Sri Aurobindo Center of Los Angeles
Monthly Magazine
The importance of the Physical Body
  May 2018 Issue - IV
There is nothing mind can do that cannot be better done in the mind’s immobility and thought-free stillness.

-Sri Aurobindo
Dedicated to the Mother and Sri Aurobindo who gave their lives to changing the earth-nature and earth-conditions so that the earth becomes a tenement of a Divine Life, and brought down the force of a supreme consciousness ushering a new age of Truth, Harmony, Peace and Love progressively.  The path to the Divine need not be anymore a "walk on the edge of a razor".
 
Center  Activities:
 
The center held a retreat on Sat, May 19. It was the first of its kind having as its theme “The importance of Physical Body in Integral Yoga”. The aim was to bring to the fore this unique aspect of the Yoga. The Mother held that the body is not an encumbrance or an excrescence to be ignored or cast away after attaining the Divine but could and should participate in the realization of the Divine.

The retreat was by led by Lakhman Sehgal, an outstanding athlete and a regular participant in the physical culture that the Mother instituted in the Ashram. He had the privilege to witness for many years at close sight the incredible example She set in this regard. The program, meticulous in its planning, included relevant readings and offered insights into the “spiritual” aspect of physical culture and its immense significance in inner development. There was an intensive engagement on the practical aspects of the theme with demonstrations and tips on a wide range of physical disciplines that included rigorous calisthenics, Surya Namaskar and  artful Tai Chi.

We started with a collective reading of  “The Prayer of the body”  to invoke the light of the Divine Mother to cleanse our body and  mind. This was followed by chanting Om and deep breathing; readings and insights into the importance of the body in the Yoga; demonstrations of Surya Namaskar, and exercises that formed the discipline in the Ashram, and Tai-Chi. Hansa Sehgal later held our attention with her valuable insights on women's health gathered from her long experience and practice at the Ashram. The program concluded with Jishnu returning full circle and gathering us all in a prayer to Her for our bodies to be luminous servitors of the Divine.
 
At the conclusion of the retreat one felt euphoric physically and buoyed within, and the insights and demonstrations were inspiring, motivating one to a practice. The body, graceful in movement and form, supple yet strong, nimble yet calm and poised, can be an expression of  harmony and beauty of the Divine on earth.

In this issue we include some  readings and pictures from the retreat.

The physical body needs to be maintained in a healthy state otherwise the power which pours in during spiritual experiences can lead to psycho-physical instabilities.

- The Mother. 

Always be kind, stop engaging in bitter criticism no longer see evil in anything, obstinately force yourself to see nothing but the benevolent presence of the Divine Grace, and you will see not only within you but also around you an atmosphere of quiet joy, peaceful trust spreading  more and more. And not only will you feel quiet and happy, but most of your bodily ailments will disappear.

- The Mother. 

     
                                       This month's theme:
                The importance of physical body in Integral Yoga.

 
One of the indispensable steps in the Integral Yoga         - The Mother

Transformation of the body                                                   - Sri Aurobindo

What are yogic exercises                                                        - The Mother

An improved physical body                                                   - The Mother

Health for women and girls                                                   - The Mother

The idealized human form                                                    - The Mother

One of the indispensable steps in the Integral Yoga   - The Mother       Home

Generally they who are against this external discipline, this concentration on a material achievement like the sports, are exactly the people who lack totally control over their physical being. But to realise the integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo, control of the body is one of the first indispensable steps. They who despise physical activities are people who will not be able to take a single step on the true way of integral Yoga, unless they get rid of their despise first. The control of the body in all its forms is an indispensable basis. A body that rules you is an enemy, it is an unacceptable disorder. It is the enlightened will of the spirit that should rule the body, not that the body should impose its law upon the Spirit. When one knows that a thing is bad, one should be capable of not doing it. And when one wants a thing to be realised,  one must be capable of realising it. You must not at every step be stopped by an incapacity or a bad will or want of cooperation from the body. For that you have to follow a physical discipline and become the master of your own house. It is fine to escape into meditation and look down from one's pretended greatness upon material things; but one who is not master of one's house is a slave.
  - The Mother

Transformation of the body for a transformation of the nature             Home
-
Sri Aurobindo      

… As limitation by ignorance and error is the fundamental defect of an untransformed mind, as limitation by the imperfect impulses and strainings and wants of desire are the defects of an untransformed life-force, so also imperfection of the potentialities of the physical action, an imperfection, a limitation in the response of its half-consciousness to the demands made upon it and the grossness and stains of its original animality would be the defects of an untransformed or an imperfectly transformed body. These could not but hamper and even pull down towards themselves the action of the higher parts of the nature. A transformation of the body must be the condition for a total transformation of the nature.

