Mystery and Excellence of the Human Body

Profounder Aspects

of

Introduction

With the increasing liberation of human spirit/Torn the clutches of narrow concepts and dogmas that refuse to consider the salutary influence that the ethical, aesthetic, and spiritual powers can exercise upon the development of the human body, there has come about in recent times a growing perception that the human body is not a tomb but a temple of the Spirit and that there is discernible in us a spiritual will which wants to manifest itself fully in the physical life. It is also being increasingly perceived that the physical body can, with the aid of spiritual capacities, attain to greater peaks of excellence and perfection. This perception came to be developed in its largest scope in the vision and works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother who discovered and brought to perfection a new method of a synthesis of Yoga. In this synthesis, they came to underline certain profounder aspects of physical education, which have far-reaching implications for the contemporary problem of human evolution. We have, therefore, presented in this part a few selections from the writings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother which have a direct bearing on the theme of physical education as a part of a larger scheme of integral education.

Page 421