Bleaching the Flame of Love

“Psychic love can have a warmth and a flame as intense and more intense than the vital …  it is a white flame, not a red one; but white heat is not inferior to the red variety in its ardour,” said Sri Aurobindo in one of his letters to a disciple while talking about friendship between man and woman.* Essentially what he has said in the letter is that in such friendships the intrusion of the lower vital (the sexual instinct) is natural and frequent, but at the same time it is not inevitable. The love between man and woman can be mental or psychic rather than vital. In keeping with the general approach in integral yoga, one might say that the mental can prevent the vital love from degenerating to the level of lower vital; the higher mental can station the love at the level of the higher vital; and that the love can be eventually transformed into psychic love.

What is the difference between the intensity of vital love, which has a red flame, and psychic love, which has a white flame? The intensity of the red flame is associated with attachment and its sequelae: seeking possession, permanence, exclusivity, and reciprocity. During the process of transformation, as the higher mental comes to dominate the relationship, the attachment and its sequelae tend to disappear, but not without weakening of the intensity. But as further transformation hands over the relationship to psychic love, the intensity returns, but now the flame has been bleached clean; it is white instead of the red that it was when love was dominated by the higher vital. The white flame of psychic love may have the same or even greater intensity and warmth, but it is free from attachment. Total transformation of love leads to total bifurcation of intensity and attachment. Along with the attachment, disappear also possessiveness, exclusivity and expectations; and the desire for seeking permanence in impermanence.   

- Dr Ramesh Bijlani (Sri Aurobindo Ashram-Delhi branch, India)


*Sri Aurobindo, ‘Letters on Yoga-IV’, CWSA Vol.31, pp.307-308.

Comments

  1. Thakur Prasad18 January 2024 at 12:44

    Dear Dr.Bijlani-ji,
    The word love is perhaps the most abused and least understood word in the world of man, the Yogi's or spiritual Masters' life, even animals' life excluding. From the perspective of reality and the Nature's purpose, it would be nice if you throw some good light on the need of creating man and woman, for that matter. Bleaching is less apt, purifying sounds more convincing.

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  2. Anonymous18 January 2024 at 16:08

    Nice explanation ofone of thw way of purification process of Love from Lower Vital ( driven by sensory stimulants ) to Mental level ( thinking and emotional self) ... change of colour from Red to White... as White color represents Purity ...Bleaching process looks faster ... alternative ways could be smoother but can take more time and persistence ... Pranav Srivastava ( Ahmedabad)

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