Page 5 - NAMAH-Jul-2018

Inner transformation and the physical resistance*

The Mother: The force that comes down into one who is doing Yoga and helps him in
his transformation, acts along many different lines and its results vary according to the
nature that receives it and the work to be done. First of all, it hastens the transformation
of all in the being that is ready to be transformed. If he is open and receptive in his mind,
the mind, touched by the power of Yoga, begins to change and progress swiftly. There
may be the same rapidity of change in the vital consciousness if that is ready, or even in
the body. But in the body the transforming power of Yoga is operative only to a certain
degree; for the receptivity of the body is limited. The most material plane of the universe
is still in a condition in which receptivity is mixed with a large amount of resistance. But
rapid progress in one part of the being which is not followed by an equivalent progress in
other parts produces a disharmony in the nature, a dislocation somewhere; and wherever
or whenever this dislocation occurs, it can translate itself into an illness. The nature of
the illness depends upon the nature of the dislocation. One kind of disharmony affects
the mind and the disturbance it produces may lead even as far as insanity; another kind
affects the body and may show itself as fever or prickly heat or any other greater or minor
disorder.

On one side, the action of the forces of Yoga hastens the movement of transformation of
the being in those parts that are ready to receive and respond to the power that is at work
upon it. Yoga, in this way, saves time. The whole world is in a process of progressive
transformation; if you take up the discipline of Yoga, you speed up in yourself this process.
The work that would require years in the ordinary course, can be done by Yoga in a few
days and even in a few hours. But it is your inner consciousness that obeys this accelerating
impulse; for the higher parts of your being readily follow the swift and concentrated
movement of Yoga and lend themselves more easily to the continuous adjustment and
adaptation that it necessitates. The body, on the other hand, is ordinarily dense, inert
and apathetic. And if you have in this part something that is not responsive, if there is a
resistance here, the reason is that the body is incapable of moving as quickly as the rest of
the being. It must take time, it must walk at its own pace as it does in ordinary life. What
happens is as when grown-up people walk too fast for children in their company; they
have to stop at times and wait till the child who is lagging behind comes up and overtakes
them. This divergence between the progress in the inner being and the inertia of the body
often creates a dislocation in the system, and that manifests itself as an illness. This is why
people who take up Yoga frequently begin by suffering from some physical discomfort or
disorder. That need not happen if they are on their guard and careful. Or if there is a greater
and unusual receptivity in the body, then too they escape. But an unmixed receptivity

*Heading provided by the Editor

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