Everything that exists in the universe has an energy signature or frequency which is manifested by light, colour and sound, whether perceived by our limited sense capabilities or outside their range. As the seeker begins to shift awareness inwards, he is no longer totally reliant on the external sense organs and thus, as openness to other planes or worlds begins to occur, he can start to perceive the energetic signature of forms, forces and beings that operate on these other planes. As this is still being transcribed into his body-life-mind complex, these may take forms that are recognisable to him, even if these are not full and complete representations of the reality on those other planes. Given the limits of the mind and the capacity of language, the transcriptions try to illustrate the light, colour or sound with something known and able to be communicated externally.
The fact of the experience implies some interaction with one of these inner or subtler planes and thus, the interaction of the energy into the being stationed here. Thus one may be able to identify a linkage between the light or the sound and a palpable expression that occurs in the conscious awareness of the individual.
Sri Aurobindo writes: “The sounds of bells and the seeing of lights and colours are signs of the opening of the inner consciousness which brings with it an opening also to sights and sounds of other planes than the physical. Some of these things like the sound of bells, crickets, etc. seem even to help the opening. The Upanishad speaks of them as brahmavyaktikarani yoge. The lights represent forces — or sometimes a formed light like that you saw may be the light of a being of the supraphysical planes.”
“Fire, lights, sun, moon are usual symbols and seen by most in sadhana. They indicate movement or action of inner forces. The Sun means the inner truth.”
“Lights are of all kinds, supramental, mental, vital, physical, divine or Asuric — one has to watch, grow in experience and learn to know one from another. The true lights however are by their clarity and beauty not difficult to recognise.” Sri Aurobindo, Integral Yoga: Sri Aurobindo’s Teaching and Method of Practice, Chapter 7, Experiences and Realisations, Symbols, Lights, Colours, Sounds, pp. 193-196
Santosh has been studying Sri Aurobindo's writings since 1971 and has a daily blog at http://sriaurobindostudies.wordpress.com and podcast at https://anchor.fm/santosh-krinsky He is author of 16 books and is editor-in-chief at Lotus Press. He is president of Institute for Wholistic Education, a non-profit focused on integrating spirituality into daily life.