Sri Aurobindo

Letters of Sri Aurobindo

Forth Series

Fragment ID: 21858

By suggestion I do not mean merely thoughts or words. When the hypnotist says “sleep”, it is a suggestion; but when he says nothing, but only limits his silent will to convey sleep or makes movements of his hands over the face, that also is a suggestion.

When a force is thrown on you or a vibration of illness, it carries to the body this suggestion. A wave comes in the body – with a certain vibration in it, the body remembers “cold” or feels the vibrations of a cold and begins to cough or sneeze or to feel chill – the suggestion comes to the mind in the form “I am weak, I don’t feel well, I am catching a cold”.

Hostile here means hostile to the Yoga. An illness which comes in the ordinary course as the result of physical causes – even though adverse universal forces are the first cause – is an ordinary illness. One brought by the forces hostile to Yoga to upset the system and prevent or disturb progress – without any adequate physical reason – is a hostile attack. It may have the appearance of a cold or any other illness, but to the eye which sees the action of forces and not only the outward symptoms or results, the difference is clear.