14 Aug Aurobindo’s Yoga of the Cells
As I read Satprem and Van Vrekhem’s description of the yoga of the cells I felt conflicting feelings: an expansion of energy at the idea of physical immortality, and a disbelief that this is a possibility. I felt mistrust: Was The Mother’s description of the “descent of the conscience of the overman” and of the “supramental penetration of the body” of the cells really something that was happening, or was it her hyperawareness of the deterioration of her physical body as she was acutely ill. As a longtime feminist I was discouraged to see that I doubted her explanation more than I would have if it had been Aurobindo himself, a Tibetan monk, or some other male guru type. I’m still not comfortable with the concepts that the spiritual is “high” and needs to “descend” to our level, so my mind was busy trying to interpret in a way that made sense to me.
It seems in this tradition, the body is something that can be divinized. Banerji said that the question is how we can manifest the latent powers of the body, and how to liberate the body consciousness. The body is seen as something that can aid in the transformation of consciousness toward becoming a super(hu)man. Humans are at a transitional stage and are not a final state. We are Imprisoned in the body, and there was language that this is confining and uncomfortable. Satprem stated, “The body is learning one thing: it’s that all that happens is for progress.”
Also Banerji said in the video that the body exists to be a channel and a conduit for transformation energy, and that the body is essential to an embodiment of the divine. From the above I would conclude that in this tradition, the body does not have any value in and of itself, only as a vehicle for spiritual energy and becoming more “spiritual.”
© 2024 Catherine Auman
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