Gradations
in Death
Oh, yes.
Yes, everybody knows it: it happened at Tlemcen while I was working with Théon. I had gone out in a wholly material way, the body was in a cataleptic state, and something came, something occurred that cut the link. So the link was cut. But what was the experience like at that time? The experience was that ... (laughing) impossible to get back in there! But Théon was there (Théon had a bad scare!), and there was at that time the knowledge—a good deal of knowledge!—of the occult. The knowledge was there as well as the will (Mother makes a gesture of pushing to reenter the body), and also an inner faith (but I never used to talk about that), and a concentration. As for him, he was capable, he knew. He was able to "pull." And the body hadn't deteriorated, you see, it wasn't damaged, so it wasn't difficult. It was in a very good condition, but the thread was cut, which means that what gives life had gone out and could not get back in. I came back in as a result of the power and the will, because... In fact, simply because I still had something to do on earth. It happened in 1910, I think. So it's not because the soul leaves the body, is it? Oh, that's just words! The soul may very likely make a resolve, noting that the body is either unworthy or unfit or incapable or unwilling or... anything, and the soul may decide that the body should die so it may go; but the soul's going isn't what kills the body. There are innumerable people who are without a soul—they have a soul, but their soul isn't in their body—lots of people. And they go on living quite well. It's more difficult to live without the psychic being, on the other hand. The psychic being, of course, is the clothing—the individualized clothing—between the eternal soul and the transitory body; and [from life to life] it grows more formed, individualized, more and more individually conscious. When that leaves the body, the rest generally follows. But I had the experience of doing it deliberately, so I KNOW. One has to know how to do it, but it can be done. My psychic being stayed here with Sri Aurobindo, and I left with my mental, vital and physical beings. It was a... slightly precarious condition. But as I also kept the contact quite consciously, it could be done. What people call "death"... I see loads of people who, to me, are living dead (they are those who are without their psychic being, or even those who have no contact with their soul). But to know that, one must have the inner vision. But what people call "death," that is, the decomposition of the cells and dissolution of the form, is when the most material "vital subdegree," which brings into contact with Life—with vital force, life—goes out. That is how death occurs in animals, for example. And that vital subdegree generally goes away when the external organism is unable to continue—when, for instance, it's cut in two or the heart has been removed, or anyway when something quite radical has happened to it! Because some people have met with accidents and had many parts missing, yet they lived on. But even cardiac arrest, as I said, doesn't necessarily mean death, since after stopping, the heart can start up again. Those who have the material knowledge tell you that for a few... I forget whether a few seconds or a few minutes, the heart can start up again; after that, decomposition sets in. With decomposition it's over, naturally. So we could correctly say that there are kinds of GRADATIONS in death. Gradations in life and gradations in death: some beings are alive to a greater or lesser degree, or if we want to put it negatively, some beings are dead to a greater or lesser degree. But for those who know, oh, for those who know that this material form can manifest a supramental light, well, those who don't have the supramental light in them are already a little dead. That's how it is. So there are gradations. What people have conventionally called "death" is just a purely external phenomenon, because it's something they can't deny—the body going to pieces. But I have seen people who were supposedly dead (not many in my family because it wasn't the custom to let the children see them, and once I was grown-up there were only very few opportunities), but I have seen a few here. And they weren't all in the same state at all—far from it. (silence) There was the case of Sri Aurobindo. "He is dead," the doctors decided—he was absolutely alive. Absolutely living. And even after five days, when they put him into... it was because of (how should I put it?) the pressure of the outside world, and because it was impossible to preserve him. We had to consent. But I cannot say he was dead! He wasn't at all dead, it was perfectly obvious. The body was already beginning to... (very little, but a little at the end of the fifth day), that is, the skin was losing its color, but... (Mother makes a glorious gesture). For the first three days, I remained standing there, near his bed, and in an absolutely... well, to me, it was absolutely visible—all the organized consciousness that was in his body DELIBERATELY came out of it and into mine. And I not only saw it but felt the FRICTION of its entry. Then people say, "He is dead"—that's ignorance. (silence) All that supramental power he had attracted into and organized in his body little by little came into me METHODICALLY. I didn't say anything to anyone because it was nobody's business, nobody's concern. I remained standing there and... (gesture showing the forces passing from Sri Aurobindo into Mother's body). You know, people revel in high-sounding words and keep talking and talking—they don't even know what they're talking about. Not very long ago, I saw one or two photographs of someone, then he came to see me. I said, "He is dead, he's a dead man." And I don't mean a dissolution at all (of course not! Since he came in and spoke—he spoke very loudly, thinking himself very alive, in fact): he was dead. So ... 14
June 1967 |
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