S: That may be so, but what about ordinary people like us? Is this a privilege
given only to a very, very few, one in a thousand years or more? Or can this
happen to people who are concerned with all this, who are committed to all this,
who are really serious in this inquiry?
K: Certain physical factors and psychological states are necessary. Physically
there must be sensitivity. Physical sensitivity cannot possibly take place when
there is smoking, drinking, eating meat. The sensitivity of the body must be
maintained; that is absolutely essential. Traditionally, such a body generally
remains in one place supported by disciples, by the family. The body is not
shocked or exposed.
Can a man who is very serious in all this, can he, with a body which has gone
through the normal brutalizing effects, make that body highly sensitive? And
also, can the psyche that has been wounded through experience throw off all the
wounds and marks and renew itself so that there is a state in which there is no
hurt? These two are essential: sensitivity and the psyche not having a mark. I
think this can be achieved by any person who is really serious. You see, the
womb is always ready to conceive; it renews itself.
P: Like the earth, the womb has that inbuilt quality of renewal.
K: I think the mind has exactly the same quality. When the earth lies fallow and
the womb is empty and the mind without any movement, then renewal takes
place. When the mind is completely empty, it is like the womb: pure to renew, to
receive.
P: This then is the vessel, the receptacle.
K: Yes, this is the vessel; but when you use the word ‘vessel’ and the word
‘receptacle’, you must be exceedingly careful. This inbuilt quality of the mind to
renew itself can be called eternal youth.
P: It is known as kumāra vidyā (the science of youthfulness).
K: So what makes the mind old? Obviously the movement of the self makes the
mind old.
P: Does the self wear away the cells?
K: The womb is always ready to receive; it has the quality of purifying itself all
the time. But the mind which is burdened with the self—friction is the self—has
no space to renew itself. When the self is so occupied with itself and its activities,
the mind has no space in which to renew itself. So space is necessary, both
physical space and space for the psyche. How does this go with alchemy?
P: The language they use is different. They talk of mutation through union.