Category Archives: Integral Yoga
Synthesis of Yoga
Today we begin with Chapter III The Purified Understanding on page 308 from Part Two
The Yoga of Integral Knowledge.
In this chapter Sri Aurobindo clearly puts it that " ..... a supramental realisation, a re-seeing, a remoulding of our whole existence in the light of the Divine, free from subjection to the appearances of things ..... " is that to which we aspire.
Understanding and its purification is best expressed through the Sanskrit philosophical term buddhi; excluded from that would be any action of the sense min with its varied and sundry perceptions without distinction of right or wrong, true or illusory . . . the constant leaping of habitual thought (parading as understanding in the average unthinking man). All this is one remove from the animal mind; a half-animal reason subservient to habit, desire, the senses and of no avail in the search for spiritual, philosophical and scientific knowledge.
The next reading will commence on page 312 mid-page continuing through page 316, end of chapter
Synthesis of Yoga
This reading is from Part TwoThe Knowledge of Integral Knowledge, completing Chapter 1, The Object of Knowledge, pages 293 - 299.
Sri Aurobindo reminds the reader again: everywhere and in all conditions is One, however hidden to us, the Supreme is here in the world. The object of a Yoga of spiritual knowledge is this eternal Oneness, eternal Reality, this Self, this Brahman, this Transcendent, dwelling over all and, in all . . . manifest (yet concealed) in the individual, manifest (yet disguised) in the universe. This is the integral knowledge.
Synthesis of Yoga
Continuing to its conclusion Chapter 12, The Yoga of Divine Works on page 271, Sri Aurobindo tells us that the one who pursues his divine work in the universe is not governed by the judgments of men or laws laid down by the ignorant; he obeys and inner voice; he is moved by an unseen Power . . . his real life is within; he lives, moves and acts in God . . .
Furthermore that the divine Nature, free and perfect must be manifested in the individual in order that it may manifest in the world . . . the truest reason why we must seek liberation is not to be delivered individually from the sorrow of the world, though that deliverance will be given to us, but that we may be one with the Divine . . . this is the divine Will in us, the highest truth of our self in Nature, the always intended goal of a progressive manifestation in the universe.
Synthesis of Yoga
The Synthesis of Yoga of Sri Aurobindo, continuing in Part One The Yoga of Divine Works, Chapter 11 The Master of the Work, on page 254.
" . . . the Divine conforms itself to our individualised personality and accepts a personal relation with us . . . as our Master, Friend, Lover, Teacher, our Father and our Mother, our Playmate . . . who has disguised himself throughout as friend and enemy, helper and opponent . . . has led our steps towards our perfection and our release."
" . . . It is our personal evolution that is his preoccupation, a personal relation with that is our joy and fulfilment, the building of our nature into his divine image that is our self-finding and perfection. The outside world seems to exist only as a field for this growth and a provider of materials or of helping and opposing forces, for its successive stages. Our works done in that world are his works, . . . "
The next reading will begin mid-page 258 until the end of this chapter on page 263
Letters on Yoga
This reading consists of excerpts from Sri Aurobindo's Letters on Yoga Volume I : Section Four Reason, Science and Yoga, pages 157 - 162.
Sri Aurobindo explains that intellect will not bring one to the Supreme and all that is beyond the mind.
It isn't by thinking but by an entire change of consciousness that one can pass from ignorance into knowledge . . .
On the integral way to the truth he says: ".....I have said that the idea of the supermind was already in existence from ancient times. there was in India and elsewhere the attempt to reach it by rising to it; but what was missed was the way to make it integral for the life and to bring it down for transformation of the whole nature, even of the physical nature.."
Synthesis of Yoga
Beginning Part II The Yoga of Integral Knowledge, Chapter 1 The Object of Knowledge on page 287
."All spiritual seeking moves towards an object of Knowledge to which men ordinarily do not turn the eye of the mind, to someone or something Eternal, Infinite, Absolute . . . aims at a state of knowledge by which we can touch, enter or know by identity this Eternal, Infinite and Absolute . . . "
What needs to be eliminated is the falsity of the ego, the falsity of the life which figures as mere vital craving and the mechanical round of our corporeal existence; our true life in the power of the Godhead along with the joy of the Infinite will appear.
This reading continues to mid-page 293, to be continued to the end of the chapter.
Synthesis of Yoga
This reading commences on page 264 Chapter 12 The Divine Work,
in Part 1: The Yoga of Divine Works, through page 271:
Sri Aurobindo poses the question for us: whether any work or what work is left for the soul after liberation and, to what purpose? This chapter fully explores the complexities of this question.
And again it is reiterated: If we seek the Divine it should be for the sake of the Divine and for nothing else because, that is the supreme call of our being, the deepest truth of the spirit. Realization of our true and highest self, of union with the Divine is the highest law of our nature; it is the Divine Will in us . . .
This chapter will continue on page 271 though page 276, end of chapter.
Synthesis of Yoga
Part II The Yoga of Knowledge, Chapter II The Status of Knowledge, page 300.
"The Self, the Divine, the Supreme Rality, the All, the Transcendent - The One in all these aspects is then the object of Yogic knowledge."
Sri Aurobindo points out that. our ordinary intellectual notions are a stumbling block in the way of knowledge as they are govened by the error of the senses . . . the seeker must attain right notions of himself and the world in order to pursue by knowledge the real self. Until we know what that is, we burdened with ideas quite opposite the truth.
Synthesis of Yoga
The following chapter was left unfinished. It was not included in the edition of The Synthesis of Yoga, Part 1, that was published in Sri Arobindo's lifetime. This reading is Chapter 13, page 279:The Supermind and the Yoga of Works.
The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo has as its total aim the conversion of the entire being into a higher spiritual consciousness and, a larger divine existence; a union with the Divine Reality of our being is the one essential object of the Yoga. Union with the Divine must be the master motive . . .
Sri Aurobindo succinctly points out we must, in order to evenutally reach the state of Supermind, entertain a sublimated commonsense, an unfailing power of self-criticism , right discrimination, eschewing any tendency towards irrationality, impatiece . . .
" . . . the supramental change is difficult, distant, an ultimate stage, it must be regarded as the end of a far-off vista; it cannot be and must not be turned into a first aim . . . "
Synthesis of Yoga; Sri Aurobi nd
Continuing with Part One the Yoga of Divine Works, Chapter 11 The Master of the Work on page 258, through to the end of the chapter on page 263.
Sri Aurobindo reiterates that this Integral Yoga is not only for an individual's salvation, but for the whole of humanity. And as we advance through the various stages of the long and difficult journey, the Master of works does not wait till the end to meet the seeker on the path. He puts his half-shown Hand upon him, upon his life and his actions.
" . . . Already he was there in the world as the Originator and Receiver of works behind the dense veils of the Inconscient, disguised in force of Life, visible to the Mind through dynamic godheads and figures. It may well be in these disguises that he first meets the soul destined to the way of integral Yoga. . . "
" . . . the Supramental Transcendence is not a thing absolutely apart and unconnected with our present existence. It is a greater Light our of which all this has come for the adventure of the Soul lapsing into the Inconscience and emerging out of it, and, while that adventure proceeds, it waits superconscient above our minds till it can become conscious in us.