object:2.16 - The 15th of August
book class:Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo
author class:A B Purani
subject class:Integral Yoga
class:chapter
THE 15TH OF AUGUST
THE 15TH OF AUGUST
1923-1926
15 AUGUST 1923
On the 6th of August, when asked about celebrating his birthday, Sri Aurobindo had said, "What is the significance of the fifteenth? I want to make it as ordinary as any other day. What has it to do with the stomach? It has an inner significance, and if there is a way of celebrating it in a fitting manner I have no objection. I do not want any sort of vital manifestation on that day, especially after I have taken a new turn in Yoga."
The food served today was the usual fare. The following is the substance of what he spoke in the afternoon.
Sri Aurobindo: Formerly we used to celebrate the event of my physical birth in a 'Vital' manner. There was the seed of the inner Truth in it, but the manifestation was vital. Now, I wish that if the day is observed, it should be in keeping with the Truth it symbolises.
You all know of the Supramental Truth that has to descend into our life. This day that Truth is symbolised. But there are several obstacles in the way of its coming down. There is the Mind and the mental ideas that grasp at the Truth coming from Above and try to utilise the Truth for their own aims. There is, for instance, the Vital, or the Life-force, which seizes upon the Higher Force and wants to throw itself out into impure actions. The Truth that is coming down is not mental, it is Supramental. In order that it may be able to work properly, all the lower instruments must be supramentalised. The lower forces want to utilise this Higher Truth for the satisfaction of their ordinary movements. Whenever a man enjoys the pleasures of life, or spends his life in pursuit of his selfish ends, it is, really speaking, these universal forces that take enjoyment through and in him.
In order that this Higher Truth may be able to work in its purity, one has to open oneself to the greater Power above, to give oneself up to it and remove all that stands in the way of the Higher Truth. The capacity to surrender consists in these three things.
I have been working all these years to meet the obstacles and remove them and prepare and clear the path so that the task may not be very difficult for you. As for my helping you in that task it all depends upon your capacity to receive the help. I can give any amount that you can take. There is an idea that today every sadhaka gets a new experience. That depends upon your capacity to receive the Truth in yourself. Real spiritual surrender is, of course, quite another matter; but if any of you have experienced even a degree of it, even some faint reflection, then the purpose of the 15th will have been served.
15 AUGUST 1923 (Evening)
Sri Aurobindo came out at 6 o'clock in the evening.
Disciple: May we know something about the present state of your Sadhana?
Sri Aurobindo (in a clear but low voice) : I cannot call it a state, or a condition. It is, rather, a complex movement. I am at present engaged in bringing the Supermind into the physical consciousness, down even to the sub-material. The physical is by nature inert and does not want to be rendered conscient. It offers much greater resistance as it is unwilling to change.
One feels as if "digging the earth", as the Veda says. It is literally digging from Supermind above to Supermind below. The being has become conscious and there is constant movement up and down. The Veda calls it "the two ends" — the head and the tail of the dragon completing and compassing the consciousness. I find that so long as Matter is not supramentalised, the mental and the vital also cannot be fully supramentalised. The physical is therefore to be accepted and transformed. It is this birth after birth on every plane that makes the process complex. I am trying to bring the highest layer of the Supermind into the physical consciousness.
There are three layers of the Supermind corresponding to the three activities of the Intuitive Mind. First is what I call the Interpretative Supermind. I call it interpretative because what is a possibility on the mental plane becomes a potentiality on the Supramental plane. The Interpretative Supermind puts all the potentialities before you. It shows the root cause of events that may come true on the physical plane. When Intuition is changed into its Supramental value, it becomes Interpretative Supermind.
Next comes what I call the Representative Supermind. It represents the actual movements of the potentialities and shows what is in operation. When Inspiration is changed into its Supramental value then it becomes this Representative Supermind. This is not the highest Supermind. You know certain potentialities are working and in many cases you can say what would happen, or how a certain thing happened or can happen. But there may be no certainty. Finally there is the Imperative Supermind which corresponds to Revelation. It is always true as nothing can stand against it. It is Knowledge fulfilling itself by its own inherent power.
I have to distinguish between all these and try to bring down the Imperative Supermind into the physical. Thus, there is a constant movement up and down. The whole being is now made conscious, but what is required is that no force should be able to attack the physical. Then the second thing is to apply the Imperative Supermind to things within and, thirdly, to apply it to things outside. At present, by the Supramental Power any force that attacks the body can be thrown aside. But when the process is complete, no conscious hostile force would be able to attack the body at all. In all this I am following a certain programme that was laid down for me when I came down to Pondicherry.
Disciple: The question, then, is of physical immortality.
Sri Aurobindo: Yes, in case the physical is rendered immune, the casting away or retaining of the body would be voluntary. One would be free to throw it away; it would be, really, dull and monotonous to be forced to keep the same body through all eternity.
Disciple: Is it possible to illustrate the difference between what one attains in the Mind and what is attained in the Supermind?
Sri Aurobindo: I can give one instance: The mental samatā I attained was not disturbed for months by anything. It was the samatā of the Shankarite outlook. But true spiritual samatā comes when the Imperative Supermind descends; the self-certainty of the Power brings the true divine samatā.
Formerly there was some difficulty in differentiating between will of knowledge and knowledge-will — say, between force and knowledge. Now it is not there.
Disciple: When will this work be finished?
Sri Aurobindo: There can be no definite time-limit.
Disciple: What was the nature of the attack you got last?
Sri Aurobindo: Whenever Iam about to finish a definite stage in Sadhana, the conscious hostile forces come and first raise up anything in the being and show it to me: "Look here, this you have not conquered." They can also attack.
Disciple: Is this idea of Supermind present in the Veda?
Sri Aurobindo: Yes, it is very clear, though the emphasis of the Vedic Rishis is more on going above, ascending, than on the return movement of conquering and transforming the lower nature.
Disciple: Can one say that the idea of conquest of the physical is also there?
Sri Aurobindo: Yes, the idea is definite.
Disciple: Do you know of any man who has brought down the Supermind to the physical plane?
Sri Aurobindo: No, I don't.
Disciple: Is there any stress in the Gita on bringing the Supermind down?
Sri Aurobindo: No. Its insistence is on Karma, on action, not so much on the Supermind. Besides, many other things are there in the Gita.
15 AUGUST 1924
Who can describe this day? Nothing can be added by the colours of imagination, poetic similes, and loaded epithets. It is enough to say, "It was the 15th of August." No other day can come up to it in the depth and intensity of spiritual action, the ascending movement of the flood of emotions, and the way in which each individual here was bathing in the atmosphere.
