Letters on the integral yoga, other spiritual paths, the problems of spiritual life, and related subjects.
Integral Yoga
Letters on subjects including 'The Object of Integral Yoga', 'Synthetic Method and Integral Yoga', 'Basic Requisites of the Path', 'The Foundation of Sadhana', 'Sadhana through Work, Meditation, Love and Devotion', 'Human Relationships in Yoga' and 'Sadhana in the Ashram and Outside'. Part II includes letters on following subjects: 'Experiences and Realisations', 'Visions and Symbols' and 'Experiences of the Inner and the Cosmic Consciousness'. Sri Aurobindo wrote most of these letters in the 1930s to disciples living in his ashram.
THEME/S
The sky is a symbol of the mental consciousness (or the psychic) or other consciousnesses above the mind—e.g. the higher mind, intuition, overmind, etc. Sky as the ether indicates also the infinite.
The higher consciousness in any of its levels is seen usually as a
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sky or ether, but when felt through the vital it is often perceived as a sea.
Sat, Chit, Ananda, Supermind, Mind, Life, Matter are the seven planes described in the Veda—but in this yoga one sees many levels of consciousness which appear as skies or else as seas.
The blue sky is that of the Higher Mind—the nearest of the planes between human mentality and the supermind. The moon here is the symbol of spirituality in the mental planes. The world of the Higher Mind is above those directly connected with the body-consciousness.
The sky is always some mental plane. The stars indicate beginnings or promises of Light—the various lights indicating various powers of the consciousness; gold = Truth, blue = higher spiritualised mind, violet = sympathy, unity or universal compassion.
The first sea is the ordinary consciousness, the second sea is the higher consciousness over which is the Sun of Truth. The mountain represents the ascending planes of the higher consciousness. The journey in the train is the passage from one consciousness to another.
The sea with the sun over it is a plane of consciousness lit by the Truth. To enter into the rays is to be no longer merely lit by it, but in one's own conscious being to begin to become a part of the Truth.
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The blue ocean is often a symbol of the spiritual consciousness in the higher Mind one and indivisible.
Dawn always means an opening of some kind—the coming of something that is not yet fully there.
The Night is the symbol of the Ignorance or Avidya in which men live just as Light is the symbol of Truth and Knowledge.
The mountain is the symbol of the embodied consciousness based upon earth but rising up towards the Divine.
The mountain always represents the ascending hill of existence with the Divine to be reached on the summits.
The mountain is a very usual symbol of the consciousness with its ascending levels. The flowing of water from the peak indicates some flow from the higher consciousness above.
The vision you saw of the snow is probably a symbol of the consciousness in a condition of purity, silence and peace like a snowy ground; in that a new life (psychic, spiritual as indicated by the flowers) appears in place of the old mental and vital life which has been covered by that mantle of snowy whiteness.
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The river represents some movement of the consciousness.
Water is the symbol of a state of consciousness or a plane.
When the water is symbolic [of a plane of consciousness] it is a big expanse of water—but a river or a pond are not large enough to symbolise a plane.
Sometimes a part of the consciousness is seen in the image of a pond, lake or sea. The fish must be the vital mind.
The lake is the being in its individual consciousness, the sea is the same being with a universalised consciousness which can hold the universe and its cosmic forces in itself—the one (individual) merges into the other (the universal). The boat is the formation of the Mother's consciousness in you in which you are preparing to sail in this sea.
The rain is the symbol of the descent of Grace or of the higher consciousness which is the cause of the riches, the spiritual plenty.
The rainbow is the sign of peace and deliverance.
Clouds are symbols of obscurity.
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Patala simply means the subconscient below the Earth—the Earth being the conscious physical plane.
The jungle must be some unregenerated part of the vital nature and the serpent a wrong force emerging out of it.
The tree is the symbol of subconscient vital.
A bird is a very frequent symbol of the soul, and the tree is the standing image of the universe—The Tree of Life.
The Aswattha usually symbolises the cosmic manifestation.
Flowers indicate a blossoming in the consciousness, sometimes with special reference to the psychic or the psychicised vital, mental and physical consciousness.
It is usually when the psychic is active that this seeing of flowers becomes abundant.
