There are realms that operate under different rules, or laws, than what we have come to expect here. Our earthly life is a complex amalgam of physical, vital, mental and psychic consciousness, and this mixture implies that none of these are able to express themselves in the purest sense of their own terms of existence and action. There are however realms where these powers are native and thus, have their complete expression without compromise. The physical body acts as a barrier, a restraint, and a protection from the direct operation of any of these other levels. The nearest realm to the physical is the vital. There are numerous accounts of individuals who have ‘left their body’ and travelled in what they call the astral realm, which is a vital world. The powers operative there, and their force of action, means that the individual must exercise tremendous caution to avoid injury.
It is not, however, solely a concern when an individual travels ‘outside the body’ to the vital realm. Rather, the forces of the vital realm also infiltrate and infuse themselves in various ways into the physical reality we inhabit. In these cases, they may provoke various actions or responses that ‘feed’ their hunger. Just as every being has its own natural food source, in the vital realm, the food is made up of vital energies and emotional reactions. Some beings act in this world to ‘farm’ humans for their food source in the form of intense energy releases, whether in the form of anger, hatred, lust, desire, greed, hunger, etc.
Most of this takes place through suggestions or pressures placed in the subconscious layers of our being, and then as these get triggered, the vital beings harvest the forces they were seeking. This adds another issue on top of our genetic, ancestral inheritance and the influence of the society and our peers on our thoughts, feelings, emotions and actions.
The Mother notes: “If that were the end of the problem, one could yet come out of the mess; but there is a complication. This terrestrial world, this human world is constantly invaded by the forces of the neigboring world, that is, of the vital world, the subtler region beyond the fourfold earth-atmosphere; (consisting of the four principles: physical, vital, mental and psychic), and this vital world which is not under the influence of the psychic forces or the psychic consciousness is essentially a world of ill-will, of disorder, disequilibrium, indeed of all the most anti-divine things one could imagine. This vital world is constantly penetrating the physical world, and being much more subtle than the physical, it is very often quite imperceptible except to a few rare individuals. There are entities, beings, wills, various kinds of individualities in that world, who have all kinds of intentions and make use of every opportunity either to amuse themselves if they are small beings or to do harm and create disorder if they are beings with a greater capacity. And the latter have a very considerable power of penetration and suggestion, and wherever there is the least opening, the least affinity, they rush in, for it is a game which delights them.”
“Besides, they are very thirsty or hungry for certain human vital vibrations which for them are a rare dish they love to feed upon; and so their game lies in exciting pernicious movements in man so that man may emanate these forces and they be able to feed on them just as they please. All movements of anger, violence, passion, desire, all these things which make you abruptly throw off certain energies from yourself, project them from yourself, are exactly what these entities of the vital world like best, for, as I said, they enjoy them like a sumptuous dish. Now, their tactics are simple: they send you a little suggestion, a little impulse, a small vibration which enters deep into you and through contagion or sympathy awakens in you the vibration necessary to make you throw off the force they want to absorb.”
Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, Living Within: The Yoga Approach to Psychological Health and Growth, Disturbances of the Subconscient, Collective Subconscious Influences, pp. 111-118
Santosh has been studying Sri Aurobindo's writings since 1971 and has a daily blog at http://sriaurobindostudies.wordpress.com and podcast at https://anchor.fm/santosh-krinsky He is author of 16 books and is editor-in-chief at Lotus Press. He is president of Institute for Wholistic Education, a non-profit focused on integrating spirituality into daily life.