It is the supreme sign of the Master to assume all possible relations with his disciples, make them real, and concrete. Each disciple knows him as his own, and each the Master accepts as his. Each believes the Master loves him most and it is true that he loves each the most. This feeling is not an illusion or delusive self-hypnotism, but is quite real. The spontaneous dynamic law of the Supreme Truth which he embodies is Love — Divine Love.
In all the inmates the delight of surrender is overflowing — the bliss of surrender — its sparkle pervades all. All is given up, everything is surrendered. How free you feel! How light and unburdened you feel! There is someone to take up the whole of your burden — there is a power of Supreme Love. Him you can trust implicitly. You need only to give up your little self, the rest is his work, you have no worry, no anxiety! No effort — only the way of loving surrender! How easy!
Every face is beaming with the joy of surrender, every one is happy and overflowing with joy. And yet there is no external reason, no outer materials for this intense joy. From where is flowing this unlimited Delight? They say the Master was not in such a happy mood these two or three years.
From early morning the Ashram is humming with various activities: decoration, flowers, garlands, food, bath, etc. All are eager to go up to the Master for his Darshan. As the time passes there is a tide in the flood of rising emotion. It is 'Darshan' — we see him every day, but today it is 'Darshan'! Today each sees him individually, one after another. In the midst of these multiple activities the consciousness gets concentrated. Today is 'Darshan' — not of a human being but of some Supreme Divinity. Today is the rare chance of seeing the Divine.
( At 9.15, Sri Aurobindo came out to the verandah which had been decorated today with jasmine garlands and with lotuses which had been brought from a long distance.)
There he sits — in the royal chair in the verandah — royal and majestic. In the very posture there is divine self-confidence. In the heart of the Supreme Master, the great Yogin — a sea of emotions is heaving — is it a flood that mounts from or a flood that is coming down on humanity? Those alone who have experienced it can know something of its divinity. Those who have bathed in it once can never come out of that ocean. He sits there — with pink and white lotus garlands. It is the small flower-token of the offerings by the disciples. Hearts throb, prayers, requests, emotions pour forth — and a flood of blessings pours down carrying all of them away in its speed. Lack of faith, doubts, get assurance. All human needs the Divine fulfils and, after fulfilling, his Grace overflows. Love and Grace flow on undiminished. The look! — the enrapturing and captivating eyes! Who can ever forget? — pouring love and grace and ineffable divinity. If some transcendent Divinity is not here, where else can he be?
He is usually an embodiment of Knowledge. But today he is different. He is all Love. Here is the Great Poet and the Supreme Lover incarnate! It is inquiring, loving and blessing in a glance! Man does wonders with his eyes and looks, but to do so much Divinity is needed.
The question is what to ask? love or blessings? or, should one pray for love and blessings both and in addition for the acceptance of unworthy persons like us? Standing on the brink of Eternity when the soul saw his dreamy and loving eyes, then was it captured for ever. The inexplicable mystery of Divine Love was here a tangible experience! Who can explain a fact? A fact is a fact and an experience an experience. There is no explanation possible.
"What should I give him?" is the question of the mind. "What should I ask?" is the question of the heart. Both refuse to answer and both are unanswered. The mind feels the insignificance of its offering, and remains mute. The heart is ashamed because of its beggars attitude; it even feels its pride wounded. How to solve this pleasant embarrassment? The beggar heart carries the day. There is even a kind of curiosity to find out how one is accepted, what happens to oneself.
But all this was before Darshan. As one actually stands in front, all curiosity, all pride, all thoughts, all questions, all resolutions are swept away in some terrific divine Niagara. Thou, embodiment of Love Supreme! what transparency! In the heart of the Supreme Master also, an ocean of emotion is heaving. The heart melts and falls at his feet without knowing, it surrenders itself! Where is here a place for speech? There is only one speech — the language of the body and its flexion, that of the prostration of the body in the act of surrender, throbbing of the heart and that of the flow of tears from the eyes! What a peace pregnant with divinity! What a beauty of this experience!
Everyone is trying to maintain samatā. Everyone is quiet and is trying hard to remain calm. But today all the barriers of humanity are swept away by the flood of Divine Love. The soul has its samatā but the whole nature is in agitation as unknown waters have rushed into it. Knowledge is laid on the shelf — and it is all a flood of love. Today the soul has received the certitude of the Divine's Victory as it had never done before.
In the dining room all are gathered, bathing and bathed in delight. Everyone is happy — supremely happy—in perfect ecstasy. Today there is an empire of Delight! O Artist! what a marvellous art! So much of delight — for every one of them! — delight that fills each and overflows.
At four o'clock all gather at the usual place of sitting — the verandah. All sit there full of hope in silence; one or two whisper to each other. The mind of the company is silently repeating, "When will he come? May he come." It is 4:15; — the old familiar and yet new 'tick' behind the door! Slowly a door opens. The Master steps out first, behind him the Mother in a white creamy sari with broad red border. He sits in his usual broad Japanese chair. The Mother sits on the right side on a small stool. For a short time — about five minutes — there is complete silence!
Then he glances at each one separately. The minutes are melting into the silence. There is again a wave of emotion in all; all bathe again into an ocean of some divine emotion. How wonderful if the whole of Eternity would flow in this experience! Time, poor Time, its flow is blamed by men. But where is the fault in the flow of Time? If so much Love and such Divine Delight can have its play — let poor Time flow and have its Eternity! And let the world become Divine! Another powerful aspiration that comes to the surface is: "Expression is not needed — let the whole of Eternity flow away in this silence!"
After remaining silent for about ten to fifteen minutes, Sri Aurobindo spoke for about thirty to thirty-five minutes. The following is the substance of what he spoke.
Sri Aurobindo: It has become customary to expect some speech from me on this day. I prefer to communicate through the Silent Consciousness, because speech addresses itself to the mind while through the Silent Consciousness one can reach something deeper. We are practising together a Yoga which is quite different in certain essentials from other methods which go by the same name. According to the old method we have to select the intellect, the emotion or the will or to differentiate between Purusha and Prakriti, the conscious Soul and Nature. By that we arrive at an Infinite of Knowledge, an all-Loving and all-Beautiful Supreme or an Infinite Impersonal Will, or the Silent Brahman beyond our mind, emotional being or will, or our individual Purusha.