Red flowers would ordinarily indicate an opening of the consciousness either in the physical or some part of the vital according to the shade.
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The [flower named] eternal smile means the self-existent joy and gladness of the Spirit.
In sadhana [the flower named] vital intimacy would ordinarily signify inner intimacy with the Divine on the vital plane.
The fruits are the results of the sadhana.
The cow in the occult symbolism indicates Light or the consciousness—white indicates the purified or spiritual consciousness—the white Light.
It is quite clear; it is the Vedic image. In the Veda the Cow is the Divine Light—the white cow is the pure consciousness in which there is the Light. The milk is the Knowledge and Power descending from the Divine Consciousness.
The Cow usually means the Higher Consciousness. Perhaps the calf indicates the truth of the higher consciousness (white) in the physical (red).
The vision of the cows must have taken place in the psychic world. It has also a symbolic significance. The sun is the symbol of the Divine Truth, the cows are its powers, rays of the sun, source of true knowledge, true feeling, true experience.
The descent you felt must have been into some depth of light, probably in the psychic nature.
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Milk is always the symbol of the flow of the higher consciousness.
The Horse is Power, usually Life-Power, but also it may mean Mind-Power or Tapas if it is dynamic and mobile.
Dark horse—means a horse whose qualities are unknown whether it is good or bad, will win the race or lose it—an obscure and unknown factor.
As for the two dreams you wrote about in your shorter letter of the 1st May, the one about the horses is not so clear as the other about the white calf. But the horse is always the symbol of Power; it must be then a Power which you were trying to catch and make your own while sometimes it was trying to come up with you, perhaps to use you. This is what happens in the vital where there are these uncertain and elusive movements. The high platform was evidently the level of a higher Consciousness which stilled this fluctuating movement and made control of the Power more possible, as it became still and clear.
The white calf is the sign of a pure and clear consciousness,—the cow or calf being the symbol of Light in the consciousness, something psychic or spiritual that you felt natural and intimate to you and inseparable.
The horse is a force acting for progress. The railway train at full speed means rapid progress.
The ass is the symbol of the inertia and obstruction in the body.
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The horse is the symbol of force or power. The tunnel of water must be the vital physical and the arch is a passage out, by which, if the ass can cross it or rather be pulled across, then it becomes a horse. In other words, the inertia and obstruction in the physical will be changed into Power and Force of Progress.
The elephant is Strength—sometimes Strength illumined with Wisdom.
The elephant is strength—sometimes strength removing obstacles.
The lion means vital force, strength, courage—here full of the light, illumined by the spiritual consciousness.
The lion indicates force and courage, and strength and power. The lower vital is not lion-like.
It all depends on the attitude of the tiger. If fierce and hostile, it may be a form of an adverse force, otherwise it is simply a power of vital nature which may be friendly.
The bull is an emblem of strength and force. It is also in the Veda an image of the Gods, the male power in Nature. Again, the bull is vāhana of Shiva. It may be a dream or an experience of any of these symbols, but is probably the first here.
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It [the boar] is rajasic strength and vehemence. Much, however, depends on the context,—these figures have also other meanings.
Yes, buffaloes indicate rash and obscure vital forces.
A buffalo conveys the idea often of an obscure violence in the nature—here it seems tied up—i.e. under control but not eliminated. But it is not clear to what it refers—if it is symbolic at all.
The goat in vision is often symbolic of lust.
The dog is the symbol of devoted affection and obedience.
The dog usually indicates fidelity and as it is yellow, it would be fidelity in the mind to the Divine—but the other black and white one is difficult to interpret—it is something in the vital, but the meaning of the black spots is not clear.
The deer is perhaps a symbol of speed in the spiritual progress.
Hanuman = complete bhakti.
The deer = speed in the spiritual path.
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Frog = modest usefulness.
The fish is always the moving vital mind making all sorts of formations.
[Flies:] Something small in the smaller vital.
Obviously it [white ants] must have been symbolic of small but destructive forces in the lower vital or physical.
The image of the spider in the Upanishads is used for the Brahman creating the world out of itself, dwelling in it and withdrawing it into itself. But what matters in a symbol is what it means for you. It may mean for you success or successful formations.
