feelings. It is also the m ediator of pain (20).

Chapter IV

The mental plane of consciousness and its relation to health

The universal mental plane of consciousness is represented in the hu man being through

the mind. Sri Aurobind o considers that the m ind is not the summ it but a transitory stage

of evolution w hich needs to be surpassed. The individua l mind is like a station

“..in a system of mental telegraphy where messages are conceived, written, sent,

received, deciphered, and these messages and these activities are of many kinds,

sensational, emotional, perceptu al, conceptu al, intu itional.. (21)”

The capacities of the mind cannot be explained on the basis of a neural substratum

alone. One has to appreciate the consciousness behind of which the mind is but an

instrument.

Yogic psychology has well-defined subdivisions for the mind: the physical mind or

sense-mind , the vital mind or emotional mind and the pu re intellectual mind that is freefrom the limitations of the senses and emotions. Sri Aurobindo also describes a divine

mind

“..above intellect which in its turn liberates itself from the imperfect modes of the

logically discriminative an d im aginative reason (22).”







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The pure intellectual mind concerns itself with aesthetic, ethical and intellectual

activities. There are certain characteristics of this mind which are at once the sources of

our superiority and difficulties. A few of these deserve m ention.

a) The mind is usually habituated to ceaseless thinking. Even thou gh w e have a capacity for

constructive thinking, most of the time we are submerged by myriad thoughts. Inconsonance with one's background , one selects those vibrations from the u niversal mind

which are on the same wavelength and spins them round and round (23). This is the

reason why one cannot progress by a change of ideas, one has to progress through a

change in consciousness.

b) The mind has a unique capacity of self-reflection. A part of the mind can separate itself

and take a ‘witness-attitude’(24). This is how the mind becomes aware of its workings

and is thus capable of introspection – a necessary requisite for subjective development.

c) When the gap between the practical world and the temperament of the thinker is too great, themind may prefer to work in seclusion like the poet lost in his solitude or the scientist caring only for his laboratory or the artist dwelling in his fantasy world. This trend has a limited

justification. The mind can have its full flowering only when it is ready to accept the

challenges of the practical life. It is due to this struggle that the ethical schools have

developed . Art can then attain vitality and science can p rovide a stable foundation for its

generalisations and abstractions (25).

d) The mind loves to reason and analyse but th ere are tw o d ifficulties that limit this pursu it.

Firstly, reason can construct both a thesis and antithesis and can thus produce eclectic

combinations but no globally integral synthesis. Secondly, man is also subject to his

needs, desires, taboos, dogmas — the irrationality of existence. These limitations of

‘reason’ validated the yogic search of new faculties for the acquisition of knowledge.

This quest led to th e development of intu ition and other supra-rationalfaculties (26).

Mental conflicts

One of the most interesting features of the mind is the existence of mental conflicts.

Psychoanalytic research has shown that repression of unresolved mental conflicts can

lead to psychiatric and psychosomatic disorders. But can one really resolve such

conflicts through psychoanalysis? The yogic viewpoint is that the mind itself cannot

wholly resolve conflicts. A mere awareness of one's conflicts through psychoanalysis

does not au tomatically qualify them for sublimation or transformation. This is only

possible through the intervention of a higher consciousness replacing one pattern of

behaviour by a higher one. Mental conflicts thus provide an opportunity for progress(27).

To understand the workings of the mind in relation to health, it is necessary to study

two other imp ortant subd ivisions in the m ental plane of consciousness: the vital mind

and the physical mind.

The Vital mind



Integral Health


The vital mind or the emotional mind is that part of the mind which is influenced by

vital forces and movem ents. It cannot think freely and independently of vital influences.

The function of the vital mind is not to think or reason but d ream and imagine, whether

abou t success or failure, p leasure or sor row or other emot ional bipolarities in life (28).

The vital mind is responsible for the ‘defence mechanisms’ described in psychoanalysis

which result in psychopathology – viz. rationalization by which the mind justifies its

acts, however irrational it might be; projection by which one imposes one’s own

attributes to others and when exaggerated may lead to the development of paranoia

(29).

The vital mind is also capable of making strong mental imageries or formations. If these

imageries are linked with psychosocially conditioned negative attitudes, then the

resultant negative formations may become very strong and cause illnesses. Likewise,

one can construct positive m ental formations from a higher p oise of consciousness with

therapeutically beneficial effects (30).

The Physical mind

The physical mind or sense-mind is that part of the mind which is permeated by the

physical consciousness. It is related to doubts, indecision, repetitive and chaotic

though ts. These features wh en exaggerated may lead to the developm ent of diseases

like obsessive comp ulsive neurosis (31).

Chapter V

The subconscious plane and its relation to health

Besides the physical, vital and mental planes of consciousness, there are other ranges of

consciousness in and around the individual which have important bearings on health.

The subconscious is the most p rimitive part of our consciousness where the imp ressions

of all our experiences in life sink as subm erged m emories ready to surge u p on ce again

through dreams, ‘complexes’, habits and disease.

The subconscious consists of (32):

a) The most obscure part of the mental consciousness full of obstinate sanskaras,impressions, associations, fixed notions, habitual reactions formed by our past,

b) the most obscure part of the vital consciousness full of the seeds of habitual desires,

sensations and nervous reactions.

c) the most obscure part of the bodily consciousness that deals directly with the gross

body.

The subconscious is responsible for:



Integral Health


a) recurrences of chronic illness.

b) perpetua tion of habits – good or bad .

c) carry-over of pren atal psychological influences of paren ts in children .

d) rigidity of the character-structure.

Integral yoga realizes that thou gh character can be changed , it is very d ifficult to do so

because of the obstinacy of the subconscious (33). It is not only one's character but the

character of one's antecedents held in the subconscious that h as to be changed.

Yoga considers that the subconscious can only be illum ined and transformed in the light

of superconscient experiences.

Chapter VI

The psychic being and integral health

Figure 1

The development of the physical, vital and mental par ts of consciousness as separate

entities can only be meaningful if they relate to an integrating an d harm onising fourth -



Integral Health


dimensional centre known as the ‘Psychic being’ in Sri Aurobindo's terminology. The

Psychic being represents the atman of the Indian tradition in its evolving form and

surpasses the ego which is only like a shadow of the true integrating principle (the

Psychic being). The ego is initially necessary to give a self-conscious identity but at a

certain stage of inner progress needs to be surpassed by the Psychic being so that one

can start living at a deeper and truer level of consciousness and experience a sense of

wholeness, integrality, peace, unity, collaboration and unalloyed joy which is

qualitatively far different from the more easily perceptible vital vibrations. Jung came

close to the concept of the Psychic being in his description of a synthetically integrative

‘centre’ or ‘self’ – his defect was that he did not recognise that the consciousness of this

un ique ‘centre’ or ‘self ‘ is higher th an the ord inary m ental consciousness (34).

The word ‘soul’ is rather loosely used in English to lump our emotions, passions and

desires into a non -physical aggregate. The term ‘Psychic being’ is specifically used by Sri

Aurobind o to describe the soul element that is other than the p hysical, vital and mental.

It is a portion of the Divine and evolves through life-experiences from birth to birth. If it

comes forward, breaking through the mental, vital and physical screens, it can governthe instincts and transform natu re.

Usually, one is ruled by the outer personality of the physical, vital and mental

consciousness held loosely together by the false soul of ego and desire. Sri Aurobindo

writes,

“In a certain sense we are nothing but a complex mass of mental, nervous and physical

habits held together by a few ruling ideas, desires and associations, – an amalgam of

many sm all self-repeating forces with a few major vibrat ions (35).”

Ord inarily, we are not aw are of the Psychic being but a t certain m oments of life, it doesinfluence u s strongly and we sp ontaneously feel an inner hap piness, wholeness, joy and

goodwill. This state is not dependent on outer conditions and may even appear in

un favourable conditions.

The quintessence of Integral Health lies in a change of consciousness from the outer

physical, vital and mental fixations to this higher psychic consciousness (36). The

psychic consciousness is free from psychological disturbances and helps to bu ild up an

integrated personality. It is also concomitantly free from the subconscient and egocentric

disturbances and immune from attacks by adverse forces. The Mother describes what

happens to those in whom the psychic rules:

“So long as the openness is there, the peace, the fullness and the joy remain with th eir

immed iate results of progress, health and fitness in the p hysical, quietness and good will

in the vital, clear understanding and broadness in the mental and a general feeling of

security and satisfaction (37).”

Other dimensions of consciousness












Integral Health


It is significant to note that besides the Psychic consciousness and the subconscious Sri

Aurobind o has d escribed other d imensions of consciousness, namely (38).

a) The superconscious; the consciousness of the Psychic being and of the higher planes

beyond the m ind. While the subconscious of p sychoanalysts is the source of our atavistic

and biological drives, the superconscious of yogic psychology is the source of our highlyevolved impulses and lofty aspirations. Man can suffer not only from the repression of

his biological d rives but also from rep ression of the sublime.

b) The subliminal; an intermediary plane of consciousness standing behind the surface

personality and th e meeting ground of the ind ividu al and universal spheres of existence.

Though a little of it enters the outer life, that little is the best part of ourselves and

responsible for art, poetry, ph ilosophy an d mu sic. The subliminal includes m any of the

elements of the collective unconscious described by Jun g.

c) The circumconscient; the plane of consciousness that surrounds us and projects a

protective envelope around our ind ividu al selves.

Figure 2

Chapter VII

An integral approach to healing

It is not surp rising that the hum an m ind w hich loves diversity and variation has evolved

multiple paradigms of healing. However this does not mean that they should not have






Integral Health


an element of commonality in their mode of operation. We talk of global, wholistic and

integrated h ealing bu t these usua lly refer to eclectic combinations of diverse ap proaches.

Our concern is to construct an integral approach to healing and ‘integral’ and ‘ecletic’

are not the sam e. The integrality should n ot be sough t in shifting combinations of varied

therapeutic systems but in their relation to the different planes of consciousness. All the

diverse healing systems must have a common denominator along a consciousness

perspective.

A study of Sri Aurobindo provides this matrix in the conception of the Pranic Shakti

(Pranic Energy) which is a formu lation of the Universal Shakti in the em bodied human

being. The ou ter ph ysical, vital and mental energy-states are its outermost formu lations

and are used in various degrees and at various levels by the different healing

techniques. Thus the pharm acological action of most of the dru gs used in modern

medicine is at the energy level of the outermost physical consciousness. The energy-

states supporting the vital- physical plane of consciousness might be the field of action

of remedies used in homeopathy, flower-remedies and related therapies. This would

explain w hy hom oeopathic drugs remain potent in high d ilutions wh ere theoretically no

molecules should rem ain. Sri Aurobindo comments

“Sometimes the infinitesimal is more powerful than the mass; it approaches more and

more the subtle state and from the physical goes into a dynamic or vital state and acts

vitally (39).”

The Chinese system of acupuncture also activates in a different way the vital-physical

plane of consciousness. It has been dem onstrated that acupuncture causes the release of

endorphins and central neuro-transmitters, though it is not clear whether such

neurochemical changes are incidental or central in mediating the therapeutic effects.

This gives some credence to the action of acupuncture at the physical plane of

consciousness. How ever, the pricking of skin by needles alone does not seem to be thedecisive therapeu tic factor. It is interesting that variants of acupu ncture, wh ere the same

points are stimulated without needles and without puncturing the skin, seem to be

equally effective. This is possible because the Vital energy provides a potent field for

med iating the therapeutic effects of acupu ncture.

Sri Aurobind o writes that there is

“..around us a vital-physical or nervous envelope which radiates from the body and

protects it... (40).”

The energy-states supporting this circumconscient plane of consciousness resembles the‘bioplasmic body’ which is a protective force-field shielding the body. Perhaps a

physical formulation of this force-field is glimpsed as an aura by Kirlian photography

(41). Techniques like Pran ic Therap y, Reiki and Magnetic healing may have an effect

through this level. Techniques like Homoeopathy and Acupuncture also act at a subtle

level but still use the physical body as a pedestal for initiating action. However, in a

technique like Pranic Therapy, the cure is effectuated from ‘outside’ the body by

strengthening the circumconscient vital-physical envelope. How can this be done









Integral Health


withou t the support of the body? Perhaps this is possible through su btle points of

therapeutic intervention in specialised condensations or vortices of energy called chakras,hierarchically arranged with communicating channels or nadis resulting in a dynamic

distribution of energy in and around the body.

The mental plane of consciousness is also implicated in various therapies. Thus,relaxation techniques, biofeedback and meditative reconditioning exert their beneficial

effects by stilling the fluctuations characteristic of the energy states supporting the

physical mind. The energy-states underlying the subliminal layer of the physical mind

supporting the senses might initiate the therapeu tic action of hyp nosis and clairvoyance

(42). Certain forms of psychotherap y and counselling are effective if they can ba lance the

tumultuous waves underlying the vital mind. Behaviour therapy and behaviour

modification techniques need to initiate their action by shrugging off the inertia

characteristic of the physical mind. Cognitive therapies like the rational-emotive therapy

seek to influence the energy of the vital mind by a h igher energy of the intellectual mind .

The different levels of the Pranic Shakti

Figure 3

So far we have been d ealing w ith the ou ter formu lations of the Pran ic Shakti expressed

as energy-states underlying the physical, vital and mental planes of consciousness and

their various sub-divisions. However one can also extend one’s consciousness inward



Integral Health


and come into contact with a more central and purer form of the Pranic Shakti to

effectuate dynam ic healing processes.Such a direct access provides a central leverage to

healing, surpassing all systems. This is possible through the developm ent of yogic

powers. The hathayogi uses pranayama for this purpose though Sri Aurobind o points out

that there are other less mechanical and more flexible means like

“...mental will and practice or by an increasing opening of ourselves to a higher sp iritual

pow er of the Shakti (43).”

The Divine Shakti (Universal Shakti) is represented in man at various levels; firstly by

Pranic Shakti and secondly by a h igher type of purer mental energy in commu nion w ith

the universa l mind-consciousness (44).

