In India there has always been a tradition of giving samadhi to certain realised saints and Yogis rather than burning the body. The logic is that their body continues to be powerful receiver and transmitter of the Divine Forces even after the life force has withdrawn from it.
But here there is more. Sri Aurobindo had accumulated a lot of Supramental Force in his body cells. They had become active vehicles to disseminate the Supramental Vibration in the earth atmosphere. Hence the decision to keep the body intact and undisturbed in the earth where it can continue to spread the new vibration silently all around. The Mother speaks about it in one of her conversations.
‘I can assure you that the area we call “the Ashram” has a condensation of force which is not at all the same as that of the town, and still less that of the countryside.
So, I ask you: this kind of condensation of force (which gives you quite a special vibration of consciousness), who is there that is really conscious of it?… Many among you feel it vaguely, I know, even people from outside feel it vaguely; they get an impression, they speak of it, but the precise consciousness, the scientific consciousness which could give you the exact measure of it, who has that? I’m not alluding to anyone in particular, each one can look into himself. And this, this condensation here is only a far-off reflection of the supramental force.’
CWM 4
There is whole conversation of the Mother documented in Benedictions of the Grace by Mona da where She describes the Samadhi as a dynamic centre of Sri Aurobindo’s action as well as his living Presence. So it is much more than a place to remember and offer obeisance.
Later, the Mother also sent Sri Aurobindo’s Relics (hair, tooth, nail) to certain centres as a powerful means to radiate the Supramental Force in the physical.
Affectionately,
Alok Da