on transformation of the body
To my own experience, I have the feeling that the body by itself is a wonderful instrument with great potential capacities hardly discovered. One day, by the descent of the powers of a superior consciousness, these latent possibilities will become a reality. This is in a way our aim, effort and struggle. As it is today, the poor body is a slave tyrannized by the mind and especially the vital. We hardly ever ask our body how it can be in its way happy, healthy and in harmony. We have to observe only a little to find out how almost all our activities are for the pleasure of the vital and the mind. In the yoga we have undertaken, this fact must be clearly seen and recognized. Of course, unless we have a higher aim of existence, if we suppress the mental and the vital activities which drive the body, then there hardly remains anything interesting in life. But there too, in all societies, disciplines have been developed in order to keep in control the mind and vital, so as not to incapacitate, injure or destroy the body too early. Moderation is the human law. Then, there has been another tendency to increase the actual powers of the body so that we can enjoy life as it is in a better way with a greater security. The physical education in various forms has been practiced and developed. This is a positive step. When we approach yoga, moderation and physical education are very helpful, indispensable. There is another serious problem: illness. Essentially this is due to the present state of imperfection of the body. As we are made today, perhaps it is practically impossible not to suffer from it sometime or other. The first two approaches, moderation and physical education minimize the possibility of illness but does not eliminate its presence. Various systems of medicine have been developed to cure and protect us. Still, there is nothing like a sure healing. If we want to make our earthly existence truly happy and beautiful then the transformation of the body, or rather, the formation of a new body becomes a logical necessity. The Mother and Sri Aurobindo tell us that by bringing into our body the powers of the spirit, the consciousness of Truth, this can be done. Our old masters, the mind and the vital must be dethroned and the Divine installed. This is precisely the basic fundamental work that we have undertaken. First, to discover the Divine. Then, allow our mind and vital to be gradually transformed, to establish through a growing experience a direct connection between the Divine and the body. When this connection is established, the Divine influence will flow into the very cells of the body and the transformation will begin of which we have hardly any idea because it has never been done before. The Mother and Sri Aurobindo have carried on this work of transformation to the point of absolute certitude and they have recorded their experiences. What they have done can be understood in an extremely limited way only when we undertake this work. In the little book, Supramental Manifestation, Sri Aurobindo has recorded His experience and the vision of the future. In the Agenda the Mother has recorded Her experience with the body in the minutest detail. But in general Her experience is inaccessible, practically impossible to understand, unless one is in constant union with the Divine in the active consciousness. She speaks of the actual experience and not of the vision. So you see, how important is the body and its true well being from the point of view of the yoga we have undertaken. A long life, free from disease and the effects of old age in union with the Divine Consciousness is within the present range of possibilities. This itself will be a tremendous achievement and a concrete proof in a very material way of the validity of the Yoga of Transformation. Let us work for this aim even if we fail so much of the groundwork would have been done.