Our Yoga does not aim at an impersonal Infinite of Knowledge, Will or Ananda, but at the realization of a Supreme Being, an Infinite Knowledge which is beyond the limited infinity of the human knowledge, an Infinite Power which is the source of our personal will and an Ananda which cannot be seized by surface movements of emotion.
This Supreme Being that we want to realize is not an impersonal Infinite but a Divine Personality; and in order to realize Him we have to grow conscious of our own true personality. You must know your own inner being. This Personality is not the inner mental, the inner vital and the inner physical being and its consciousness, as is many times wrongly described, but it is your true Being which is in direct communication with the Highest. Man grows by gradual growth in Nature and each has to realize his own Divine Person which is in the Supermind. Each is one with the Divine in essence, but in nature each is a partial manifestation of the Supreme Being.
Such being the aim of our Yoga we want to return upon life and transform it. The old Yogas failed to transform life because they did not go beyond mind. They used to catch at mental experiences, but when they came to apply them to life they reduced it to a mental formula. For example, the mental experience of the Infinite or the application of the principle of universal Love.
We have, therefore, to grow conscious on all the planes of our being, and to bring down the Higher Light, Power and Ananda to govern even the most external details of life. We must detach ourselves and observe all that is going on in the nature — not even the smallest movement, the most external act must remain unnoticed. This process is comparatively easy in the mental and vital planes. But in the physico-vital and the physical plane the powers of Ignorance hold their sway and reign in full force, persisting in what they believe to be the eternal laws. They obstruct the passage of the Higher Light and hold up their flag. It is there that the powers of darkness, again and again, cover the being and even when the physico-vital is opened, the elements of ignorance come up from the lower levels of the physical being. To deal with them is a work of great patience. The physico-vital and the physical being do not accept the Higher Law and persist. They justify their persistence and their play by intellectual and other justifications and thus they try to deceive the sadhak under various guises.
Generally, the vital being is very impatient and wants to get things done quickly on the physico-vital and physical planes. But this has very violent reactions and therefore the mental and the vital being, instead of seizing upon the Higher Light and Power, should surrender themselves to the Higher Power. We have not to rest satisfied with partial transformation. We have to bring down the Higher Power to the physical plane and govern the most external detail of life by it. Mind cannot govern them. We have to call down the Higher Light, Power and Ananda to transform our present nature. This requires an essential utter sincerity in every part of the being, which can see dearly all that is going on in the being and which wants only the Truth and nothing but the Truth.
The second condition of the Light coming down and governing even the smallest detail of life is that one must grow conscious of ones divine personality which is in the Supermind.
There is sometimes a tendency in the sadhak to be satisfied with experiences. One should not rest content with mere experiences.
Another thing is that here, as we are all of us together given to the pursuit of the same Truth the whole time, we have arrived at some kind of solidarity so that we can mutually help or retard our progress.
The conditions for the transformation of our being are the opening of ourselves to the Higher Light and an absolute surrender. This brings about the transformation, so that if there is the essential sincerity, the opening to the Light and surrender, and a gradual growth of consciousness on all the planes, we can become ideal sadhaks of this Yoga.
15 AUGUST 1924 (Evening)
At 6.30, when the Master came for the evening sitting emanating joy, he asked with a smile, "What do you want today? Silence or speech?" As if he had come to confer whatever boon we asked. For a time it was silence that reigned. Then from that silence a flow appeared to start. The hearts of the disciples were on tiptoe with expectation, for today they were hearing not human speech but words from the Divine. To hear with human ears the Lord speak! What fulfilment!
Anticipating the question about his own sadhana, he asked X: "Do you want me to keep the tradition?"
Disciple: Iwas thinking of asking about your Sadhana, but Iwas afraid of being referred to the Silent Consciousness.
Sri Aurobindo: Do you then want me to speak about the Silent Consciousness like Carlyle who preached his doctrine of silence in 40 volumes?
Disciple: The difficulty is that by silent consciousness we can't find where you are.
Disciple: We want to know about your own Sadhana.
Sri Aurobindo: All I can say is I am doing the same thing over and over again; only I am doing it each time better.
Disciple: That is a very encouraging discovery.
Disciple: That is known to us.
Sri Aurobindo: Is it? I thought it is quite fresh. The physical layer is a very obstinate thing and it requires to be worked out in detail. You work out one thing, then think it is done; something else arises and you have again to go over the same ground. It is not like the mind or the vital where it is easier for the Higher Power to work. Besides there — in the mind and in the vital — you can establish a general law leaving out the details; the physical is not so, it requires constant patience and minutiae.
Disciple: In the vital you feel you are galloping like a horse.
Sri Aurobindo: Yes, there is a sense of movement and success in the vital, but the physical always denies your achievements and repeats the same thing over again, so there is hardly much that can be spoken about it.
Disciple: What are the signs by which one can know that the higher calm has settled in the physical?
Sri Aurobindo: In part or in the whole?
Disciple: In the entire range of the physical.
Sri Aurobindo: But before the higher calm can settle there, you must grow conscious of the physical.
Disciple: How?
Sri Aurobindo: As you have got the consciousness of the mind, of the vital being, so also the body must get its own consciousness. When that consciousness is present, you feel the calm like something solid, settled like an immovable block which cannot be shaken even by the most material shock.
Disciple: In your present stage of Sadhana where do you stand with regard to the question of Death?
Sri Aurobindo: In my own case?
Disciple: Yes.
Sri Aurobindo: There are three things that can bring it about:
Violent surprise and accident.
Action of age.
My own choice, finding it not possible to do it this time, or by something shown to me which would prove it is not possible this time.
Disciple: Sometimes I have a suggestion that if the body can retain the higher calm, power, and ananda, then the body would be free from death.
Sri Aurobindo: That is only the general principle. But that won't do on the physical plane. You must work out all the details. It is just like the political movements of India where to establish a general rule or maxim is regarded as quite sufficient; the details are never worked out.
Disciple: When the vital being has got the calm and power and ananda then sometimes there is an idea that the body is also immortal.
Sri Aurobindo: That is due to the vital casting its own glow upon the physical. The vital Purusha is immortal and that creates a sense of immortality in the body, but that is not the real conquest. In the case of Swami Brahmananda, he lived up to 300 years so that he seemed practically immune from the action of age, but one day a rusty nail pricked him and he died of that slight wound. On the physical plane something you have not worked out turns up and shows that your conquest is not complete. That is why the process takes such a long time. You must establish the Higher Consciousness in every atom of the body; otherwise what happens is that something escapes your view in the hidden depth of the lower physical being which is known to the hostile forces and then they can attack through that weak point. They can create a combination of circumstances which would give rise to the thing not worked out and before you can control them they are already beyond control. In that case they can destroy you.