In the hierarchy of energy-states the higher energies act upon the lower ones to

effectuate an ascend ing evolutionary p rogress. Thus the pure m ental energy at a higher

level has a sup erior will pow er and can sustain, use and h arness the Pranic Shakti more

effectively. Ultimately, this pure mental energy can also be surpassed by a spiritual

energy w hich is a yet higher formu lation of the Divine Shakti and wh ose action is more

dynamic.

The activation and harnessing of the Pranic Shakti opens u p new perspectives in h ealth

and healing. Sri Aurobindo explains

“This Pranic force we can use for any of the activities of life, body or mind with a far

greater and effective power than any that we command in our present operations,

limited as they are by the physical formula. The use of this Pranic power liberates us

from that limitation to the extent of our ability to use it in place of the body-bound

energy. It can be u sed so to d irect the Prana as to manage m ore pow erfully or to rectify

any bodily state or action, as to heal illness or to get rid of fatigue, and to liberate anenormou s amou nt of men tal exertion and play of will or Knowledge..”(45).

Can th is Pranic Shakti be used for self-healing alone or a lso to heal others?

Sri Aurobind o answers that, “The Pranic Shakti can be directed not only up on our selves,

but effectively toward s others or on things or happenings for whatever pu rposes the w ill

dictates (46).”

Our main difficulty in understanding the action of the subtle energy-states is that they

cannot be measured in the way we measure some aspects of the physical energy — in

terms of mu scular strength or biochemical activity. Our lack of measu ring tools does notqualify us for rejecting the subtle energy-states. If we do so, we err by rejecting a large

and consistent body of knowledge built upon the experiences of mystics, occultists, seers

and yogis.

There are some persons with clairvoyant vision who can visualise the bio-energy field

around us which is one of the outermost formulations of the Pranic Shakti. Indeed,

clairvoyance can be d eveloped to be of use in d iagnosis as well as in therapy. However,









Integral Health


a true mastery over the Pranic Shakti can only result from a yogic effort towards self-

perfection.

The Universal Shakti is around us and also within us in a concentrated form as Pranic

Shakti. How can we have an access to it? The Hathayogi uses asanas an d pranayama for

this purpose but these are mechanical means. One can, widen one’s consciousness andwith faith and trust, draw the un iversal energy to fix it in the body. As the Mother says,

“At the outset, this may seem very difficult, if not impossible. Yet by examining this

phenomenon more closely, one can see that it is not so alien, not so remote from the

normally developed human consciousness. Indeed, there are very few people who have

not felt, at least once in their lives, as if lifted up beyond themselves, filled with an

unexpected and uncommon force which, for a time, has made them capable of doing

anything whatever; at such moments nothing seems too difficult and the word

‘impossible’ loses its meaning .

Table 2

Hierarchies of the Universal Shakti

“This experience, however fleeting it may be, gives a glimpse of the kind of contact with

the higher energy that yogic discipline can secure and maintain.





Integral Health


“The method of achieving this contact can hardly be given here. Besides, it is something

individual and unique for each one, which starts from where he stands, adapting itself

to his personal needs and helping him to take one more step forward. The path is

sometimes long and slow, but the result is worth the trouble one takes. We can easily

imagine the consequences of this power to draw at w ill and in all circum stances on the

boundless source of an energy that is all-powerful in its luminous purity. Weariness,

exhaustion, illness, old age an d even death become m ere obstacles on the way, w hich a

persistent will is sure to overcome (47).”

The greatest obstacle to the free action of this Pranic Shakti is the ego-sense. The ego-

sense limits, separates and differentiates, yet is indispensable for the evolution of the

lower (i.e. ordinary) life. If the ego gets hold of the pure Pranic force, disastrous

consequences can follow. One is then transformed into an arrogant titan, manipulating

the Divine force for selfish end s and in the p rocess, ru ining oneself (48).

One traditional solution offered is to abolish or dissolve the ego. But Integral Yoga aims

to establish a higher life on earth itself. The ego is initially necessary to u ph old the lower

life — its abolition would mean a cessation of life. That is why it is recommended that

the Psychic being shou ld rep lace the ego. The Psychic being is that part of the soul wh ich

takes part in earthly evolution – it is active only on the earth, it exists only here and

now here else. The Psychic being alone can form the nu cleus of a higher life on earth. If

the knowledge of the working of the Pranic Shakti is developed, the Psychic being can

use it for a further ascension in consciousness. In that scheme of things, illness – a

disequilibrium in itself of the body, is overcome by moving from a p lane of disharmony

to a higher plane of harmony. The Pranic Shakti then not only heals the illness but

utilises this opportu nity for a grow th in consciousness. Illness and health are thu s at

two end s of a spectrum that up hold’s Sri Aurobindo's dictum –

“For all problems of existence are essen tially problems of harm ony (49).”

The hum an m ind will never be satisfied with one par ticular healing technique – it loves

variation and mu ltiplicity. Each system of healing rep resents a par tial truth and no one

system is exclusive and final. A holistic healing paradigm cannot evolve through eclectic

combinations of convenience. The integral approach to healing uniquely harmonises

different systems by giving th em th eir du e p lace along a consciousness perspective. In

the process, three important aspects of the integral app roach need a reiteration.

(a) The higher and deeper energy-states can act upon and transmute the lower and

surface energy-states so that one can m ove from a p lane of disequilibrium to a p lane of

harm ony. Illness thus provides a chance for progress along the hierarchy of consciousness.

(b) One can have a direct access to a more puissant control of health by surpassing all

healing techniques and catching hold of the very fountain-head of the Pranic Shakti in

our being. All healing systems touch one or an other aspect of the outer formu lations of

the Pranic Shakti but its quintessence can only be mastered through yogic practice and

used for dyn amic healing.



Integral Health


(c) The source of health, integration and well-being lies in the Psychic being. To become

conscious of this secret p rinciple and make it active in ou r life is to bring ha rmony and

health into the system.

Chapter VIII

Faith and healing

It would indeed be a privilege for a person to understand how his planes of

consciousness and the u nd erlying energy-states are involved in healing processes. Such

a self-knowledge is exceptional, requires time to develop and cannot be generalised at

the present level of organisation of knowledge. Yet people continue to respond to

healing techniques not merely because of the efficacy of the technique and the therap ist

but because of the faith they repose on the healing systems. The placebo response is

possible due to the phenomenon of faith and can be used as a first line of treatment in

some cases. There are many recorded instances throughout history of how faith-healing

and prayer are effective therap eutic tools. The Mother aptly commented,

“Finally it is Faith that cures (50).”

At the level of the body, faith is a natural and spontaneous instinct. One can have

glimpses of this unspoilt faith in children who can automatically outgrow many a

problem d ue to the utter simp licity of their trust. As the Mother pu ts it,

“But n ormally, the body of a norm al child – the body, I am n ot speaking of the though t

– The body itself feels when something goes wrong that it will certainly be all right

again. And if it is not like that, this means that it has already been perverted. It seems

norm al for it to be in good health, it seems qu ite abnormal to it if something goes w rongand it falls ill; and in its instinct, its spontaneous instinct, it is sure that everything will

be all right. It is only the perversion of thought w hich destroys this; as one grow s up the

though ts become m ore and more d istorted, there is the w hole collective suggestion, and

so, little by little, the bod y loses its trust in itself, and natu rally, losing its self-confidence,

it also loses the spontan eous capacity of restoring its equilibrium wh en this has been

distu rbed (51).”

While faith is a natural instinct at the level of the body, it is not so at the level of the

mind where doubts, scepticism and negative attitudes combat faith and perpetuate

suffering. It is true that there is a positive role of doubt as it helps man to surpass

dogm as and superstitions. Yet it is equally true that m an cannot p rogress unless he has

faith in his own convictions, idea ls and goals. Sri Aurobindo describes faith as,

"the reflex in the lower consciousness of a Truth or real Idea yet unrealised in the

manifestation. It is this self-certainty of the Idea which is meant by the Gita wh en it says,

Yo Yacchraddhah sa eva sah, ‘whatever is a man’s faith or the sure Idea in him, that he

becomes’(52).”









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The mind can make a m ental resolution bu t that falls short of faith. Thus it is necessary

to develop a higher type of faith, a ‘soul-faith’, which in Sri Aurobindo’s terminology is,

“..an a ssent of the wh ole being to the tru th seen by it or offered to its acceptance, and its

central working is a faith of the soul in its own w ill to be and a ttain and become and its

idea of self and things and its knowledge, of which the belief of the intellect, the heart’s

consent and the desire of the life mind to possess and realise are the outward

figures.“This soul faith, in some form of itself, is indispensable to the action of the being

and withou t it man cannot move a single pace in life, much less take any step forward to

a yet u nrea lised per fection (53).”

“This faith will be more and more justified as the higher knowledge opens, we shall

begin to see the great and small significances that escaped our limited mentality and

faith will pass into know ledge (54).”

Chapter IX

A programme for pursuit of research in integral health

A programme for pursuit of research in Integral Health should be essentially a

consciousness approach structured in accordance with the planes and parts of the

consciousness. Sri Aurobind o has provided an exhaustive source for such an endeavour

by mapping and charting ranges of consciousness that include and surpass the ordinary

mental consciousness.

A programme at the physical plane

The designing of a programme at the physical plane merits a special position not only

because we want to lower the morbidity risk or delay mortality but also due to thephysical frame which has to support the efflorescence of new levels of consciousness.

Besides, whatever the therapeutic modality – pharmacology, placebo action or use of

spiritual energy; healing to be effective needs to be ultimately concretised at the physical

plane.

In consonance with the principles of Integral Yoga, it seems that the basic research at the

physical plane of consciousness should be aimed to manifest and develop the ‘body-

consciousness’ which can act independent of or even against the mind. Regarding the

body-consciousness Sri Aurobindo writes

“..it has habits, impulses, instincts, an inert yet effective will which differs from that of

the rest of our being and can resist it and cond ition its effectiveness (55).”

“In many things, in matters of health and illness for instance, in all automatic functions,

the body acts on its own and is not a servant of the mind . If it is fatigued , it can offer a

passive resistance to the mind 's will. It can cloud the m ind w ith tamas, inertia, dullness,

fumes of the subconscient so that the mind cannot act. The arm lifts, no d oubt, wh en it

gets the suggestion, but at first the legs do not obey when they are asked to walk; they

have to learn how to leave the crawling attitude and movement and take up the erect









Integral Health


and ambulatory habit.When you first ask the hand to draw a straight line or to play

mu sic, it can’t do it and won’t do it. It has to be schooled, trained, taugh t, and a fterwards

it does automatically what is required of it.All this proves that there is a body-

consciousness which can do things at the m ind's order, but h as to be awakened , trained ,

mad e a good and conscious instrum ent. It can even be so trained that a mental will or

suggestion can cure the illness of the body (56).”

Though the development of the ‘body-consciousness’ is basically a subjective,

introspective and yogic endeavour; health professionals also have their share in this

task, the foremost of which is to devise ways and strategies so that health-intervention

techniques cause the least disrup tion of the body. Happ ily this trend is already

perceptible in the proliferation of non-invasive investigative techniques and in the

development of virtually non-surgical approaches where major surgery was earlier

unavoidable e.g. the recent techniques for the removal of stones from th e gall-bladder.

The sole aim of these new techniques is to distu rb the bod y as little as possible.

Even non-conventional app roaches need subtler m odifications e.g. it is more acceptable

to stimu late acupu ncture points without pu ncturing the skin so that there is no breach in

the first line defense of the body . Needless to say, such ‘external’ techniques of

preserving the intactness and integrity of the body do not per se develop body-

consciousness but it definitely facilitates the pursuit of such an endeavour. This is an

exciting area of future research.

It is a fact that du ring the last 50 years, we have injected the body with a massive array

of chemicals through drugs, artificial food additives, pesticides and environmental

pollutants. Never before in the last 10,000 years of recorded history, had the human

frame to undergo such a chemical onslaught. Today we are facing the consequences in

the form of a defective immune system that is facilitating new diseases like AIDS. We

cannot also vouchsafe that mass-scale immunisation programmes are not seedinghumans with RNA to form latent pro-viruses which when activated can cause a variety

of chronic diseases as Rheu matoid arth ritis, Multiple sclerosis, S.L.E, Parkinson ’s d isease

or even cancer (57). This is a vast area of enquiry and research. To reduce the risk of

chemical intoxication of the body, it would also be necessary to make a reappraisal of

the seed-ideas inherent in healing systems like Homeopathy, Acupuncture and allied

systems where the bod y is d isturbed as little as p ossible. These systems need not clash

with modern medicine but need to be planned in a proper hierarchy of therapeutic

mod alities so that ou r basic aim of preserving the integrity of the body as far as possible,

is fulfilled. The program for Integral Health need s an exhau stive elabora tion in this line.

An advanced area of research ensues when we are ready to replace the prevailingdeterm inism of the bodily systems by a higher d eterminism. We can then learn to redu ce

our sleep and food to a hygienic minimum and be able to consciously draw from the

universal life-energy.

The most heu ristic value of research lies in the stud y of how a change in consciousness

can effect mutant changes in the form. Anthropological speculation postulates that the

ape-man did not stand up after his brain-size increased – indeed it was the other way



Integral Health


round. The ape-man had first stood upright from his quadripedal position enabling his

upper limbs to be free for instinctive innovations necessary for survival and

subsequently the capacity of the brain increased. Thus the physical changes had

preceded the other manifestations of the change in consciousness. Integral Yoga points

out that after the mind has fully blossomed in the evolutionary scheme, there will be a

paradigm sh ift and this transformation of the consciousness will precede and determ ine

the mu tant changes in the body.

It is interesting that anthropologists have already begun to wonder why the human

structure has certain oddities that serve no physiological purpose – like the excess fat in

female buttocks or the unduly large size of female breasts (58). It is more interesting that

the Mother has described how th e future hu man bod y will free itself from such odd ities

(59) and instead have certain other u nique qualities like (60):

a) lightness with no feeling of inertia or unconsciousness,

b) adaptability in all conditions,

c) plasticity, obviating the necessity of du ll resistance tha t leaves one

battered,

d) lum inosity that vibra tes at the cellular level.