Bulletin of Physical Education (1949-1950)
 

What are yogic exercises?                                      - The Mother       Home

From our experience we have found that a particular system of exercises cannot be stamped as the only yogic type of exercises and we cannot definitely say that participation in those exercises only will help to gain health because they are yogic exercises. Any rational system of exercises suited to one's need and capacity will help the participant to improve in health. Moreover it is the attitude that is more important. Any well-planned and scientifically arranged programme of exercises practised with a yogic attitude will become yogic exercises and the person practising them will draw full benefit from the point of view of physical health and moral and spiritual uplift.
  - The Mother
 

It is interesting to note the interest in physical culture for an improved physical body growing exponentially. The Mother explains the truth behind this: the cells acquire a plasticity, a receptivity, a force that make the substance more supple for the permeation of the supramental forces.

An improved physical body                                                - Mother       Home

What I meant by an “improved physical body” is that sort of mastery over the body that's being gained nowadays through physical training. I have seen lately magazines showing how it had started: the results in the beginning and today's results; and from the standpoint of the harmony of forms (I am not talking about excesses – there are excesses everywhere – I am talking about what can be done in the best possible conditions), from the standpoint of the harmony of forms, of strength and a certain sense of beauty, of the development of certain capacities of endurance and skill, of precision in the execution combined with strength, it's quite remarkable if you think of how recent physical training is. And it's spreading very quickly nowadays, which means that the proportion of the human population that is interested in it and practices it is snowballing. So when I saw all those photos (for me, it's especially through pictures that I see), it occurred to me that through those qualities, the cells, the cellular aggregates acquire a plasticity, a receptivity, a force that make the substance more supple for the permeation of the supramental forces.
- The Mother
Mother’s Agenda : Vol 6
April 21, 1965

 

Health for women and girls - The Mother answers                              Home

Q - What should be the ideal of a woman's physical beauty ?
A perfect harmony in the proportions, suppleness and strength, grace and force, plasticity and endurance, and above all, an excellent health, unvarying and unchanging, which is the result of a pure soul, a happy trust in life and an unshakable faith in the Divine Grace.
Q - What should be the ideal of physical education for a girl from the point of view of her sex ?
I do not see why there should be any special ideal of physical education for girls other than for boys. Physical education has for its aim to develop all the possibilities of a human body, possibilities of harmony, strength, plasticity, cleverness, agility, endurance, and to increase the control over the functioning of the limbs and the organs, to make of the body a perfect instrument at the disposal of a conscious will. This programme is excellent for all human beings equally, and there is no point in wanting to adopt another one for girls.
Q - Will a girl's appearance change and become muscular like a muscular man and make her look ugly by practising vigorous exercises ?
Weakness and fragility may look attractive in the view of a perverted mind, but it is not the truth of Nature nor the truth of the Spirit. If you have ever looked at the photos of the women gymnasts you will know that perfectly beautiful bodies they have; and nobody can deny that they are muscular!
Q - What attitude should a girl take towards her monthly periods ?
The attitude you take towards something quite natural and unavoidable. Give it as little importance as possible and go on with your usual life, without changing anything because of it.
Q - Should a girl participate in her normal programme of physical education during her periods ?
Certainly if she is accustomed to physical exercises, she must not stop because of that. If one keeps the habit of leading one's normal life always, very soon one does not even notice the presence of the menses. .
- The Mother


 


What will be the supramental or the idealized human form? Will there remain a difference between the female and the male form?

The idealized human form                                                - Mother       Home

Evolution is openly moving towards diminishing the difference between the female and the male forms: the ideal that's being created makes female forms more masculine and gives male forms a certain grace and suppleness, with the result that they increasingly resemble what I had seen all the way up, beyond the worlds of the creation, on the “threshold,” if I can call it that, of the world of form. At the beginning of the century, I had seen, before even knowing of Sri Aurobindo's existence and without having ever heard the word “supramental” or the idea of it or anything, I had seen there, all the way up, on the threshold of the Formless, at the extreme limit, an ideal form that resembled the human form, which was an idealized human form: neither man nor woman. A luminous form, a form of golden light. When I read what Sri Aurobindo wrote, I said, “But what I saw was the supramental form!” Without having the faintest idea that it might exist. Well, the ideal of form we are now moving towards resembles what I saw. That's why I said: since there is an evolutionary concentration on this point, on the physical, bodily form, it must mean that Nature is preparing something for that Descent and that embodiment – it seems logical to me.
- The Mother
Mother’s Agenda : Vol 6
April 21, 196

 

Copyright © Sri Aurobindo Center of Los Angeles
All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
12320 Marshall St, Culver City, Los Angeles 90230
Email : ewcc@sriaurobindocenter-la.org