Disciple: Why is the physical so very obstinate and obscure?
Sri Aurobindo: Well, it is the nature. That is the arrangement. If the physical were not like that then the thing would have been done much more easily and long ago instead of taking kalpas and manvantaras. The Sadhana would have been very easy. God does not want it to be easily done.
Disciple: Some time back you told us that this attempt was done several times in the past, but on account of various reasons it was not successful. Will it be successful this time or not?
Sri Aurobindo: I can't say.
Disciple: But you said that this can be done and this time something will be done.
Sri Aurobindo: But "this can be done" is not the same as "this will be done this time".
Disciple: No. What he wants to know is whether youwant to improve upon that statement.
Sri Aurobindo: All I can say is "Ask me next August." This time I am more hopeful than I was last year. It is more possible now than it was last year. Last year was a very hard year in my sadhana. There was an attack from the darkest physical forces on me. This year they are all gone.
Disciple: When will it be finished?
Sri Aurobindo: You want me to prophesy? It does not depend totally upon me; time is the last thing one knows about. And fixing the limit is more likely to prolong it — like "Swaraj in one year". Besides, a Yogin who is to take part in action is not shown everything by the Supreme. Only when the universal conditions are ready then all things are shown to him; one who is detached sees many things more. Also, the Supreme does not decide every detail before the universal conditions are ready for it to come down with an imperative decision. In between, it is all a working of universal forces. For example, take the case of a physical disease to which you are prone by nature. When you have worked it out you find the same thing coming up in other forms. You cannot leave it off without working out all details and in each detail you can see only possibilities and moral certainties. Not that the Supreme does not know it all the time; only, it does not interfere till the universal conditions are ready. The decision which the universal forces work out is also the decision of the Supreme.
Disciple: Are the universal conditions fulfilled so far as the physical is concerned?
Sri Aurobindo: The general conditions have been fulfilled in the case of the physical consciousness; but now the most material level remains and that is the most dangerous.
Disciple: Why is it most dangerous?
Sri Aurobindo: Because it is solid, compact, and can refuse or give up its own stuff completely. It is the least open to reasoning and in dealing with it you require the highest Divine Power. Besides, the whole saṁskarā, established impressions, of the whole universe is against your effort. Something from Above has to descend and remove the obstacle.
Disciple: I have an idea that those who go by the gradual way would also, at some time, come to the same conquest of the physical as those who work in the concentrated way.
Sri Aurobindo: Yes. But those who go by the gradual way may have each time to fight out the whole thing and even then the difficulty comes up again and again, while in the involved process (which I am following) the work is rendered easy and quick. One blow from the Supreme Force and the thing is done!
15 AUGUST 1925 (4.30 p.m.)
Sri Aurobindo: Our Yoga aims at the discovery of the Supramental being, the Supramental world, and the Supramental nature, and their manifestations in life. But we must guard ourselves against certain general mistakes which are likely to arise. People think that certain powers such as Anima, Garima, or the control of the physical functions, and the capacity to cure diseases, constitute the Supramentalised physical. In many cases, these powers are acquired by persons who happen to open themselves consciously, or unconsciously, to the subliminal being where these powers lie. There are plenty of cases where such powers are seen in persons who have no idea of the Supermind or Yoga.
There is an idea that this Yoga has been attempted times without number in the past, that the Light descended and has withdrawn again and again. This does not seem to be correct. I find that the Supramental physical body has not been brought down; otherwise it would have been there. We must not therefore belittle our effort and throw obstacles in the way of its accomplishment.
The time has not yet come to say what would be the nature of the ultimate transformation. What the old yogins manifested in their life was largely due to the control of the vital being over physical functions. Our aim is not this attainment of the vital siddhis — the control of the physical substance and functions through vital forces. What we are attempting to achieve is a complete transformation of our entire being in all its planes of manifestation. In the old disciplines the goal was not transformation or victory over the physical being. They did not lay any direct hold on it.
Then there is an idea that since everything is One, what we have to do is to realise the One Consciousness and have some experience of it on various planes of our being. This is a mistake due to obsession with Vedantic ideas. It is true that there is the One Consciousness and we have to realise it, but we have not to stop short with that realisation. We have, as I said just now, to transform our entire being.
There is an idea that our Yoga is an attempt at conscious evolution. The Spirit is here involved in Matter and appears subject to it. By the process of evolution the vital and the mental being have come into manifest existence here. Our effort is to evolve to the Supermind from mind.
The Taittiriya Upanishad speaks of the physical being taken up into the vital, and that into the mental and that again into the Supramental and Ananda Consciousness. Another Upanishad says that the man who attains the Supermind escapes through "the door of the Sun". There is no idea of a conscious descent upon life after ascending to the Supermind.
But it is possible to regard the process as an involution, — involution of the manifested being into the Truth-Consciousness of the Supermind which descends with the perfection of the same into the mind, into the vital and into the physical being.
We also notice in our Sadhana that there is a movement of ascent. But that is not the whole thing; we have not to rest content merely with the ascent. We have also to descend again and consciously bring down the Supramental Light, Truth and Harmony to govern and transform our nature — that is, our mind, life, and body. There is thus an evolution of the lower powers upward into the Truth from which the Spirit descends into Matter and then a manifestation of that Truth in all the nature.
It is not all who can do this. There is an idea that everybody can do this Yoga, but that is only partly true. All are not called to do this Yoga. It may be said that all men have got a latent capacity for this Yoga. But that only helps them up to the point of a certain preparation for the Yoga. The vast mental expansion, the difficult, long and arduous task of rejecting the lower movements of the vital nature and the still harder task of bringing about a change in the physical being, all this cannot be attempted by all. We want first to transform all our being into the Supramental nature. But that is not all, we have to call down and throw that Power upon the external life and establish the Truth and harmony there also. I have already told you that the time has not yet come to say what would be the nature of the ultimate transformation. When the time comes it will reveal itself. What is demanded of you is to open yourself more and more to the Truth. As to all the rest, it will work itself out according to the will of the Supreme Ishwara.
15 AUGUST 1925 (Evening)
Sri Aurobindo came out at 7 o'clock.
Sri Aurobindo: Anybody going to keep up the tradition?
Disciple: We are only waiting for the signal.
Sri Aurobindo: The whistle is given, you can start.
Disciple: We want to know something about your Sadhana.
Sri Aurobindo ( in Bengali) : Āmār sādhanā? Āmi ki sādhanā korchi? [My Sadhana? Am I doing Sadhana?] Ask some other question.
