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And if you are calm — here, another factor comes in, the need for inner calm — if you have
the inner calm, then the pain changes into an almost pleasant sensation — not “pleasant”
in the ordinary sense, but an almost comfortable feeling comes. Again, I am speaking
purely physically, materially.

And the last stage, when the cells have faith in the divine Presence and in the sovereign
divine Will, when they have this trust that all is for the good, then ecstasy comes — the
cells open, like this, become luminous and ecstatic.

That makes four stages — only three are mentioned here.

The last one is probably not within everyone’s reach, but the first three are quite evident
— I know it is like that. The only thing that used to worry me was that it was not a purely
psychological experience and that there was some wear in the body by the fact of enduring
suffering. But I have asked doctors and I was told that if the body is taught to bear pain when
it is very young, its capacity to endure increases so much that it can really resist disease;
that is, the disease does not follow its normal course, it is arrested. That is precious.

— The Mother*

The Mother. The Collected Works of the Mother, Volume 10. Cent ed. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo
Ashram Trust; 1977, pp.170-72

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