Sri Aurobindo
Autobiographical Notes
and Other Writings of Historical Interest
Part Two. Letters of Historical Interest
2.Early Letters on Yoga and the Spiritual Life 1911–1928
To Barindra Kumar Ghose and Others, 1922–1928
To Barindra Kumar Ghose [13]1
Arya Office, Pondicherry
16th June 1923.
I have read the record of Jyotish Mukherjee’s experiences.2 It appears from it that he has made the right start to a certain extent and has been able to establish the beginning of mental calm and some kind of psychic opening but neither of these has yet been able to go very far. The reason probably is that he has done everything by a strong mental control and forcible stilling of the mind and emotional and vital movements, but has not yet established the true spiritual calm which can only come by experience of or surrender to the higher being above the mind. It is this that he has to get in order to make a foundation for a more substantial progress.
1. He is right in thinking that an inner calm and
silence must be the foundation, not only of external work but of all inner and
outer activities. But the quieting of the mind in a mental silence or inactivity
although often useful as a first step is not sufficient. The mental calm must be
changed first into the deeper spiritual peace, Shanti, and then into the
supramental calm and silence full of the higher light and strength and Ananda.
Moreover, the 
quieting of the mind only is not
enough. The vital and physical consciousness have to be opened up and the same
foundation established there. Also the spirit of devotion of which he speaks
must be not merely a mental feeling but an aspiration of the deeper heart and
will to the truth above, that the being may rise up into it and that it may
descend and govern all the activities.
2. The void he feels in the mind is often a necessary condition for the clearing of it from its ordinary movements so that it may open to a higher consciousness and a new experience, but in itself it is merely negative, a mental calm without anything positive in it and if one stops there, then the dullness and inertia of which he complains must come. What he needs is, in the void and silence of the mind, to open himself to, to wait or to call for the action of the higher power, light and peace from above the mind.
3. The survival of the evil habits in sleep is easily explained and is a thing of common experience. It is a known psychological law that whatever is suppressed in the conscious mind remains in the subconscient being and recurs either in the waking state when the control is removed or else in sleep. Mental control by itself cannot eradicate anything entirely out of the being. The subconscient in the ordinary man includes the larger part of the vital being and the physical mind and also the secret body-consciousness. In order to make a true and complete change, one has to make all these conscious, to see clearly what is still there and to reject them from one layer after another till they have been entirely thrown out from the personal experience. Even then, they may remain and come back on the being from the surrounding universal forces and it is only when no part of the consciousness makes any response to these forces of the lower plane that the victory and transformation are absolutely complete.
4. His experience that whenever he gains a conquest in
the mental plane the forces of past Karma,– that is to say, really of the old
nature,– come back upon him with a double vigour is again a common experience.
The psychological explanation is to be found in the preceding paragraph. All
attempt at transformation of the being is a fight with universal forces which
have long been in possession and it is vain to expect that they will give up the struggle at the first defeat. As long as they can, they seek to
retain possession and even when they are cast out they will, as long as there is
any chance of response in the conscious or subconscious being, try to recur and
regain their hold. It is no use being discouraged by these attacks. What has to
be done is to see that they are made more and more external and all assent
refused until they weaken and fade away. Not only the Chitta and Buddhi must
refuse consent but also the lower parts of the being, the vital and
physico-vital, the physical mind and the body consciousness.
5. The defects of the receiving mind and the discriminating Buddhi spoken of are general defects of the intellect and cannot be entirely got rid of so long as the intellectual action is not replaced by a higher supra-intellectual action and finally by the harmonising light of the supramental knowledge.
Next as regards the psychic experiences. The region of glory felt in the crown of [the] head is simply the touch or reflection of the supramental sunlight on the higher part of the mind. The whole mind and being must open to this light and it must descend and fill the whole system. The lightning and the electric currents are the (vaidyuta) Agni force of the supramental sun touching and trying to pour into the body. The other signs are promises of the future psychic and other experiences. But none of these things can establish themselves until the opening to the higher force has been made. The mental Yoga can only be a preparation for this truer starting point.
What I have said is merely an explanation of these
experiences but it seems to me that he has advanced far enough to make a
foundation for the beginning of the higher Yoga. If he wishes to do that he must
replace his mental control by a belief in and a surrender to the Supreme
Presence and Force above the mind, an aspiration in the heart and a will in the
higher mind to the supreme truth and the transformation of the whole conscious
being by its descent and power. He must, in his meditation, open himself
silently to it and call down first a deeper calm and silence, next the strength
from [ ]3 above 
working in the whole system and last the higher [
]4
glory of which he had a glimpse pouring through his whole being and illuminating
it with the divine truth-movement.
A.G.
1 About Jyotish Mukherjee, a Bhawanipore candidate. Barindra Kumar returned to Pondicherry from Calcutta in August 1923. The Bhawanipore centre went on for some time, but was closed at Sri Aurobindo’s suggestion in September 1925. Barin remained in Pondicherry until December 1929, when he left the Ashram and returned to Bengal. This letter is preserved only in the form of handwritten, typed or printed copies. Whenever possible, the editors have collated several copies of each letter in order to produce an accurate text. – Ed.
2 This letter, which as preserved has no salutation, was apparently written to Barindra Kumar Ghose. The typescript is headed “To Jyotish Mukherjee” – apparently indicating that Sri Aurobindo’s answer was to be transmitted to Jyotish by Barin. – Ed.
3 MS (copy) the
4 MS (copy) and