The snake indicates some kind of energy always—oftener bad, but it also can indicate some luminous or divine energy. In this experience it is an ascent of some force from the physical upwards. The other details are not clear.
The serpent is a symbol of force, very often a hostile or evil force of the vital plane.
The sea is a symbol of a plane of consciousness.
The white light is a manifestation of pure divine force descending from one of the truth-planes leading to the supramental.
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The opening of the hood indicates the victorious or successful activity of the Energy indicated by the snake.
The serpent with the hood over the head generally indicates future siddhi.
The cobra is a symbol of the Energy in Nature—the upraised hood and light indicate the illumination and victorious position of the emerged Energy.
It is in answer to your aspiration that the Mahakali force descended—the serpent is the Energy from above working in the vital answering to the Serpent Kundalini which rises from below. The white fire is the fire of aspiration, the red fire is the fire of renunciation and tapasya, the blue fire is the fire of spirituality and spiritual knowledge which purifies and dispels the Ignorance.
The serpent is the symbol of energy—especially of the Kundalini Shakti which is the divine Force coiled up in the lowest (physical) centre, Muladhara, and when it rises it goes up through the spine and joins the higher consciousness above. Energies are of all kinds and the snakes can also symbolise the evil powers of the unregenerate vital nature—but here it is not that.
The Lotus is the symbol of the opening of the centres to the Light. The Swan is the Indian symbol of the individual soul, the central being, the divine part which is turned towards the Divine, descending from there and ascending to it.
The two serpents interlaced are the two chanels in the
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spine, through which the Shakti moves upward and downward.
The serpent with the six hoods is the Kundalini Shakti, the divine power asleep in the lowest physical centre which, awakened in the yoga, ascends in light through the opening centres to meet the Divine in the highest centre and so connect the manifest and the unmanifested, joining spirit and Matter.
1) Narayana is usually taken as a name of Vishnu—to the Vaishnavas He is the Supreme as Shiva is to the Shaivas. Both are cosmic Personalities of the Divine and both like Brahma have their original place in the overmind, although they take different forms to the human consciousness in the mental, vital and subtle physical planes.
2) Lakshmi is usually golden, not white. Saraswati is white.
3) The snake is simply a symbol of Energy or Power. Narayana in your vision is clearly Vishnu as is shown by the presence of Lakshmi and the single many-hooded snake.
4) Vishnu or Narayana in this image which is a normal Puranic image is the Lord of the waters of Space and Time—the Preserver of the principle of the Universe which he maintains as a seed in himself even in intervals between one creation and another. Out of that seed on his navel (the navel is the central seat of the Vital, the Life Principle) Brahma the creator arises in the Lotus (cosmic consciousness) which grows from it when Vishnu awakens from the intra-cyclic sleep. The snake Ananta is the Energy of the cosmic manifestation of the Infinite in Space-Time.
The serpent Ananta is the infinite energy in infinite Time-Space which supports the universe.
About the snake you saw in your meditation—serpents indicate always energies of Nature and very often bad energies of the
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vital plane; but they can also indicate luminous or divine energies like the snake of Vishnu. The one you saw was evidently of this latter type—a luminous divine energy and therefore there was no cause for alarm, it was a good sign.
A lotus flower indicates the open consciousness.
The red lotus is the presence of the Divine on earth; the sun is the Divine Truth. It indicates the Divine manifestation on earth raising earth consciousness towards the Truth.
The white lotus is the symbol of the Mother's consciousness,—it does not indicate any part of the individual consciousness.
The opening of the lotuses in your experience means, I suppose, the opening of the true vital and physical consciousness in which the spiritual being (the Swan) can manifest with all the consequences of that opening.
The Swan is a symbol of the soul on the higher plane.
The swan is the liberated soul, the lotus is either the consciousness reddening to the colour of Divine Love or else the symbol of the Divine Presence on earth.
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The Hansa is the symbol of the being—it regains its original purity as it rises until it becomes luminous in the Highest Truth.
The duck is the symbol of the soul; silvery colour, the spiritual consciousness; golden wings, the power of the Divine Truth.
