Sri Aurobindo's letters between 1927 and 1950 on his life, his path of yoga and the practice of yoga in his ashram.
Sri Aurobindo : corresp.
Sri Aurobindo's letters between 1927 and 1950 on his life, his path of yoga and the practice of yoga in his ashram. In these letters, Sri Aurobindo writes about his life as a student in England, a teacher in Baroda, a political leader in Bengal, and a writer and yogi in Pondicherry. He also comments on his formative spiritual experiences and the development of his yoga. In the latter part of the volume, he discusses the life and discipline followed in his ashram and offers advice to the disciples living and working in it. Sri Aurobindo wrote these letters between 1927 and 1950 - most of them in the 1930s.
THEME/S
If it is pale blue, it may be my colour. Pale lavender blue, pale blue but very brilliant in its own shade.
6 August 1932
Nowadays I see Sri Aurobindo's light for most of the time but in different forms—sometimes like a big star, sometimes like a moon, sometimes like a flash of light. Why do I not see it in the same form?
It varies according to the circumstances. Why should it be always the same?
21 April 1933
Two days back in a dream I saw Sri Aurobindo coming towards me. His body and dress were blue. Why did I see him in this colour and not any other?
It is the basic light Sri Aurobindo manifests.
23 June 1933
Sri Aurobindo's light is not a light of the illumined mind—it is the divine Illumination which may act on any plane.
7 September 1933
Someone was giving an explanation of the legend of the churning of the ocean. He said that blue is the colour of poison, which is why Shiva is called Nilakantha, while whitish blue is the colour of Sri Krishna and therefore of you.
The different blues mean different forces (the real blue has nothing to do with poison). The whitish blue is specially called my
Page 515
light—but it does not mean that that alone can come from me.
22 November 1933
There are many blues and it is difficult to say which these are. Usually deeper blue is higher Mind, a paler blue Illumined Mind—whitish blue Sri Krishna's light (also called Sri Aurobindo's light).
March 1934
It depends on the shade of the blue. Ordinary pale blue is usually the light of the illumined Mind or something of the Intuition. Whitish blue is Sri Aurobindo's light or Krishna's light.
6 February 1935
How can I receive Sri Aurobindo's light in the mind?
It can always come if you aspire patiently. But the basic condition, if you want that Light, is to get rid of all other mental influences.
29 May 1932
What is the meaning of "to get rid of all other mental influences"? Is it this that I had better not read any other books except Sri Aurobindo's or not try to learn anything by hearing or admiring others?
It is not a question of reading books or learning facts. When a woman loves or admires, her mind is instinctively moulded by the one she loves or admires, and this influence can last after the feeling itself has gone or appears to be gone. This does not refer to X's influence merely. It is a general rule given to keep yourself from any other admiration or influence.
30 May 1932
As one approaches your photograph in the Reception Room,
Page 516
there is a feeling that it is an emanation of yours. There seems to be a special light in it.
The Sadhaks may themselves bring this light by approaching me through the photo.
24 August 1934
When the meditation is done with the photo, it is better done with open eyes.
I looked at your photograph in the Reception Room after meditation and clearly saw the portrait move its shoulders and as if breathing.
There was a movement in the vital plane and you opened to an inner vision of it.
22 March 1933
As I was sitting in prayer, I saw Sri Aurobindo in a vision coming down the staircase till he came just near to the floor. What does this mean?
It indicates perhaps the bringing of the Divine Consciousness down from level to level till it is now nearer the material.
23 September 1933
Today while meditating I saw in a vision that in Sri Aurobindo's light Nataraja Shiva was manifesting with many hands. What does this signify?
It is the sign of the manifestation.
Then I saw that in the sky Sri Aurobindo's light and red light were manifesting in the form of a globe. Does this signify the manifestation of Sri Aurobindo's divine light on the physical plane?
Page 517
Yes.
Then I saw that Sri Aurobindo's light was manifesting on a sea along with another light of pale blue colour. Does this mean that in the vastness of consciousness Sri Aurobindo's divine light is manifesting through the Intuitive Mind consciousness?
15 October 1933
I saw Sri Aurobindo last night in a vision seated on a chair and writing something. Behind his head there was a circular green light. What does this mean?
The green light is that of a dynamic vital energy (of work). As I was writing—at work—it is natural that that light should be behind my head.
5 November 1933
I have started concentrating in the heart now. Last Sunday while I was meditating I had the vision of your face floating before me for about an hour or so, accompanied by a deep joy. I was fully conscious, but the body became as if dead, all movements stopped, and what a rapture it gave me.
That was very good!
Has anything opened up in me, really? Or is it only a momentary phase of a descent like Peace or Ananda? But I feel as if you have given me a lift forward—the fulfilling of the Mother's promise—"I am coming". Am I right?
It looks like it. At any rate there is evidently an opening in the heart-centre or you would not have had the change or the vision with the stilling of the physical consciousness in the body.
30 October 1934
Last night I had a dream that you had come out of your seclusion for once; you were tall, quite young, but very dark. I began to wonder if this was Sri Aurobindo of former years!
Page 518
No. It is not likely. It is probably some subtle physical form—the one corresponding to the Shiva element in me. I have seen myself like that sometimes and it was always the Shiva formation.
11 December 1934
X had a dream of you as shown in the photograph giving him instructions in his engineering work. Two features: (1) Sri Aurobindo has come out of retirement; (2) he has come out as an engineer!
I suppose, the present Sri Aurobindo having left all engineering work to the Mother, the previous Sri Aurobindo had to come to do it in this case. Anyhow what has it to do with coming out? Any number of people meet me in dreams and get instructions or intimations about this or that. It is an activity of the vital plane where I am not in strict retirement—it has nothing to do with any future physical happening.
25 August 1936
Do you mean to say that people getting instructions from you in dreams is as real, effective and correct as if you had written them on paper?
Yes, if the record is correct.
26 August 1936
Page 519
Home
Sri Aurobindo
Books
Share your feedback. Help us improve. Or ask a question.