Sri Aurobindo

Letters of Sri Aurobindo

Volume 1. 1935

Letter ID: 1292

Sri Aurobindo — Nirodbaran Talukdar

March 25, 1935

Now that the whole show is over with the death of S, I don’t know if any purpose will be served in discussing the matter further. Still I cannot but ask some questions. The haemorrhage caused by the fall must have been on the surface...

How is that? One of the tests indicated that the injury was deep down, we were told.

I am upset but perhaps you are slightly upset too and it would be unwise to upset you further by my questions.

No, I am not in the least “upset”. I did not expect S to be immortal nor did he expect it himself. In fact the Mother expected him to die before this and it was only his return to the Ashram that gave him enough vitality to last longer.

I firmly believed that death was impossible here. Since it has been possible, it means that hostile forces have become victorious.

There have been three deaths since the Ashram began – one, of a child in a house that was not then part of the Ashram and the other of a visitor. This is the first death of an Ashramite in the Ashram itself.

You said, I hear, that you have conquered Death, not only personally, but for others as well.

I am unaware of having made any such statement. To whom did I make it? I have not said even that personally I have conquered it. All these are the usual Ashram legends.

The conquest of Death would mean the conquest of illness and of the psychological and functional necessity of death of the body – that is one of the ideals of the Yoga, but it can be accomplished only if and when the supramental has driven its roots into Matter. All that has been acting here up to now is an Overmind force which is getting gradually Supramentalised in parts – the utmost that it can do in this respect is to keep death at a distance and that is what has been done. The absence of death in the Ashram for so many years has been due to that. But it is not impossible – especially when death is accepted. In S’s case there was a 5 percent chance of his survival on certain conditions, but he himself knew the difficulty in his case and had prepared himself for his departure from the body.