The duck is usually a symbol of the soul or inner being—perhaps it was the four beings—mental, psychic, vital and physical that you saw.
Both [the goose and the swan] are symbols of the beings in a man—but the goose or ordinary Hansa usually refers to the manomaya puruṣa.
The bird is a symbol of the individual soul.
The bird is usually a symbol of some soul power when it is not the soul itself—here it is a power (awakened in the soul) of the whitish blue light—Sri Aurobindo's light.
Birds often indicate either mind-powers or soul-powers.
The dove signifies peace. The colours indicate the vital—green would be self-giving in the vital, blue the higher consciousness
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in the vital. So it must be peace casting its influence from above on the vital.
The white pigeon must be peace.
The peacock is the bird of victory.
A peacock is the symbol of spiritual victory.
The peacock signifies victory in yoga, the divine victory. The clear sky would indicate perhaps the mental part cleared of obscurities.
Krishna with Radha is the symbol of the Divine Love. The flute is the call of the Divine Love; the peacock is victory.
The crane is the messenger of happiness.
The ostrich may mean rapidity of movement.
A dream like this of a child—especially a new-born child—usually signifies the birth (or the awakening) of the soul or psychic being in the outward nature.
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It is not a fact that the psychic being always appears as a baby—it is sometimes seen symbolically as a new-born baby; many see it as a child of varying ages—it is a very common and usual experience; it is not peculiar to emotional natures. It has several significances such as the new birth of the consciousness into the true psychic nature, the still young growth of this new being, the trust, reliance, dependence of the child on the Mother.
The child usually signifies the psychic being—new-born in the sense that it at last comes to the surface. The colour of the cloth would mean that it comes with health (internal and external or both) and the spiritual riches.
The child (when it does not mean the psychic being) is usually the symbol of something new-born in some part of the consciousness. Red indicates many different things according to the shade.
I suppose the golden child is the Truth-Soul which follows after the silver light of the spiritual. When it plunges into the black waters of the subconscient, it releases from it the spiritual light and the sevenfold streams of the Divine Energy and, clearing itself of the stains of the subconscient, it prepares its flight towards the supreme Divine (the Mother).
The flute is the symbol of a call—usually the spiritual call.
The flute is the call of the Divine.
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The conch is the symbol of the spiritual call.
The conch is the call to realisation.
The conch is perhaps the proclamation of victory.
It [a pearl] may be a representation of the "bindu", which is a symbol of the infinite in the exceedingly small, the individual point which is yet the Universal.
[Vīṇā:] Harmony.
The crown is the sign of fulfilment.
The crown indicates the higher consciousness in its static condition, the wheel its dynamic action. The red light is the Power sent down to change the physical.
The book indicates some kind of knowledge.
The ears signify usually the place of inspired knowledge or else
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of inspired expression—red and gold mean truth and power joined together.
The building is the symbol of a new creation.
The pyramid is usually a symbol of aspiration—reddish perhaps because it is in the physical.
The Sphinx is a symbol of the eternal quest that can only be answered by the secret knowledge.
The cross is the sign of the triple being, transcendent, universal and individual.
The cross indicates the triple Divine (transcendent, universal, individual); the shield means protection.
Yes, the circular movement and the Chakra are always signs of energy in action, generally creative action.
The [Sudarshan] Chakra symbolises the action of Sri Krishna's force.
A revolving disc means a force in action on the nature. The whitish blue light is known as Krishna's light, also as Sri
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Aurobindo's light. White is the Mother's. Perhaps here it is a combination.
The wheel is the sign of an action of Force (whatever force may be indicated by the nature of the symbol) and as it was surging upwards it must be the fire of aspiration rising from the vital (navel centre) to the Higher Consciousness above.
The bow is a symbol of the force sent out to reach its mark.
The incense stick is the symbol of self-consecration.
Tobacco is associated with tamas and incense-sticks with adoration.
The image of journeying always signifies a movement in life or a progress in sadhana.
A journey in a boat or other conveyance means always a movement in the yoga—often an advance or progress.
Journeying on a horse or in a conveyance, if symbolic, means a progress or a movement in life, work or sadhana.
