SRI AUROBINDO'S
VISION & TEACHINGS
Sri Aurobindo's Yoga is called the integral yoga. It isn't a mixture of different systems of yoga nor a collection made up of little portions of each. Every yoga seeks to unite the sadhak with some particular aspect of the Infinite Divine. Sri Aurobindo has taken the quintessence of all yogas and has created a new yoga which enables the sadhak to unite himself with the totality of this multi-faceted Divine. It is from this point of view that it is an integral yoga and a synthesis of yoga. Realisations of every yoga are admitted into it. But Sri Aurobindo emphasises primarily the Karma, Jnana and Bhakti yogas. These form the most indispensable parts of his synthetic yoga. However, he has taken only their essence, simplified it and left out the lesser details. Karmayoga - the Yoga of Divine Works Let us see how the prevalent yogas come into this new path of integral yoga and how we can fully make use of them. Depending on our capacity, we can assimilate one or more or if it's possible even all the three yogas in our spiritual endeavour although that happens indeed rarely. The realisations of Karmayoga that are briefly referred to in the Gita by Sri Krishna have been enlarged and widened in their sense and bearing by Sri Aurobindo. In the first stage in Karmayoga we still have the feeling of being the doer. I am the doer of works. This is a deeply rooted feeling in us. As long as we cannot get rid of this attitude let us try to tell ourselves: I will work for the Divine and as far as possible I shall try to remember him in all my works and eventually offer my works to him. In the beginning the mind's attention is totally engrossed in the work, it becomes difficult to remember the Divine at that time. So we shall begin by trying to remember the Divine Mother before starting the work and offering it to her and on its completion we shall re-dedicate it to Her. Thereafter, we may try to remember Her a few times during the work. We must continue doing so until this remembrance becomes constant. And remembrance cannot become constant as long as our inner being is not awake. When the inner being is awake then the outer nature does the work while the inner being is always conscious of the Divine. The more we can establish ourselves in our inner being, the more shall the consciousness of the Divine permeate our work. In the second stage, we must try not to expect any fruit of our actions. We shall try to take the result of our actions with an equal heart, with no feeling of joy or of sorrow, whether the result brings loss or gain, weal or woe. When that becomes possible then all the results of action will be looked upon as a gift of the Divine Mother's Love and shall be accepted as such. An inner vision will then enable us to see good in the apparently bad and favourable in the unfavourable. Then we shall understand that an event, even if outwardly sorrowful, is in truth a carrier of some deeper gain and its result will finally help us in our growth. If we can make this attitude firm in us then our spiritual progress will be hastened. But this takes time and the degree of self-surrender will determine the degree of this attitude being established in us. We now come to the third stage, although this stage can begin much before we have mastered the first two steps. Here we shall try to experience that we are not the doers, we are only instruments of the Divine. Through bhakti and self-surrender, as our rapport with the Mother will grow, so will grow also this feeling of being an instrument and as our being single-mindedly opens to Her force so will we become capable of receiving Her guidance. In the fourth stage we will realise that the Divine Shakti does not merely encourage and guide us but is also the inspirer of all our works. And finally we as instruments and the Divine Mother and Her Force shall become totally one. While this work of transformation goes on, we must be careful that no egoism, however subtle, enters into our working. When all other egoism has disappeared from the nature, there can still remain the spiritual egoism : "I am Her instrument, I am the chosen one." We must be vigilant about this most dangerous form of egoism, because it can arrest all spiritual progress. It is most difficult to perceive this egoism and even where it is evident it is often disguised in self-deceit and so passes unnoticed. We must renounce all attachment to works. We must always be capable of abandoning a much-desired action or work and be ready to take up the most ordinary kind of work, with equal joy. The Jnanayogis usually say that Karmayoga prepares the sadhak for Jnanayoga but it does not give liberation. According to them if you don't renounce works you cannot attain knowledge. But this is not true. Sri Aurobindo, as well as Sri Krishna in the Gita, has affirmed that in this triple path of Karma, Jnana and Bhakti Yoga, any one branch can lead you to Liberation and Perfection. Jnanayoga - the Yoga of Divine Knowledge We now come to Jnanayoga. The aim of this yoga is to attain knowledge. By knowledge it is not the usual knowledge we mean. It is something that lies beyond creation, the knowledge of the infinite consciousness, something inconceivable, ineffable. The Vedantics have asserted this Knowledge to be the only Truth in this ever-changing world of impermanence. The ways of acquiring this knowledge are through vichaara, reflection, meditation; by deep, intense reflection on this knowledge, the mind gets totally absorbed in it. But such single-mindedness and concentration are not easily acquired. An arduous spiritual discipline has to be followed: The first steps on this path are renunciation, detachment and the purification of the instrument. In the traditional Jnanayoga one has to renounce the world and works with detachment. If it is not possible to renounce all work, then one must just do the absolutely essential for the upkeep of the body and for the sadhana and give up the rest. These Vedantics say that all God-directed work done in the right mental attitude purifies the aadhaara and makes it ready to launch into Jnanayoga. That far and no further. Sri Aurobindo has accepted vichaara, reflection, meditation as important aids in the sadhana but he never asks us to renounce work of the world. On the contrary he forbids the renunciation of works because then the transformation of the mind, the vital and the body will not be possible. Instead of the outer renunciation he teaches us the inner renunciation. We