Sri Aurobindo

Letters of Sri Aurobindo

Volume I - Part 5

Fragment ID: 10708

You must realise that all human beings are made partly of what is given them by their ancestors (not only father and mother but all the ancestors), partly of what they bring with them. The part they get from the ancestors is called hereditary – it is part (not the whole) of the physical and lower vital consciousness, sometimes a little of the external mind also – it is a small portion of the external being, but although small, it is sometimes very persistent and active. The rest of the being, inner and a great part too of the external, is brought from past lives. This hereditary part has to be got rid of and replaced by the true individuality spreading itself to the whole external nature.