TE 161: Psychological Difficulties on the Spiritual Path

The presentation includes a talk by Dr. Alok Pandey, followed by questions and answers (a separate post and video). Sponsored by Sante-Auroville Institute for Integral Health.

This is a re-post from December 2017 – now with a beautifully made Auroville WIKI page with a full transcript and supplementary materials.

How can one deal with psychological difficulties on the spiritual path in the light of Mother and Sri Aurobindo’s teachings?

The spiritual energy surrounding Auroville is tremendous. What are its effects on our different bodies: mental, vital and physical? What are the effects of that force of revelation and transformation on each of us?

Loneliness, misunderstanding, confusion, relationship problems, are just some of the challenges a seeker faces on the spiritual path. Meanwhile, the ego could become inflated from spiritual experiences and develop distortions of perceptions.

A family may reach Auroville together and find the variation in levels of progress and knowledge between individuals leads to conflicts within the family. This could be between parents or between parents and children.

Finally, what are these subtle forces that we don’t even notice or that we feel sometimes within us that could lead us in a particular direction? Are we always protected or is there danger on the spiritual path?