have to get rid of all attachment from within. We have to renounce the sense of the ego which we normally mistake for our real being. Only when we can do that shall we know our true being. We have to renounce the falsehood of life which is responsible for all the desires and passions and the daily, transient chain of actions and reactions. Then the true being will blossom in infinite Ananda and our will-power draw its inspiration from the Divine Will. We have to renounce the falsehood of the sense perceptions which gives rise to our material consciousness of dualities, of suffering and joy, of hope and despair, of light and darkness. Then our real, subtle senses will take over and they will be able to perceive the Divine's existence even in material things and respond to them accordingly. We have to renounce falsehood of the heart or the vital which creates obstinate, wrong movements of passion, greed, envy, etc. and fills us with all kinds of contradictions. Then shall be born a deeper heart illuminated by a profound fervour and love for the Divine. We have to renounce our superficial limited thought-process which is never perfect but which keeps thrusting its ignorant opinions and its dissent and assent on us, so that a deep and powerful knowledge is born in us, a knowledge which will reveal the true nature of God, soul and World. In some traditional Jnanayogas all these renunciations are not necessary because of which the mind, the vital and the heart don't get fully developed and the Divine Force too does not come into play. The mind is totally silenced and merges in the Brahman. For the Jnanayogi of the traditional mould, Brahman alone is true, the world is Falsehood. On the other hand in the Integral Yoga there is no outer rejection of the world but an inner renunciation. But unless the being is purified this inner renunciation is not possible. So, how shall this purification come about? Again with the help of vichaara and discrimination. Before taking up the purification it is important to know and understand what is impurity and where does it come from. But this is a difficult thing. It is easy to notice impurities like lust, anger, etc. in others and in ourselves but there are other impurities which we cannot or do not want to see. The main cause of impurity is the ego. However, let alone finding the ego, we do not even understand what it actually is. Ego is not vanity, or arrogance or pride. It is that element of creation which has divided us from God and from others, and on account of which we cannot experience oneness with God or with humanity. Although in essence we are one, ego breaks this unity. To be able to find it in us we have to be quite advanced spiritually. To eliminate the ego is even more difficult because its disguises are numberless. Even on finding an imperfection in the nature, it is very difficult to purify ourselves from it because in the traditional yoga of knowledge, the sadhak has to rely on his own strength and on his mind and pure reflection. But this mind and capacity of vichara is more or less impure in all of us because the vital and the heart's impurity soils the buddhi very easily and renders it biased and divisive. Our impure buddhi is like a lawyer: it can justify anything according to its liking, be it true or false, good or bad. Therefore are great patience and perseverance required in our endeavour at purification of the buddhi. And we must rely on the Mother's Force to accomplish it. Once this purification has been achieved we must constantly reflect on the truth that we are not the body, the vital or the mind but an infinite, eternal, immortal entity which at the same time contains and transcends the universe. This kind of reflection is called in Jnanayoga nididhyaasana, once it is established it enables our consciousness to become deep-rootedand immersed in the Brahman. This in brief is the essence of Jnanayoga. In the path shown by Sri Aurobindo we can achieve the ends of Jnanayoga by simplifying and modifying the process. Bhaktiyoga - the Yoga of Divine Love We now come to Bhaktiyoga where we make the emotion of the heart the instrument that will help us move forward. We can do this yoga only if we have in our hearts love and devotion for God. "The principle of Bhaktiyoga," says Sri Aurobindo, "is to utilise all the normal relations of human life into which emotion enters and apply them no longer to transient worldly relations, but to the joy of the All-Loving, the All-Beautiful and the All-Blissful". We can look upon him as our father, or mother, or brother, and friend or lover or child. Worship and meditation are used only for the preparation and increase of intensity of the divine relationship. It may begin with outer worship but the devotion becomes strong and true only when this worship becomes an inner adoration full of faith and self-offering. When that inner relationship is established then even if you give up the outer adoration, there is no harm. Then the sadhak is one in the consciousness of the Supreme Lord and this kind of self-absorption is quite different from what Jnanayoga gives you. In Bhaktiyoga this comes more easily, more simply, more naturally because He whom one loves one loves to remember constantly and this constant remembrance brings Union. The need for purity is as necessary in this yoga also but it is not as difficult to obtain as in other yogas. For in Bhaktiyoga when the bhakta surrenders to the Lord, the Lord Himself takes up the sadhana for him and purifies His instrument. The sadhak does not have to make any great endeavour. However, the extent of purity required in the integral yoga is much more than in other yogas. That purification does not come only by the sadhak's own efforts. There must rise from below an intense aspiration, and self-surrender, and from above there descend then the Divine Force, Peace, Light and the streams of Ananda. And this purification and transformation is the result of this double movement of the sadhak calling from below and the Lord answering from above. Sri Aurobindo has said that Love is the Divine's power of self-creation. Without Love, we can enjoy a featureless peace, a self-absorbed Bliss but we cannot experience the wonderful totality of the Divine. Therefore the endeavour to approach the Divine through the way of Love will bring us the highest success. Sri Ramakrishna said once that Jnana is like a man who is allowed into the drawing room of the Lord while Bhakti is like a woman who can enter the Lord's inmost chamber.
