THE VITAL SHEATH & THE VITAL EGO

In the vital sheath lies the core of our suffering and the difficulties in spiritual
development

Although it is very common to read or hear that the main cause of our suffering is our
thoughts or our thinking this is not the core of our problems. The impure vital is the core
factor of our problems and what creates delusion and suffering. The vital is the unconsious,
mechanical, compulsive part of ourselves which cause unbalances, disharmony, dysfunction
and suffering.

The mind and intellect are victims of the impure and undeveloped vital which uses them as its
instruments to achieve its goals; due to the dense and negative vibrations of the vital energy
which flow in the mind and intellect the mind and intellect lose their clarity, sharpness,
luminosity, concentration, serenity, tranquility and the higher capacities of pure reason,
understanding, discernment, intuition are obscured highly.
The mechanical compulsive thinking, (the noise in the head), the negative thinking, abusing,
complaining, justifications, the daydreaming and imaginations are all the mental expressions
of the vital impulses, emotions, desires, etc.. The mental vital* (according Sri Auronindo the
vital has 4 parts) is the part of the vital that 'translates' all vital formations into mental forms,
(thoughts, imaginations, concepts).Of course desire is the central expression of the vital (the
core desire is the sexual) and all other vital expressions are related to it (desire).

It is important always to remember that all different levels and parts of our existence are
interconnected and the dysfunction of one affect the proper funcioning of others. The body,
the vital force (physical and psychic prana***), the senses, the manas (external mind) and the
buddhi (intellect-intelligence) are interconnected. We must use all wisely, with moderation
and common sense maintaining the balance at all levels in order to enjoy good physical and
psychological health and grow up spiritually.

Most of us are dominated by the vital body and its deep-seated urges that are necessary for
us to remain alive. It is also the home of the vital or subconscious ego which holds the
various fears, desires and attachments which afflict us. We most of us spend our time in life
seeking enjoyment through the vital in the form of sensory enjoyment and acquisition of
material objects.
~ David Frawley

The false interpretations of the mind about what happens in the external and in ourselves are
also caused by the impure vital because clouds the higher capacities of the intellect as well as
obscure our intuitive capacity and the expression of our inner heart which is the instrument of
the soul.

It is well known to all of us what happens when anger is activated and expressed in us. The
vibrations of anger reduce or cancel totally our capacity of reason, discernment, memory and
understanding. We think, we say and we do things for which later we regret. The same
happens when our mind is under the influence of sexual passion, gluttony, greed for money,
power, fame and position, pride, jealousy, hatred, fear, etc.. These vital-emotional formations
determine our way of thinking and also impregnate the thoughts with their dense or negative
vibrations. Thus when for example we are under the dominion of gluttony we imagine
delicious plates, we make plans to get them and we already in the vital-emotional plane we
experience the pleasure we expect to derive from them. The same happens when our mind is
dominated by sexual lust which is the strongest one; researches have shown that during the
day in the mind of people arise many times sexual thoughts (of which they may be
unconscious in many cases).

It is quite difficult especially in the beginning of our spiritual journey to be conscious of the
vital formation that is in play by direct observation of it. Keep in mind that the vital ego
doesnt like to be revealed and be known by our conscious mind because this will be the
beginning of its end. But we can be aware of it by being aware of the kind of thoughts that we
entertain in our mind. That is to say that if we think about food probably our mind is
dominated by gluttony. Certainly it is not always the gluttony behind the thoughts about food
but in most cases is. It is relative easy to realize the vital impulse in relation with sex and
food but it becomes more difficult when behind our thoughts is the jealousy, the pride, the
inferiority, the law self-esteem, the vanity, the arrogance, the greed etc. Thats why we must
every day to investigate, analyze and scrutinise our thoughts and emotions in order to find out
the deeper motives of our thoughts, words and actions and little by little by proper means and
technics, steady determination and will to disolve them from our psyche.

When the vital ego is active, dominates the mind we become victims of its appetites. The
vital formations cloud our intelligence and use the thinking mind and the intellect for its own
sake.

Unfortunately the majority of earthlings are dominated by the unconscious vital impulses,
desires, ambitions and emotions; thus they live an unbalanced, miserable, unhappy life with
trifling moments of pleasure, satisfaction, exhilaration and happiness and have created a
chaotic external reality full of exploitation, violence, wars, environment pollution, diseases,
poverty and slavery.