Of course, such developments may not be visible immediately (61). Yet we must make

ourselves ready to p articipate in this evolutionary progress envisaged by Sri Aurobind o.

This is a positive area of future research that surpasses the limits of physiology and

psychology.

II

A programme at the vital plane

The delineation of the vital plane as a separate plane of consciousness that is radically

different from the mental p lane (though su perficially very mu ch mixed u p) is one of the

most significant contributions of the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo. The vital is the

reference point of all our conflicting emotions, passions, lusts, desires. The novel and

innovative concept of the vital provides exciting new areas of research, some of which

are enumerated below.

a) Modification of the body-mind concept

The concept of psychosomatic diseases has led to a reappraisal of the body-mind

relationship. Western medicine still follows the Cartesian model where the bodyrepresents one functioning system and the mind another. Each system may affect the

other but each essentially gives rise to different dimensions of diseases. However, in

accordance with the insights provided by Integral psychology a true understanding of

the personality would need a ‘body-vital-mind’ axis mediated through a ‘soul-centre’.

Such an axis needs to be researched and elaborated for use as a pragmatic model in

health.









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b) The vital versus rationality

Whether it be in the field of education or in the field of cognitive psychotherapy, a

scientific approach recommends the control of the vital through rationality. Integral

yoga points out tha t this endeavou r cannot be ord inarily successful due to natu re of the

vital. The vital is never satisfied and d oes not obey the mind – indeed the vital part of the mind (the vital mind) can rationalise excellently for self-deception (note that the vital

is not the Freudian Id). Instead of merely attempting to control our emotions by reason,

Integral yoga advocates a development, discrimination and discipline of the emotional

(vital) and rational (mental) parts of our being subjecting them to the rule of a higher,

fourth-dimensional, synthetically integrative principle called the Psychic being. The

disciplining of the vital is thus an important topic for research that has an enormous

bearing on p ractical life.

c) The vital versus morality

Mental health professionals stress the necessity of moral values to discipline the vital. In

fact, the lack of moral values is cited to be one of the reasons of the present-day

degradation of society. This is an issue that needs serious consideration. From the

perspective of Integral yoga, there is both a psychological and axiological aspect of this

problem. From the psychological viewpoint, the vital can never be disciplined by

moralistic sermons. That is why superficial counselling can only be palliative but never

decisive. Secondly, from the axiological point of view, Integral yoga posits that moral

values are man-made and transitional. It describes the trans-valuation from the infra-

ethical to the ethical and thence to the supra-ethical levels of experience. With a

progressive change of consciousness, newer values are being created wh ile earlier values

are taken up to be transformed or upgraded by the workings of a higher consciousness.

Our present concept of moral values has only a transient significance that needs to be

surpassed at a certain point of personality development. Thus the scope of moralisticcounselling programmes will be no more effective today and needs a reappraisal. This

provides a new thought for research.

d) The vital energy

Usually, when people interact between themselves at the ordinary level of

consciousness, there is a great deal of interchange of the lower vital vibrations.

However, one can learn to rise up and act from the level of the higher vital so that one

can draw sustenance from the universal life-energy. Little children have this capacity.

That is wh y it so comm on for paed iatricians to see children w hose paren ts comp lain that

they take inadequ ate food and yet seem to have no d earth of energy. What is instinctivein children has to be cultivated in adult life by strengthen ing our intuitive perception.

The vital energy can also be manipulated to effectuate therapeutic results as in pranic

therapy and faith-healing. Besides, higher energies like the spiritual energy can also

have a tr ansmu ting effect on the v ital energy. The vital thus bears an enorm ous heu ristic

potential in research.



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III

A programme at the mental plane

Integral yoga considers that the mind is not an organ of knowledge but an organiser of

knowledge; it does not produce thoughts but expresses thoughts that enter into it from

the universal mind. The mind is not only meant for expressing thoughts but also for

expressing higher faculties that surpass thought. Indeed, when our rational mind is

sufficiently developed, we are ready for the concept of the silent mind (62). The

cultivation of silence helps one to free oneself from the fixations to the different parts of

our nature, releases the mind from habitual thought-patterns and makes it receptive to

truly innovative ideas. It also prepares the being for the next phase – a development of

the supra-rational faculties of knowledge of which the faculty of intuition is of foremost

importance.

The concept of the silent mind and the effects of communication in silence are already

find ing their w ays in contemporary psychology as an effective tool for self-developm ent

and therapy. The relevance of intuition is also slowly grow ing. Sri Aurobindo in the Eastand Bergson in the West have described how the Age of Intuition will surpass the

present Age of Reason and increase our repertoire of knowledge. While reason d iscovers

the relational aspects of existence – the logically definable intelligent structure of the

wor ld — intu ition illumines the non -relational aspect of existence – the theologically

indefinab le non-verbal factor in the na ture of things (63),(64).

We have mom entary glimpses of intuition bu t we do not know the art of developing this

faculty as there are many variables that obstruct or dilute the intuitive flow. A

development of the power of intuition can give us a penetrative insight into many

spheres of life where reason has its limitations. An overview of research in physical,

behavioural and medical sciences shows that it is permeated by occasional brilliantintuitive insights while the rest is only their amplification. Many a scientist and

mathematician has acknowledged the role of intuition and many a doctor can describe

how intuition helped him to arrive at a correct diagnosis or at the correct drug. The

conscious cultivation of supra-rational faculties thus provides the basis for future action

and needs an in-depth probing.

Another line of research at the mental plane would be to integrate the functioning’s of

the two hemispheres. The modern exposition of the laterality of cerebral hemispheric

functioning was known intuitively to yogic psychology. Sri Aurobindo pointed out as

early as 1910 that the bias of the left hemisphere in asserting the critical and analytical

faculties had to be balanced by the synthetic and comp rehensive functioning of the righthemisphere. The integration of the two hemispheres at the p hysical level paves the way

for a synthesis of cognition and creativity at a higher level so that there is a fulfilment in

life (65).

One of the most important research activities at the mental plane would be a radical

reapp raisal of conventional psychoanalytic techniques. While the Freudian subconsicous

is the source of our atavistic and biological drives, the mystic’s superconscious is the







Integral Health


source of our highly evolved imp ulses. Man d oes not only suffer from rep ression of his

biological drives but can also suffer from repression of the sublime (66). Integral Yoga

strives to manifest new planes of consciousness wh ich obviously cannot be components

of the subconscious bu t are derived from the sup erconscious (67). From the viewp oint

of Integral yoga, it is always safer to explore the subconscious only when one has got

entry into the subliminal or the superconscious (68). Sri Aurobindo points out that the

animal in us has its lair of retreat in the dense jungle of the subconscious. The

subconscious supports all that clings and refuses to change, viz. the mechanical

recurrences of unintelligent thought, persistent obstinacies of feeling, sensations,

impulses and uncontrolled fixities of character. A mere mental scrutiny can give some

insights into the working of the subconscious. Psychoanalysis can achieve that much.

The illumination and control of the subconscious necessary for the transformation of

personality can only be from the subliminal or the sup erconscious ranges.

A programme for personality development

It is interesting that in addition to the psychoanalytic, behavioural and humanistic

schools of psychology, a fourth movement of transpersonal psychology is graduallyemerging which redefines psychology as the science of consciousness and stresses an

approach to personal growth based on a ‘self-knowledge’(69). The concept of ‘personal

growth’ acquires a different dimension in the light of Sri Aurobindo's teachings. The

Western world measures personal growth in relation to the development of the ego and

individuality. The Integral yoga of Sri Aurobindo stresses on an ‘inner growth’ in

consciousness beyond the ego-state and this represents a total reversal of the normal

ego-bound state of consciousness. Such a pursuit can be effectively executed if the

separate p arts of the p ersonality (the physical, vital and mental) are extricated from their

surface combinations, developed as individual entities and then integrated around a

fourth-dimensional ego-surpassing centre – the Psychic being. It is an integrated

personality which can then rise up the hierarchy of consciousness and can continuallyexceed itself by integrating with still higher and unmanifest factors. Thus, Integral Yoga

gives a new perspective to personality development. An integrated personality is a

necessary component for the attainm ent of Integral Health.

Chapter X

Yoga and healing

The Mother says, “An illness of the body is always th e outer expression an d translation

of a disorder, a disharmony in the inner being; unless this inner disorder is healed, the

outer cure cannot be total and p ermanent (70).”

How can one be aware of this disharmony while it is still in a nascent stage? The

cultivation of an integrated personality facilitates the development of an inner master

harmony making one aware of subtle disruptive forces within or outside the being

wh ich h elps to ward off illness.

Disruptive forces within the body











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The Mother explained that each spot of the bod y is symbolic of an inner movem ent in a

world of subtle correspond ences.

“The particular place in the body affected by an illness is an index to the nature of the

inner disharmony that has taken place…If one could perfectly understand where the

mistake is, find out what has been unreceptive, open that part and put the force and the

light there, it would be possible to re-establish in a moment the harmony that has been

disturbed and the illness wou ld immed iately go.

“The origin of an illness may be in the mind ; it may be in the vital; it m ay be in an y of

the pa rts of the being. One and th e same illness may be d ue to a variety of causes; it may

spring in d ifferent cases from d ifferent sources of disharm ony.And there may be too an

appearance of illness where there is no real illness at all. In that case, if you are

sufficiently conscious, you will see that there is just a friction somewhere, some halting

in the movement, and by setting it right you will be cured at once (71).”

Disruptive forces outside the body

The physical body is surrounded by a subtle, protective, nervous envelope where

symptoms of illness can manifest before they are visible in the gross body. The Mother

elaborates,

“It is a subtle body and yet almost visible. In density something like the vibrations that

you see around a very hot and steaming object, it emanates from the physical body and

closely covers it. All communications with the exterior world are made through this

medium, and it is this that must be invaded and penetrated first before the body can be

affected . If this envelope is absolutely strong and intact, you can go into places infested

with the worse of diseases, even plague and cholera, and remain quite immune. It is a

perfect protection against all possible attacks of illness, so long as it is whole and entire,thoroughly consistent in its composition, its elements in faultless balance. The body is

built up, on the one side, of a material basis, but rather of material conditions than a

ph ysical matter, on the other , of the vibrations of our p sychological states. Peace and

equanimity and confidence, faith in health, undisturbed repose and cheerfulness and

bright gladness constitute this element in it and give it strength and substance. It is a

very sensitive medium with facile and quick reactions; it readily takes in all kinds of

suggestions and these can rapidly change and almost remould its condition. A bad

suggestion acts very strongly upon it; a good suggestion operates in the contrary sense

with the same force. Depression and discouragement h ave a very adverse effect; they cut

out holes in it, as it were, in its very stuff, render it weak and unresisting and open to

hostile attacks an easy p assage (72).”

“If one becomes aw are of the weak spot in one’s envelope, a few minu te’s concentration,

a call to the force, an inner peace is sufficient for it to be all right, get cured, and for the

un toward thing to van ish (73).”

From disequilibrium to harmony







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In the final analysis, disease is a disequilibrium at one plane of consciousness that has to

be corrected by moving into a h igher plane of harm ony (74). This movemen t might m eet

with resistance resulting in chronicity of the illness and frequent relapses or

exacerbations. One m ight consent not to bud ge at all from one's position; not to pu rsue

an evolutionary movement in consciousness – one prefers to be vanquished by disease

and d eath. The Mother describes this in her own characteristic way.

“It is simply when one sees the disequilibrium and is capable of re-establishing the

equilibrium that one is cured. Only there are two very different categories you come

across... Some hold on to their d isequilibrium – they hold on to it, cling to it, don’t want

to let it go. Then you may try as hard as you will, even if you re-establish the

equilibrium the next m inute they get into d isequilibrium once again, because they love

that. They say:

‘Oh no! I don’t want to be ill’, but within them there is something which holds firmly to

some disequilibrium, which does not want to let it go. There are other people, on the

contrary, who sincerely love equilibrium, and directly you give them the power to get

back their equilibrium, the equilibrium is re-established and in a few minutes they are

cured. Their knowledge was not sufficient or their power was not sufficient to re-

establish order – disequilibrium is a disorder. But if you intervene, if you have the

knowledge and re-establish the equilibrium, quite naturally the illness will disappear;

and those who allow you to do it get cured. Only those who do not let you do it are not

cured and this is visible, they d o not allow you to act, they cling to the illness (75).”

Causes of disequilibrium

It is interesting how The Mother analyses the forces of disequilibrium that cause

illnesses. She speaks of a triple equilibrium – physical, vital and mental and their

combinations.

“First of all, from the point of view of the body – just the body – there are two kinds of

disequilibrium: functional and organic. I do not know if you are aw are of the d ifference

between the two; but you have organs and then you have all the parts of your body:

nerves, muscles, bones and all the rest. Now, if an organ by itself is in disequilibrium, it

is an organic disequilibrium, and you are told: that organ is ill or perhaps it is badly

formed or it is not norm al or an accident has occurred to it. But it is the organ th at is ill.

But the organ may be in a very good condition, all your organs may be in a very good

condition, but there is still an illness as they do not function properly: there is a lack of

balance in the fun ctioning. You m ay have a very good stomach, but sud denly something

happens to it and it does not function properly; or the body may also be excellent, butsomething happens to it and it does not work properly any more. Then you have an

illness due to functional imbalance not organic imbalance.

“Generally, illnesses due to functional imbalance are cured much more quickly and

easily than the others.







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“Most often when you are young and leading a normal life, the imbalance is purely

functional. There are only a few poor people who for one reason or other have had an

accident or imbalance before their birth, these carry with them something that is much

more difficult to cure (not tha t it is incurab le; in theory, there is nothing incurable), but it

becomes more difficult.

“Good. Now what are the causes of this imbalance, whatever it may be? As I told you

just now, the causes are innumerable; because, first of all, there are all the inner causes,

that is, those personal to you, and then all the external causes, those that come to you

from ou tside. That m akes two major categories.

