The Need to Gain Control Over the Action of the Vital Mind and Its Function

1
00:00:01,600 --> 00:00:07,200
Everyone has had the experience
at some time or another, of

2
00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:11,600
imagining themselves doing
something extraordinary, or at

3
00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:14,840
least fulfilling some dream
about how their lives could

4
00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:19,760
develop or turn out.
It may be a fantasy about

5
00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:24,880
winning a lottery, or gaining
fame or recognition, or finding

6
00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:28,730
the right person to marry and
raise a family with, or

7
00:00:28,730 --> 00:00:33,970
advancement in a career, or
making some discovery, or

8
00:00:33,970 --> 00:00:39,090
achieving some feat of skill, or
carrying out some act of

9
00:00:39,090 --> 00:00:44,170
heroism, etcetera.
Some individuals are carried

10
00:00:44,170 --> 00:00:48,690
away by these dreams and either
devote substantial focus to

11
00:00:48,690 --> 00:00:53,330
trying to make them real, or
else simply wander in their

12
00:00:53,330 --> 00:00:57,820
minds without any actual effort
or attempt for a successful

13
00:00:57,820 --> 00:01:02,500
outcome.
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,

14
00:01:03,060 --> 00:01:07,620
a short story by James Thurber
eventually turned into a feature

15
00:01:07,620 --> 00:01:12,500
film, captures this sense of
inner adventure and heroism for

16
00:01:12,500 --> 00:01:16,980
an individual who is outwardly
living a quite ordinary life.

17
00:01:19,390 --> 00:01:22,510
Those who take up the spiritual
life are not immune to the

18
00:01:22,510 --> 00:01:27,150
workings of this vital mind.
We have met people who believe

19
00:01:27,150 --> 00:01:30,030
they are the reincarnation of
Jesus.

20
00:01:30,470 --> 00:01:34,230
We're the heir apparent to a
great teacher, leader, or

21
00:01:34,230 --> 00:01:38,830
religious founder, and who take
this idea to an extreme that

22
00:01:38,830 --> 00:01:44,110
becomes a severe imbalance in
their lives and undermines their

23
00:01:44,110 --> 00:01:49,130
spiritual seeking.
The capacity to see and imagine

24
00:01:49,130 --> 00:01:53,570
something new, something
extraordinary, is a valuable

25
00:01:53,570 --> 00:01:57,890
faculty for those who have the
power of realization.

26
00:01:58,490 --> 00:02:01,570
There is here a basis for doing
great things.

27
00:02:01,570 --> 00:02:05,730
Indeed.
At the same time, if the vital

28
00:02:05,730 --> 00:02:10,930
imagination takes over and one
becomes enmeshed in the dreams

29
00:02:11,130 --> 00:02:14,490
or daydreams without
implementing a power of

30
00:02:14,490 --> 00:02:20,140
actualization, it can be an
enormous waste of time, energy

31
00:02:20,420 --> 00:02:27,380
and focus, Sriorobindo notes
Quote There is a part of the

32
00:02:27,380 --> 00:02:29,780
nature which I have called the
vital mind.

33
00:02:30,420 --> 00:02:34,140
The function of this mind is not
to think and reason, to

34
00:02:34,140 --> 00:02:39,980
perceive, consider and find out
or value things, for that is the

35
00:02:39,980 --> 00:02:44,860
function of the thinking mind,
Proper booty, but to plan or

36
00:02:44,860 --> 00:02:47,180
dream or imagine what can be
done.

37
00:02:48,020 --> 00:02:52,140
It makes formations for the
future which the will can try to

38
00:02:52,140 --> 00:02:56,620
carry out if opportunity and
circumstances become favorable,

39
00:02:57,340 --> 00:03:00,900
or even it can work to make them
favorable.

40
00:03:01,740 --> 00:03:06,020
In men of action this faculty is
prominent and a leader of their

41
00:03:06,020 --> 00:03:09,580
nature.
Great men of action always have

42
00:03:09,580 --> 00:03:14,030
it in a very high measure.
But even if one is not a man of

43
00:03:14,030 --> 00:03:19,110
action or practical realization,
or if circumstances are not

44
00:03:19,110 --> 00:03:24,790
favorable, or one can do only
small and ordinary things, this

45
00:03:24,790 --> 00:03:29,030
vital mind is there.
It acts in them on a small

46
00:03:29,030 --> 00:03:32,190
scale.
Or, if it needs some sense of

47
00:03:32,190 --> 00:03:36,670
largeness, what it does very
often is to plan in the void,

48
00:03:37,270 --> 00:03:42,320
knowing that it cannot realize
its plans, or else to imagine

49
00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:47,880
big things, stories, adventures,
great doings, in which oneself

50
00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:53,080
is the hero or the creator.
What you describe as happening

51
00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:57,000
in you is the rush of this vital
mind or imagination making its

52
00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:00,600
formations.
Its action is not peculiar to

53
00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:05,440
you, but works pretty much in
the same way in most people, but

54
00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:11,080
in each according to his turn of
fancy, interest, favorite ideas

55
00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:15,160
or desires.
You have to become master of its

56
00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:20,040
action and not allow it to seize
your mind and carry it away when

57
00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:24,720
and where it wants.
In sadhana, when the experiences

58
00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:29,520
begin to come, it is exceedingly
important not to allow this

59
00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:34,320
power to do what it likes with
you, for it then creates false

60
00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:39,380
experiences according to its
nature, and persuades the sadak

61
00:04:39,380 --> 00:04:44,860
that these experiences are true.
Or it builds unreal formations

62
00:04:44,860 --> 00:04:47,860
and persuades him that this is
what he has to do.

63
00:04:48,780 --> 00:04:53,020
Some have been taken away by
this misleading force used by

64
00:04:53,020 --> 00:04:57,340
powers of falsehood, who
persuaded them through it that

65
00:04:57,340 --> 00:05:01,980
they had a great spiritual,
political or social work to do

66
00:05:01,980 --> 00:05:07,650
in the world, and led them away
to disappointment and failure.

67
00:05:08,730 --> 00:05:14,770
End Quote Reference Sriorobindo
and the Mother Our Many Selves,

68
00:05:15,210 --> 00:05:19,770
Practical Yogic Psychology,
Chapter 2, Planes and Parts of

69
00:05:19,770 --> 00:05:23,290
the Being, pages 46 to 47.