Chapter 60Experiences in the Subtle Body and the Physical · Body

hold of the body fully, can be decided only by the descent itself — there must be no premature attempt to do it or decide it with the Mind, before the Descent is an accomplished reality — for that would only retard the Descent and perhaps spoil the body.

It [the higher consciousness] can come into the physical consciousness direct in the sense that the rest can remain passive, but it must pass through the subtle to reach the material.

* All experiences that penetrate the centres are recorded in the distinguish between the reflection of the experiences there and the experiences that belong to the physical body consciousness itself. It is a matter of consciousness and fine discernment. There is no absolute law about the time.

* It can be a rushing of Force into the subtle body which the physical records and feels the effect. When Force descends into the head it means that it has come down into the mind, when it is felt in the heart it means it has entered into the emotional vital, when it is in the Muladhara and below it means it is acting on the physical consciousness. The centres are all in the subtle body although there are corresponding parts in the gross physical.

* I spoke [in the preceding letter] only of the fact that what one feels recorded in the physical body may be actually taking place only in the subtle body. Whether in a particular case it is that or a direct experience in the physical body also, is a matter to be 1 The correspondent wrote that he sometimes felt peace or silence or force as “tangibly present” in his body. — Ed.

seen in each case. One must distinguish for oneself which it is.

* Any reflection or outflowing [of the Force] from the subtle body into the physical would also be felt as tangible.

* Why “mere” record? If you think the experiences in the subtle quite as intense, swift, palpable, massive as those of the body.