Disciple: From your experience of the physical plane till now, do you think that it is possible to bring down the Supermind into the physical plane?
Sri Aurobindo: Why not? I would not attempt it if it were not possible. If you mean, by that question, "whether it is possible this time and now", then that is quite another matter.
Disciple: That is what I mean.
Sri Aurobindo: It all depends upon things outside myself. It is to be seen whether the physical plane is ready to receive the Light, for it is not always that the physical plane is ready when the Light descends.
Disciple: Can you not give any certainty about it?
Sri Aurobindo: Inever said it was certain.
Disciple: Last year when this question was put to you...
Sri Aurobindo: What did I say?
Disciple: You said, "Ask me next August."
Disciple: When the question was put to you, you said, "It is more possible this year than it was last year."
Sri Aurobindo: That is quite another matter. I could not have used the other expression. I can say now, "It is more possible this year than it was last year." (All burst out into laughter as he evaded the question.)
I am not joking. There have been manifestations of it now that were not there before. The Power is working more directly on the physical plane.
Disciple: Then can you not give the certainty?
Sri Aurobindo: You can give the certainty, instead of me, Ican't. You can see for yourself.
Disciple: If I could see I would not have asked you.
Sri Aurobindo: Then, you want to throw the whole burden on me and evade your responsibility?
Disciple: If you push me like that into a corner then I can't say anything.
Sri Aurobindo: Well, you want the truth from me and not a pleasant falsehood, I suppose. I have been feeling this very strongly for the last two days, that is why I say this. It is not a personal question; I am speaking of the general atmosphere. I find that the more the Light and Power are coming down the greater is the resistance. You yourself can see that there is something pressing down. You can also see that there is a tremendous resistance.
Disciple: This is quite a new thing this time.
Disciple: It is not at all new. It is only expressed this time.
Sri Aurobindo: Now that we have all come to the lower vital and the physical planes where the struggle is most acute, I am speaking from there and not from any higher standpoint.
(After a pause, to a disciple) No, K — you can't evade your responsibility. (Laughter)
I am not doing an isolated Yoga. When I wrote that much-abused sentence about humanity in The Yoga and its Objects, there was a truth behind it though I was not conscious of it. It is true that my Yoga is not for humanity; but it is not for myself either; of course, my attaining to the Siddhi is the preliminary condition to others being able to attain it. If I were seeking my own liberation and perfection, my Yoga would have been finished long ago.
Disciple: You said in your speech in the afternoon that the physical plane had not been worked upon by anyone before.
Sri Aurobindo: I did not say that no attempt had been made in the past. Attempts were made, but nothing stable was attained on the physical level; nothing fundamental was established. If it were established, the thing would be there, however partial the achievement.
You see, however imperfect the achievement, it is there in the Mind and you find it, so also in the Vital. But you find nothing like that in the physical plane.
Disciple: It means that the necessary atmosphere for bringing down the Supermind on the physical plane is to be created?
Sri Aurobindo: That is the whole attempt. You ought to help in it by creating the necessary condition, if you want it to be done this time.
(Pointing to himself) There is the centre. You can take from it. But we must be all on the same side if we want to succeed. If you give room to hostile suggestions, you retard your own progress and also the general advancement.
Disciple: What should be done to reduce the resistance of the physical nature?
Sri Aurobindo: You must have an integral aspiration for the Truth. It is true, of course, that there come times in the Sadhana when the mind gets depressed, and the higher Presence is veiled, the knowledge obscured. At that time it is the aspiration and the faith — what Ramakrishna calls 'blind faith' — that supports one. That faith is not, really speaking, blind. It is the memory of the soul. If faith is necessary to Coué-out a disease, much more is it necessary to bring down the Supermind. If I had lost faith I would have given up the effort long ago.
Disciple: Anybody else would have given it up long ago. (Laughter)
Disciple: Is the transition from the Mind to the Supermind more radical in its nature than that from the Supermind to the planes above it?
Sri Aurobindo: What do you mean by that? Do you mean is it as decisive a step as from Ignorance to Knowledge?
Disciple: Yes.
Sri Aurobindo: You see, the Mind works on the basis of division. It always takes the truth piecemeal, — one aspect at a time, and acts as if a part were the whole. Now this very basis is false.
The Supermind is unity and on the basis of that unity it knows the division. It is the stage nearest to us towards the Divine. Of course, it is also working in the Mind. But in the Mind you seek and find the Truth partially. Mind is an effort at knowing, but not knowledge. Mind only represents, it cannot attain. It cannot fully express the Truth.
On the vital plane also the Supermind works. There its working is Instinct, a precise but covert working which is nearest to the Supermind. But the Supermind is something quite different. You may say it is something automatic though not in the mechanical sense. You can say it is self-active Truth. Once you attain to the Supermind, you can escape through "the doors of the Sun", if you want. If you go higher still, you come to a plane where no Sun is needed. But all that becomes more possible and easy if you can bring down the Supermind into the physical plane. After that, it is all a flowering up of the being, a natural and easy growth. But it is all a struggle here in mind, life and body.
The sign that you have attained to the Supermind is that you dispense with the need of thought, or thinking as we understand it. In the Supermind you do not need to think. It does not mean that there is no thought and that all is a mere blank. There is something self-existent that works.
Disciple: How?
Sr i Aurobindo:"How" you can't understand.
Disciple: But how does the Mind work when there is no thought?
Sri Aurobindo: In the Mind you think from one point to another point and then to another and so on. Then you gather them all up and connect them in the relation of cause and effect. Now suppose all these hundred thoughts arise simultaneously, showing up all the details and all that in less than one second. Can you imagine that? That is the Supramental thought.
Disciple: I can imagine that.
Sri Aurobindo: Yes, you can imagine, but you can't have an idea of the thing unless you experience it.
Disciple: Will you give us some other aspect of the Supermind?
Sri Aurobindo: Some other aspect? It is not a thing to be understood mentally like that.
Disciple: All the same it may be of some help to us.
Sri Aurobindo: For instance, absolute rest and absolute activity at the same time. Can you imagine that?
Disciple: Is it true that all the mental faculties have their corresponding counterparts in the Supermind?
Sri Aurobindo: Well, that is what I have said in the Arya. I wrote the Arya when I was on the borderland. I should not say the same thing now. Everybody has to go through that stage. It is true that corresponding to Reason there is what may be called the Divine Reason; and you can say that what works as the Divine Reason is derived from the activity of the Supermind. But it is something which is quite different. I am putting the thing in terms of the mind. I can only give you images. But there it is not exactly the same thing. For instance, Reason finds out the cause and effect and connects them together — while the Divine Reason puts them all in the right relation.