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A journey in carriage, train, motor car, steamer, boat, aeroplane etc. indicates a movement in the sadhana. The white horse may be the sattwic mind and the red horse the vital rajas giving energy and both combining to make a progress.
Aeroplane, steamer and train are always symbols of a rapid progress or forward movement.
The railway line is a symbol of rapid progress.
When you find yourself flying it is always the vital being in the subtle body in the vital world that is doing it.
The piece of flesh indicates something restless in the physical being which stands by its restlessness and excessive irritability in the way of the full flow of the Ananda. In the dreams this became active and was eliminated by the pressure of the psychic.
Yes. The robbers are as in the Veda vital beings who come to steal away the good condition or else to steal the gains of the sadhana.
These vital dreams are not interpretable unless there is an evident clue. Aunt or mother usually indicates the ordinary physical Nature, a closed room would be some part of the physical nature that was not open to the light, bats would mean forces of the
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night i.e. ignorant movements finding a lodging in the obscurity of the unenlightened nature.
Symbolically, if the dream is symbolic, the falling of teeth means the disappearance of old or fixed mental habits belonging to the physical mind.
The feeling of being dead in a vision or dream experience comes when something in the being is to be silenced into entire inactivity and ceases to exist as a part of the nature. It may be a very small part, but as during the process the consciousness is concentrated in it and identified with it for the purpose of the working, the feeling is that "I am dead". When you said "I am dead, now let me get up and go", it simply meant "The thing is done and the process is over. There is no need to identify myself with this part any longer." There is no indication in the experience as to what the thing was that passed through this experience.
It is the purification of the physical that is usually indicated in the symbol of burning.
The vision you saw was a symbol of the outward physical consciousness obscured by the ordinary movements (clouds), but with the spirituality (the moon) still spreading its light everywhere from behind the ordinary human ignorance. The dog indicates something in the physical (the part that is faithful, obedient etc.) waiting confidently for the Light to come.
The fire you felt was the fire of purification and the heat came because it was burning up some resistance,—after that is burnt out there was coolness and peace and quietude. The voices and sounds and impression of X being there indicate a confused
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activity of the occult sense in the vital which hears things other than the physical. When this kind of thing comes, there has to be a quiet rejection in the being and the thing will pass away. Some people get interested and have a lot of trouble because they get into the habit of hearing voices and seeing and feeling things which are only partly or sometimes true but mixed with much that is false and misleading. It is good that there was something in your vital being which rejected it.
The separate images are very usual symbols of the inner experience, but they have been combined together here in a rather difficult way. The fire of course is the psychic fire which wells up from the veiled psychic source. The bird is the soul and the flower is the rose of love and surrender. The moon is the symbol of spirituality. As the star is within it is described as piercing through the knots of the inner darkness and worsting the vital growths that are like clouds enwrapping it. The boat also is a usual symbol in the inner visions. The elephant is the spiritual strength that removes obstacles and the horse the force of tapasya that gallops to the summits of the spiritual realisation. The sun is the symbol of the higher Truth. The lotus is the symbol of the inner consciousness.
The dream is evidently an indication of the difficulty you are experiencing. The sea is the sea of the vital nature whose flood is pursuing you (desires are the sea water) on your road of sadhana. The Mother is there in your heart but sleeping—i.e. her power has not become conscious in your inner consciousness because she is surrounded by the thin curtain of skin (the obscurity of the physical nature). It is this (it is not thick any longer but still effective to veil her from you) which has to go so that she may awake. It is a matter of persistence in the will and the endeavour—the response from within, the awaking of the Mother in the heart will come.
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It is probably a symbol of three stages or developments or planes of spiritualised life. A star means creation, the triangle a triple principle. The tree is life in a new creation. Green is the colour of the emotional vital, the moon governs a spiritualised emotional life; blue is the colour of the higher mind, the moon there governs a spiritualised higher mind life; the gold colour is that of the Divine Truth, whether intuitive or overmind—the moon here is the spiritualised Truth life. As the stambha is sphaṭika-coloured, the triangle may indicate Sachchidananda principle. The butterflies and birds are, of course, life-forces and soul forces, powers or beings. Probably it indicates three stages of transformation before the supramental can reign altogether or else three that will exist as the steps leading to the supramental.
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