“Is there a center that corresponds to the subtle physical?…
Well, for the subtle physical it goes from the navel down to the last center,1 that whole region.
And what are the influences that come from the subtle physical?
Generally they are of a far higher quality than material influences. I have noticed (I don’t know whether it’s a personal or a general thing) that the subtle physical I see is always of a somewhat higher quality than the physical proper. I mean somewhat more harmonious: things are smoother. All that comes from the vital is more often than not aggressive, quarrelsome and so on—and difficult. But this realm is generally calm—calm, orderly, where things are more harmonious—GENERALLY (I can’t say whether it’s the case with everybody, but in my own case it’s like that).
As I told you, Sri Aurobindo lives there permanently, as though in a house of his own: you can see him, you can stay with him, he is busy. It is very much like the physical, but a physical that would be less grating, you understand, where things are more harmonious and satisfying, less excited. There is less of that feeling of haste and uncertainty. In that house where Sri Aurobindo lives, life unfolds very, very harmoniously: people come and go, there are meals even…. But all that obeys more general laws, and a sense of security and certainty not to be found in physical life. And the symbolism is more exact (I don’t know how to express it…), the symbolic transcription of things is less distorted, more exact……….
I think that as the Supramental descends, the subtle physical will have a greater and greater action on earth, because it is the world where the new creation will be formed before it “descends,” before it becomes absolutely visible and concrete.”
The muladhara, at the base of the spine.
Mother’s Agenda, Volume 4, January 18, 1963
Inner Practice
*Aspire with our inner flame that we would like to meet our Master be it The Mother, Sri Aurobindo or Vallalar or anyone else in current time in the subtle dimension of their subtle body.
*For this we can be anchored in our body and keep our awareness fully within The Divine Master. The less we are aware of our personal experience the better is the process. We are steady in our awareness which is touching their body, but we drop all sense of ourself including our desires. We see The Divine Master with our inner eye, feel them with our inner heart and remain THERE, OUT THERE wherever we feel Them until we feel Their subtle body or substance.
*You can focus on any one part of The Master or Mother’s divine body or Their whole body.
*Soon you will see or feel or have the fragrance or get the vibrational presence of Their subtle body.
*Soon you will feel Their Substance and Presence within our body here and there.
*The more we are present with Their Substance within us IT expands to unite with THEM.
“The vehicle and the forward movement are the sadhana, beyond the shadow of a doubt. I understood that the speed of sadhana was greater than the speed of the forces of destruction. And it ended in certain victory, there is not a shadow of doubt. This feeling of POWER once I was firmly grounded there [in the ‘square’], enough power to help others.” – Mother’s Agenda
For many of us who celebrate the peace, calmness and silence which is one aspect of sadhana or spirituality, here is a tiny quote to reflect deep into the speed and swiftness aspect. This quote comes from a larger experience of The Mother quoted in Mother’s Agenda. Those interested could read it fully in the July 12, 1960 section. Below we share a tiny portion of Her experience. Tune in to Her speed of sadhana and reflect in your own inner practices how you can bring this speed to counter the illness that is trying to come in, a ill thought that is trying to form, that frustration that is trying to build up or that giving up attitude that is going to come in the way of Divine’s Victory over you. Reflect deeply and practice speed of sadhana from your side. From the Divine’s side reflect how you can let go of all your bias that ‘this is how transformation will occur’. How can you be free from formations of mind, vital and even past experiences of your body? How can you allow the Divine to Grace you with love and swiftness when She has decided upon you?
Sharing a portion of The Mother’s experience below. Those interested can read the fuller description from Mother’s Agenda.
“What was pleasing, and really quite interesting, was this tremendous speed, like an arrow, and I always arrived in time, just in time, just in time. Once I had crossed over to the other side (I clearly felt that nothing would be left, for it was such a powerful deluge), the danger was finished, there was no longer ANY possibility at all of being touched – this was the main feeling. Everything was stopped. Nothing could touch.
I turned around and saw all this water rushing down, and I thought, ‘Now let’s see if we can do something here.’ There was someone behind who interested me, someone or something – it was still something; it was very likable and had something of the blue color that was here on the other side. Not really individuals, but more like beings representative of something that was following me quite closely. When I was there, it also was there, but it could not keep up, it kept losing ground – as my speed increased, its decreased. It could not keep up. But it interested me in a special way. ‘Oh, he’s so close (he or it); he might just make it,’ I thought. And at that moment, I saw that all this destructive will with its instrument of water, symbolically water, had rushed past and was spreading out everywhere. But there was still a chance of saving all those who were along this path. And that’s immediately what I thought of, it was my first wish: ‘Let’s see if they can still get across, if I can manage to get them across.’ I remembered some especially dangerous spots (while speeding past, I had remarked, ‘Oh, here we might still be able to do this, there that could still be done’ – my consciousness moved at the same speed, and I noted everything along the way), and once I was firmly there on the other side, I started sending back messages.” – Mother’s Agenda
“Power of double attention, to thought and to Ananda, is now well-established. What has now to be got rid of, is the interference of the mind-stuff in condensation; this is being already done initially by the interposition making no essential difference, since even then the Ananda reaches the side of conscious attention, subordinate as yet, which is deputed to receive it. But this siddhi is as yet imperfect and initial.”
