Universal Forces and the Subconscient

There are many functions of our existence that take place without the conscious awareness or intervention of the mind. All of the complex functions of the body and its organs, for instance, are very much independent of control by our conscious mind and will, although some of these functions may, through intensive training and focus, come under at least partial control, such as the generation of inner heat in the Tibetan practice of tummo.

There are similar subconscious process that occur on the levels of perception, feeling, emotion and mental ideation. The entire realm of what we call ‘instinct’ is a basically automatic reaction in one of the vital responsive systems that takes over instantaneously when the necessary triggers or precursors arrive and prod the vital nature. This all takes place at the subconscious level.

Much of what enters through the vital envelope remains subliminal to us and if it finds a corresponding receptivity in the subconscious of the individual, it sets up a sympathetic vibration. This is illustrated by the musical instrument called the sitar, which has primary strings and ‘sympathetic’ strings. When the primary string is played, the sympathetic strings vibrate automatically. When any vibration enters the subconscient, it awakens any responsive ‘strings’ that may be lying there, seeds sprout and movement of energy ensues, as if from within us, but really as a response and reaction to the vibrations that have reached us from outside.

Sri Aurobindo observes: “The universal forces act very often through the subconscient — especially when the force they send is something the person has been in the habit of obeying and of which the seeds, impressions, ‘complexes’ are strongly rooted in the subconscient — or, even if that is no longer the case, of which there is a memory still in the subconscient.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, The Hidden Forces of Life, Ch. 4 Cosmic and Universal Forces, pp. 83