In the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo, each individual has the capacity to unite in consciousness with the Divine in three dimensions: the individual, as the psychic being or soul; the universal or cosmic consciousness; and the transcendental. What role does the body play in these three realiza tions?
By a process of yoga, the individual can realize or "bring forward" the psychic being and know the Divine in one's individual being. What happens to the physical body in this realization?
On the universal level, one can also have the unifying experience of the Divine in all manifestation, i.e., experience the Divine in every person and object as oneself. How can the physical body take part in this unity?
In the religion of Vedanta, one can realize the transcendent as Sat-Chit-Ananda or pure existence, pure consciousness, pure bliss. Does the transcendental experience have a transforming effect on the physical body?
Sri Aurobindo introduced the concept and practice of an ascent followed by a descent of conscious ness-force into our body by an agency of the transcendent he called supermind or supramental consciousness. According to the Mother, Sri Aurobindo's spiritual collaborator, this supramental consciousness has descended en masse and is working out the divine play and manifestation on earth today.
The human body, and thus the cells, are a vital and instrumental part of this divine transformative process. This presupposes enormous implications for humankind.
The Sri Aurobindo Association will be exploring many of these issues in a conference called "Cellu lar Evolution: The Transformation of the Body" at the San Francisco Airport Clarion Hotel October 11 - ]15, 1995 (see p. 9).
Call or write for a conference brochure: Sri Aurobindo Association, 2288 Fulton Street, Suite 310, Berkeley, CA 94704; phone: (510) 848-1841; fax: (510) 848-8531.
--Wayne Bloomquist