Power Is to Be Transformed, Not Rejected, in Spiritual Development

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Power is disconcerting.
Humanity is attracted to it

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while at the same time it fears
raw power.

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It is often said power corrupts
absolute power corrupts

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absolutely.
What is then to be done with our

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vital nature that expresses
power and provides the motive

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force for our lives?
Those inclined to asceticism

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respond that power needs to be
avoided, rejected, disregarded.

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The only thing that matters from
that viewpoint is knowledge

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based in oneness.
If powers arise, they are

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considered to be temptations and
should not be developed or

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followed.
Those who focus on the external

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life and its development tend to
worship at the altar of power.

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They want to accumulate it.
They want to deploy it, and they

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want to control others with it.
This is where the corruption

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enters into the picture.
The more power one accumulates,

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the more one begins to believe
the myth of infallibility and

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being right.
Because the very fact of their

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success implies to them their
rightness.

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They tend to want to equate
power with knowledge.

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This occurs even in the service
of a religious ideal.

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Witness the Holy Inquisition,
the conversion at the point of a

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sword, the burning of witches,
the Crusades, the development of

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laws to enshrine a particular
doctrine in place and use these

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to penalize those who hold
differing beliefs and other

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abuses of power.
In the name of God, we try to

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put a control on power.
Society sets up rules, moral

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codes, guidelines for the right
use of power and the wrong use

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of power.
Yet these rules are disregarded

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by those who actually accumulate
power in the form of wealth,

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political or social influence,
or simply use brute force to

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exert their will upon others and
the society at large.

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Spiritual seekers are notably
confused and have a difficult

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time navigating the demands of
life, which implies the

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development and the use of power
in some form or other, and the

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demands of the spiritual path,
which generally tell them to

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abandon the active life and
focus on their inner spiritual

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development.
The result has been the begging

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bowl, the vows of poverty and
the retreat into the caves, the

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mountains or the deserts.
Yet something is missing.

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The avoidance of life, the
avoidance of the use of power

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implies a division, a
separation, a duality in

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existence which is not there in
reality.

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The divine creation exudes
power.

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The vast manifested universe
unleashes incomprehensible

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amounts of power.
And in our very world, all

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existence is based on the use of
power.

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Somehow we must find the balance
that includes the vital force,

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the power of life.
In the spiritual focus, Sri

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Orobindo and the Mother accept
the need for the power of the

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life energy.
They point out that it has an

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essential role and must be
transformed and put into the

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service of the Divine.
The goal is to overcome the

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corruption that is based in the
inflation of the ego that

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generally comes with control and
the accumulation of power.

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The role of power should not be
in conflict with the role of

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knowledge, harmony, beauty or
love.

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All these aspects of the divine
manifestation are intended to

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balance and harmonize in the
eventual perfection of human

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life for which we are striving.
In his book, The Mother, Sri

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Robindo takes up the role of
power in its various forms and

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how to transform 1's use of
power to put it at the service

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of the divine.
He describes what it means to be

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a true doer of divine works.
He takes up the role of money as

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a sign of a universal force that
needs to be deployed to increase

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the beauty, harmony and balance
in the world.

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He describes the great powers of
the Divine Shakti that manifest

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everything that exists in the
synthesis of Yoga.

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Sri or Ovindo writes, willpower,
force are the native substance

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of the life energy.
And herein lies the

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justification for the refusal of
life to acknowledge the

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supremacy of knowledge and love
alone, for its push towards the

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satisfaction of something far
more unreflecting, headstrong

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and dangerous that can yet
venture to in its own bold and

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ardent way towards the Divine
and Absolute.

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Love and wisdom are not the only
aspects of the Divine, there is

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also its aspect of power.
End Quote.

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The mother observes.
Quote.

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Shiro Bindo says that the vital
part, the vital being, is the

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greatest obstacle because it is
unregenerate, and that there

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would be a possibility of
transforming it if it's

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surrendered entirely to love and
knowledge.

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But as its predominant quality
is force, energy, power, it does

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not like to submit to other
parts of the being, and this

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justifies its refusal to submit
itself.

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For those virtues in their
essence are as high as the

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others.
That is why it has neither the

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same power or the same
capacities, for it is not

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developed, it has not
surrendered.

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And this is what causes the
dilemma.

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It does not submit because it
has this power, and this power

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cannot be utilized.
If the vital were a mediocre

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being without definite
qualities, there would be no

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difficulty in its surrendering,
but it would be altogether

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useless.
But On the contrary, the vital

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is a sort of stronghold of
energy and power of all powers.

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Yet generally this power is
diverted.

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It is no longer at the service
of the Divine, it is at the

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service of the vital itself for
its own satisfaction.

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So as long as it is like that,
it cannot be used.

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It should come to understand
that this energy and power which

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it feels within itself cannot
become useful unless it enters

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into perfect harmony with the
Divine plan of realization on

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earth.
If it understands that, it

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becomes quiet and allows itself
to be enlisted, so to say, in

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the totality of the being, and
then it takes on its full

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strength and full importance.
But otherwise it cannot be used.

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And usually all its activities
are activities which always

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complicate things and take away
their simplicity, their purity,

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often their beauty and their
effectiveness.

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For its action is blind,
ignorant and very egoistic.

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End Quote reference.
Sri Aurobindo and the Mother

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Powers within.
Chapter 17.

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The Vital Pages, 1:32 to 1:33.