Our body's cells must hold the Immortal's flame.
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/16/19-november-1968#p1</ref></center>
=How to Transform the Cells?=
One must first transform his thought, all his mind, all his mental activity, organise it with higher knowledge; and at the same time one must transform his character, all the movements of the vital, all impulses, all reactions. And finally, when these two things are done, in any case up to a certain point, one can begin to think of transforming the cells of his body, but not begin at the end; one must begin at the beginning. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/07/15-june-1955#p3</ref>
<center>~</center>
The physical nature is obscure and recalcitrant everywhere; it is very difficult for it to become conscious of the divine Presence.
That is why we must be patient and keep on aspiring with the certitude of Victory.<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/the-body-the-physical#p3</ref>
<center>~</center>
The physical point of view human beings live in frightful ignorance. …the utilisation of energies to re-establish a state of equilibrium which has been broken, to make the cells which are lagging behind progress, to build conditions for the possibility of higher progress, etc... it is a formidable task. And yet, it is that which must be done if one hopes to transform one's body. First it must be put completely in harmony with the inner consciousness. And to do that, it is a work in each cell, so to say, in each little activity, in every movement of the organs. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/06/24-february-1954#p24</ref>
<center>~</center>
But when it comes to including Matter in the work, Matter as it is in this world, where the very starting-point itself is wrong—we start from Inconscience and Ignorance—then it is very difficult. Because, in fact, so that this Matter could reach the individualisation needed to recover the lost Consciousness, it was made with a certain fixity indispensable to make forms last and precisely to maintain this possibility of individuality. And that is the chief obstacle to the widening, the plasticity, the suppleness needed to be able to receive the supermind. I am constantly faced with this problem, which is a very concrete, absolutely material one, when one is dealing with these cells which must remain cells and not evaporate into a reality which is no longer physical. And at the same time, they must have this suppleness, this lack of fixity which enables them to widen indefinitely. [Based on Aphorism 69 - Sin and virtue are a game of resistance we play with God in His efforts to draw us towards perfection. The sense of virtue helps us to cherish our sins in secret.]<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/10/aphorism-69#p12</ref>
<center>~</center>
...one has a clear perception that the intervention or manifestation of the true Vibration doesn't depend on egos or individualities (human or national individualities, or even individualities of Nature: animals, plants and so on), it depends on a certain play of the cells and Matter in which there are aggregates particularly favorable for the transformation to occur—not "transformation": the substitution, to be precise, the substitution of the Vibration of Truth for the vibration of Falsehood. And the phenomenon may be very independent of groupings and individualities (it may happen in one part here, another part there, one thing here, another thing there); and it always corresponds to a certain quality of vibration that causes a sort of swelling—a receptive swelling—and then, the thing can occur. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/agenda/05/march-25-1964#p42</ref>
<center>~</center>
But physical Matter in its cellular form has, we can't say a fear or an anxiety, but a sort of apprehension of new vibrations, and that apprehension naturally takes away from the cells their receptivity and takes on the appearance of a discomfort (it's not a suffering but a discomfort). But when that apprehension is counterbalanced and cured by aspiration and the will for total surrender and the act of total surrender, then that sort of apprehension having disappeared, there comes supreme ease. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/agenda/07/september-28-1966#p26</ref>
<center>~</center>
Immediately this force, this consciousness, this light acts, even on your physical cells; it acts in the mind, in the vital, in the body, changes the vibrations, organises the substance and begins its work of transformation. You are under the impact of this sudden contact and action; for you it is a sort of indescribable, inexpressible state which takes hold of you, you haven't any clear, precise, definite idea of it, it is... "something that happens". It may give you the impression of being wonderful or tremendous, but it is inexpressible and incomprehensible for you. That is the experience in its essence and its true power.<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/08/31-october-1956#p18</ref>
==By Physical Activities ==
Physical culture is the process of infusing consciousness into the cells of the body. One may or may not know it, but it is a fact. When we concentrate to make our muscles move according to our will, when we endeavour to make our limbs more supple, to give them an agility, or a force, or a resistance, or a plasticity which they do not naturally possess, we infuse into the cells of the body a consciousness which was not there before, thus turning it into an increasingly homogeneous and receptive instrument, which progresses in and by its activities. This is the primary importance of physical culture. Of course, that is not the only thing that brings consciousness into the body, but it is something which acts in an overall way, and this is rare. I have already told you several times that the artist infuses a very great consciousness into his hands, as the intellectual does into his brain. But these are, as it were, local phenomena, whereas the action of physical culture is more general. And when one sees the absolutely marvellous results of this culture, when one observes the extent to which the body is capable of perfecting itself, one understands how useful this can be to the action of the psychic being which has entered into this material substance. For naturally, when it is in possession of an organised and harmonised instrument which is full of strength and suppleness and possibilities, its task is greatly facilitated.
