Help
Sign In
consciousness
June 2009 
Life Without Death
Posted on Apr 22nd, 2007
by 
Sandra
Sandra
I'm not an obituary writer, but here I am, for the third time in the past month-and-a-bit, writing about someone who died recently. This time it is Satprem.
I was just looking online for a link to Satprem 's book The Mind of the Cells for a girlfriend of mine who I chatted with today in the sunny garden here in Bonn. Another friend overheard us, and told us about his experience of being with Satprem in 1973, just after the death of Mirra Alfassa, The Mother.
And now, a few hours later, I read that Satprem died on the 9th of April this year.
I know virtually nothing about Satprem, other than he wrote The Mind of the Cells and other books ( e.g. Life Without Death, on my 'to read' list...) and that he was one of the few people who understood what The Mother was doing.
What he shared in The Mind of the Cells lives in my own cells.... in my heart and mind and soul and body, always there, reminding me of so something rare and often forgotten -- unseen or unknown even -- & not only forgotten in my own consciousness, but in the thoughts and consciousness and life of so many of those around me.
The Mind of the Cells is about The Mother's extraordinary 'experiments' in transformation and evolution through the body.
What Satprem and the Mother explored has stayed with me like a light in the darkest tunnels of my own journey.
I believe I 'left' my body (as much as was possible without actually going insane or dying) when I was seven, - and that my life from that point onwards has been a path of reconnecting to this body.
I deeply sense and experience that this reconnection is not simply a 'getting back in'- it's wider than that, part of my own evolution -- and because I'm in the middle of this journey ( or somewhere along a spectrum that may not be vertical), I can't quite express what is actually happening.
I've always felt that I am here in a 'body' for a reason, that the wild and often extremely uncomfortable physical ride this body is on is not a 'mistake' or a problem.
I believe that the evolution of consciousness, of being human - of becoming - is through this body; I believe that 'enlightenment' is not a process of disconnecting from the physical into some 'higher' more ethereal realm, rather it is a fully physical and felt experience (I have to say that this is more than a belief, it's a kind of knowing that is not about being 'right').
Reading The Mind of the Cells washed over me like a wave of warm ocean, curling me into its heart, saying Yes, what you experience is absolutely precise and on track.
Thank you Satprem, thank you Mirra.
I had the same thoughts about Satprem that I had about U.G. Krishnamurti - I hoped that 'one day' I would meet him. Both lived quite reclusively, out of the public eye, and I'm sad that I did not make a greater effort to sit with them in this life. I'm reminded to never take for granted what is here, and to reach out to all who have touched me, supported me, encouraged me, and tell them how grateful I am.
And, I loved what Barindranath Chaki wrote on his Satprem blog: "Satprem cannot die...He will be there, till the Work he has undertaken is done".
Perhaps this is why I'm writing this - so that the flame of Sri Aurobindo, The Mother and Satprem can be passed along - to anyone who is touched by anything I've written, to anyone who feels that the physical experience is absolutely integral to consciousness, then please, read these extraordinary people's books, share the flame. Let's live in the fire of life, exploring all its corridors and pathways, let us -- hand-in-hand -- walk where there are no roads, no maps, on and into this great adventure of the unknown.
~~
I was just looking online for a link to Satprem 's book The Mind of the Cells for a girlfriend of mine who I chatted with today in the sunny garden here in Bonn. Another friend overheard us, and told us about his experience of being with Satprem in 1973, just after the death of Mirra Alfassa, The Mother.
And now, a few hours later, I read that Satprem died on the 9th of April this year.
I know virtually nothing about Satprem, other than he wrote The Mind of the Cells and other books ( e.g. Life Without Death, on my 'to read' list...) and that he was one of the few people who understood what The Mother was doing.
What he shared in The Mind of the Cells lives in my own cells.... in my heart and mind and soul and body, always there, reminding me of so something rare and often forgotten -- unseen or unknown even -- & not only forgotten in my own consciousness, but in the thoughts and consciousness and life of so many of those around me.