“The internal causes:

“We said: you have a brain, lungs, a heart, a stomach, a liver, etc. If each one does its

du ty and w orks normally and if all move together in harmony at a given mom ent and in

the right w ay (note that it wou ld be very complicated if you w ere obliged to th ink of all

that, and I am afraid things w ould not go right all the time! Fortunately, it does not need

our conscious thinking), adm itting how ever they are in good harm ony with one another,

good friends, in p erfect agreem ent, and each one fulfilling its task, its movem ent at the

right time, in tune with the rest, neither too soon nor too late, neither too fast nor too

slow, indeed, every one going all right, then you are marvelously well! Suppose now

that one of them, for some reason or other, happens to be in a bad mood: it does not

work w ith the necessary energy, at the required mom ent it goes awhile on strike. Do not

believe that it alone will fall ill: the whole system will go wrong and you will feel

altogether unwell. And if, unfortunately, there is a vital imbalance, that is, a

disappointment or too violent an emotion or too strong a passion or something else

upsetting your vital, that comes in addition. And if furthermore your thoughts roam

about and you begin to have dark ideas and formulate frightful things and make

catastrophic form ations, then after tha t you are sure to fall ill altogether ...

“What is need ed (I shall explain it to you later on) is to give them a lesson as one d oes to

little children. When they begin indulging in unhealthy fancies (indeed it is then the

occasion to say it) you must tell them: no, it is not like that the work is to be done, it is

the other way! Suppose for example, your heart begins to throb madly; then you must

make it calm, you tell it that this is not the way to act, and at the same time (solely to

help it) you take in long very regular rhythmic breaths, that is, the lung becomes the

mentor of the heart and teaches it how to work p roperly.

“And then there are internal conflicts. These are quarrels. There are internal quarrels

among the different parts of yourself. Supposing there is an organ (it happens veryoften) that needs rest and there is another that wants action, and both at the same time.

How are you going to manage it? They begin to quarrel. If you d o wha t one wants, the

other protests! And so you have to find a midd le term to pu t them in harm ony.

"All these are fun ctional imbalances.



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"There is an aspiration within you (I am n ow speaking of peop le who d o yoga or at any

rate know what the spiritual life is and try to walk on the path), within you there is a

part of the being – either mental or vital or something even physical – that has

understood well, has much aspiration, its special aptitud es, that receives the forces well

and is making good progress. And then there are others that cannot, others still that

don 't want to (that of course is very bad), but there are yet others that wan t to very mu ch

but cannot, do not have the capacity, are not ready. So there is something that rises

upward and something that does not move. That causes a terrible imbalance. And

usually this translates itself into some illness or other, for you are in such a state of inner

tension between something that cannot or something that clings, that does not want to

move and something else that wants to: that produces a frightful unease and the result

usu ally is an illness.

“You see there are reasons! – many reasons, numberless reasons. For all these things

combine in an extraordinarily comp lex way, and in order to know, in order to be able to

cure an illness, one must find out its cause, not its microbe. For it happens that (excuse

me, I hope there are no d octors here!), it happ ens that w hen m icrobes are there, they find

out magnificent remedies to kill the microbes, but these remedies cure some and make

others much more ill! Nobody knows why....Perhaps I know why. Because the illness

had another cause than the purely ph ysical one; there was another; the first was only an

outer expression of a different disorder; and unless you touched that, discovered that

disorder, never would you be able to prevent the illness from coming. And to discover

the disorder, you must have an extensive occult knowledge and also a deep knowledge

of all the inner workings of each one...

“Now there are external causes that come and bring complications.

“If you w ere in a perfectly harmon ious environment wh ere everything was full of a total

and perfect goodwill, then evidently you could lay the blame only on yourself. But thedifficulties that are with in are also without. You can, to a certain extent, establish an

inner equilibrium, but you live in surroundings full of imbalance. Unless you shut

yourself up in an ivory tower (which is not only difficult but not always

recommend able), you are obliged to receive what comes from ou tside. You give and you

receive; you breathe in and absorb. So there is a mixture an d that is why one can say that

all is contagious, for you live in a state of ceaseless vibrations. You give out your

vibrations and receive also the vibrations of others, and these vibrations are of a very

complex kind...

“But that is not the only thing.

“Unhappily there is much bad will in the world; and among the different kinds of bad

will there is the small type that comes from ignorance and stup idity, there is the big type

that comes from wickedness and there is the formidable one that is the result of anti-

divine forces. So, all that is in the atmosphere (I am not telling you this to frighten you,

for it is well und erstood that one should fear nothing – but it is there all the same) and

these things attack you, sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally.



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Unintentionally, through other peop le: others are attacked, they don't know , they pass it

on w ithout even being aware of it (76)”.

Thus, healing is a complex process. We may n ot always be aware of the various factors

which operate to disturb the balance of health. In fact, many times, it is only an

appearance of health that a person given. When this disequilibrium is apparent

physically it is called d isease. The various th erapeu tic method s in their own ways try to

re-establish harmony though it might not go back to the original state. A perfect

harm ony how ever can only be established when the entire being is integrated around its

central tru th (Psychic being) and

“..through the pressure of light and knowledge and spiritual force you re-establish the

harm ony, the p roper functioning (77).”

The yogic model of health is related to individual self-development. Sri Aurobindo

himself pointed out that an ideal scheme of individual self-development needs to be

supplemented by a w orking know ledge at the social level (78). His teachings study this

issue from the perspective of the evolution of social consciousness. This provides a

background for understanding health in relation to socio-cultural factors along the

continuum of consciousness.

Chapter XI

Culture and integral health

The holistic concept of health, has emerged in mod ern m edicine as a reaction against the

exaggerated importance given to the biological paradigm. This has facilitated the grow th

of several allied disciplines that contribute to health. Medical anthropology is one such

discipline dealing with the influence of bioecological and socio-cultu ral factors on healthand disease. The cross-cultural study of medical systems has become an important

subject of research, covering topics like dynamics of health-seeking behaviour, systems

of healing, culture-bound syndromes, drinking patterns, deinstitutionalisation and

altered states of sensorium like trance and spirit possession.

The concept of culture continues to be complex, subtle and elusive. It is a variegated

matrix of psychological, sociological and biological forces. It preserves the society by

providing an over-all consistency in patterns and components mediated through

culture-specific value systems, behavioural expressions and selected ideas which are in

turn translated into distinctive symbols(79).

Any understanding of culture and its influences must have a theoretical base of

psychological, social and metaphysical ideas. The initial attempt of psychoanalysts to

extend their notion of mind and mental processes to understand culture proved

inadequate. Subsequent research focused on important areas like social maintenance

systems, thought processes, belief systems, ethnographic data, linguistics, metaphoric

linkages, ritual sequences and private an d pu blic symbols. Yet all these focus on ly on th e

externalities of culture and are inadequate to explain th e march of civilization th rough





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the vicissitudes of time. A consciousness-perspective of culture would be able to grasp

the und er-currents that und erlie its outer appearances.

Culture: a consciousness perspective

Sri Aurobind o elaborates,

“The culture of a peop le may be roughly d escribed as the expression of a consciousness

of life which formulates itself in three aspects. There is a side of thought, of ideal, of

upward will and the soul’s aspiration; there is a side of creative self-expression and

appreciative aesthesis, intelligence and imagination; and there is a side of practical and

outward formulation. A people’s philosophy and higher thinking gives us its mind’s

pu rest, largest and most general formu lation of its consciousness of life and its dynam ic

view of existence. Its religion formulates the most intense form of its upward will and

the soul's aspirations towards the fulfillment of its highest ideal and impulse. Its art,

poetry, literature provide for us the creative expression and impression of its intuition,

imagination, vital turn and creative intelligence. Its society and politics provide in their

forms an outward frame in which the more external life works out what it can of itsinspiring ideal and of its special character and nature under the difficulties of the

environmen t. We can see how mu ch it has taken of the crude material of living, what it

has d one w ith it, how it has shaped as m uch of it as possible into some reflection of its

guiding consciousness and deeper spirit. None of them express the whole secret spirit

behind, bu t they d erive from it their main ideas an d their cultural character”(80).

It follows therefore that the mental life of man is not a single but a stratified

phenomenon. Sri Aurobindo cautions that the word ‘culture’ is

“..still a little equivocal and capable of a wider or a narrower sense according to our

ideas an d p red ilections (81).”

He a rranges the d ifferent strata of the mind as (82):

1) the lower and fundamental stratum in the scale of evolution, nearest to the vital which

has two aspects;

(a) the sensational-emotional mentality, concerned with senses, sensations and emotions

an d

(b) the dynam ic mentality concerned w ith the organs of action and the field of conduct.

2) A higher stratum having tw o aspects;

(a) the ethical mentality concerned w ith the culture and worship of Right and

(b) the aesthetic mentality concerned with th e culture and worship of Beauty.

3) A still higher stratu m w here Reason along w ith the Intelligent w ill govern s life.







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Due to its inheren t tendency for lop-sided developm ent all the aspects of mental life are

not equally developed leading to the biased emergence of ‘partial culture types’. Thus

either the aesthetic or the ethical or rational side is pur sued exclusively w hile the other

sides are neglected or subordinated. Sri Aurobind o cites some examples of such `partial

culture types' from European history (83):

(a) predominantly aesthetic culture — ancient Athens and Italy of Renaissance,

(b) pred ominantly ethical culture — repu blican Rome and Sparta,

(c) predom inantly rational culture — nineteenth centu ry Europe.

The exclusive development of a particular aspect in preference to the other aspects is a

cause of disequilibrium which when pushed to the extreme may even lead to the

dissolution of a culture. This is exemplified in the case of ancient Athens which

exhausted its creative vitality within one century because it could not balance its

aesthetic sense by discipline of character.

In fact, the d isharmony in development of the ‘partial culture typ es’ is most conspicuou s

in the u nw arranted conflict between ‘culture’ and ‘conduct’ as conduct is also a part of

the culture (84). Sri Aurobindo emphasises that neither the ethical being nor the

aesthetic being is the w hole man, they are m erely two powerful elements. The aesthetic

man feels that his spontan eous artistic expression is liable to be op pressed and inhibited

by the ethical ru le. The ethical man considers the artist to be lax, emollient,

undisciplined and a victim of passions. Sri Aurobindo assures that they are

complementary to each other.

“..we can enlarge the sense of ethics by the sense of beauty and delight and introduceinto it to correct its tendency of hardn ess and austerity the element of gentleness, love,

amenity, the hedon istic side of morals; we can steady, guide and strengthen the d elight

of life by the introduction of the necessary will and austerity and self-discipline which

will give it enduran ce and purity. These two p owers of our psychological being, wh ich

represent in us th e essential principle of energy and the essential principle of delight, –

the Indian terms are more profound and expressive, Tapas and Ananda, – can be thus

helped by each other, the one to a r icher, the other to a g reater self-expression (85).”

The reconciliation between ethics and aesthetics can be effective only if they are

subjected to a higher pr inciple of reason and intelligent will. Yet, a pu rely rational

culture has its limitations.

(a) Firstly, as Sri Aurobindo describes, reason proceeds by analysis and division and

assembles its facts to form a whole; but in the assemblages so formed there are

opposites, anomalies, logical incompatibilities and the natural tendency of reason is to

affirm some and negate others which contradict its chosen conclusions so as to form a

flawlessly logical system (86). Reason can coun ter a thesis by a b rilliant ly analytical anti-

thesis and can produce multiple eclectic combinations but no globally integral synthesis.











Integral Health


(b) Secondly, the root powers of human life have their irrational and supra-rational

sources too. On one hand , in sp ite of his scientific acum en, man is subject to his interests,

needs, instincts, passions, desires, prejudices, superstitions, taboos, traditional ideas and

opinions – a condition described by Sri Aurobindo as the irrationality of human

existence (87). On the other hand, despite being partially controlled by reason, certain

elements of our existence – life-energy, imagination, the ethical and the aesthetic needs

of man seem to point out that there is something greater than reason. Sri Aurobindo

describes tha t an extension of psychological experience was therefore logically necessary

to discover faculties which could surpass reason (88). This quest led to the Yogic

discovery of the sup ra-rationa l faculties like intu ition.

It follows therefore as a natural corollary that rational culture is not the summit of social

evolution but can be surpassed by yet higher principles so as to pave the way for a

future sp iritual age.

Culture and health

What is the relation of health with this dyn amic concept of consciousness-app roach to

culture? This approach evokes certain seed-ideas which need to be pursued and

researched:

(a) The conflict between ‘aesthetics’ and ‘ethics’ has a direct bearing on personality

development and mental health. As beauty and pleasure go together, the aesthetic man

is essentially hedonistic. There are however grades of hedonism. While there is a

hedon istic side of morals expressed th rough gentleness, love and amenity, there is also a

hedon istic side of the vital consciousness expressed through the seeking of pleasure by

whatever means one has at one’s disposal. At a cruder level, this is manifest in the

search for substances that help to avoid pain. As a result, we are left with anovermedicated society where chemical agents are used to cope with a growing number

of personal and social problems. The abu se of narcotics and psychotropic dru gs is also,

in a way, one of the end -results of a hedonistic cultu re (89).

On the other hand, the exclusively ethical man appears to be dry and dogmatic. A

purely ethical set of rules would be impractical at the individual as well as collective

level. Thus, at the individual level, a forceful suppression of desires may cause a

rebound. At the collective level, the imposition of an external law like prohibition of

alcohol may lead to an increase in illicit liquor trafficking. Unlike Indian culture the

over-emphasis on ethics in the West has led to `guilt' as an important symptom of

depression and obsessive compulsive neurosis there. In India, the spiritual culturepoints towards a supra-ethical dimension that surpasses the notion of guilt. While the

West stresses on the sin-righteousness dimension, Indian spirituality stresses on the

‘knowledge-ignorance’ dimension where ‘ignorance’ is a type of lower knowledge

wh ich is unaw are of unity that pervad es all creation.

(b) The progress of culture necessitates an upward movement. The cruder elements of

life have to be refined, shaped, sublimated, reconciled and transformed so that we can







Integral Health


lay claim on an accomplished humanity. If this creative pursuit is not undertaken, man

will not be fulfilled. This will result in an existential crisis and an outburst of deviant

activities and perversities creating n ewer prototypes of maladap tive personalities.