[Based on Aphorism 11 - Immortality is not the survival of the mental personality after death, though that also is true, but the waking possession of the unborn and deathless Self of which body is only an instrument and a shadow.] <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/10/aphorism-11#p12</ref>
<center>~</center>
"How does one awaken the consciousness of the physical being?", that is precisely the aim of physical education. It is physical education that teaches the cells to be conscious. But for the development of the brain, it is study, observation, intelligent education, above all observation and reasoning. And naturally, for the whole education of the consciousness from the point of view of character, it is yoga.
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/12/mothers-action-in-a-class-of-children-aged-sixteen-to-eighteen#p53</ref>
<center>~</center>
By going down into the subconscient, into the inconscient, one can trace the origin of this formation and undo what has been done, change the movements and reactions of the ordinary nature by a conscious and deliberate action and thus really transform one's character. This is not a common achievement, but it has been done. So one may assert not only that it can be done, but that it has been done. It is the first step towards the integral transformation, but after that, there remains the transformation of the cells. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/15/6-january-1951#p11</ref>
==By Certitude==
But there is increasingly a sort of certitude in the cells that everything that happens is with a view to this transformation and this transfer of the directing power. And at the very moment when things are materially painful (not even physically: materially painful), the cells keep that certitude. And so they withstand, they endure the suffering without being depressed or affected in the least, with that certitude that it is to prepare for the transformation, that it is even the process of transformation and of the transfer of the directing power.
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/agenda/06/august-31-1965#p11</ref>
==By Aspiration==
Not only the mind and the vital, but the body also in all its cells must aspire for the divine transformation.
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/15/transformation-and-the-parts-of-the-being#p12</ref>
<center>~</center>
The cells of the body understand what the transformations will be, and with all their strength, all the consciousness they contain, they aspire for this transformation. The very cells of the body—not the central will, thought or emotion—the cells of the body open in this way to receive the Force. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/06/3-november-1954#p19</ref>
<center>~</center>
The cells of the body thirst for the Divine Consciousness and when they are brought into contact with It their aspiration becomes very intense.<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/16/21-october-1967#p2</ref>
<center>~</center>
...the cells' conscious aspiration to the Supreme; it is the only thing that can actually transform the body; and it is very, very independent of the domain of sensations. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/agenda/06/march-27-1965#p4</ref>
<center>~</center>
There is nothing which can have as great an interest as this passionate interest of transformation. It is as though all the cells of the body were at thirst for that Light which wants to manifest; they cry out for it, they find an intense joy in it and are sure of the Victory.
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/09/25-september-1957#p8</ref>
<center>~</center>
As soon as there is some disturbance, immediately it has an aspiration, a call, an effort to seek help, and this is very powerful. If nothing intervenes, it is very powerful. It is as though the cells themselves sprang up in an aspiration, a call.
