Sri Aurobindo

Letters on Himself and the Ashram

The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo. Volume 35

His Life and Attempts to Write about It
Life in England, 1879 – 1893

Education in England

This afternoon I was doing japa as usual and dropped off to sleep. Then I saw a curious dream.... I sang and the song was on Shiva, and was so ecstatic that you got up and blessed me, joining in the hymn.... Tell me, however, do you ever sing — I don’t mean music of the spheres but our mortal songs with musical intervals as we understand, as for instance Mother does?

No — I don’t sing on the physical plane. My education in England was badly neglected — though people say to the contrary. I filled in most of the lacunae afterwards, but some remained of which the musical gap is one. But that is no reason why I should not sing on the supraphysical plane where you met me. There is no exact correspondence between the formation here and the formations there. On the contrary on these inner planes the subliminal as they call it in Europe — that is to say, our inner selves — is full of powers which have not emerged — yet at least — in the physical consciousness. And especially as I was full of Shiva in your experience there is no reason why I should not have sung for I suppose Shiva sings as well as dances?

31 August 1933