Sri Aurobindo has elaborately described the processes of this integral yoga in his Synthesis of Yoga and it is there that we must look for more illumination.
In the Integral yoga of Sri Aurobindo there are no set rules or processes of conduct that are prescribed. Each individual chooses his own methods according to his nature and temperament. This yoga's workings though purposeful are free and flexible, so as to enable the individual to express the Divine in his life as he is disposed to. Yet are there some very broad lines that can be relevant to all and which give this integral Yoga some sort of a scientific method. Today we shall try to reflect on three attitudes and movements that are cardinal to the working of this Yoga. They are aspiration, rejection and surrender. None of the three is easy to cultivate. Aspiration comes rarely and when it comes it does not linger long. A sadhak may have aspiration for a few minutes in a day or a few hours or sometimes not feel it at all. The same is true for rejection. To be able to identify and correct even a little defect is often a colossal task. And surrender is the most difficult of all. Let us take aspiration first. What should we aspire for? We must aspire for the Divine. We must aspire that we remain open to the Divine Force and Light. Aspiration needs to be vigilant, constant and unceasing. It must be supported by all the parts of one's being: the mind's will, the heart's seeking and the vital being's constant cooperation. The whole being must aspire in oneness, it must be one-pointed, harmonious and calm; the mind, heart and vital must seek the Divine and only the Divine. What should we do then to make our aspiration vigilant, constant and unceasing? We must always remember our goal, remember it at every moment of our life. Unfortunately this doesn't happen because the different parts of our being seem to pull in different directions: the mind and the vital are always at loggerheads. What is to be done then to correct this sorry situation? One or more of the following methods may be adopted depending on the individual's inclination and nature; we must remember that there is no fixed system to be adopted in the Integral Yoga, as in the spiritualised traditional ones. One, we have to seriously consider the problem of preyas and shreyas, the merely pleasant though not good on one hand and the good though not always pleasant on the other. This problem constantly bothers us until we attain to a state of "yogic consciousness". This yogic consciousness can best be achieved by vichara; unbiased, intellectual contemplation strongly impresses the mind and can change our mental make-up. Two, take up svaadhyaaya, the study of scriptures, which may include the works of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo or any other book which can help in the growth of our faith, devotion and steadiness in the face of difficulties or in a general way help us to progress on the path of yoga. Svaadhyaaya offers a very great advantage: it brings concentration to the mind and by learning to focus on a given subject of study we become capable of meditation, meditation that is spontaneous and without effort. The study of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother also brings an added help to the sadhak; mantrashakti. Mantrashakti is Sri Aurobindo's and Mother's spiritual force and influence that is inherent in their utterances and emanates from them and which opens our consciousness to Their Force that dispels all darkness and removes all veils and obstacles from our path. Three, we may take up japa : repetition of a spiritually potent name or mantra. In our case the mantra could be Sri Aurobindo's or the Mother's or any other which may help this yoga. The function of mantra is to awaken our inner being and lead us faster along the path.Four, we may take up some work and do it for the Mother in the right attitude. Even if the source of work lies elsewhere, doing it in the right attitude, working as Her instrument, and finally offering its result to Her, is a big help in the sadhana. Rejection is the second quality to focus on. What must we reject? Here is what Sri Aurobindo tells us : "Rejection of the movements of the lower nature -rejection of the mind's ideas, opinions, preferences, habits, constructions, so that the true knowledge may find free room in a silent mind, - rejection of the vital nature's desires, demands, cravings, sensations, passions, selfishness, pride, arrogance, lust, greed, jealousy, envy, hostility to the Truth, so that the true power and joy may pour from above into a calm, large, strong and consecrated vital being, -rejection of the physical nature's stupidity, doubt, disbelief, obscurity, obstinacy, pettiness, laziness, unwillingness to change, Tamas, so that the true stability of Light, Power, Ananda may establish itself in a body growing always more divine; Surrender of oneself and all one is and has and every plane of the consciousness and every movement to the Divine and the Shakti. In proportion as the surrender and self-consecration progress the Sadhak becomes conscious of the Divine Shakti doing the Sadhana, pouring into him more and more of herself, founding in him the freedom and perfection of the Divine Nature. The more this conscious process replaces