What then is the role of our outer modes of living and their relation with this true self in us? As we initially brought out, the science and art of healthful living is a two-fold process:
1. To discover the psychic being and to identify with it is the first fundamental step. It means to live one’s life seeking it and for it.
2. The second step is to live in and by it i.e. to allow it to assume control of our life, our mind and body.
It is necessary to work upon matter, but how? The process can be regarded as akin to the fitting of a bulb to its source. There has to be a wiring to conduct the electricity of the inmost being with the filament strong enough to hear the ‘load’. It is here that a rational system of physical, emotional and mental culture can be extremely useful. It is precisely to make the body and mind more sensitive, more receptive and strong enough to receive, bear and transmit the psychic influence in our lives. Remove this psychic element and all culture becomes meaningless. If exercises alone were enough most animals would be heavenly creatures since unconsciously they adopt the same postures that a hatha-yogin or sportsman does consciously. The same is equally true of emotional culture as art, music and poetry, as of mental culture through philosophy and meditation. All these techniques and many more can give capacity and strength but are not enough to achieve an integral health when solely pursued for their own sake. Along with strength and capacity comes an important element: receptivity to the psychic influence. In other words, all human capacity has to be offered back and linked to the psychic consciousness in us so that we can add health to vigour and the sweetness of the soul to strength.
Physical exercises help to increase plasticity, speed and strength. But this is not enough. For if there is no proportionate increase in receptivity, these capacities exhaust themselves. The same is true in the psychological domain. Something more is needed. Receptivity. Paradoxically, receptivity increases by the opposite process. Receiving is a twofold process: 1. emptying what is already there and 2. receiving the new. Exercise partly helps in the first and thus increases the receptivity. But usually we then pull back the very same forces that have been exhausted. The result is an endless repetition, each cycle of which creates a further groove making matters worse. There is no real progress and ‘fitness’ becomes a static thing rather than a state of dynamic balance. The body and the mind have to learn to receive from higher and higher levels of our being for which the inmost psyche would serve as a nodus. For such a receptivity what is needed is not activity alone but passivity too, not movement alone but immobility too. We can make a simple observation. If we try to make the body immobile, it becomes restless initially since it is not accustomed to such a receiving. Similarly, the mind too shows an initial increase of restless activity when one attempts to immobilise it. This happens because the body and the mind are accustomed to outer movements and activity.
Immobility has to be practised. In nature, we find this twofold movement recurring cyclically and rhythmically: inactivity and rest, wakefulness and sleep. Even subtle biochemical events follow this cycle. This movement of nature has to be made conscious, purposeful and concentrated. Just as replacing the restless natural activities of life do much more good when replaced by methodical exercises, practised immobility also helps much more than an unconscious dull passivity. The oriental thought has always experimented with the power and mastery of immobility. It knew that the still pause of the tiger before the leap in an in-gathered, concentrated state is as important as its run and the actual leap. It is the former that prepares for the latter. To increase the receptivity of the body, traditional asanas are useful. But one need not stick to them alone. To remain conscious, concentrated, in-gathered and physically ready to receive from above is the central thing and any movements that help are effective. The whole question is whether we are ready for this state of spontaneous receptivity?
There is a third approach: rhythmic movement. When more psychologically oriented it takes the form of dance, music, poetry. Dance combines the body, mind and motion in beautiful rhythms. Among the more physically oriented are gymnastics and certain types of sports. Here again, one may or may not adopt the elaborate forms but use the essential elements. For instance, walking, a common activity may be done consciously and rhythmically with a sense of balance and proportion.
