Receptivity to the Universal Vital Forces

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In May 1973, a devotee from the
West was visiting Oroville and

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South India.
At that time, it was primarily

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an eroded, dusty plateau, not
the lush, forested scene that

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one can see today.
If one visits.

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May is an extremely hot month,
and the visitor had just arrived

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a couple of weeks earlier from
the United States.

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As he was walking around in the
midday sun, he was struck by the

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intensity of the sun's heat and
force, and at one point he

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curled up on a hillside,
overwhelmed with heat stroke and

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a pounding headache that
accompanied it.

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After lying there for a while,
he was prompted to get up or he

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would die on that hillside.
So he found a way to get up,

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walk back to shelter, and get
some water.

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He lived to tell about it, but
the trauma was deep.

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This is an example of not being
able to open, receive and hold

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the universal force that was
flowing.

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The mother tells another story
where some individuals found a

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way to open themselves and
appreciate the power of the

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sun's heat and force rather than
succumbing to it.

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There is a famous tale in the
piranhas about a wife of Surya,

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the sun God, who closed her
eyes, trembled and could not

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bear the intensity of her
husband's force.

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Because of her closing of her
eyes and trembling, Surya

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imprecated her to give birth to
Yama, the God of death, and

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Yami, the river Yamuna.
She struggled for a long time to

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find a way to deal with the
effulgence of the sun, and her

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story has many twists and turns
in it.

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Surya at one point asked his
wife's father, once he

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understood the issue, to reduce
the intensity of his radiance

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sufficiently to allow the wife
to bear the force.

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We see here an eventual
accommodation whereby the

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universal force can be received
and assimilated through

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achievement of an understanding
between the universal force, in

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this case the sun, and the
recipient of that force in the

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form of his wife.
As we see in these texts, the

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universal force has both an
impersonal and a personal

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aspect, and a relationship can
be developed if one appreciates

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the personality of that force
and takes steps to befriend

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rather than fear its power, the
mother observes.

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Quote I knew young people who
had always lived in cities, in a

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city and in those little rooms
one has in the big cities in

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which everyone is huddled.
Now they had come to spend their

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holidays in the countryside in
the South of France.

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And there the sun is hot,
naturally not as here, but all

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the same it is very hot.
When we compare the sun of the

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Mediterranean coast with that of
Paris, for example, it truly

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makes a difference.
And so when they walked around

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the countryside the first few
days, they really began to get a

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terrible headache and to feel
absolutely uneasy because of the

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sun.
But they suddenly thought, why

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if we make friends with the sun,
it won't harm us anymore.

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And they began to make a kind of
inner effort of friendship and

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trust in the sun.
And when they were out in the

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sun, instead of trying to bend
double and tell themselves, oh

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how hot it is, how it burns,
they said oh how full of force

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and joy and love the sun is, et
cetera.

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They opened themselves like this
gesture and not only did they

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not suffer any longer, but they
felt so strong afterwards that

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they went round telling everyone
who said it is hot, telling them

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do as we do, you will see how
good it is, and they could

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remain for hours in the full
sun, bare headed and without

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feeling any discomfort.
It is the same principle.

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It is the same principle.
They link themselves to the

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universal vital force which is
in the sun, and receive this

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force which took away all that
was unpleasant to them.

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When what is in the countryside?
When one walks under the trees

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and feels so close to nature, to
the trees, the sky, all the

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leaves, all the branches, all
the herbs.

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When one feels a great
friendship with these things and

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breathes that air which is so
good perfumed with all the

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plants, then one opens oneself,
and by opening oneself communes

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with the universal forces and
for all things it is like that.

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End Quote Reference Sri
Aurobindo and the Mother, The

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Hidden Forces of Life, Chapter
4, Cosmic and Universal Forces,

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pages 91 to 92.