WRITINGS BY THE MOTHER
© Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust

The Supramental Manifestation
26 June 1957

"But there is here still the necessity of a resort to the normal means of propagation and the gross method of physical Nature. A purely occult method, a resort to supraphysical processes acting by supraphysical means for a physical result would have to be possible if we are to avoid this necessity: the resort to the sex impulse and its animal process could not be transcended otherwise. If there is some reality in the phenomenon of materialisation and dematerialisation claimed to be possible by occultists and evidenced by occurrences many of us have witnessed, (note1) a method of this kind would not be out of the range of possibility. For in the theory of the occultists and in the gradation of the ranges and planes of our being which Yoga-knowledge outlines for us there is not only a subtle physical force but a subtle physical Matter intervening between life and gross Matter and to create in this subtle physical substance and precipitate the forms thus made into our grosser materiality is feasible. It should be possible and it is believed to be [old p. 128]possible for an object formed in this subtle physical substance to [new p. 129]make a transit from its subtlety into the state of gross Matter directly by the intervention of an occult force and process whether with or even without the assistance or intervention of some gross material procedure. A soul wishing to enter into a body or form for itself a body and take part in a divine life upon earth might be assisted to do so or even provided with such a form by this method of direct transmutation without passing through birth by the sex process or undergoing any degradation or any of the heavy limitations in the growth and development of its mind and material body inevitable to our present way of existence. It might then assume at once the structure and greater powers and functionings of the truly divine material body which must one day emerge in a progressive evolution to a totally transformed existence both of the life and form in a divinised earth-nature. (1)

Mother, is this method of direct transmutation without passing through birth possible now, since now the Supermind is on earth?

Is it possible? You are asking whether it is possible?... Everything is possible. What do you want to know? Whether this has already been done?

Yes.

Not as far as the most material plane; as far as the perceptible subtle physical--perceptible by the intermediary senses, between the physical senses and those of the subtle physical; for instance, like a breath felt as a gentle breeze, like certain perceptions of smell, like subtle perfumes. Naturally, those who [old p. 129]have an inner vision can see, but for the most material senses there is not--how shall I put it?--not the permanence given by the [new p. 130]physical body as we know it materially. There are phenomena, yes, that can even be seen, but they are fleeting. There is no stability, the stability in matter, the fixity has not been acquired. I mean there is a contact, there is even the contact of touch, there is a perception, but there isn't the permanence given by the material body. They are transient phenomena which, naturally, don't give you the same feeling of an altogether tangible reality. Still, the influence is constant, the intervention is constant, the perception is constant, but there is not the stability of a body which... well, which, when it goes out of the room and returns, it comes back the same as it went out, you understand? Or when you sit down in a certain place, it occupies that place in a very concrete way.

I cannot say because I don't know everything that has happened and is happening on earth, but as far as I know, this has not yet been achieved, this concrete permanence.

Yet, it was of matter, for there was sight, touch, hearing. But hearing doesn't need to be very material: the sounds of the subtle physical life, its vibrations can be heard very well; and quite strangely, it is hearing and smell which seem to be the most permanent in the subtle physical world, more so than the perception of form--and also a certain sense of contact which is very, very concrete. Only, this heavy material presence of a physical body which occupies an absolutely definite and concrete place and prevents any other thing from occupying the same place, this does not yet seem to be possible; therefore, what has so far been achieved has after all to be a little more fluid than the heaviest kind of matter.

Does this progress depend on the human consciousness?

You mean for a more complete materialisation?... It depends on [old p. 130]the power of manipulating the vibrations of matter. This power of manipulation is necessarily the result of a certain state of consciousness. And all depends on the standpoint that is taken, [new p. 131]for no individual progress can come about without what could be called the "authorisation" of the divine Will. Ultimately, nothing in creation can happen without the sanction of the divine Will. So...

Refrence (1)The Supramental Manifestation, pp. 32-33

Note (1) Sri Aurobindo is probably alluding, among other things, to an incident which took place in 1921 in Pondicherry at the "Guest House" where he lived. A cook who had been dismissed had gone to a local black magician to try to take his revenge, and a shower of stones began to fall into the courtyard of the "Guest House", regularly for several days. The people on the first floor could see the stones forming in front of their eyes and then falling into the courtyard. These stones were so real that they hurt a young servant, and could be picked up. Strangely enough they were all covered with moss. Finally, when larger and larger stones started falling inside closed rooms, and there was no longer any doubt about their occult origin, Mother intervened with her inner power and the "shower" stopped. A few days later the cook's wife came running to ask for Sri Aurobindo's forgiveness: the cook lay dying in the hospital, struck by the "recoil" of his shower of stones. Sri Aurobindo answered, "For this he need not die!" And everything returned to normal. This incident is related in detail in The Life of Sri Aurobindo by A.~B.~Purani, 1964 Ed., pp. 282-83.