There are other things which cannot be expressed in terms of the mind.
Disciple: For example?
Sri Aurobindo: Reconciliation between opposites. For example, absolute silence and absolute expression, can you express it in terms of the mind?
Disciple: When the Supermind will descend it will evolve its own language.
Sri Aurobindo: There is no need of language there; suppose you have got the Supermind and I have got it, we need not use any language.
Disciple: Then we will be sitting quiet all along?
Sri Aurobindo: A terrible thing to you, I suppose?
Disciple: In Bernard Shaw's Back to Methuselah there are 'ancients' who come and stay with those whom he calls 'children', ordinary men, and if they stay too long, the children get frightened.
Disciple: K is probably afraid that there would be no more questions to ask.
Disciple: In the Upanishad Yajnavalkya says to Gargi when she put too many questions, "Don't ask too many questions; otherwise your head will fall off."
Disciple: It would be a blessing if the head fell off.
Disciple: If this conquest of the physical plane is once achieved, would it mean the defeat of the hostile forces in cases where there might be no opening to the Yoga?
Sri Aurobindo: You come back to the same question of humanity in another form. That is to say, you want to know whether this victory would mean universal victory. Well, let us wait and establish the thing on the physical plane first, then we shall see.
Disciple: How are the universal conditions more ready now for the coming down of the Supermind than they were before?
Sri Aurobindo: Firstly, the knowledge of the physical world has increased so much that it is on the verge of breaking its own bounds.
Secondly, there is an attempt all over the world towards breaking the veil between the outer and the inner mental, the outer and the inner vital and even the outer and the inner physical. Men are becoming more 'psychic'.
Thirdly, the vital is trying to lay its hold on the physical as it never did before. It is always the sign that whenever the Higher Truth is coming down, it throws up the hostile vital world on the surface, and you see all sorts of abnormal vital manifestations, such as increase in the number of persons who go mad, earthquakes, etc. Also, the world is becoming more united on account of the discoveries of modern science — the aeroplane, the railways, the wireless telegraph, etc. Such a union is the condition for the Highest Truth coming down and it is also our difficulty.
Fourthly, the rise of persons who wield tremendous vital influence over large numbers of men.
These are some of the signs to show that the universal condition may be more ready now. Of course we do not know anything about the conditions of the past attempts. But in so far as we can see now there are conditions to warrant the attempt.
Disciple: Do you consider the knowledge of the world-forces a necessary part of the Yoga?
Sri Aurobindo: Yes! You have to deal with world-forces because they make themselves felt, especially the hostile ones; and so also you have to know the forces that make for help. Even when one is doing individual sadhana, these universal forces make themselves felt. Of course, as you develop, their aspect changes completely. The movement of these world-forces does not begin on the lower planes. It begins high above. All decisions are made high above, it is true, but they are not allowed to be known on the planes to which they relate. A veil is interposed, and each plane is left free to make its own decision. The struggle is left to be decided over again by the contending forces. It is only when the decisive turn has been taken that the highest decision is made known. You can help the greater knowledge to grow in you by trying to get the lesser knowledge.
Disciple: What is our place in this Yoga?
Sri Aurobindo: Your place? What do you mean by the question?
Disciple: I can't explain it, I think.
Sri Aurobindo: You must put precise questions if you want precise answers.
Disciple: Probably he wants to know what is the responsibility of the sadhaks?
Disciple: Yes, I mean that.
Sri Aurobindo: But I simply said that as a joke, because K wanted to back out.
Disciple: But I took it seriously.
Sri Aurobindo: Well, Idid not say it seriously, though there was something behind which was serious. (Laughter)
Disciple: This is the Supramental reconciliation of the opposites. (Laughter)
Sri Aurobindo: Well, you can help the attempt by one-pointed aspiration. You should reject everything that stands in the way of fulfilling this ideal. But, if instead of doing that, you go on accepting the suggestions of the hostile forces and repeat their mantras which give you or others the idea that it is not possible, then you help the hostile forces.
Disciple: I will put one question.
Sri Aurobindo: It is time now, put it some other day.
15 AUGUST 1926
Sri Aurobindo: I shall say a few words today about the 15th of August. The question was one that was recently put to me and I gave a negative answer in order to remove certain mental and conventional notions on the matter.
I shall now speak about the positive side of the matter. If there were not that other side there would be no use in this celebration. I shall not refer to the personal aspect for very obvious reasons, but I shall say something in general with regard to what it can and ought to mean in regard to the Yoga, the common object we all have in view.
What that object — that Yoga — is, you know in principle. It is the bringing down of a Consciousness, a Power, a Light, a Reality that is other than the consciousness which satisfies the ordinary man upon earth — a Consciousness, a Power and Light of Truth, a Divine Reality which is destined to raise the earth-consciousness and transform everything here.
That cannot take place unless there is a decision from Above. But, also, it cannot be done unless the earth-consciousness itself is in some part of it, in some of those who dwell here upon these lower planes, ready to receive. Once this Consciousness, the Power, descends it is there for all times and every day for those who are willing and fit to receive it.
But we have attached a special importance to this day and it is justified if we live in the light of the Truth it symbolises. For this day we can fix a mark in the stage of the individual and general progress. It is a day which ought to be a day of consecration, of self-examination and a preparation for future advance, if possible, for the reception of a special Power which would carry on the work of advance. This can only be done in each individually if he takes up the true attitude and lives on that day under the right conditions. That was what I meant when I spoke the other day. It is we who can make it a decisive day in this sense, and it is we who can help to fulfil it.
There must be a consecration from beforehand, and a looking inward on the past to see how far we have reached, what in us is ready, what in us has not yet changed and has yet to be changed, what stands behind waiting for a complete transformation; what still resists and what is still obscure. There must be the aspiration, a calling down of the Power to effect the change which we see to be necessary.
All this we cannot do if we throw ourselves out on this day, but only by an intense concentration so that the internal being is ready, and turned upwards to receive the Light. In proportion as we admit an externalising movement we disturb the higher working and waste the energy needed for the work of inner change. Whatever is done other than on ordinary days should be done either as a part of the movement itself, or as something which is held on the outskirts of the being and cannot disturb the inner movement. And all the customary circumstances of the day must be used for advance.