(c) Progress is the key-word of existence. What happens if civilization refuses to

progress? Sri Aurobind o warns u s that two possibilities might ensue (90):

1) a stagnation into a mechanised life w ithout ideals and

2) the resurgence of the pr imitive barbarism in a new form.

This state of affairs is not conducive to Integral health. We are already witnessing the

rudimentary beginnings of such a phase of devaluation manifested in alienation,

boredom, meaninglessness in life, unexplained teenage murders and suicides, pact

suicides by multiple partners, killing binges, shifting patterns of drug abuse, rising

fanaticism, terrorism and suicide squads and in the shameless exploitation of eco-

systems. Thus the interaction of culture and health has to surpass the contemporary

paradigm of medical anthropology by taking into cognizance the progress of

consciousness through the up liftment and refinemen t of the elements that contribute to

the growth and expansion of culture. Inhibitory mechanisms at different points of this

flow of consciousness can result in disequilibrium and devaluation of life – a state that is

not in consonance with our ideal of Integral health. The scope for growth in culture

extend s beyond our biological paradigms.

Chapter XII

Society and integral health

The influence of social factors on health is already established. The prominent socialvariables that outwardly influence health, both physically and psychologically are:

socio-economic status, age, sex, race, religion, marital status, family, life-events,

urbanisation, migration and ecological issues.

The economic factor

The most important factor underlying most of the social variables, seems to be, directly

or indirectly, the economic factor. The economic principle rules modern life with the

result that commercialism is explicit in all facets of health ranging from clinical

symptoms, behavioural problems of growing children to issues as divergent as health

policies, distribution of services, cost-benefit ratio and medical insurance. Even the

results of scientific research have to be in conformity with the economic perspective. A

classic example is the case of the International pilot study on Schizophrenia conducted by

the WHO (91), where the prognosis of schizophrenia was found to be somewhat better

in ‘developing’ rather than ‘developed ’ countries. Though this study came in for a lot of

criticism of its modus operandi, the point is, that it used the terms ‘developing’ and

‘developed’ which are based on the economic factor. The fact that the ‘developing’

nations included cultures with ancient civilizations like the Indian and Chinese was an





Integral Health


aspect which should have been more relevant for describing the prognosis of

schizophrenia rather than the economic factor.

At different points in history different factors have dominated society. Today it is the

economic factor but non-economic factors dom inated life in the p ast and can again su rge

up to influence the life of the future society (92).

Sri Aurobind o points out,

“Commercialism is a modern sociological phenomenon; one might almost say, that is

the w hole phenomenon of modern society. The economic part of life is always importan t

to an organised community and even fundamental; but in former times it was simply

the first need, it was not that w hich occupied the though ts of men, gave the w hole tone

to the social life, stood at the head and was clearly recognised as stand ing at the root of

social principles. Ancient man was in the group primarily a political being, in the

Aristotelian sense, — as soon as he ceased to be primarily religious, – and to this

preoccupation he added, wherever he was sufficiently at ease, the preoccupation of

though t, art and culture. The economic imp ulses of the group w ere worked ou t as a

mechanical necessity, a strong desire in the vital being rather than a leading thought in

the m ind (93).”

The scenario has completely changed n ow in a w ay that,

“Even in the outlook on knowledge, thought, science, art, poetry and religion the

economic conception of life overrides all others (94).”

Sri Aurobindo warns that the passing away of the age of commercialism is not going to

be an easy or speedy task and that,

“The end of commercialism can only come about either by some unexpected

developm ent of commercialism itself or throu gh a reawakening of spirituality in the r ace

and its coming to its own by the su bordination of the p olitical and economic motives of

life to the sp iritual m otive (95).”

The individual and the society

While the Marxist conflict between classes within the society is an important social

consideration, the conflict between the individual and the collectivity is a more basic

issue. This conflict can be traced to the roots of civilization and has persisted in some

form or the other.

It is in the growth and development of individuals that the growth and development of

a particular society depends. Sri Aurobindo describes that the nature of the human

society is similar to the nature of the individual. Both have a soul which is their real self

and an external organic self of body, life and mind. Both trace a parallel curve of

evolution on earth and are d estined to arrive u ltimately at an identical goal. Yet it is the

individual who mu st take the lead (96).









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The individual cannot only belong to a social group but has also the capacity to

transcend all social groups.

“Individual man belongs not only to humanity in general, his nature is not only a

variation of hum an n ature in general, but h e belongs also to his race-type, his class-type,

his mental, vital, physical, spiritual type in which he resembles some, differs from

others. According to these affinities he tends to grou p himself in Churches, sects,

communities, classes, coteries, associations whose life he helps, and by them he enriches

himself and the life of the large economic, social and political group or society to which

he belongs. In modern times this society is the nation. By his enrichm ent of the national

life, though not in that way only, he helps the total life of human ity. But it m ust be noted

that he is not limited an d cannot be limited by an y of these groupings; he is not merely

the noble, merchant, warr ior, priest, scholar, artist, cultivator or artisan, not m erely the

religionist or the worldling or the politician. Nor can he be limited by his nationality; he

is not merely the Englishman or the Frenchman , the Japan ese or the Indian; if by a p art

of himself he belongs to the nation, by another he exceeds it and belongs to humanity.

And even there is a part of him, the greatest, which is not limited by humanity; he

belongs by it to God and to the world of all beings and to the godheads of the future. He

has indeed the tendency of self-limitation and subjection to h is environment an d group ,

but he has also the equally necessary tendency of expansion and transcendence of

environment and Group ings (97).”

The current era of globalisation seems to facilitate in the youth the capacity of

transcending conventional groups. Thus, while politicians differ, youth all over the

world dance to the same tunes of music and have even formulated a world anthem (‘we

are the world ’). Furtherm ore, there is world-wide awakening of an aspiration to

understand Indian Spirituality – a favourable sign that heralds the new age. However,

globalisation n ot only brings on a w ide-spread dissemination of the higher values of life,it also helps to spread equally the effects of commercialism and a degraded value

system. That is also why there is an increasing commonality in the maladies of the

mod ern age epitomised in the worldwide up surge in d rug abuse, suicide, violence, sex-

crimes, juvenile delinquency and AIDS. One cannot forego the benefits of globalisation

due to the presence of the disadvantages. Instead, the problem should be worked

through by social scientists, edu cationists and health p rofessionals so that the p rogress

of social evolution is not hamp ered.

The capacity to tran scend one's social groups does not d irectly link one to the wh ole of

mankind. One has to progressively move through larger and larger aggregates till he is

ready for the final universality (98). The family is one of the aggregates created for thevital-egoist need for man. As man progresses, such aggregates need to qualitatively

evolve else they lose their utility. This is also one of the reasons why many individuals

today find it d ifficult to cling to the convent ional family system.

However, the formation of larger social aggregates does not mean the abolition of

smaller aggregates. They can indeed be upgraded and integrated on the basis of a free

law of interchange and assimilation. We were ignorant of the consciousness und erlying



Integral Health


social processes. Thus we were unable to predict the phenomenon of ethnocentrism in

some parts of the globe would frustrate all attempts of the economic factor to bring in

social stability and social health (100).

Social evolution

The real determinant of social phenomena according to Sri Aurobindo is the

consciousness of the society, i.e. its soul-consciousness which governs both its surface

psychological movements as w ell as its external physical and m aterial phenom ena. This

`soul-consciousness' is generally veiled and grows as the society evolves. Sri Aurobind o

traces the course of social evolution through a sequence of three stages (101): infra-

rational, rational and supra-rational or spiritual. This sequence is based upon a

psychological persp ective derived from a su bjective concept of society. The succession of

these stages is not so simple or clear-cut. There is a considerable overlapping or

interfusion am ong them . Each stage has its characteristic tendencies with the tend encies

of the others involved in it. The sw itch-over from one p hase to the other is not au tomatic

but occurs through a set of transitional stages. Thus the infra-rational phase of society

moves towards the rational phase through the symbolic, typal and conventional stages(these transitional stages are named by Lamprecht and fully elaborated by Sri

Aurobind o) (102).

The infra-rational stage is one,

“..in which men h ave not yet learned to refer their life and action in its principles and its

forms to the judgment of the clarified intelligence; for they still act principally out of

their instincts, impulses, spontaneous ideas, vital intuitions or else obey a customary

response to desire, need and circumstance, – it is these things that are canalised or

crystallised in their social institutions. Man proceeds by various stages out of these

beginnings towards a rational age in which his intelligent will more or less developedbecomes the judge, arbiter and presiding motive of his thought, feeling and action, the

mou lder, destroyer and re-creator of his leading id eas, aims and intuitions (103).”

Thus the rational phase is marked by an era of individualism. In Europe, the

individualistic age began with a revolt of reason and culminated in the triumph of

physical science (104), leading to

“..the great endeavour to bring the power of the reason and intelligence to bear on all

that we are and do and to organise in their light and by their guiding force the entire

existence of th e race (105).”

How ever, reason also exerts its bias by considering the society as a m echanism that can

be manipulated according to the arbitrary dictates of intelligence. The result is an

exaggerated dep endence on systems and institutions, on legislation and adm inistration.

A powerful mechanical organisation is created at the cost of the ‘truth of life’ of an

organically self-developing comm unal soul in th e body of a free and living people. Sri

Aurobindo writes,













Integral Health


“It is this error of the scientific reason stifling the work of the vital and the spiritual

intuition under the dead weight of its mechanical method which is the weakness of

Europe and has deceived her aspiration and prevented her from arriving at the true

realisation of her ow n h igher ideals (106).”

Goswami points out that just now different nations are at different points along the

dimension of individua lism. While ind ividu alism has hard ly arrived in some countr ies,

some other countries like the USA are witnessing the negative aspects of being satu rated

with the ill-effects of individualism that has now degraded to selfishness and

competition (107). Dowsett explains that there is even a competition for this

individua lism thou gh paradoxically there is lack of freedom with the resu lt that we end

up in glorifying deviance, crudity and negative values (108). It is therefore not

surprising that the erosion of human values (represented in modern crises like drug

abuse, unexplained suicides, ruthless teenage violence) have reached a crescendo in

countries where th e saturation of individu alism h as mad e its negative aspects ostensible.

What is the remedy? Sri Aurobindo answers,

“Finally, if our analysis and forecast are correct, the human evolution must move

through a subjective towards a suprarational or spiritual age in which he will develop

progressively a greater spiritual, supra-intellectual and intuitive, perhaps in the end a

more than intuitive, a gnostic consciousness. He will be able to perceive a higher divine

end, a divine sanction, a d ivine light of guidance for all he seeks to be, think, feel and do,

and able, too, more and more to obey and live in this larger light and power. That will

not be done by any rule of infrarational religious impulse and ecstasy, such as

characterised or rather darkly illumined the obscure confusion and brute v iolence of the

Middle Ages, but by a higher spiritual living for which the clarities of the reason are a

necessary preparation and into which they too will be taken up , transformed , brought to

their invisible source (109).”

Perhaps the most important limitation of the rational age is its inability to synthesise

knowledge and will. Our greatest theories are too impractical to be effectively

concretised in reality and our strongest actions too impu lsive or immatu re to be p art of a

gestalt vision. It is only a spiritual sup ramen tal age where the two can be synthesised so

that kn owledge becomes effective and the w ill becomes increasingly luminous (110).

A growing subjectivism is a necessary transitional phase between the rational and

spiritual ages. Sri Aurobind o describes how this process develops.

“These ideas are likely first to declare their trend in philosophy, in psychologicalthinking, in the arts, poetry, painting, sculpture, mu sic, in the m ain idea of ethics, in the

application of subjective principles by thinkers to social questions, even perhaps, though

this is a perilous effort, to politics and economics, that hard refractory earth matter

which most resists all but a gross utilitarian treatment. There will be new unexpected

departures of science or at least of research, – since to such a turn in its most fruitful

seekings the orthodox still deny the name of science. Discoveries will be made that thin

the walls between soul and matter; attempts there will be to extend exact knowledge







Integral Health


into the psychological and p sychic realms w ith a realisation of the truth that these have

laws of their own which are other than physical, but not the less laws because they

escape the external senses and are infinitely plastic and su btle (111).”

The subjective turn is of course not th e final bu t the initial cond ition for the advent of the

spiritual age. There is however a danger that the subjective age may not be properly

utilised. This is likely to occur if the vital ego is mistaken for the real soul (a false

subjectivity), whether of the individual or of the collectivity. At the collective level, this

may lead to a situation resembling the N azi culture. At the individual level, this may be

reflected in the perversion to which the artistic and aesthetic man is more p rone, despite

being involved in creative activities. Sri Aurobindo warns us that we have to

differentiate very carefully between the true and false subjectivism (112). Creativity

enshrined in true subjectivity is the real harbinger of Integral Health in the life of the

society.

Chapter XIII

A western viewpoint

When a great thinker acts at the level of the mind an d beyond it, numerous possibilities

open up in the realm of thought and seed-ideas pour into receptive minds, irrespective

of the limitations of space and time. For the last two th ousand years, the world has been

fed and nourished with the vibrations of thought mainly set in motion by Buddha,

Socrates and Confucius, who were more or less contemporaries in the history of Time.

The present era is witnessing a new cycle of thought, consolidated by Sri Aurobindo,

wh ich points to a new curve of evolutionary consciousness. It is not surp rising that the

pressure of this new world of thoughts can influence receptive individuals. Thus it is

interesting to behold how George Vithoulkas, a contemporary Greek physician has

evolved a new model of health and disease that is in striking consonance with theconcept of Integral Health. It is also important to observe how a transpersonal

dimension of psychology is establishing itself in the USA which acknowledges two basic

concepts env isaged by Sri Aurobindo long back. Firstly, that psychology is a science of

consciousness and second ly, that there should be a Beyond-Ego principle around wh ich

personal growth is possible.