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/06/19-may-1954#p41</ref>
<center>~</center>
At the centre of each cell lies the Divine Consciousness. By aspiration and repeated self-giving, the cells must be made transparent.<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/16/18-march-1967#p2</ref>
==By Offering ==
But not the way it's done mentally where there is always a stiffening; it's not that: it's immediately a kind of offering in the being, which gives itself in order to learn. I am speaking of all the cells. It's very interesting. Of course, if we mentalize it, we have to say it's the sense or awareness of the divine Presence in all things, and that the mode—the mode of contact—comes from the state in which we are. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/agenda/08/january-11-1967#p7</ref>
<center>~</center>
However, it is no longer only a possibility, it is no longer even only a promise for a far-off future: it is something which is in the making. And already one can not only foresee but feel the moment when the body will be able to repeat integrally the experience of the most spiritual part of the being, as the inner spirit has already done, and will itself be able to stand in its bodily consciousness before the supreme Reality, turn to it integrally and say in all sincerity, in a total self-giving of all its cells: "To be Thyself—exclusively, perfectly—Thyself, infinitely, eternally... very simply." <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/09/29-may-1957#p17</ref>
<center>~</center>
That's what is remarkable in the physical, it's that when the physical has learned something, it never forgets. Once the cells have learned that, learned this self-giving, this offering to the Divine, and this NEED to offer themselves, it's learned, and it DOESN'T BUDGE ANYMORE. It's constant, twenty-four hours a day, ceaselessly, day after day, changelessly; even when something goes wrong (you have a pain or something), the first movement is this: it's to offer it, to give it—spontaneously. The higher consciousness doesn't intervene, it's spontaneous: it's the consciousness contained in the cells. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/agenda/10/october-1-1969#p28</ref>
==By Peace==
...a boxed-in peace, but a peace all the same, a real peace, a concrete, concrete stillness. So the thing to be done (''because that peace is perceptible I've had the experience of it so many times'') is to remain very objective within that peace; then you can benefit from the peace without accepting its limits. You should, for instance, be able to keep that peace in the cells (''the brain cells if you feel tired'') without allowing yourself to be enclosed like that. There is no need to struggle, just remain turned upward.... It's very hard to explain. But maybe you will experience it, then you'll understand what I mean.
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/agenda/04/april-16-1963#p3</ref>
<center>~</center>
A quietness in the cells of the body, even a sense of immobility (so that the body seems to be moved rather than to move) is a different thing and easily distinguishable from the inertia. The down flow of peace usually brings much of the static Brahman into the consciousness down to the physical
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/difficulties-of-the-physical-nature#p33</ref>
<center>~</center>
Equality and self-control are most necessary to Yoga, but also most difficult, one has to strive slowly after them; they are not, at least in their completeness, easily attainable. The whole being has to be pervaded by calm and peace; the nerves and cells of the body have to be full of calm and peace. Until then what one has to strive to attain is an inner calm in the inner being which remains even when the outer is disturbed by invasions of grief, unease or anger.
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/imperfections-and-periods-of-arrest#p9</ref>
==By Wideness==
Wideness and calmness are the foundation of the Yogic consciousness and the best condition for inner growth and experience. If a wide calm can be established in the physical consciousness, occupying and filling the very body and all its cells, that can become the basis for its transformation; in fact, without this wideness and calmness the transformation is hardly possible.<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/peace-the-basis-of-the-sadhana#p20</ref>
<center>~</center>
It is only a real descent of the higher consciousness from above that can give a peaceful and beautiful merging of the atoms (?) into the wideness of the Divine—that is to say one feels the very cells sharing in that peace and wideness. This is possible even if the material body is ill. In most cases it is the subtle body that feels like that, but as the subtle penetrates everywhere the gross physical, the physical body also feels like that. But then it does not feel disturbed by the pains or motions of the illness—they do not affect its peace or Ananda.
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/experiences-on-the-higher-planes#p9</ref>
==By Ananda==
And when this comes it fills all the cells of the body. It is not even a thing which is thought out—one does no reason, does not analyse, it is not that: it is a state in which one lives. And when the body shares in it, it is so fresh—so fresh, so spontaneous, so... it no longer turns back upon itself, there is no longer any sense of self-observation, of self-analysis or of analysing things. All that is like a canticle of joyous vibrations, but very, very quiet, without violence, without passion, nothing of all that. It is very subtle and very intense at the same time, and when it comes, it seems that the whole universe is a marvellous harmony. Even what is to the ordinary human consciousness ugly, unpleasant, appears marvellous.
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/09/23-january-1957#p20</ref>
<center>~</center>
The cells which are able to vibrate to the contact of divine joy, to receive and preserve it, are regenerated cells on the way to becoming immortal. But the vibration of divine joy and those of pleasure cannot lodge together in the same vital and physical system. So one must have totally renounced experiencing all pleasure in order to be in a state to receive the Ananda.
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/06/25-august-1954#p9</ref>
=Helpful Practices=