his own effort, the more rapid and true becomes his progress. But it cannot completely replace the necessity of personal effort until the surrender and consecration are pure and complete from top to bottom. Note that a tamasic surrender refusing to fulfil the conditions and calling on God to do everything and save one all the trouble and struggle is a deception and does not lead to freedom and perfection. " But how should we reject? We cannot remove something by mere suggestion because things cling to our nature obstinately. The mind keeps rambling and the vital is always overcome by all kinds of attacks. How to get rid of these disturbances? As long as we fight with them on the same level of consciousness as we normally live on, it is almost impossible to win the battle. To succeed we must adopt one or more of the following methods : One, we may seek the Mother's help to remove the difficulties through prayer. We can call down Her Force into us and offer our faults and weaknesses to Her so that She can deal with them in Her own way with Her all-powerful Force. Two, we may adopt the Mother's own formula: step back and reject. But where would we step back and how? Well, we have to step back into our inner being. What is the inner being? Whether we are conscious or not, we have an inner mind, an inner vital and a subtle physical beyond our outer mind, outer vital and the physical body. Similarly behind our outer being there is the inner being which is more powerful and luminous than the former. But a heavy veil separates the two and because of this obscuring curtain which hides the inner from the outer there is no communication between the two. Until this veil is rent we cannot know our inner being. And that is a very difficult task indeed, which only an unflinching, arduous yogic discipline can make possible. Out of the three inner beings, the comparatively easiest to contact is the inner mind. Sometimes we see its action even in our ordinary, outer lives. To give you an instance: You are having a very heated argument with somebody. You are conscious that you are being provoked and that is the cause of your anger; and if it goes on any further, you might lose all self-control. You suddenly stop arguing and leave the place. It is a common experience that comes to us very often in our lives. Who is it that prompts you to stop arguing? Evidently there is someone within you who is watching the whole thing and who decides that it is time to check yourself. Who is this person? It is your inner mind. It is an impartial witness and initiates such actions. It watches over all your thoughts, feelings, emotions, be they good or wrong. It can perceive the inner and outer source of all your movements and can accept or reject them freely. If we can position ourselves on the place of the inner mind, rejection becomes spontaneous and easy. But how are we to take our stand in the inner mind? The following are the methods suggested : One, we can pierce the veil and force an entry into the inner mind by an intense, one-pointed concentration. But this is not easy and takes long, sustained efforts. Two, this rending of the veil can also be achieved through vichaara, a special kind of pure, intellectual reflection which is practised widely in Jnanayoga. We must be firmly convinced of the idea that we are not the body, life or mind but a separate being, calm and quiet, silently witnessing everything, within and without, totally uninvolved and unaffected. In the face of such a conviction all disturbing movements of the mind and the vital will either disappear or even if they continue to hold for some time, will finally die down on finding that the inner mind is not touched by these movements any more. Three, the way of psychic awakening. The psychic being must be awakened and brought to the forefront of our mental, vital and physical beings and influence the individual's actions. The psychic being is our inmost being, and its place is behind the heart rather than in it. This mostly secret power behind, quite distinct from the inner mind or inner vital, is the true soul in us. It is something that comes direct from the Divine and is in touch with the Divine. Through increase of self-surrender and bhakti, the psychic being can be awakened and once it is fully awake, it takes over control of the mind, the vital and the body. The path then becomes illumined and straight and easier to negotiate, i.e. devotion. Four, the inner being may be awakened through japa. Now, unless we have established ourselves in the inner being by practising one or more of the above-mentioned methods, it will be difficult to cultivate the quality of rejection. The next prerequisite on the path is self-surrender and it is probably the most difficult of all. Very often the term surrender is mistaken for tamasic inaction. We do not know the difference between these two states nor can we visualise the state of being when surrender is complete and perfect. Most often we cry out to the Mother : "Mother! I surrender to you. Let Your will be done." And we slump back into inaction. Or sometimes when we do act, we proclaim: "I do what the Mother impels me to do." There are very great dangers of self-deception in such an attitude. Before we can realize the difficulty of achieving complete