And if you came to me in the morning, it should not have been in fulfilment of a customary ceremony but with your souls and minds prepared to receive. If you listen to me now and if it is merely something that touches your mental interest and satisfies a mental interest I would rather remain silent. But if it touches somewhere the inner being, the soul, then only has this day a utility or a purpose. And the meditation too ought to be done under such conditions that even if nothing decisive descends there would be a certain infiltration the results of which would come afterwards.
That is the one meaning of the 15th of August from the point of view of our Yoga.
As to taking stock of the work, where you are and the work, how far it is done, etc., certain things ought to be remembered. You know them with the mind.
First, remember that what are the objects of other yogas are for us only the first stages, or first conditions. In the former ways of Yoga men were satisfied if they could feel the Brahmic Consciousness or the Cosmic Consciousness or some descent of Light and Power, some intimation of the Infinite. It was thought sufficient if the mind got certain spiritual experiences and underwent a partial transformation and the vital being was in contact with it. They sought for a static condition and considered release as the final goal, the final aim.
To realise all this, to be open to the Infinite and Universal Power, to receive its intimations and to have experiences, to completely go beyond the ego, to realise the Universal Mind, Universal Soul, the Universal Spirit, that is only the first condition. We have to call down this greater Consciousness also into the vital and the physical beings, so that the supreme calm and universality will be there in all fullness from top to bottom. If this cannot be done then the first condition of transformation is not fulfilled.
The second thing we have to know and remember is that nothing is perfectly done unless all is perfectly done. It is not sufficient to open the mind and the vital being and leave the physical being to its obscurity.
So in the transformation also, the mind cannot be fully transformed unless the vital also is transformed. If the vital being is not transformed nothing can be realized; because it is the vital being that realizes. And if the mind is only partially changed and if the vital being is open and also partially changed it is still not sufficient for our purpose. Because the whole range of the vital being cannot be changed unless the physical being also is opened and changed, for the divine vital cannot realize itself in an unfitting environmental life.
And it is not enough for the inner physical being to be changed if the external man is not transformed. In this process of Yoga there is a whole totality and each depends upon the other. Therefore to stop short may be a preparation for another life, but it is not the victory. All has to be changed before anything can be permanently changed.
The third thing to remember is that if all is to be changed and done then there must be complete surrender with no reservation in any part of the being, no compromise with the old customary thoughts and human ways of doing things. Wherever anything is reserved, it means the Truth is not accepted and we shall commit, again, the old mistake of partial achievement and transformation. We should leave no field for the indulgence of ignorance. For us there can be no compromise between falsehood and Truth, between the Supreme and the lower nature.
It is by remembering these things that we have to take stock of our work. To see how much is to be done, not in any spirit of pessimism because the way is long and hard and cannot be done by a miracle. It can only be accomplished by a large and thorough movement. Each step you have to take as a mark, as an encouragement, for a step towards the Beyond: on one side no lack of resolution and zeal for the victory to be won, on the other no hasty impatience or depression, but the calm certainty for the Divine Will, the calm will that "It shall be done in us" and the aspiration that "It may be done for us so that it may be done for the world."
15 AUGUST 1926 (Evening)
Disciple: What would you say this time about the success of our efforts? Last time you said that you were certain about it.
Sri Aurobindo: I did not say that I was certain. Let us ask X for information.
Disciple (to the first disciple) : Why do you put a question in that way? You can put the question anew on your own account without referring to the past.
Disciple: From the general conditions prevailing now, can you not say whether you are sure or not?
Sri Aurobindo: I am sure and I am not sure.
Disciple: How?
Sri Aurobindo: I can say that I am morally sure but practically not sure. I am not sure practically because the material world is unrepentant. The chief obstacle which may prove to be insurmountable is the resistance of the material world.
Disciple: What do you mean by 'unrepentant'?
Sri Aurobindo: I mean that the material world does not care a jot for the Divine or the Divine Life.
Disciple: What do you mean by the resistance of the material world?
Sri Aurobindo: Its incapacity to open to something high, of conceiving something different from what it is accustomed to. I am referring to the obscurity and stupidity of the human being, if I may say so. When I speak of the resistance of the material world,
I do not mean the external material but the subtle material. There is the subtle and the external material and when I say that Matter is impenetrable, I mean that the subtle material has not accepted the Truth, the material mind has not accepted the Higher Truth. The cells of the material body have a consciousness of their own and that consciousness has to open itself to the Truth. But the material mind does not believe in the divine possibility of transformation. And as I already said, for us nothing is done unless all is done.
Disciple: How are you morally sure?
Sri Aurobindo: Because I see more and more power coming down into the physical and the physical being is showing signs of awakening.
Disciple: But we know that once the Truth is accepted by the mind, then it presses upon the vital being and opens it to the Higher Truth. And when the vital has opened, it presses upon the physical being. So now as you say that the Power is coming down on the physical plane, does it not follow that it will overcome the resistance of the material plane in course of time and the rest will follow naturally?
Sri Aurobindo: It does not necessarily follow.
Disciple: Suppose the material being does not change?
Sri Aurobindo: If it does not, then it would become an insuperable obstacle.
Disciple: Is there no other obstacle to the success except the resistance of Matter?
Sri Aurobindo: No, practically none else.
Disciple: Does it mean that no obstacle will arise from the Asuric forces? I do not mean the Asuric vital world itself but the obstacles from the physical world backed by the Asuric.
Sri Aurobindo: Yes. All this resistance of Matter is backed by the Asuric forces. But if Matter itself yields, then those forces do not count. I do not mean there would be no difficulty from them, but what I mean is that it would have only a secondary importance.
Disciple: What are the conditions to be fulfilled before the resistance can be overcome and have we any responsibilities in fulfilling them?
Sri Aurobindo: Conditions? It is more than I can say.
(After a pause) You would not understand it even if I were to say it.
Disciple: Let us hear it. We shall try to understand it.
Sri Aurobindo: Well, the condition is that if man could open a direct connection with the world of the Gods, then only it would be possible.
Disciple: I do not understand unless you explain every word of it.
Sri Aurobindo: So I said.
Disciple: Do you mean the lower or the higher Gods?
Sri Aurobindo: I mean the Gods, and not the vital gods nor the mental gods.
Disciple: But if the subtle physical accepts the Higher Truth?
Sri Aurobindo: It may have accepted in my case but that proves nothing. It does not mean that it is established in the universal or that it is fundamentally and radically changed.
Disciple: Will not the whole physical yield to it?
Sri Aurobindo: Of course, it is logically but not practically certain.
Disciple: But then is there no sign of it changing its attitude?