Vithoulkas model of health and disease (113)

The mechanistic way of thinking that developed in the individualistic age in the 18th

century considered the body to be a machine where a single causative agent could

produce an imbalance resulting in disease. This oversimplified model was replaced by

Virchow's functional model that explained d isease as a result of a d efect in cellular and

molecular functioning. The ‘diagnostic model’ which came later m aintained that disease

was a totality of symp toms and if the aetiology and pathogenesis were known , a rational

and specific treatment was p ossible. There was also a ‘curative’ mod el based on the

treatment of infectious diseases and vitamin deficiencies. In the recent past, H. Weiner

has conceived a complex model taking social, cultural and behavioural factors into

consideration (114). G.L. Engel has also formulated a comprehensive model that takes









Integral Health


into account the patient, the social context in which he lives and the complimentary

system dev ised by society(115).

As these models are inad equate, Vithoulkas has ventured to suggest a new m odel whose

main ideas are very similar to the Integral Health mod el. The differences are not points

of conflict bu t points that need to be refined, clarified and up dated in the light of yogic

psychology – a phenomenon in which the West lacks sufficient expertise. It would be

interesting to stud y some of the main ap horisms of Vithoulkas.

(a) “The human being is constructed of three basic planes of energy fields or

organisational patterns:

The Mental-Spiritual plane

The Emotional-Psychic plane

The Physical-material plane that includes instincts and the five senses.”

The lumping of the term ‘spiritua l’ with ‘men tal’ is a superficial Western conception that

needs to be corrected in the light of Yoga where ‘mind’ is not the summit but a

transitory phase of evolution. Again, linking the term ‘psychic’ with ‘emotional’ is a

common viewpoint if we ordinarily take ‘psychic’ to denote the ‘mind’ or the ‘desire-

soul’. Vithou lkas considers ‘psychic’ to be that part of the human being which is

expressed through the “subconscious and intuitive elements.” This is a confusing

concept that can be clarified by Sri Aurobindo’s views. In h is glossary, ‘psychic’ per tains

to the ‘Psychic Being’ which represents the Atman of the Indian tradition in its evolving

form, and is at a higher level of consciousness than the rest of the being. ‘Intution’ is a

function of the suprarational faculty and is represented in a deformed and deviated

form in the subconscious as ‘instincts’. The subconscious and the superconscious are twoseparate planes of consciousness and both of them exert their influences on the human

personality.

(b) “Each of these three planes – the Mental, Emotional and Physical – thou gh complex

in nature, constitute distinct and separate entities that differ essentially in their

vibrational frequencies and informational patterns...”

This observation of Vithoulkas is in conformity with Sri Aurobindo's teachings that the

three p lanes of existence can be separ ated from each other and progressively developed

as ind ividu al entities.

(c) “All evidence permits us to assume that there is not only a possibility but a necessity,

under certain circumstances, for the organism to ‘unite’ or ‘dissociate’ the complex

energy fields of the mental-emotional planes, or parts thereof, and the fields of the

physical body.”

Vithoulkas utilises this ‘dissociation’ to explain phenomena like sleep, somnambulism,

hypnosis, trance states and out-of-body experiences. This is true. However, in Integral







Integral Health


Health su ch a dissociation is necessary as an initial step to d ifferentiate and individua te

the three planes so that they can in turn be united around the ‘Psychic Being’ which

effects a true harm onisation of the personality.

Figure 4

(d) “All three levels of functioning are interconnected by a universal or cosmic energy

field w hich is neutral in character and quality. The function of this energy is to an imate

everything in the Universe, including the triplex of body, mind and emotions of the

human being. Each plane uses this basic energy and transforms it to suit its particular

needs and functions. This type of energy is the substratum through which all physical

manifestations can take place.”



Integral Health


We have already examined in details (vide supra) how Sri Aurobindo has explained the

formulation of the Universal Energy as Pranic Shakti in the embod ied hu man being. The

outer form ulations of the Pranic Shakti are utilised by different healing systems bu t the

pu re Pranic Shakti itself can be tapp ed and u sed more p owerfully for healing purposes.

Thus Vithoulkas, in expressing his ideas on the energy-fields, has intuitively touched

up on a very importan t area of yogic wisdom .

(e) “There are inherent tendencies within every human being to either attain a state of

‘Teleosis’ (‘synthesis’, ‘matur ity’) or su ccum b to the law of entrop y an d ‘aposynth esis’.”

There are two forces that are always acting upon the organism. One leads to

degeneration, dispersion and death – akin to the law of entropy. The other is the force of

life that strives for a state of ‘teliosis’ which, Vithoulkas states, is an inner urge for

perfection resulting in a sense of completeness, wholeness, maturity and happiness.

Vithoulkas also states that such a state of teleosis is promoted through conscious efforts

to overcome resistances, subconscious changes to counter minor stresses and

mobilisation of the bod y's defense m echanisms.

In formulating his concept of teleosis, Vithoulkas has again intuitively touched upon a

Yogic topic. This concept is in its inception correct but it cannot be d one as easily as

Vithoulkas describes. According to Sri Aurobindo, such a state can only be reached

when th e ego-centric personality is replaced by the soul-personality – w hen the ‘Psychic

Being’ comes forw ard to govern life. This implicates a change of consciousness.

It needs to be emphasised that when one’s ego is surpassed by the Psychic Being, one

starts living at a deeper level of consciousness and experiences a sense of wholeness,

integrality, peace, unity, collaboration and bliss that is qualitatively far different from

the more easily perceptible vital vibrations. Vithoulkas model does not differentiate

these ‘vital vibrations’ from those of the tru e Psychic Being.

Vithoulkas d efines H ealth as

“freedom from pain in the p hysical body, a state of well being; freedom from passion on

the emotional plane, resulting in a dynamic state of serenity and calm; and freedom

from selfishness in the m ental sphere, having as a result total un ification w ith Truth.”

This definition is a laudable attempt though it suffers from some basis inaccuracies

wh ich yogic psychology alone can rectify. The concept of ‘selfishness’ belongs n ot to the

mental plane per se but to the false soul made up of desire and ego which dominate the

vital plane. The ‘unification with Truth’ can never be achieved in the mental plane – themind 's action is to divide and analyse and it can at best show some men tal preference to

an ideal. The real ‘unification with Truth’ can only be achieved when one can manifest

one's Psychic Being, and this can give the feeling of ‘serenity and calm’.

Vithoulkas correctly assesses that our therapeutic system should deal with ‘energy-

states’ in such a way th at a cure takes place as a quan tum jum p forming new patterns of







Integral Health


energy with greater coherence that corrects the chaotic energy-states characteristic of a

disease.

Despite his shortcomings, Vithoulkas basic concept on health is close to the Integral

model where health is considered to be a state of harmonious equilibrium between the

different planes of consciousness and any disturbance in this harmony manifests as

illness. The nature and severity of the illness corresponds to the nature of the

disharm ony. The aim of therapy is to move from the plane of chaos and d isharmony to

a higher plane of harm ony and this necessitates a growth in consciousness. Illness thus

provides a chance for pr ogress. The therapeu tic process is med iated by m anipu lation of

energy-states. The dru gs used in modern m edicine work through the grosser outer

energy-states. This process has its pitfalls because the illness may be ‘suppressed’

instead of getting ‘cured’. As a result, one continues to linger in the ‘grosser’ energy

states instead of moving up through subtler and subtler energy-states. Consequently,

one is more prone to relapses, symptom-substitution and iatrogenic side-effects. There is

another alternative – use of other therapeutic systems which work through the subtle

energy-states. These systems would augment the natural defenses of the body and

would be free of iatrogenicty if used correctly. Finally, one can surpass all such

therapeutic systems and catch h old of the pu re Pranic Shakti which is the fountain-head

of all energy-states. The pu re Pranic Shakti, wh en rightly harnessed, can be used for

healing oneself and for healing others.

Chapter XIV

Illustrative case studies

These are a few illustrations studying the relation of health to the different planes of

consciousness which are ind ividu ally represented in m an and un iversally represented as

cosmic forces. They show how illness gives a chance to grow in consciousness and howthe teachings of Sri Aurobindo give an integral perspective to health.

The physical plane of consciousness is represented both in the material forces of the

universe and in the physical consciousness of man. It is very resistant to change and is

inert, passive, and prone to repetitiveness. These characteristics are reflected in the

refractory natu re of physical diseases. This is dem onstrated in the case of this lady w ho

was leading a secure life till a chain of untow ard events began to assail her.

Mrs. Das lost her daughter and husband within a span of two years. Her twenty year-olddaughter committed suicide because her parents rejected her suitor who hailed from a lowereconomic background. Mrs.Das’s husband succumbed to renal failure. This left her verydepressed but she managed to maintain her family.Her elder son got a job after five years. Troublebegan when he married. Mrs. Das’s daughter-in-law was of a hysterical temperament. She couldnot adjust with others, did not do house-hold work and coaxed her husband to separate within theconjoint family (such broken family units staying together are common in India. Known as‘broken-joint’, they are very vulnerable to stress as they have incomplete boundaries. The brokenunits share the same roof, the same entrance and perhaps the same visitors room, the sametelephone and often the same pet dog but only cook separately). Mrs. Das never totally accepted





Integral Health


this separation. She was looked after by her younger son who was afraid of marrying, lest his wifewould reject his mother. He stopped talking to his elder brother and sister-in-law. Mrs. Das hadto struggle against these odds for a long time. Her depression gave way to rheumatoid arthritis. All forms of treatment – allopathy, homoeopathy, physiotherapy and Ayurveda failed to alleviateher sufferings except for some transient relief. There was no sign of any abatement of her family

stresses and there was no sign too of any abatement of her physical distress. Though herreheumatoid arthritis was a psychosomatic disease resulting from her adverse life-events, noamount of psychotherapy could relieve her suffering except to make her accept her pains.

Thus, once an illness gets deep-rooted in the physical, it becomes refractory to usual

treatment and attains chronicity. This is why it is so important to develop the ‘body-

consciousness’. If trained, developed and mastered, this ‘body-consciousness’ can act

independently of the mind and even against the mind. This would enable the body to be

un affected by p sychological stresses.

In fact, our autonomic (sympathetico-adrenomedullary) response to stress was an

adaptive device to protect the organism from external stressors. Otherwise, our forest

dwelling ancestors would not have been able to cope with external threats. Today, we

react to psychological threats in the same way as we reacted to physical threats – a

habitual response w hich we now find difficult to un learn. Thus the shift from th e savage

to the m odern man has not been reflected in the p hysical consciousness. The cultivation

of a separate ‘body-consciousness’ can help us to surpass the autonomic stress reaction

and can free us from the bu rden of psychosomatic diseases.

When we talk of the ‘body’ being influenced by ‘psychological’ factors, we usually refer

to mental and emotional factors. Integral Health recommends a discrimination of the

‘mental’ from the ‘vital’. The vital is the life-nature made up of desires, sensations and

emotional bipolarities. Desire not only produces diseases, but desiring per se is a

disturbance. Psychologists point out that a suppression of desires leads to illness.However free indulgence in desires is also pathogenic. This is best illustrated in the two

extreme forms of eating disorders comm on today – anorexia nervosa and bulimia.

We tend to placate our d esires by satisfying them. This attempt is a chimera because the

vital is never satisfied. This is best d emonstrated in this person wh o w ent on satisfying

his desires till he reached an an ti-climax.

Mohan, a middle-aged, self-made man walked into a city hospital one fine morning to know howto die. Why? He had struggled all his life and achieved whatever he wanted. There was nothing

more to want now. Though he hailed from a poor background he had amassed a lot of wealth. His parents were uneducated but he himself had completed his post-graduate studies. His father was aclerk while he a bureaucrat. In his childhood everyone teased him due to his short stature andweak physique. This he had compensated for by doing a lot of body-building exercises. His parentsquarreled, but Mohan led a happy family life. His children were getting the proper education andhis wife was satisfied. He had thus achieved whatever he wanted. There was nothing more to doin a lifetime and so he now desired to die.



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Such is the v ital nature of man , satiated but n ever satisfied.

Western psychology speaks of the body-mind principle but according to Integral Health,

the body-vital-mind principle is the one to be considered. An u nderstanding of the true

nature of the vital can explain many phenomena. Let us take the example of childhood

depression. That children do suffer from depression is established. However, it is a

common clinical experience to find children expressing their depression through

aggressive acts. We can understand this better if we realise that both depression and

aggression have their roots in the vital. The case of this child is illustrative.

Barsi, a six year-old only child of a middle-class urban couple had an alcoholic father. He used toassault Barsi's mother physically and abuse her verbally, almost everyday. He was also a chronicabsentee at office. Hence Barsi's mother had to etch out a living by reading palms. Barsi was verydepressed and humiliated when in school one of his friends publicly declared that his father wasan alcoholic. Barsi copied all the mannerisms of his father and mimicked him by abusing hismother. Barsi had strong ambivalent feelings for his mother. He felt very miserable, had cryingspells, withdrew from his peer-group and expressed his depression through aggression. This isbecause mental development has to reach a level where one can give a cognitive shape to one'sdepression. The vital develops before the mind’s cognitive faculty. Hence it was morespontaneous for Barsi to express his depression through the vital as aggression.

The vital is the seat of all our conflicting emotions – love as w ell as hatred , joy as w ell as

anger, depression as well as aggression.

The vital needs to be disciplined by the mind. In fact this is the aim of a rational system

of education. However, there is a part of the mind intermixed with the vital called the

vital mind . This vital mind can make excellent pretensions wh ich are known as ‘defense

mechanisms’in psychology. One of the chief defense mechanisms is that of

rationalization by which the mind colludes with the vital to justify the impulses anddesires arising from the vital. In fact the up ward p rogress of the evolutionary nisus can

be obstructed by such rationalization. This is the case of a lady, w hose urge for a h igher

life was being obstructed by the v ital mind .

