Canto II: The Kingdom of Subtle Matter

Our gross material world, as also the subtle worlds, are clothes worn by the Spirit who remains hidden within it as in the oyster shell a pearl of great price. Sri Aurobindo now describes this subtle dress worn by the Spirit before it assumes this thick and heavy and obscure cloak we know as our physical body.

Now we see another interesting aspect of the subtle physical matter. It is a resting ground before the divine energies and thought forms enter into our material sheath. The subtle matter is plastic and responsive to the Spirit’s intimations.

It is a world where beauty of form predominates everything else. All other aspects of the Spirit are subordinated to Beauty in figure and form.

The subtle physical world is a junction between the involutionary and the evolutionary world. It wraps around the physical and surrounds it, letting only few things pass through it. In this sense it serves as a protective envelop around the body.

Immediately behind this world of ours, we can discover the world of subtle forms, beautiful and charming. Sometimes it can show up in dreams or trance or even in thought and feelings. But our human organs are not yet trained to catch its murmur and subtle indications.