Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Triple Transformation - Track 506

Questions & Answers on the Process of Yoga

Question: But every human being who was born out of light, is it necessary to lose these cows?

No, this loss does not happen only when you are born. You were born not only in this birth. Your origin has taken place long, long ago at a certain time and then you might say that we lost our connection with the light, so our loss has been long, long ago and we have been moving in a cycle of births and rebirths and all the time we are actually in search, so it is not only now that we are born and so that we are losing. In the Vedas, ritamchasatyam came first, and then came ratri and then came samudra – that happened a long, long while back. But now we find ourselves in this present condition, where we are. So already we are in search and we do not know what we are looking for, what we are searching for. We are really searching for the light which is originally ours. And therefore it says that if you are in search, then that search has to be done by sacrifice. And we go on sacrificing, which is a long process and these sacrifices when done by the help of Agni, kindle the light of aspiration. We aspire and aspire and aspire all the time and offer all that we are, all that we have and by that we are lifted up and we will have first the experiences of Ushas, then of thunder and lightning and waters and rivers flowing in us or rains falling on us and so on. These are all good signs which will mean the heralding of the coming of Indra some time, and then Indra may come down. This is the real entry. When Indra comes then it means that we have uplifted ourself into the superconscient.

It is only when we go into the superconscient that we can rightly enter into the inconscient. We should not try to enter into the subconscious or unconscious prematurely. Why psychoanalysis of Freud is dangerous is because it teaches us to enter into the subconscious and unconscious, even in our unprepared condition. If we enter into the subconscious or unconscious now as we are, there will be nothing found because we do not have the capacity of light. Only when we have grown into the light, then we can safely enter into the subconscious and we can deal with it.

Question: This light is going to be permanent or does it just come in flashes and sometimes?

First flashes, ultimately it becomes established. So that is a long process, but even in flashes, it is a great thing, and first it comes in flashes. There are seasons of these flashes and these seasons can be further cultivated until they become everlasting. That is when savitri becomes manifest forever.

When you have discovered light, or you have the help of the light, then you can enter into these dark regions, and there you discover so many things. You discover that this darkness is not really darkness. Every darkness has a kind of a hidden sun behind it, because darkness is not original, origin is the light. So behind darkness there is always a light and if you uncover it, there is a luminous light.

There is a legend in the Veda that there are eight suns. Seven suns remained above and the eighth was exiled, Martanda, and that went into darkness and it became the black sun. If you go into this darkness ultimately you recover Martanda, the eighth sun, and then you discover that that sun is really the same sun as above. That which is above is also below and you find a real harmony and when you do this again and again, then there is a great role played by Aditi in this yoga of the Veda. Even Indra is a child of Aditi. Aditi is the Supreme Mother, the Divine Mother. In India we have so many concepts of the Divine Mother – Kali and Lakshmi and so on.  Basically all these notions have come from the original concept which you find in the Veda, of Aditi. All the Gods are supposed to be the children of Aditi, Adityahaputraha. If you really go closer to Aditi more and more then you come into a closer contact with the Supreme reality and Aditi can bring all the cosmic powers, all the Gods. Gods are actually cosmic powers and all the cosmic powers then come to help you. And when that happens then your physical becomes powerful, sufficiently baked and in that condition of rightness you arrive at this vision where one Vedic rishi says: "Darkness is shattered, day has broken, there is a flood of light. I am immortal."

 This is the description of the realisation that it is attained, in the physical, i.e. while you are in the body; not when you have gone out of the body but, while in the body you can attain to this. The Vedic realisation is the realisation of immortality while you are in the body itself. And one of the Upanishads says very clearly that while you are in the body you must realise, not after leaving the body. This is very important. If you do not do it, again you have to come back into the body until you reach this point of realisation in the body.