Sri Aurobindo

Letters of Sri Aurobindo

Volume 1. 1934

Letter ID: 1229

Sri Aurobindo — Nirodbaran Talukdar

December 21, 1934

It seems I had the same experience again. In the meditation I felt that something descended, and the body became silent, i.e. it seemed to me that it was something apart from me. Along with this the inner silence began.

i.e. The real self (Atman or Purusha) is not the body – the body is something separate, a part of the being, but a part of Prakriti, not the true self or Purusha.

I also tried to imagine your presence before me, but the appearance soon became obliterated into a nothingness, so to say. But is it harmful to test the experience as I did? Should I have remained absolutely silent and calm?

It is best to remain silent. To test the experience may lead to a mental activity which will break it. That it did not do so in this case, shows that the power of silence that came down must have been very strong and imperative.

You said before that this condition was of the inner being and its silence, the separation of Purusha from Prakriti.

Yes, but it seems also to be the beginning of liberation from identification with the body consciousness. That easily comes with the Purusha-consciousness in the inner being.

Is this inner being or the Purusha the same as the psychic being?

No, not necessarily – the inner being is composed of the inner mental, the inner vital, the inner physical. The psychic is the inmost supporting all the others. Usually it is in the inner mental that this separation first happens and it is the inner mental Purusha who remains silent, observing the Prakriti as separate from himself. But it may also be the inner vital Purusha or inner physical or else without location simply the whole Purusha-consciousness separate from the whole Prakriti. Sometimes it is felt above the head – but then it is usually spoken of as the Atman and the realisation is that of the silent Self.

I am fortunate to have the same experience repeated so soon.

Yes, it proves that the Yogic consciousness is beginning to grow in you.

Last night as I returned from a walk, at 11.30 p.m., and sat down in my chair, I felt, all on a sudden, your presence in the room and I was so very happy. Did you really visit me?

Yes,