(The majority of spiritual teachers refer to it as the desire-mind and as the emotive or
emotional mind. Dr. Freud mentioned to this as the unconscious part of our psyche and
named it Id**). Sri Aurobindo call it the vital being and spoke with details about the nature
of the vital* and the necessity to purify it).

It is the impure vital the main factor that causes mental dysfunctional and any kind of
disturbances, unbalances, diseases and failures, not the thinking mind or the intellect by
themselves. It is the impure vital that hypnotizes and dominates the mind and intellect and
uses them for its own illogical and in most cases destructive appetites and desires. The pure
vital is a good servant but the impure is a disastrous master.
The vital under the influence of excessive rajas and tamas gunas in our astral body and mind
becomes brutal, uncontrollable, dominates the mind and obscures the optimal function of
reason and discernment, clouds our understanding and comprehension, weakens our will-
power and thus uses us as puppets. The tamas guna creates a veil which hides of our
conscious mind all these games of impure vital and the rajas guna distracts and extroverts the
mind and makes it seek always in the external world ways to satisfy the thirst of the impure
vital for power games, sensual gratification and pleasure.

Thus one very important part of our sadhana in order to purify the vital and of course the
mind is to increase the sattva guna and decrease the tamas and rajas gunas. The main way to
achieve this is to avoid tamasic actions, habits and impressions at the maximum degree, to
avoid as much as possible rajasic actions, habits and impressions and increase the sattva-rajas
and sattvic actions, habits and impressions.
The mechanical, compulsive uncontrollable thinking, the illogical thinking, the illusory full
of imagination thinking are caused by the vital impulses and demanding. All exaggerations,
disharmonious actions, conflicts, abuses, the brutal, violent, inhuman actions, wars etc.are
also prompted by the impure vital.

The impure vital makes the intellect dysfunctional and a servant of its desires and passions.
The confusion and misunderstandings that have most of seekers about spiritual matters
happens mostly due to the impure vital which does not permit the intellect to function with
clarity, sharpness and preciseness as well as obscures the pure reason and discernment,

It is not possible to control the thinking mind (manas) and free the intellect from vital
disturbances and have progress in meditation if we do not purify the vital of which the
energy, the contribution and cooperation is necessary in order to advance in spirituality. We
need a lot of energy to do sadhana and a pure vital that cooperates with us is of a great
importance. This purification of the vital is a great and difficult task but there is no other way.
Otherwise the vital will always undermine and cancel our efforts to control the mind and
grow in meditation and to achieve self-realization. But not only our sadhana suffers from the
impure vital but we also suffer failures, problems, and conflicts of any kind in our daily life
due to its imaginations, illusions, desires and ambitions.

Daniel Goleman mentions in his conference (emotional intelligence) an experiment with

young children. The results of this experiment have shown with clarity that the children
which had a greater self-control over their vital-desirous part they had in the long run a
much greater sucess than the weak ones. https://youtu.be/TgB-3xHZKQk 18' min.

When the vital is impure one part of ours goes towards God and the vital part drive us in the
opposite direction. We may have a good understanding about what is beneficial for us, about
the spiritual path and the necessity of spiritual practice and yet the vital can insist in its own
ways which are in the opposite direction and impede our spiritual progress.
 The vital resists and reacts in many ways in order to undermine all our efforts we make to
succeed in meditation and self-enquiry and its final goal is to make us abandon the practice.
No real progress in meditation is possible if we are not capable to subdue and purify the vital
ego which as a 'monster' wants always to govern our mind, body and senses in order to satisfy
its lower appetite for pleasures and feed itself with negative emotional vibrations.

Due to this impure vital most of the seekers after truth abandon the spiritual sadhana after
sometime, or they may continue to follow a path or a teacher but without to make any real
effort to eliminate the egoic self and realize the truth and in some cases they become very
strict with others.

NOTE:

Sri Aurobindo

Vital*: According Aurobindo the vital is the life-force acting in its own nature, impulses,
emotions, desires, ambitions, etc., having as their highest centre what we may call the outer
heart of emotion, while there is an inner heart where are the higher or psychic feelings and
sensinilities, the intuitive yearnings and impulses of the soul.

The vital proper has four parts:

The mental vital which gives a mental expression by thought, speech or otherwise to the
emotions, desires, passions, sensations and other movements of the vital .
The emotional vital which is the seat of various feelings such as, love, joy, sorrow hatred
and the rest.

