Cellular Transformation Summary

Read more about Cellular Transformation from the works of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo.

Body Consciousness and Subtle Physical

There is a consciousness in the cells: it is what we call the “body consciousness” and it is wholly bound up with the body.

There is a subtle physical also with a subtler consciousness in it which can (for instance) go to a distance from the body and yet feel and be aware of things in a not merely mental or vital way.

To make this obscurity luminous and directly instrumental to the higher planes and to the divine movement is what we mean in Integral Yoga by making the body conscious,—that is to say, full of a true, awake and responsive awareness instead of its own obscure, limited half-subconscience.

Cells

The cells are an already very developed thing, they are a form of LIFE in Matter; they are a form of life, they’re not purely material, inert Matter. The cells have an inner composition or structure which corresponds to the structure of the universe. The cell, in its internal composition, receives the vibration of the corresponding state in the composition of the whole. Each cell is composed of different radiances, with a wholly luminous centre, and the connection is established between light and light. That is, the will, the central light, acts on the cell by touching the corresponding lights, by an inner contact of the being. Each cell is a world in miniature corresponding to the whole.

Treasures in the Body

In the body there are invaluable and unknown treasures. In all its cells, there is an intensity of life, of aspiration, of the will to progress, which one does not usually even realise. The body-consciousness would have to be completely warped by the action of the mind and vital for it not to have an immediate will to re-establish the equilibrium. If one leaves one's body alone without intervening with all those thoughts, all the vital reactions, all the depressions, and also all the so-called knowledge and mental constructions and fears—if one leaves the body to itself, spontaneously it will do what is necessary to set itself right again. The body in its natural state likes equilibrium, likes harmony; it is the other parts of the being which spoil everything.

Transparency of Cells

At the centre of each cell lies the Divine Consciousness. By aspiration and repeated self-giving, the cells must be made transparent.

Death

The consciousness is, by its very nature, immortal, and in order to manifest in the physical world, it assumes more or less lasting material forms. The material substance is in course of transformation in order to become a multiform and increasingly perfect and lasting mode of expression for this consciousness.

Dispersion of the Cells

When the concentration which forms the body comes to an end and the body dissolves, all the cells that have been especially developed and have become conscious of the divine Presence within them, are scattered and enter other combinations in which they awaken, by contagion, the consciousness of the Presence that each one has had. And in this way, by this phenomenon of concentration, development and dispersion, all matter evolves and learns by contagion, develops by contagion, has the experience by contagion. Naturally, the cell dissolves with the body. It is the consciousness of the cells that enters other combinations.

How to be Awake to the Consciousness of the Cells?

If we live only in the outward physical consciousness, it may descend and work behind the veil but we shall feel nothing and only see certain results after a long time. Or at most we feel a certain clarity and peace in the mind, a joy in the vital, a happy state in the physical and infer the touch of the Divine. But if we are awake in the inward physical, we shall feel the light, power or Ananda flowing through the body, the limbs, nerves, blood, breath and, through the subtle body, affecting the most material cells and making them conscious and blissful and we shall sense directly the Divine Power and Presence.

The near totality of the body’s movements are movements of habit. Behind, there is the consciousness of the physical mind (what I call the “cellular mind”) which is constantly conscious of the divine Presence and anxious to allow nothing but That; then a whole work is going on to change, to shift the origin of movements. I mean that instead of them being just automatic; out of habit, the divine Consciousness and Presence automatically makes the movements .

A body that is left to its natural spontaneity has an urge, an aspiration, a spontaneous will to call for help. But as soon as the affair goes to the head, it takes the form of things to which one is accustomed: everything is spoilt. But if the body is seen in itself, just as it is, there is something which suddenly wakes up and calls for help, and with such a faith, such an intensity, just as the tiny little baby calls its mamma

The body will be able to repeat integrally the experience of the most spiritual part of the being, as the inner spirit has already done, and will itself be able to stand in its bodily consciousness before the supreme Reality, turn to it integrally and say in all sincerity, in a total self-giving of all its cells: "To be Thyself—exclusively, perfectly—Thyself, infinitely, eternally... very simply."

