Sri Aurobindo
Letters of Sri Aurobindo
Volume IV - Part 4
No, [the vital ego is] certainly not [a hostile power] – it is part of the ordinary human nature, everybody has it. It has to be purified and transformed, the ego being replaced by the true vital being of which it is a distorted shadow. The forces of the lower nature are often rebellious and resist transformation out of attachment to the familiar movements of the Ignorance, desire, vanity, pride, lust, self-will etc., but they are not in their nature hostile. The hostile Forces are those whose very raison d’être is revolt against the Divine, against the Light and Truth and enmity to the Divine Work.