The Cell
What Satprem and the Mother explored has stayed with me like a light in the darkest tunnels of my own journey.
I believe I 'left' my body (as much as was possible without actually going insane or dying) when I was seven, - and that my life from that point onwards has been a path of reconnecting to this body.
I deeply sense and experience that this reconnection is not simply a 'getting back in'- it's wider than that, part of my own evolution -- and because I'm in the middle of this journey ( or somewhere along a spectrum that may not be vertical), I can't quite express what is actually happening.
I've always felt that I am here in a 'body' for a reason, that the wild and often extremely uncomfortable physical ride this body is on is not a 'mistake' or a problem.
I believe that the evolution of consciousness, of being human - of becoming - is through this body; I believe that 'enlightenment' is not a process of disconnecting from the physical into some 'higher' more ethereal realm, rather it is a fully physical and felt experience (I have to say that this is more than a belief, it's a kind of knowing that is not about being 'right').
Reading The Mind of the Cells washed over me like a wave of warm ocean, curling me into its heart, saying Yes, what you experience is absolutely precise and on track.
Thank you Satprem, thank you Mirra.
I had the same thoughts about Satprem that I had about U.G. Krishnamurti - I hoped that 'one day' I would meet him. Both lived quite reclusively, out of the public eye, and I'm sad that I did not make a greater effort to sit with them in this life. I'm reminded to never take for granted what is here, and to reach out to all who have touched me, supported me, encouraged me, and tell them how grateful I am.
And, I loved what Barindranath Chaki wrote on his Satprem blog: "Satprem cannot die...He will be there, till the Work he has undertaken is done".
Perhaps this is why I'm writing this - so that the flame of Sri Aurobindo, The Mother and Satprem can be passed along - to anyone who is touched by anything I've written, to anyone who feels that the physical experience is absolutely integral to consciousness, then please, read these extraordinary people's books, share the flame. Let's live in the fire of life, exploring all its corridors and pathways, let us -- hand-in-hand -- walk where there are no roads, no maps, on and into this great adventure of the unknown.
~~
Added 23rd April 2007:
"It happened in the deserted canyons near Pondicherry. I was sitting there quietly, when out of a hollow came three men. Instantly I knew: "They're coming to kill me." I stayed where I was, without moving. And strangely without any effort or concentration, I suddenly felt as if emptied of myself, without any reaction, without fear, without anything, like a stone, but a conscious stone looking unconcerned at some kind of show, just as one can be both witness and actor in a dream.
Except for its neutrality, the feeling was not really that of a rock, but rather that of a body, my body, as something utterly transparent and null, and a little indistinct. Nothing moved, there was not a quiver or a throb - and I had nothing to do with it, there was no "self-control" involved, no effort.
Something had taken hold of me in a transparent immobility The three men were there: two in front, one behind. I didn't move. they talked amongst themselves. Then a kind of voice in me said, "Get up." I rose, with my back to the canyon. One of them took off my watch, no doubt to simulate a robbery. The man behind came in front of me. I saw the killer raise his arm to push me into the canyon. I followed the movement of that arm, my eyes met the gold-coloured eyed of the killer. he lowered his arm, hesitated a moment as if he was not sure what to do , or exactly why he was there.
It seemed that he too now watched the scene as if it did not make any sense, or as if he had forgotten what he had come for. He turned around, the others turned, around, and they left. Then they started to run as if panic stricken.
And my heart suddenly remembered that it should have been frightened, that they had wanted to kill me.. and it started pounding like mad.
The only thing I know is that had there been the slightest effort on my part, the slightest contraction or reaction to push those men back, even an inner refusal, a mere "no" inside, they would have killed me instantly: the opposition thus raised would have met and challenged their vibration and the reaction would have touched off the whole process. But there was nothing, not even a breath of reaction; I was like thin air, as it wore: the others vibration passed through me like a breeze, unobstructed. Can you kill a breeze?
