The Yoga of Sri Aurobindo - Part 6

BODY, THE OCCULT AGENT

The body has an individuality of its own. It is an organised formation and acts as a whole in each and all its parts. The human body is, par excellence, such a formation; for it is moved and controlled by the consciousness which overshadows or informs it, which is its master whose will it executes scrupulously.

The body is an epitome of the world. It encases within its frame the whole world, particularly the earth—earth itself being an epitome of the world— on a miniature scale, the mikros reproducing all the features and characters of the makros.

Such being the case, a wholly conscious body governed and inspired by the supreme Consciousness lives and moves in the cosmic rhythm: not only does it register in itself the world happenings, but also possesses an active power to control and even to change those happenings by its individual movement. We may imagine the body to be a kind of map or chart of the earth. Each spot on the earth is represented by a particular spot—a certain group of cells, for example—in the body. If the consciousness ruling the body concentrates itself upon that point and

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induces a change there, a corresponding change can be brought about automatically on a larger scale in the part and conditions of the earth with which it is connected. Thus without going out and moving about, without being the "man on the spot" to know things "at first hand", one can, sitting, in his room, by switching on a key, as it were, in one corner of the body, set in movement a whole process of happenings in a particular region of the earth. By a conscious re-disposition of a few cells in your body, you can bring about a desired change in world circumstances. The body is thus a control room for the consciousness in respect of happenings upon earth. Naturally, any body cannot do that, but only a body destined and trained for that purpose.

A body, in this way, becomes the instrument, a lever for producing mighty changes and creations upon earth. This conception of the occult potency of the body is at the basis of the rite or institution of sacrifice that was a characteristic feature of the old-world society. Iphigenia was offered as a victim to avert the wrath of the gods and bring victory to the Greeks. Sometimes an animal replaced the human victim and served the same purpose and in the same way. And in a higher sense—indeed in the highest sense—a body can sacrifice itself in such a way— wholly and integrally—as to bring about a corresponding

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integral reversal or revaluation in the physical world. A human being that makes of himself a holocaust—burns himself out at the altar of the Divine —keeping nothing for his own sake, living for the Divine alone, by calling down the divine will in himself, brings into the earthly life too a divine presence and transformation. A total physical sacrifice results inevitably into a total expression and embodiment of the Divine in the physical world.

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