Sri Aurobindo

Letters on Himself and the Ashram

The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo. Volume 35

Sadhana in Pondicherry
1930s

Physical Transformation [6]

I agree that the action would not be “wholly dependent on material conditions or laws as now known”, but that it will necessarily change material conditions or laws. If this necessity was not there, it could act under present conditions and laws — but it doesn’t.

But how is it going to change material conditions and laws without acting on the body as it is?

Will the “subtle action of Agni” take place in our present bodies?

The subtle action of Agni is part of the workings of the Yogashakti even now; only its action is at present for perfecting and transformatory.

Certainly it is understood that “the subtle process will be more powerful than the gross”, but will not the subtle process change the present character of the gross process?

If the consciousness cannot determine the physical action and reaction in the present body, if it needs a different basis, then that means this different basis must be prepared by different means. By what means? Physical? The old Yogis tried to do it by physical tapasya; others by seeking the elixir of life etc. According to this Yoga, the action of the higher Force and consciousness which includes the subtle action of Agni has to open and prepare the body and make it more responsive to Consciousness-Force instead of being rigid in its present habits (called laws). But a different basis can only be created by the supramental action itself. What else but the supermind can determine its own basis?

20 November 1935