Kamla, a young housewife, suddenly started suffering from giddiness. Investigations were doneand her right ear was operated upon. Still her attacks of vertigo persisted. To make matters worse,these spells were accompanied by a feeling of depression, uselessness of life and a desire to runaway from her house-hold work. She felt that life was futile. Neither her giddiness, nor herdepression responded to antidepressants. On detailed probing it was found that she had beendeveloping a strong spiritual urge for some years. She had an intense desire to start meditative

practices. But her vital mind kept rationalising that she was too mediocre for spirituality. Theconflict between her aspiration for a higher life and the reasonings of her vital mind precipitatedher giddiness and depression. She was counselled to follow her inner urge and ignore theapparently rational constructions of her vital mind. The giddiness was relieved without the helpof any medicines.

It is not always easy to ignore the vital mind. Besides the thinking mind itself is

burd ened by an amalgam of contradictory though ts. One of the most powerful means to



Integral Health


control the mind is to quieten and subm it it to a higher power. This facilitates the play of

intuition which is a better guide than reason. One can then take a positive decision to

remou ld oneself.

Chitra was a middle-aged woman who led an uneventful family life for two decades. She had two

grown-up college-going daughters and one adolescent son. Her husband cared for her, nurturedthe family and carried out his duties faithfully. On detailed probing it was realised that thoughher husband was dutiful, he never appreciated the needs of her mind. Chitra had an intellectualmind which was more powerful than her husband's. In addition to the comforts of life, she neededan adequate intellectual stimulation for her mental growth. In fact, when the pressure of upbringing children lessened she found time for introspection. She discovered that the disparitydue to her mental malnourishment was very marked. At this point of time, she became attractedto the intellectual flair of her family physician which she thought would enrich her mind. Thiswas very impractical. Human nature as it is, vital desires crept up in that aberrant relationship. Moreover the doctor had his own family and Chitra was not willing to desert her children. Shesuffered in silence and developed severe hypertension. In despair, she sought spiritual refuge inan Ashram where she learnt to quieten her mind and surrender her problems to the Divine. Sheinvoked peace into her bodily system. She thus resolved her conflicts and returned home. Herhypertension which was previously somewhat refractory to drugs, improved. She was also able tore-organise her life in a better way.

It is not enough to resolve conflicts at the conscious level. We have also to deal with a

vast subconscious within us where the memories of all our experiences sink as

impressions ready to surge up in our dreams, habits, conflicts and diseases. Thus the

subconscious is responsible for the relapses of chronic illnesses and the somewhat rigid

natu re of our personality.

Brown was a 6 year old boy who left his home when his father killed his mother, hanged her and

burnt their hut. He boarded a train, wandered aimlessly and went without food for a couple of days. He was finally picked up by the police and sent to a correctional home. Brown had a lot of traumatic experiences. The older boys committed sodomy on him which resulted in anal bleeding.When Brown was 12 years-old, he was selected for adoption at Norway. As a preparatorymeasure, he was shifted to a short-stay home before being sent to Norway. During this time,Brown often disturbed the female nurse by attempting to molest her. His behaviour actuallyimproved dramatically when he was sent to Norway. He liked his foster parents and theirchildren, adapted himself to his new country, school and religion (he was converted) and pickedup the new language. Things were proceeding well till he was 16 years old and it was time forassuming an independent, adult role in an alien country. His old traumatic memories surged up from the subconscious and caused recurrent nightmares. He felt alienated and depressed. He was

miserable and demonstrated spells of crying and fits of anger. He was diagnosed to be suffering from a severe identity crisis.

Thus, a mere humanitarian or monetary help or a change in living standards cannot

suffice to reduce the sufferings of even a destitute child. The subconscious is an

unpred ictable zone which can surge u p at any time of life.In Brown ’s case, the four years

of warm nurturing by his foster-parents could not counter his subsconscious memories

at a critical point of his life when he w as sup posed to take on an adu lt role. In fact, for



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children like Brown, such a phenomenon is not unlikely. (The only exception seems to

be Oliver Twist who knew all the subtle nuances of aristocracy though brought up in a

destitute home).

Psychoanalysts believe that the elements which are repressed in the subconscious have

to be discovered, analysed, interpreted and worked through. This is no doubt a

commendable attempt but cannot succeed in changing one's nature. Yogic psychology

describes that there are other levels of consciousness (superconscious, subliminal), from

where it is easier to explore the subconscious. One can take up a ‘witness attitude’ – the

capacity of observing a fact and that of ‘observing’ this observation. He can thus go to

the source of his movements w ithout the ard uou s path of psychoanalysis.

Aman, a sufferer of affective disorder, was undergoing psychoanalysis during a prolonged phaseof remission. The exploration of his subconscious led to an unearthing of childhood conflicts. Oneafter another, a series of memories cropped up: a buffalo that was being sacrificed with its neck half-amputated, his sister trying to ignite their wooden house, paedophilic acts of monks and hehimself trying to throttle his new-born brother. The psychoanalyst was unable to handle therepressed materials released from Aman’s subconscious and Aman became ill. His sessions wereterminated. Later, he undertook meditations where he learnt the art of taking up the witness-attitude. To his surprise, he discovered many mysteries of his mind. He found that he had a deep-rooted fear-complex which activated his disease. He also discovered that he had a tremendousamount of aggression. Meditation did not reduce his aggression but helped to keep his aggressionunder check. He also felt that his early ambivalent relations with his mother affected thedevelopment of his ego.

Thus, the insights he gained during meditation are similar to the psychodynamics of

affective d isorder evolved throu gh p ainstaking p sychoanalytic work.

The practice of meditation brings in peace, calm and quietude, which help indisciplining the mind. This is a great achievement that no amount of psychoanalytic

work can surp ass.

At this point the most relevant question would be whether one is capable of personal

growth in the face of multiple extraneous social distractions. We are now witnessing the

effects of globalisation which are breaking the rural-urban dichotomy and crossing all

socio-cultural barriers. This has its good side too but has succeeded in introducing

consumerism into every facet of life. The stress on external values has actually resulted

in a bankruptcy of our inner life. Thus it is not surp rising to find teenage offenders all

over the world exhibiting the same characteristic – an abject absence of guilt.

Consumerism has deformed the aesthetic sense in a way that there has been animpoverishment of creativity. This has led to a spurt in perversions and deviant

behaviours. This legacy can result in an increase in p ersonality d isorders.

It is imperative that the socio-cultural factors influencing health should be monitored.

But that is an impossible task both for the individual healer and for the policy-makers.

The healer has his own limited field of action while the policy makers are defeated by

the enorm ity of the problem. So the on ly plausible alternative is to carry on the p rocess



Integral Health


of personal growth to its maximum limit. This can lead to the emergence of groups of

integrated p ersons wh o will be able to tackle the socio-cultura l factors in a m ore ma ture

way.

The epitome of personal growth is the organisation of the different parts of the

personality – the physical, vital, mental with their subconscious moorings, around the

Psychic being. The Psychic being is the true integrating principle of the personality and

surpasses the ego. It gives a spontaneous feeling of wholeness, joy, integrality, peace,

unity, equipoise and goodwill. It is calm, quiet, luminous, understanding, generous,

wide an d p rogressive. If it is allowed to d evelop, it can transform human natu re.

The development of the psychic consciousness is the quintessence of Integral Health. It

not only p rovides a basis for positive health bu t helps one to grow in consciousness.

These two case-studies show how the development of psychic consciousness enriches

one, even in the mid st of the m ost unfavourable circum stances.

Case 1

A professor of genetics, known for his scholarship and sincerity, developed Alzheimer's disease inhis early sixties. Being himself aware of the progressive and degenerative nature of his illness, heinitially reacted with denial, anger, non-cooperation and confabulation. In addition, he hadseizures.

Faced with the existential crisis before him, he sought spiritual refuge. Having lost the criticalcognitive faculties, he exhibited a child-like faith without pretensions and pre-conceived notions. As a result, his Psychic being had an opportunity to flower. This enabled him to face theonslaught of a cerebro-vascular accident and nasty bed-sores with calm and equipoise. The further

progress of the disease while affecting his cognitive sphere, left his emotional life undisturbed.Unlike the vegetative state common to such patients, he became radiant and full of an inner peaceand joy. Those who came into his contact felt the joy and peace themselves.

This shows that the grow th of the psychic consciousness can even enliven a p erson with

a chronic degenerative disease. Moreover, it can use the illness as an opportunity to

progress – the fruits of wh ich can be carried over in futu re lives.

Case 2

The Professor, a bachelor in his early sixties, had spent a lifetime organising spiritual activities.

He lived with his sister and her husband who was his contemporary. By a strange co-incidence,both the Professor and his brother-in-law developed cancer at an interval of six months. First, itwas the Professor’s brother-in-law who developed nasopharyngeal carcinoma. He supervisedarrangements for his treatment, prayed for him and himself started suffering from malignantlymphoma. The Professor however carried out his routine activities. In a typical day, heunderwent chemotherapy while simultaneously discussing organisational matters. Once thechemotherapy session ended and the intravenous infusion set was withdrawn, he took some foodand proceeded to visit his brother-in-law in another hospital, consoling and praying for him. In



Integral Health


between two chemotherapy sessions, he undertook his usual annual pilgrimage to his Ashram,about 2000 Km away. This was not a Freudian example of `denial'. The Professor radiated a senseof joy, peace and wholeness and whoever came into contact with him, felt enriched by his presence. When his brother-in-law died, he himself filled up the psychological vacuum. Before hedied, many of his associates could feel that the Professor was preparing himself for a graceful exit.

His life is an example of how an integrated personality can work through a fatal illness.

Before his death he was cheerful, poised and at peace.

It should be emphasised that the psychic qualities of an integrated personality which

man ifest peace, wholeness and bliss are not derived from the atavistic subconcious; their

source is in the superconscious.

These two cases reveal a fund amental asp ect of integral healing

1. Illness provides an opp ortunity to sh ift from the ordinary consciousness to the higher

psychic consciousness,

2. The resultant sense of detachment from one's physical condition leads to a marked

redu ction in suffering,

3. The peace and joy rad iated by the Psychic being enriches one's life in spite of disease.

Conclusion

The concept of Integral Health is based on a wide and progressive view of human life.

The Mother explains the meta-psychology of this view:

“There is an ascend ing evolution in nature wh ich goes from the stone to the plant, fromthe p lant to the an imal, from th e animal to m an. Because man is, for the mom ent, the last

run g at the sum mit of the ascending evolution, he considers h imself as the final stage in

this ascension and believes there can be nothing on earth superior to him. In that he is

mistaken. In his physical nature he is yet almost wholly an animal, a thinking and

speaking animal, but still an animal in his material habits and instincts. Undoubtedly,

nature cannot be satisfied with such an imperfect result; she endeavours to bring out a

being who w ill be to man what m an is to the animal, a being who will remain a m an in

its external form, and yet whose consciousness will rise far above the mental and its

slavery to ignorance.

“Sri Aurobindo came upon earth to teach this truth to men. He told them that man isonly a transitional being living in a mental consciousness, but with the possibility of

acquiring a new consciousness, the Truth-consciousness, and capable of living a life

perfectly harm onious, good and beautiful, hap py and fully conscious (116).”

In this scheme of things, illness is a disequilibrium at one plane of consciousness. It

points to an inner disharmony which can be corrected by moving to a higher level of

harm ony. Health is a dyn amic equilibrium between the different planes of







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consciousness. It can be optimally achieved w hen one shifts from the outer physical,

vital and mental consciousness to the higher consciousness of the Psychic being. The

Psychic being represents the Atman of the Indian tradition in its evolving form. It

surp asses the ego and is the real integrative principle of the hum an personality. It

imparts a sense of wholeness, integrality, peace and joy even in ad verse situations. The

quintessence of Integral Health lies in this shift to the psychic consciousness.

There is also an inexhaustible source of energy in the universe which is represented in

man as the Pranic Shakti. Ordinarily we are not aware of this Pranic Shakti though its

outer formulations provide the field of action for d ifferent therapeu tic techniques. By a

yogic endeavour we can have access to this inner source of energy and use it for

maintaining health and overcoming illness. Finally, the personality integrated around

the Psychic being can utilise the pure Pranic Shakti not on ly for health and healing but

also for an evolutionary growth along the ladd er of consciousness.

It follows as a corollary that an integral healing approach does not depend upon an

eclectic combinations of different therapeutic systems. Each therapeutic system

represents a partial truth. All these systems work through energy-states underlying

different p lanes of consciousness. The h igher energies can m odify, transmu te and up lift

the lower energies. Thus each therapeutic system can be used as a starting-point for

moving through subtler and subtler realms till one reaches the inexhaustible source of

the Universal or Divine Shakti within oneself.

The pursuit of Integral Health results in an elevation of human consciousness. This

enriches the quality of man's social groups. Like the individual, the social consciousness

also evolves from an infra-rational to a spiritual age en route an era of rational age that

characterises man's present social life. In the process, the smaller social aggregates get

upgraded and integrated on the basis of a free law of interchange and assimilation into

wider, universal groups. Such a growth would pave way for a higher principle toreplace the economic principle that now rules society. Pari passu with this movement,

man needs to augment his cultural resources for a more fulfilled life. The culture of a

people is the expression of their consciousness through thoughts, aesthesis and ethics

wh ich have r efined human civilization, yet go on contrad icting each other. Their creative

synthesis leads to a flowering of the human personality.

References

1.Bisht, D.B. The Spiritual Dimension of Health. Delhi; Directorate of Health Services, 1985,

p.1-4.

2. Sri Aurobindo. Letters on Yoga. Tome one. Pondicherry; Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1958,

pp. 255-256.

3. Sri Aurobindo. The Life Divine. Pond icherry; Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1977, pp .3-5.

4.Taylor, Kraupl. Descriptive and Developmental Phenomena in Hand book of Psychiatry,Vol.1. (ed. M. Sheph erd & O.L.Zangw ill). UK; Cam bridge Un iversity, 1983, pp .92-94.



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5. Favazza, A.R. Anthropology and Psychiatry. In Comprehensive Text book of Psychiatry. (ed.

Kaplan and B.J. Sadock). Baltimore; Williams and Wilkins, 1985, p.248.

6.Op.Cit. Letters on Yoga. pp.254-255.

7. Op.Cit. The Life Divine.

8. Ibid. p.87.

9.Ibid. p.113

10. Sri Aurobindo. On Yoga, Tome Two. Pondicherry; Sri Aurobindo International

University Centre, 1958, p.532.

