Sri Aurobindo

Letters of Sri Aurobindo

Volume 1. 1934

Letter ID: 1212

Sri Aurobindo — Nirodbaran Talukdar

October 17, 1934

Last night I dreamt of two huge snakes with their hoods spread out and when I woke up, what did I see to my utter surprise – again two similar snakes standing by my bed. On looking closely I found two parallel beams of light fallen on the curtain. Due to the movement of the curtain, it looked like the swaying of the snakes. But I still can’t believe that they were mere beams of the street light, and not a vision of snakes.

It is not a vision. Very often what one sees at the moment of waking prolongs itself into the waking state until the full ordinary consciousness comes back. Here it was farther prolonged by finding a physical support in the beams of light. I have often seen in the early stages that a subtle image takes advantage of something physical to make itself more durable and concrete even in the full waking state. The snakes here were probably Energies, not of the harmful kind.