Page 1076, Record of Yoga, Sri Aurobindo
“K.A is now in a way settled in the body, thus fulfilling the suggestion about the 7th; but the intensities vary and there is not perfect continuity when the mind is turned away entirely from the body. Nevertheless the opening of a double consciousness which has the full mental or gnostic activity and below it the sense of the body has definitely set in in spite of frequent intermittence.”
Page 1114, Record of Yoga, Sri Aurobindo
We humbly touch Record of Yoga, a treasure house of Yogic Sadhana of Sri Aurobindo. Concentrate and dive deep into these two quotes and experientially practice the double attention or concentration. Some suggestions are offered below. These are only hints based on our limited understanding of His intense work. By focussing on these may the true illumination and practice awaken within us.
The clue given is double attention to thought and Ananda. This leads to a beautiful condensation. How can we practice this? Some options are:
Keep awareness within your thoughts and also Above your Head Space or Consciousness and wait. Actually awareness should be within both. You will feel or see movement of thoughts – First awareness. You will experience some quality above Head like Vastness, Joy, Light or Presence – Second awareness. It is a joy to read that Sri Aurobindo was practicing to get this dual awareness perfect. We too can do in our own ways. Then the condensation ie. the mixing of the quality present Above our head with the substance of our thoughts can unfold.
Connect to your forehead region and open it to the Consciousness above, being present within the ajna chakra region and also being present Above head and wait
Place your awareness within the thought region and also within the living presence present as a flame within the cave of heart and simply wait being present together in both the spaces.
Also in any part of your body if you have accessed a Divine Self-Existent joy like within your lips or in the Sacred consciousness beneath your feet you can connect this to the thought region with dual awareness and wait.
The second quote on double consciousness is illumining. Practice being within your body and above your mind consciousness simultaneously and actually. If you are actually within your body, you will feel your body’s substance ( the mass, weight or density of your body), you will be aware of sensations both pleasant and unpleasant and by Grace each of us will also be shown the domain of subtle substance that is self-lit and has a natural delight. Now the second, if you are actually above your mind progressively the seven suns Above will open up in our extended consciousness. This is the journey of unfolding of our Divine Body.
May each of us explore this double concentration and share back our insights and experience to all of us.
Quote 1: “But I am not sure, for when I had this experience (not of the divine Presence, which I had already felt in the cells for a long time, but the experience that the Divine ALONE is acting in the body, that He has BECOME the body, yet all the while retaining his character of divine omniscience and omnipotence) well, the whole time it remained actively like that, it was absolutely impossible to have the LEAST disorder in the body, and not only in the body, but IN ALL THE SURROUNDING MATTER.”
Quote 2: “It is the result of the descent of the supramental substance into Matter. Only this substance – what it has put into physical Matter – could have made it possible. It is a new ferment. From the material standpoint, it removes from physical Matter its tamas, the heaviness of its unconsciousness, and from the psychological standpoint, its ignorance and its falsehood. Matter is subtilized. But it has surely come only as a first experience to show how it will be.
It is truly a state of absolute omniscience and omnipotence in the body which changes all the vibrations around it.”
June 6, 1958, Mother’s Agenda
INSIGHT:
Very humbly we need to examine this quote without any desire or ego or ambition or subtle spiritual pride stealing in. We are reading the work of the Masters. Here is quoted an experience of The Mother. This realization within the Body of The Mother has an impact on the ONE SUBSTANCE which is present in all our bodies. Without ego or desire it is very important for us to read and digest this quote, as it would make a significant shift in our own practice.
In the beginning in deeper body work we learn to bring our awareness within our body and connect to the Divine – Above, within cave of heart, as Divine Mother or Lord and the like. In the beginning we may be aware of the energy or sensations within the body. Matter itself can become our focus leading us to connect to our substance. Our inner senses will reveal the nourishing and limiting qualities present here. Yet our inner senses may not be able to sense the fullness or the depth of substance. There is a truth radar which by Grace of Divine shows to us a portion of substance which has some Divine Qualities like radiance, beauty, malleability and blissfulness. This portion of Divine substance at times expands and fills neighbouring cells of body or larger portions of the body too. At other times our awareness seems caught up with the inner dramas and the Divine substance is not in sight.