Sri Aurobindo: No, as yet there is no decisive sign of any change; but as more and more Power is descending into the physical, I may say that I am morally sure that the material will yield.
Disciple: If the laws of Matter change, will not Matter cease to be Matter?
Sri Aurobindo: Why?
Disciple: Because certain laws define the nature ofMatter.
Sri Aurobindo: What do you mean by laws? What you call laws are mere habits. If you change your habits you still remain yourself.
Disciple: Can a few persons by their sadhana change the laws of the material world?
Sri Aurobindo: We do not intend to change the external material being. Only, in certain cases where the man is open to the Higher Power, this change would take place and not in everybody's case. Its success would not mean success for all and equally for all.
Disciple: Is the attitude of humanity as a whole a factor for success or failure in the effort?
Sri Aurobindo: Of course, it does count for something, but it does not radically affect the issue.
Disciple: What is the difference between the physical mind and the material mind?
Sri Aurobindo: The material mind is a part of the physical.
Disciple: What is the physical?
Sri Aurobindo: As Ihave not got the same inspiration of the subject, Ishall ask X to explain it.
(After a pause) Ispoke about four things in the physical: (1) physical mind, (2) physical vital, (3) Matter proper, and (4) the Supermind in the physical.
The 'physical mind' is, so to say, that end of the mental being which comes in contact with the physical world. It is mind limited by matter, working without the help of ideas, looking only to the physical aspect of the world and taking things as they are. It does not go beyond that view. It depends upon the evidence and knowledge of the physical plane or the knowledge of the external world, it depends upon the evidence of the senses.
The 'physical vital' is life limited by the material body — the life-force bound up in matter. It is life moving in the nervous system. It cannot exist apart from the material body. It is quite different from the vital being proper with its relative freedom. It is life subject to the laws of Matter. There is a tremendous power in matter also, but that is not life-force. Life-force is quite apart from the material world. It exists by itself and for itself and does not limit itself down to the material conditions. To the vital being, nothing, however fanciful and even idiotic, seems impossible. That is the grandeur of the vital being. When Napoleon said, "Nothing is impossible, erase the word 'impossible' from the dictionary," it was the vital being that was speaking through him. And it is true that the vital plane does not admit anything as impossible. It does not reject the higher possibilities as the material plane does.
Then comes the material plane proper. It is what the Europeans call the 'Inconscient'. But this matter which they say is inconscient has a tremendous force behind it. In fact it would be the decisive factor in this effort. If it can't be done this time, it has to be done some day — at some other time.
Disciple: It is apparent that there is great energy in matter.
Disciple: Matter and energy are one.
Sri Aurobindo: That is only an aspect of it which the scientist knows.
Disciple: If an atom were broken up, so much energy would be liberated that some scientists say it can blow up the whole world. And merely changing the position of the atoms in a substance, the properties of the substance entirely change. Is this energy you speak of in Matter a form of the same energy that the scientists speak of?
Sri Aurobindo: Yes. What they know is only one aspect of it. For it is not merely force but has a consciousness of its own, also it can accept and reject things.
The material plane is dull, inconscient. It does not want to change. It does not want to establish anything. It is the same under all the material conditions, obeying the laws of Matter. Even up till now in the process of evolution Nature has taken thousands and thousands of years to effect this little change in Matter. And even then it has been effected always by some pressure from above, i.e., from the mental or the vital planes, but not by Matters own inherent power or strength or consent.
When the Vital began to press on the Physical it could not carry out its ideas of possibilities and impossibilities there. It established a kind of understanding a compromise with Matter and it had to accept the limitations of material life.
Disciple: You said that to overcome the resistance of the material plane is possible if one can open a direct connection with the plane of the Gods. Is there a method of attaining to that plane or does it come down of its own accord or is the work done for one by the Higher Power?
Sri Aurobindo: You have to get rid of the 'European' mentality in you for that. All of you are semi-demi Europeans in your mentality. It requires a definite decision to go beyond the mind and giving up human ways of looking at things. You must avoid the two opposite mistakes of accepting the vital powers as true Gods and of being bound by the materialistic attitude.
Disciple: But you said that all decisions are taken Above already before they are accomplished here in this world.
Sri Aurobindo: Long before they occur here.
Disciple: Then the decision as to whether the Truth is going to succeed on the material plane or not must have already been made?
Sri Aurobindo: It may be. But it may not be made known to you. Even if you know it, you have to work in the plane of Ignorance. Who can say? We do not know.
Disciple: We would lose all the interest if the decision were known beforehand.
Sri Aurobindo: Ignorance is bliss.
Disciple: The first person plural may not know, but I am asking about the first person singular.
Disciple: If the decision is there, then it is also decided whether it will succeed this time or not.
Sri Aurobindo: Decision where?
Disciple: There — Above.
Sri Aurobindo: Ican say because Iknow the decision there, and there is not the slightest shadow of doubt that it will one day succeed: but the question is whether it will succeed through us and our endeavours.
Disciple: If it does not succeed this time, will the Light retire?
Sri Aurobindo: It may retire or it may wait. The question is whether the physical plane is ready to accept the Light. Each time up till now it has not accepted the Truth when it came.
Disciple: What do you mean by saying that the European mind is materialistic?
Sri Aurobindo: We mean by 'European materialism' the attitude that takes matter as the fundamental basis of evolution and the impossibility of accepting what it is not accustomed to.
I am not running down the European mind. It is fine in its own way, but we are trying to effect a decisive change in the physical being. The opposite mistake is also made by those Europeans who have left the materialistic formula binding down the mind to the acceptance of the laws of the physical being as final, the mistake of accepting the vital powers as the true Gods. For example, the people who do psychic research, mediumistic experiments, automatic writing, spirit-communication etc. are such people.
Disciple: Do you mean to say that the physical laws also will be changed?
Sri Aurobindo: What do you mean by a 'law'? What are called laws are mere habits of the physical being, as I have already told you.
Disciple: Will the human body be obliged to change?
Sri Aurobindo: It is not necessary that it should change. It would involve a change in the possibilities and capacities of functions of the physical being. It would not mean a change in the universal physical. It would take place only in the case of persons who are open to the Higher Power. Of course, it would be a miracle if the impenetrable were penetrated.
Disciple: Discoveries of science are not less miraculous today.
Sri Aurobindo: It is the material mind that requires the miracles. It believes in the miracles of the past but not in those of the future. It is satisfied when the miracle has become habitual.
***
ON THE GODS AND ASURAS DECEMBER 1938
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