When we conjure up, in our minds, the idea of peace, we tend to give it a form of inaction, a ‘negative’ status. Similarly, peace to our vital nature is the absence of excitement or any form of energetic expression. For the body, we believe peace is a state of quietness that does not ‘do’ anything.
For Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, however, peace is a dynamic, powerful status that can be palpably felt and experienced by the receptive soul. It is a Force, it is solid and immovable, and it fills the mind, the heart, the vital being and the body with a power that cannot be denied. This force is so powerful that it can overcome all manner of oppositions and distractions, and, despite our mental conceptualization of it, it is not restricted to a state of meditation or silent inaction.
Just as we do not generally understand or conceive of the dynamic nature of this peace, we generally have no idea, short of an insight gained through actual experience, of what peace infusing the cells of the body is actually like.
It is this peace infusing the cells that has the power to heal all dis-ease and illness, but it is not something that one gets from sitting for fifteen minutes for meditation!
Our mind, our emotions, our vital and nervous being and our body each have habits of reaction that automatically engage when the right stimulus reaches them. The power of peace, as experienced by the Mother, is one that can shut down these habits of reaction and thereby free the body from vibrating from a force that brings with it a sense of illness or disharmony into it.
The Mother notes: “Peace and stillness are the great remedy for disease. When we can bring peace in our cells, we are cured. … Catch hold of a peace deep within and push it into the cells of the body. With the peace will come back the health. …Establish a greater peace and quietness in your body, that will give you the strength to resist attacks of illness. … To keep quiet and concentrate, leaving the Force from above to do its work, is the surest way to be cured of anything and everything. There is no illness that can resist that if it is done properly, in time and long enough, with a steady faith and a strong will.”
Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, Living Within: The Yoga Approach to Psychological Health and Growth, General Methods and Principles, The One Way — Quiet, Calm, Peace, pp. 1-2
Santosh has been studying Sri Aurobindo's writings since 1971 and has a daily blog at http://sriaurobindostudies.wordpress.com and podcast at https://anchor.fm/santosh-krinsky He is author of 16 books and is editor-in-chief at Lotus Press. He is president of Institute for Wholistic Education, a non-profit focused on integrating spirituality into daily life.