This aspiration and sadhana to build this Divine substance within each of our bodies is done by the Divine and Masters. It is a ‘Source’ that is available to all of us. As we internalise this our sadhana could take a new turn. We learn to be within our body’s substance, aspiring for Divine substance. We are with our breath, our mantra, our surrendering posture, our connect to Divine Above and the like. Yet we wait like a bridegroom waits to be with the bride and unite, we wait to glimpse this Divine substance and give space for IT to act, mould and grow within us.
“FROM the height of that summit which is the identification with Thy divine infinite Love, Thou didst turn my eyes to this complex body which has to serve Thee as Thy instrument. And Thou didst tell me, “It is myself; dost thou not see my light shining in it?” And indeed I saw Thy divine Love, clothed in intelligence, then in strength, constituting this body in its smallest cells and shining so brightly in it that it was nothing but a combination of millions of radiant sparks, all manifesting that they were Thyself.”
Page 148, Prayers and Meditations, The Mother
INSIGHTS
1. Divine Infinite Love has been spoken of in the height of that summit (above the head)
2. In The Body the description is shown as the Divine Infinite Love Identified Above, permeates within the mind (as light), vital life energy (as strength) and shines as radiant sparks in the cells (atoms) of Thy Body
INNER PRACTICE
Connect to consciousness above our head and wait with deep aspiration for this domain of Divine Love to Grace Her Presence for us, identified in summits above. May She purify us sufficiently so that we are Graced to witness Her and stay connected and united with Her
Learn to stay identified and anchored above our head within whatever quality is being opened up for us There – Vastness, Silence, Joy, Flow or Love. Even if we do not sense the presence of Divine Love above we can hold faith and stay above our head with faith that SHE is there and She is seeking to manifest in the world and within the cells of our body
Staying anchored above our head with felt presence of Divine Love, sometimes as a subtle substance or presence or as Light and Power (Sound) united or simply with faith or certainly in HER presence above. From thus anchored above we can connect to our mind and quietly wait with our glance turned upward till whatever light is present reveals itself. Staying anchored above enter into your heart, navel and pelvic region and wait with glance turned above. See all the perfections and imperfections as it is. Wait till the inner strength reveals itself underneath everything. Be in an attitude that you are willing to wait for eternity too to glimpse HER as strength here.
Staying anchored above your head, move your awareness within the substance of your body. The substance of our body is the very matter with which all of our body is made of. It has properties like weight, mass and density. Be above and also within your body’s substance. With your inner senses, all around you within body, you will see some colours, feel something, witness some movements, there will be some sensations and vibrations. We all have a truth sense within us. This will reveal the mixed energies from purer energies. Keep attention within substance and let it not get lost within the energy fields. With a slight forward movement of your awareness in a loving and calm aspiring way, move your awareness within the substance at any point in your body into its own depth, deeper than the mixed energy fields. Wait there deeper patiently untill you enter the domain of love within matter. Our truth radar will detect love as substance by its soft subtle lit radiant and joyful substance which exists on its own
“I know that at a certain moment I was making the distinction between the two states, between the person – the individual, personal being – turning towards the Lord, imploring Him to reveal His Will, and then this experience of becoming – by extending oneself, by opening, by enlarging, by merging into the creation – of BECOMING the Will of the Lord, the Supreme’s Will. No longer any need to implore Him, to ‘know’ His Will and receive it like something foreign to you – you become that Will.
The experience was there at that moment, and it was eloquent enough.
And I was giving him the example of BEING the thing you manipulate and so – since you ARE the thing – having not only the joy of perfect knowledge of manipulation, but the joy of collaboration as well (not collaboration: rather a participation from the thing being utilized). And this from the smallest thing (objects you put in order, for example) right up to the universal transformation that comes with the new Creation – and it’s all the same movement of abolishing limits, the movement of expansion, of a generosity that abolishes limits. It begins with self-giving, it ends in identification.”
October 2, 1961
The Mother, Mother’s Agenda
OUR INSIGHTS
For those who love deeper body work it seems to be extraordinarily important to practice the Universal or Divine process of Expansion and Condensation.
This is easier to do in the mind level now. In fact much of the progress of technology has been abolishing limits and expanding our mind.
We need to practice this at vital life energy, expansion of prana and expansion & condensation at the subtle substance of our body levels.
Let us each discover this inner process. Pay attention to The Mother’s description of expansion as generosity that abolishes limits.
