The Aspiration and Surrender of the Body Consciousness in Its Seeking for Health and Balance

While the mind does not generally recognise the consciousness of the body, it remains true that the body has its own ability to respond to circumstances. For those who have a highly developed mental or vital being, these powers frequently override the natural responsiveness of the body. When we look at the animal kingdom, for instance, we see that if a dog or cat is ill or out of sorts, it tends to find its solution in letting the body rest, or even, finding the right plant or herb that it needs at that moment, if such is available. This is not based on some kind of mental thought process, but an innate sense of the body of the animal to gravitate toward whatever will bring it back into balance.

We can contrast this with the mental approach where we begin to consider what is causing an illness or physical state of imbalance, and then we either tend to overpower the body by continuing to make demands on it when it really needs rest and care, or else, by trying to micromanage the body’s response to the situation by inserting treatments, dietary changes, or medical operations to try to fix whatever is out of balance. In many instances, there are unintended consequences that occur, what are frequently called ‘side effects’ to the treatment and in many cases the “cure is worse than the disease.”

The internal operations of the body are not directly understood or even viewed by the mental consciousness. The body consciousness seems to do best, for the most part, when it is allowed to use its innate sense to try to maintain and restore what is called in medical terminology ‘homeostasis’, which is, in common terms, maintaining and restoring a state of balance with the body functioning according to its expected ways. Thus, if the blood chemistry is getting out of balance, for instance, the body automatically takes steps to try to restore that balance through an offsetting chemical response, either a craving for a certain food or other internal change that addresses whatever is going wrong.

The Mother adds another element, which is the simple aspiration and surrender of the body’s cells when not interfered with by the mind or the vital demands. The body aspires for health, energy, wellness, vibrancy and automatically turns, as a sunflower does to the sun, toward the source of health.

The Mother writes: “… in the body, for instance, when there is something like an attack, an accident, an illness trying to come in — something — an attack on the body, a body that is left to its natural spontaneity has an urge, an aspiration, a spontaneous will to call for help. But as soon as the affair goes to the head, it takes the form of things to which one is accustomed: everything is spoilt. But if the body is seen in itself, just as it is, there is something which suddenly wakes up and calls for help, and with such a faith, such an intensity, just as the tiny little baby calls its mamma, you know — or whoever is there, it says nothing if it cannot speak. But the body left to itself without this kind of constant action of the mind upon it… well, it has this: as soon as there is some disturbance, immediately it has an aspiration, a call, an effort to seek help, and this is very powerful. If nothing intervenes, it is very powerful. It is as though the cells themselves sprang up in an aspiration, a call.”

“In the body there are invaluable and unknown treasures. In all its cells, there is an intensity of life, of aspiration, of the will to progress which one does not usually even realise. The body-consciousness would have to be completely warped by the action of the mind and vital for it not to have an immediate will to reestablish the equilibrium. When this will is not there, it means that the entire body-consciousness has been spoilt by the intervention of the mind and vital. In people who cherish their malady more or less subconsciously with a sort of morbidity under the pretext that it makes them interesting, it is not their body at all — poor body! — it is something they have imposed upon it with a mental or vital perversion. The body, if left to itself, is remarkable, for, not only does it aspire for equilibrium and well-being but it is capable of restoring the balance. If one leaves one’s body alone without intervening with all those thoughts, all the vital reactions, all the depressions, and also all the so-called knowledge and mental constructions and fears — if one leaves the body to itself, spontaneously it will do what is necessary to set itself right again.”

“The body in its natural state likes equilibrium, likes harmony; it is the other parts of the being which spoil everything.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Our Many Selves: Practical Yogic Psychology, Chapter 2, Planes and Parts of the Being, pp. 23-24