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the same faculty of constant transformation which would enable it to follow the universal
movement. This is an absolutely indispensable condition if the body is to endure. Because
the body is rigid, because it does not follow the movement, because it cannot transform itself
rapidly enough to constantly identify itself with the universal evolution, it decomposes and
dies. Its fixity, its rigidity, its incapacity to transform itself, make its destruction necessary, so
that its substance may return to the general realm of physical substance and so that the body
may be remoulded into new forms in order to become capable of further progress. But usually,
when one speaks of immortality, people think of physical immortality — it goes without saying
that this has not yet been realised.

Sri Aurobindo says that it is possible and even that it will happen, but he lays down one
condition: — the body must be supramentalised, it must have some of the qualities of the
supramental being, which are qualities of plasticity and constant transformation. And when
Sri Aurobindo writes that the body is “only an instrument and a shadow”, he is speaking of
the body as it is now and will probably continue to be for a long time to come. It is only the
instrument of the Self, a very inadequate expression of this Self, and a shadow — a shadow,
something vague and obscure in comparison with the light and precision of the eternal Self.

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