11. Ibid p.535.

12. The Mother. Collected Works of The Mother, Vol.3. Pondicherry; Sri Aurobindo

Ashram, 1978, p.90.

13. Dalal, A.S. Living Within. Pond icherry; Sri Aurobind o Ashram, 1987, p.xxvi.

14. The Mother . Collected Works of the Mother, Vol.5. Pond icherry; Sri Aurobindo Ashram ,

1978, p.415.

15. Op . Cit. Living within. p.xxvi.

16. Op . Cit. Letters on Yoga. Tome One. p.351.

17.Ibid. p.334.

18.Basu, S. Integral Education — a Psychological Perspective. Calcutta; Sri Aurobindo

Pathamandir, 1994.

19. Sri Aurobindo. The Synthesis of Yoga. Pondicherry; Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1976,

p.335.

20. Op.Cit. Letters on Yoga, Tome One. p.352.

21. Op . Cit. The Synthesis of Yoga. p.322.

22. Ibid. p.8.

23. Satp rem. Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness. Pondicherry; Sri Aurobindo

Ashram, 1968, p.48.









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24. Sen, Indra. Education and Yoga. Sri Aurobindo Mandir Annual Calcutta; No.4 pp.134-

167.

25. Op.Cit. The Synthesis of Yoga. pp.19-20.

26.Basu, S. The Synthesis of Eastern and Western paradigms in the light of SriAurobindo. Indian Journal of Social Psychiatry, Vol. No.11 (1), 1995, pp.35-39.

27.Subbannachar N.V. Social Psychology — the Integral Approach. Calcu tta; Scientific Book

Agen cy, 1966, p.91.

28. Op. Cit. Living Within. p.xiv.

29. Ibid. p.xv.

30. Basu , S. Case Stud y. NAMAH , Vol.3, No.1, 1995, pp .80-82.

31. Op. Cit. Living Within. p.xix.

32. Op. Cit. Letters on Yoga, Tome One. p.358.

33. Ibid. p.359.

34. Sen, Indra. Integral Psychology. Pondicherry; Sri Aurobindo International Centre of

Edu cation, 1986, pp .171-174.

35.Op. Cit. The Synthesis of Yoga. pp.65-66.

36.Op. Cit. Living Within. p.xxxvi

37.The Mother . Collected works of the Mother, Vol.12. Pondicherry; Sri Aurobindo Ash ram,

1978, p .45.

38.Op. Cit. Integral Psychology. pp.175-184.

39.Purani, A.B. Evening Talks with Sri Aurobindo. Pondicherry; Sri Aurobindo Ashram,

1982, p.202.

40.Op . cit. Letters on Yoga, Tome One. p.355.

41.Sharma , A. Explora tion into Pranic Healing. NAMAH, Vol.3, No.2, 1996, pp.16-19.

42.Op. Cit. The Synthesis of Yoga. p.624.

43.Ibid. pp.727-728.

44.Ibid. pp.728-729.





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45.Ibid. p.727.

46.Ibid. p.728.

47.Op. Cit. Collected works of the Mother, Vol.12. p.264.


49.Op. Cit. The Life Divine. p.2.

50.The Mother. Health and Healing in Yoga. Pondicherry; Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1979,

p.67.

51.The Mother . Collected Works of The Mother, Vol.9. Pondicherry; Sri Aurobindo Ashram,

1978, p.163.


53.Ibid. p.743.

54.Ibid. p.753.

55.Ibid. p.372.

56. Op . Cit. Letters as Yoga, Tome One. p.334.

57.Moskowitz, R. The Case Against Immunizations. U.S.A.; National Center for

Homoeopathy, 1983.

58.Fisher Helene. The Sex Contract — The Evolution of Human Behaviour. UK; Granada

Publishing, 1982, pp .13-14.

59.The Mother . Collected Works of the Mother Vol.11. Pondicherry; Sri Aurobindo Ashram ,

1978, pp.302-303.

60.Ibid. Vol.3, pp .175-176.

61.Ibid. Vol.5. p.59.

62.Op. Cit. Integral Psychology. pp.185-191.

63.Maitra S.K. An Introduction to the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo. Pondicherry; Sri

Aurobindo Ashram, 1965.

64.Chowdhury, H. Sri Aurobindo: The Prophet of Life Divine. Pond icherry; Sri Aurobindo

Ashram, 1960.







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65.Basu S. Insight into the Brains. NAMAH , Vol.3, No.2, 1996, pp.8-11.

66.Reddy V.M. Integral Yoga Psychology. Hyderabad; Institute of Human Study, 1988,

p.iv.

67.Op. Cit. Integral Psychology. p.180.

68.Op. Cit. The Life Divine. pp.734-735.

69.Dalal, A.S. Psychology, Mental Health and Yoga. Pondicherry; Sri Aurobindo Ashram,

1991, pp.14-21.

70.Op. Cit. Health and Healing in Yoga. p.3.

71.Op. Cit. Collected works of the Mother, Vol.3. p.88.

72.Ibid. p.89.

73.Ibid. Vol.4. p.63.

74.Pandey, A. Health as a dynamically evolving equilibrium. NAMAH , Vol.2, No.2,

1995, pp.47-53.

75.Op. Cit. Collected works of the Mother, Vol.5. pp.122-123.

76. Ibid. pp.173-180.

77. Ibid. p.186.

78.Sri Aurobind o. The Aryas’ fourth year. Arya — a Philosophical Review, 1918, 15th July.

79. Op.Cit. Anthropology and Psychiatry. p.247.

80. Sri Aurobindo. The Foundations of Indian Culture. Pondicherry; Sri Aurobindo

Ashram, 1971, pp.51-52.

81. Sri Aurobindo. The Human Cycle. The Ideal of Human Unity. War and Self-determination. Pond icherry; Sri Aurobind o Ashram, 1977, p.76.

82. Ibid.

83. Ibid. pp.84-93.

84. Ibid. p.86.

85. Ibid. pp.92-93.



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86. Op.Cit. The Life Divine. p.70.

87.Op.Cit. The Human Cycle. The Ideal of Human Unity. War and self-Determination. p.99.

88.Ibid. p .97.

89.Singh, A.R., Singh, S.A. Hedonistic Issues in Drug Dependency. NAMAH, Vol.2,

No.2, 1995, pp.57-61.

90.Op.Cit. The Life Divine. pp.1052-1053.

91.WHO. Report of the International Pilot Study of Schizophrenia. Geneva; WHO, 1973.

92.Gandhi, K. Social Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo and the New Age. Pondicherry; Sri

Aurobind o Ashram, 1991, p.146.

93.Op.Cit. The Human Cycle. The Ideal of Human Unity. War and Self-Determination. p.463.

94. Ibid. p.464.

95. Ibid. p.466.

96.Op.Cit. Social Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo and the New Age. pp.49-69.

97.Op.Cit. The Human Cycle. The Ideal of Human Unity. War and Self-Determination. p.61.

98. Ibid. pp.267-268.

99.Op.Cit. Social Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo and the New Age. pp.367-383.

100.Op.Cit. Social Psychology — the Integral Approach.pp.342-343.

101.Op.Cit.The Human Cycle. The Ideal of Human Unity. War and Self-Determination. p.173.

102. Ibid. p.2.

103. Ibid. p.173.

104. Ibid. p.12.

105. Ibid. p.179.

106. Op .Cit. The Foundations of Indian Culture. p.338.

107.Goswami, C.R. Integral Psychology. Srinvantu, Vol.XXXVII, No.4, an d

Vol.XXXVIII, No.1, 1989 and 1990.



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108. Dowsett, N.C. Psychology for Future Education. Pondicherry; Sri Aurobindo Society,

1977, p .40.

109. Op .Cit. The Human Cycle. The Ideal of Human Unity. War and Self-determination. p.173.

110. Op .Cit. Integral Education — A psychological perspective.

111. Op.Cit. The Human Cycle. The Ideal of Human Unity. War and Self-Determination .

p.233-234.

112. Ibid. p .37-47.

113.Vithoulkas, G. A New Model for Health and Disease. USA; Health and Habitat, 1991.

114.Weiner, H. The Illusion of Simplicity: The Medical Model Revisted. Amer J. of Psychiatry Supplement, July 1978, p.135.

115.Engel, G.L. The Need for a New Medical Model: a challenge for Biomedicine.

Science, April 8, 1977, 196 (4286): pp .129-136.

116.Op.Cit. Collected Works of the Mother, Vol.12. p.111.

Glossary

(The explanations of terms given below are from Sri Aurobindo’s writings)

Consciousness

Consciousness is a fundam ental thing, the fund amental thing in existence — it is the

ENERGY, the m otion, the movem ent of consciousness that creates the un iverse and all

that is in it — not only the macrocosm but the m icrocosm is nothing bu t consciousness

arranging itself.

Consciousness is not only power of awareness of self and things, it is or has also a

dynamic and creative energy. It can determine its own reactions or abstain from

reactions; it can not on ly answer to forces, bu t create or put ou t from itself forces.

Consciousness is made u p of two elements, awaren ess of self and things and forces and

conscious-pow er. Awareness is the first thing necessary, you have to be aware of thingsin the right consciousness, in the right w ay, seeing them in their truth; but aw areness by

itself is not enough. There must be a Will and a Force that makes the consciousness

effective.

Planes of Consciousness





Integral Health


Each plane of our being — men tal, vital, physical has its own consciousness, separate,

though interconnected and interacting, but to our outer mind and sense, in our waking

experience, they are all confused together.

Mental consciousness, mind

The ‘Mind’ in the ordinary use of the word covers indiscriminately the whole

consciousness, for Man is a m ental being an d mentalises everything; but in the langu age

of this yoga the words ‘mind’ and ‘mental’ are used to connote specially the p art of the

nature which has to do with cognition and intelligence, with ideas, with mental or

thought perceptions, the reactions of thought to things, with the truly mental

movem ents and formations, mental vision and will, etc., that are p art of his intelligence.

Vital consciousness, vital

The vital has to be carefully distinguished from mind, even though it has a mind

element transfused into it; The vital is the life-nature made up of desires, sensations,

feelings, passions, energies of action, will of desire, reactions of the desire-soul in manand of all that play of possessive and other related instincts, anger, fear, greed, lust, etc.,

that belong to this field of nature.

Vital mind

(Besides the mind prop er, there is a part of the mind interfused with the vital, called the

vital mind) The function of this mind is not to think and reason, to perceive, consider

and find out or value things, for that is the function of the thinking mind proper,

budd hi, but to plan or d ream or imagine what can be done.

Physical mind

That part of the mind which is concerned with the physical things only; it depends on

the sense-mind, sees only objects, external actions, draws its ideas from the data given

by external things, infers from them only and knows no other Truth until it is

enlightened from above.

Vital-physical

The vital-physical is below the physical mind, but above the material: but at the same

time these powers interpenetrate each other.

The vital-physical is the vehicle of the nervous responses of our physical nature; it is thefield and instrument of the smaller sensations, desires, reactions of all kinds to the

impacts of the ou ter ph ysical and gross material life.... It is also largely respon sible for

most of the suffering an d disease of mind or body to which the ph ysical being is subject

in Nature.

Physical consciousness



Integral Health


The physical consciousness or at least the more external parts of it are, as I have told

you, in their natu re inert — obeying whatever force they are habituated to obey, but not

acting on their own initiative.

Body consciousness

The body.. has its own consciounsess and acts from it, even w ithout any mental w ill of

our ow n or even against that will.

The body and the physical do not coincide — the body consciousness is only part of the

whole physical consciousness.

Integral Yoga

(Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga)

The integral yoga is that which, having found the transcendent, can return upon the

un iverse and p ossess it, retaining the pow er freely to descend as w ell as ascend the greatstair of existence.

This yoga imp lies not on ly the realisation of God, but an entire consecration an d change

of the inner and outer life till it is fit to manifest a divine consciousness and become part

of a divine work.

Intuition

Intuition sees the truth of things by a direct inner contact, not like the ordinary mental

intelligence by seeking and reaching out by indirect contacts through the senses etc.,

Intuition sees in flashes and combined through a constant play of light-through

revelations, inspirations, intuitions, swift discriminations.

Psychic Being

The Psychic being is the soul developing in the evolution. When the psyche, a spark of

the Divine, present in all life and matter begins to d evelop an ind ividu ality in the course

of evolution, that p sychic ind ividuality is called th e Psychic being .

Overmental

Pertaining to the h ighest of the p lanes of consciousness below the sup ramen tal.

Supramental

Truth-consciousness, the highest plane of consciousness above and beyond the m ind .

Shakti






Integral Health

Force, energy; the divine or cosmic energy — un iversal shakti or un iversal energy.

— To open our selves to the un iversal energy is always possible to us, because that is all

around us and always flowing into us, it is that which supports and supplies all our

inner and outer action and in fact we have no power of our own in any separately

individua l sense, but only a personal formu lation of the one Shakti. And , on the other

hand , this universal Shakti is within ourselves, concentrated in u s, for the w hole power

of it is present in each ind ividu al as in the universe, and th ere are means and processes

by which we can awaken its greater and potentially infinite force and liberate it to its

larger workings.

Pranic Shakti

We can become aware of the existence and presence of the universal Shakti in the

various forms of her power. At present we are conscious only of the power as

formulated in our physical mind, nervous being and corporeal case sustaining our

variou s activities. But if we can once get beyond this first format ion by some liberation

of the hidd en, recondite, subliminal parts of our existence by Yoga, we become aw are of a greater life-force, a Pranic Shakti, which supports and fills the body and supplies all

the ph ysical and vital activities, — for the physical energy is only a mod ified form of

this force, — and supplies and sustains too from below a ll our m ental action. This force

we feel in ou rselves also, but w e can feel it too around as and above, one with the same

energy in us, and can draw it in and down to aggrandise our normal action or call upon

and get it to pour into u s....... To get this Pranic Shakt i to act more freely and forcibly in

the body is knowingly or unknowingly the attempt of all who strive for or greater

perfection of or in the bod y.

integral health

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