The cells which are able to vibrate to the contact of divine joy, to receive and preserve it, are regenerated cells on the way to becoming immortal. But the vibration of divine joy and those of pleasure cannot lodge together in the same vital and physical system.

Japa and Mantra

One just has to repeat the japa, and automatically one makes contact. That's something the cells value a lot. A lot. It's a very good way, because it's a way that isn't mental, it's a mechanical way, it's a question of vibration.

For the moment, of all the formulas or mantras, the one that acts most directly on this body [Mother’s body], that seizes all the cells and immediately does this (vibrating motion) is the Sanskrit mantra: OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH.

Peace

A peace all the same, a real peace, a concrete, concrete stillness. So the thing to be done is to remain very objective within that peace; then you can benefit from the peace without accepting its limits. One should, for instance, be able to keep that peace in the cells (the brain cells if you feel tired) without allowing yourself to be enclosed like that. There is no need to struggle, just remain turned upward.

There is always a vibration subtler than his vibration of peace, and that one must remain free, without getting enclosed in the other. For example, if something pulls and causes a mental tension in the head, just keep in contact with that peace (oh, he does have a capacity of mental immobility), and let it penetrate you, but without concentrating all your being on it: allow the rest of your activity to unfold as usual in an infinity. It’s only the vibrations of the physical mind that you should keep in that stability.

Aspiration and Reception

You can be at once in the state of aspiration, of willing, which calls down something—exactly the will to open oneself and receive, and the aspiration which calls down the force you want to receive—and at the same time be in that state of complete inner stillness which allows full penetration, for it is in this immobility that one can be penetrated, that one becomes permeable by the Force. Well, the two can be simultaneous without the one disturbing the other, or can alternate so closely that they can hardly be distinguished. But one can be like that, like a great flame rising in aspiration, and at the same time as though this flame formed a vase, a large vase, opening and receiving all that comes down.

Wideness, Calmness and Descent

Wideness and calmness are the foundation of the Yogic consciousness and the best condition for inner growth and experience. If a wide calm can be established in the physical consciousness, occupying and filling the very body and all its cells, that can become the basis for its transformation; in fact, without this wideness and calmness the transformation is hardly possible.

Surrender

I have noticed something very interesting. Suppose there is a pain, some sign or other that something in the body is out of order. In the consciousness—in the consciousness—you are absolutely indifferent, which means that whether it’s life or death, disease or health, there is equality; but if the body reacts according to its old habit, “What should be done to get over it?”If, on the other hand, the cells have learned their lesson and say right away, “Lord, Your presence” (without words—the attitude), pfft! the thing goes.

It's no use if the thought does it, if the psychic consciousness, EVEN THE PHYSICAL CONSCIOUSNESS, does it: it must be the cells that do it. So the one who does it in the thought says, "Here, I give myself to the Divine, I am ready for anything, I am in a state of perfect equality, and still I am ill! So what am I to believe?" …there should instantaneously be, wherever a disorder has occurred for some reason or other, this: "Lord—Lord, this is You; Lord, we are You; Lord, You are here"—everything flies away.

Supramental Body

The supramental body which has to be brought into being here has four main attributes: lightness, adaptability, plasticity and luminosity.

Lightness: When the physical body is thoroughly divinised, it will feel as if there is no heaviness or tamas or unconsciousness in it.

Power of adaptability: In whatever conditions it is placed it will immediately be equal to the demands because its full consciousness will drive out all that inertia and incapacity which drag on the Spirit matter.

Supramental plasticity: It will enable it to stand the attack of every hostile force .Thus it will suffer no harmful consequences and the most deadly attacks will leave it unscathed.

Luminosity : Lastly, it will be turned into the stuff of light, each cell will radiate the supramental glory. Not only those who are developed enough to have their subtle sight open but the ordinary man too will be able to perceive this luminosity.

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Read more about Cellular Transformation from the works of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo.