Sri Aurobindo

Letters of Sri Aurobindo

Volume IV - Part 3

Fragment ID: 15002

A body is not a cloth – nor is a sick body a torn cloth. A body weak or sick can renew itself, recover its vitality – that happens to thousands of people. A cloth has not a renewable vitality. It is only if one is old beyond fifty-five or sixty that the renewal becomes difficult – even then health and strength can be kept or recovered enough to keep the body in a good condition.

I do not also quite catch what you mean about the inner being. If you mean by the vikās the development of the sadhana, to recover health and strength is very necessary for that. The body is an instrument for the sadhana no less than the mind and vital, and it should be kept in a good condition as far as possible. Not to care for the body, thinking it is of no importance compared with the inner state, is not the rule of this Yoga.