It seems that a Tamil yogi [Swami Ramalingam] of this region,who lived around 1850, had experiences, which he described in

a poem and appear rather connected.... Experiences of the trans

formation of the skeleton, bones, etc. It's a Tamilian who sent me

this letter, asking me to put the question to you.

"The Mother may throw light on the nature and extentof the transformation the Swami had in the last part

of his life. The Swami often declared affirming the

transformation and deathlessness of his body by the

power of what he calls 'Arut Perum Joti,' the infinite

or vast Grace-Light of the Divine. He also made the

forecast and promise around the year 1870, that the

supreme Divine would come soon to the earth for

establishing his direct rule of Grace-Light (which the

Swami also called as the Truth-Light) when a new race

of people would arise defying disease, ageing and

death...." [[Original English. ]]

Then here is the text of this sage, translated from the Tamil:

Extract from "Joti Agaval" (Swami Ramalingam's poem, verses 725-740)

"O my unique Love which sprang from my heart and filledit so much that it made my life blossom. O my Lord of

unique Love who has given himself to me wholly and by the

Grace-Light has transmuted me. My Love that has entered

and unified with me in my heart, so as to transform my

body into a golden body. The skin has become supple, the

influx of the nervous current all over the body is vibrating,

with pauses in between; the bones have become pliable and

plastic in their nature; the soft muscles have become truly

loosened; the blood has become condensed within; the

semen has become concentrated into a single drop and con

fined in the chest; the petals of the brain [[In traditional Indian experience, the centers of consciousness or chakras are compared to lotuses whose petals open or close. ]] have blossomed

or expanded; amrita [nectar of immortality] is welling up

into springs all over the body and filling it up; the luminous

forehead perspires; the luminous face brightens up; the

breath full of peace becomes cool and refreshing; the inner

smile beams up; the hair stands on end; tears of joy flow

down towards the feet; the mouth vibrates into the passion

ate calling [of the Divine]; the ear tubes ring with the sense

of musically humming sound; the body has become cool;

the soft chest moves; the hands join [as in prayer]; the legs

revolve or spin round; the mind melts sweetly, the intelli

gence becomes full of light; the will becomes full of joy and

harmony; the individuality has enlarged itself everywhere;

the heart has blossomed into the universality of feeling so

as to be felt by the world outwardly; the whole knowledge-

body has become blissful; even the spiritual egoism of the

senses has gone away; the senses (tattva) have been replaced

wholly by the truth (sattva), the truth-principle or truth-

substance which alone prevails now uniquely; attachment

to objects of the senses and to things of the world has

dissolved away, and only the aspiration and will towards

the illimitable Grace grows and intensifies." [[This translation of the original Tamil text into English (with minor editing here) probably gives only a very rough idea of the experience. ]]

It seems it happened the him towards the end of his life, and Ithink it must have lasted for a few years. ...He said he would

"return." [["The Swami dematerialized his body in January or February 1874, leaving a promise that he would return at the time of the God of the vast Grace-Light." ]]

Yes, he was born in 1823 and died in 1874.

He says that the bones have become supple.... "The body hasbecome cool; the soft chest moves; the hands join as in prayer;

the legs revolve or spin round...." Which means, I suppose, that

the legs can move in every direction, since the bones have

become "pliable."

(long silence)

But you often wondered about the skeleton, in fact, you askedhow it could change.

Here, he says it becomes plastic, supple.

Through this "condensation" ...Is it because of this condensa tion of the blood he mentions?

I don't know what that condensation of the blood is.... But thereis one thing I haven't heard you mention and which Sri Auro

bindo often refers to (in The Supramental Manifestation, for

instance), that's the transformation of organs through the

chakras, through the energy of the centers of consciousness. You

very rarely mention the chakras or the role of the chakras....

Couldn't one conceive that these centers of energy may provide

the body with a framework strong enough for it to stand?

The vast "Grace-Light."

"The translation of Swami Ramalingam's experiences wasread out to Mother, and she does not doubt their authentic

ity; she particularly liked the manner in which the Swami

called that light 'Grace-Light,' and she said it corresponds

to her own experience. She remarked that over the ages, and

even now, it is quite likely that a number of individuals,

known or unknown, have had similar experiences. The only

difference is that at present, instead of an individual possi

bility, there is a collective possibility - that is precisely Sri

Aurobindo's and Mothers work: to establish, as a terrestrial

fact and a possibility for everyone, the supramental con

sciousness or 'Grace-Light' as Swami Ramalingam called it."

But from what you said, I understood that this "Grace-Light"was the supramental light.

"Did you really mean that Ramalingam was in DIRECTcontact with the Supramental?...

No, around 1850. He died two years after Sri Aurobindo's birth,and he announced the coming of an incarnation of the Divine

and a new race that would "defy death, ageing" and so on - one

year before Sri Aurobindo's birth.