Sri Aurobindo

Letters of Sri Aurobindo

Volume 3. 1936-37

Fragment ID: 18494

1936-37

The other day you asked me to be conscious in trance; I tried hard and this is the result: In trance I saw a Holy Woman entering a place where a few sadhakas were assembled for her darshan. She went into a closed room where we were to go one by one. I noticed that everyone was allowed one or two minutes, as is done on our Darshan days. My turn was last.

In the centre of the room the Holy Woman was seated dressed in simple clothes. Without looking at her face I put my head on her lap. She placed her hands on my head and caressed me softly, meanwhile murmuring as if to herself: “Let him have...”; the last word of the sentence I caught quite distinctly then, but cannot recall now. It was the name of some spiritual power. No sooner had she said this than I felt a sudden rush of that power entering through my head.

After a few seconds she uttered the name of another power. This power struck me with a tremendous force – it was shattering in its intensity.

After a while I raised my head and looked at the Holy Woman for the first time. Her face appeared like the Mother’s. Then I said to her, “May I ask you a question?” She did not seem to like this, but as she had not refused, I repeated the question. This time she said, “I don’t like questions.” (I wanted to inquire about the two gifts of different powers she had conferred on me.) Then I don’t remember what I said. After a long time we both came back to consciousness, for we had both entered into a trance together. We knew it only when we asked the door-keeper how much time we had spent together. Afterwards I told her, “You must have entered into a trance and I simply followed you.”

This whole phenomenon is beyond my understanding.

(1) Who was the Holy Woman?

(2) Why did she grant me the gifts of higher powers?

(3) Trance within trance! This is something new.

Obviously the Holy Woman was the Mother herself in a supraphysical form. It was natural that she should not like questions – the Mother does not like mental questions very much at any time and least of all when she is giving meditation as she was doing in this experience. It is rather funny to ask “Why” (your eternal why) higher powers should be given. People do not question the gifts of the Shakti or demand reasons for her giving them, they are only too glad to get them. Trance within trance of course, since your sadhana was going on in the trance, according to the ways of trance. It is also in this way that it can go on in conscious sleep.