The central vital which is the seat of the stronger vital longings, and reactions e.g. ambition,
pride, fear, love of fame, attractions repulsions, desitres, passions of various kinds and the
field of many vital energies.

The lower vital which is occupied with desires and emotions such as make the greater party
of the daily life e.g. food desire, sexual desire, small likings and dislikings, vanity, quarells,
anger at blame, little wishes of all kind and a numberless host of other things.

Their respective seats are:

Mental vital the region from the throat to the heart.

Emotional vital its seat is the outer heart and the inner heart behind it it is related with the
soul.

The central vital has as its seat the region from the heart to navel.

The lower vital below the navel.

We must not confuse the mind with the vital although the vital has a mind element transfused
in it. Mind and vital are mixed up on the surface of the consciousness, but they are quite
separate forces in themselves.

The mental vital is a sort of mediator between vital emotion, desitre, impulsion, etc and the
mind. It expresses the desires, emotions, feelings, passions, ambitions, possessive and active
tendencies of the vital and throws them into mental .- the pure imaginations or dreams of
greatness, happiness, etc. in which men indulge are one peculiar form of the mental vital. It is
through the mental vital that the vital passions, emotions, impulses, desires, rise up and get
into the buddhi and either cloud it or distort it.
Id**. According Freud the id is the impulsive and unconscious part of our psyche which
responds directly and immediately to the instincts including the sex (life) instinct.

It operates on the pleasure principle, which is the idea that every wishful impulse should be
satisfied immediately, regardless of the consequences.

The id demands immediate satisfaction and when this happens we experience pleasure, when
it is denied we experience unpleasure or pain.

The id engages in primary process thinking, which is primitive illogical, irrational, and
fantasy oriented.
Physical and Psychic Prana*** (functions)

Physical Prana

Physical Prana is life-energy acting in support of the physical body in various functions such
as digestion, assimilation, etc.

Prana: concerned with inspiration and expiration of the universal Breath, with the chest as its
normal base of operation. It brings in the fuel.

Apana: engaged in the expulsion of what is not assimilated or not necessary in the system. It
functions below the chest.

Samana: is concerned with digestion of what is taken in and has its seat in the stomach. It
converts fuel into energy. Prana and Apana meet together near the navel and create samana. It
regulates the interchange of these two forces at their meeting-place, equalizes them and is the
most important agent in maintaining the equilibrium of the vital forces and their functions.

Vyana: regulates both the Prana and the Apana and keeps them in harmony, the breath which
sustains when prana is held in abeyance as in actions requiring effort. It is all-pervasive,
distributes the vital energies throughout the body.

Udana: It governs the positive energy created and determines the work that the machine is
able to do.

Breathing is the main form of Pranic activity in the body. Prana governs inhalation. Samana
governs absorption of oxygen that occurs mainly during retention of the breath. Vyana
governs its circulation. Apana governs exhalation and the release of carbon dioxide. Udana
governs exhalation and the release of positive energy through the breath, including speech
that occurs via the outgoing breath.

Psychic Prana

The prana in its subtler aspect supports the psychological functions at the emotional, mental
and intellectual level.

Prana: governs the intake of sensory impressions. It governs our receptivity to positive
sources of nourishment, feeling and knowledge through the mind and senses. When deranged
it causes wrong desire and insatiable craving. We become misguided, misdirected and
generally out of balance.
Apana: governs the elimination of toxic ideas and negative emotions. On a psychological
level governs our ability to eliminate negative thoughts and emotions. When deranged it
causes depression and we get clogged up with undigested experience that weighs us down in
life, making us fearful, suppressed and weak.

Samana: governs mental digestion. It gives us nourishment, contentment and balance in the
mind. When deranged it brings about attachment and greed. We cling to things and become
possessive in our behavior.

Vyana: governs mental circulation. It gives us free movement and independence in the mind.
When deranged it causes isolation, hatred, and alienation. We are unable to unite with others
or remain connected in what we do.

Udana: governs positive mental energy, strength and enthusiasm. It gives us joy and
enthusiasm and helps awaken our higher spiritual and creative potentials. When deranged it
causes pride and arrogance. We become ungrounded, trying to go to high and lose track of
our roots.

Read more about Pranas: Secrets of the Five pranas

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