Some kind of contact is necessary in order to kill, you have to have a handle - here, there was no handle, for the was nothing, and since there was nothing, there was nothing!"
Satprem: The mind of the cells
Access: PublicTagged with: Satprem, Mirra Alfassa, The Mother, Sri Aurobindo, the body, consciousness, physical, evolution, integral, Mind of the Cells, LIfe Without Death, death, life, obituaries
thank you sandra
Dear Donan, I just added a quote from The Mind of The Cells - an experience that Satprem had - I think you'd like it :-)
Sandra, Thank You. Not a realization so much as a beautiful confession.
you thought right ;-)
TO set the world on FIRE - such that others may realise that physical experience is absolutely integral to consciousness - IS a function of evolution IT SELF - & those who have had a ”near death experience” seem to understand this better than most.
Thanks dear Ron, Donan, Michael.. and lovely blog on Sri Aurobindo dear Michael!
NDE's.
I know we talked at length about this at the Camden Arts Centre in London - and in truth I'm not sure I've had one. Not in the usual sense that I've heard described.
But perhaps my whole life is a kind of near death experience — and for certain, I have experienced the 'light' at the end of the tunnel, only there was no tunnel for me, only the light. Suddenly I'm remembering I was a cesarean birth ( by my mother's choice, not need)… no tunneling for me. Recently I wrote about this birthing experience - well, I actually wrote this birthing experience, not 'about' it. Was fun ( and, um, enlightening, to do).
And perhaps I'm onto something here, that the definition of near death experiences can be expanded … so many of us experience something very unusual in our lives, and do not realise that many others are walking the same thread.
Time to stop and do some 'work'…
with love
Sandra
Dear Sandra, You have beautifully wriiten on Satprem. The Consciousness that is Satprem is still active and it cannot really die.
Those who are fortunate enough to understand and believe what Sri Aurobindo and The Mother wrote and did and lived for and what was perpetuated by Satprem in word and in work, let them continue the process of progress into the New Evolution, the Next Evolution.
Barin
26-04-2007
Sandra,
Thanks for pointing the way here from the Living Metaphysics pod. I gained much from the time I spent here and in Michael's blog to which you refer.
Deborah
Thanks Deborah… so lovely to have you here.
Sandra, this is deeply moving. Thank you for sharing these words and Satprem. The wisdom of the Mother is not new; but I had not heard of Satprem.
I have experienced this emptiness when someone seems to want to hurt or offend or bait; once I learned to remove the hooks and loops that the hooks can latch onto from me and others; I realize sometimes when someone tries to hook into me : “there is nothing there.” One slips out of grasp, but turns not to sting, but in compassion.
Your words are very perceptive: “and that my life from that point onwards has been a path of reconnecting to this body”. I have come to realize that most people are actually not IN their bodies; perhaps no one really is; and the more physical we are, the more we are trying to stay in it. I am also realizing as we are discussing on the metaphysics pod, that the body is a metaphor for our life on the material plane; and when it acts up, we need to rebalance everything in our life.
Lovely letter, Meenakshi. Your personal description of 'nothing there' when someone tries to hook into you is just wonderful, something I'll be with deeply.
Love,
Sandra
Meenakshi,
We are fortunate to have the blessing of your insights when they are so very clear as this -
“I have experienced this emptiness when someone seems to want to hurt or offend or bait; once I learned to remove the hooks and loops that the hooks can latch onto from me and others; I realize sometimes when someone tries to hook into me : “there is nothing there.” One slips out of grasp, but turns not to sting, but in compassion.”
May I always recognize the hook and be aware of whether a loop in myself exists to catch it. If I find myself caught, may I have the wisdom to extricate myself. Recently, I had an experience of “seeing” the ring and consciously “choosing” not to grab it, though it was within my reach, for I recognized that it was, in reality, a hook waiting to grab ahold of me, after previously extricating myself from its grasp.
Deborah
Sandra, Thank you for keeping the flames alive.
These 3 beings are still alive within me. Their teachings resonate deeply.