surrender, we must first clearly understand what it really means. Suppose you were to give your valuable watch as a present to somebody. The sense of possession you felt is no more felt as you have given it away and it no longer belongs to you. So you should be totally unconcerned about it: your friend may use it, give it away, or even throw it in the sea. But does one truly remain unconcerned? Sri Ramakrishna gives a similar example to his disciples. Once Mathur Babu had bought a most beautiful and expensive shawl for Sri Ramakrishna and had it sent to him through one of his officials. Sri Ramakrishna took it, apparently pleased and wrapped it around his body. But after a while he flung it down in disgust and started kicking it. The official who was standing and watching the whole episode was shocked and surprised and he cried out bewildered: "Sir, what are you doing? You are throwing this costly shawl away! Do you know how much it cost?" A faint smile dawned on Sri Ramakrishna's face as he turned towards the disciple. "See, how difficult it is to give away even a material thing in the correct attitude. This man is merely the bearer of this gift, not even the giver, and yet it is difficult for him to get rid of a sense of possession, of my-ness from the shawl! How much more difficult it must be when it is one's being that has to be surrendered. " He who has surrendered himself must lose this sense of I-ness or my-ness. His body, mind and life no longer belong to him. Everything one is or one has is offered to the Divine: one obeys only the guidance and no other. All one's desires and ideas are consecrated at the altar of the divine Truth. As a consequence one accepts everything whole-heartedly, without question. The duality of pleasure and pain, comfort and discomfort, wealth and poverty, reputation and disgrace, hope and despair, exists no longer. There must be an exclusive self-opening to the Divine Power, a constant choice of the Truth and a constant rejection of the Falsehood. To become an instrument of the Divine Mother, the surrender has to be total and sincere. It must seize all the parts of one's being. It is not enough that the psychic being only responds or the inner mind or vital submits to its influence. Even the most external part of our being must consecrate itself totally; all desire, anger, greed, envy, jealousy must disappear. And the greater will be the surrender, the more will the Divine Shakti work through us and for us. Without any advance in surrender it is impossible to advance towards the goal. What should we do then to make this surrender more and more complete? The secret of surrender is trust and confidence in the Divine and we must allow this to progressively grow in us. One cannot make it perfect at once because of the resistance of the mind and the vital but if one keeps a strong will, a strong resolution for surrender, as the Mother says, then it will grow in the being. One must not allow one's mental and vital movements to interfere in its workings. We must be watchful and detect all wrong acts, thoughts, feelings that may come in the way of the total surrender. The Mother says that if we remain sincere and do not deceive ourselves we shall become conscious of all kinds of contradictions in our nature and these contradictions we must lay at Her feet for transformation. Slowly but surely the Divine Force will remove all our impurities and imperfections. But we must be careful about the wrong notion that the Divine will do everything we demand even when we do not satisfy the conditions laid down by the Supreme. We must also reject that other false idea that the Divine will also do the surrender for us. The Divine asks for our surrender but it does not force it on us. Our surrender must be free and done by ourselves, the surrender of a living person and not that of a robot. In proportion as we progress in our surrender, the Divine Shakti will take up the sadhana; and the more we will let our purified being be guided by Her Will the nearer we will be to our goal. |
Sri Aurobindo | his life
| visions & teachings | his writings |
as a poet | how to read .. | | home | the mother | about sas | sas activities | calendar | feedback | |
If
sadhana on this triple path is done in the traditional way the sadhak
will achieve the realisations of each separately. But in Sri Aurobindo's yoga
the realisations of this trimaarga have been brought together, they have
been integrated. Sri Aurobindo says that karma gets its fulfilment only
in knowledge. And in the Gita Sri Krishna's utterance makes the same point : "O
Partha, all action finds its goal in knowledge." By uniting our action and
will-power to the Divine Will we can experience his All-Knowing state and feel
that Will-Power from which all other will-power is born, that Force from which
all our strength and action takes origin. And the means for this unification of
the human and the Divine is Love; it is through Love that we unite ourselves to
the Blissful Consciousness of the Lord and live in it and make it the fount of
all our actions and all our movements; it is this Love which takes us by the hand,
as it were, to the threshold of Knowledge. In Sri Aurobindo's yoga we can take
the help of any one of the triple paths and arrive at the other two as well. 
   |  |
   | |