Sri Aurobindo's diary of his yogic practice between 1909 and 1927.
Sri Aurobindo's diary of his yogic practice between 1909 and 1927. This two-volume record of sadhana contains fairly regular entries between 1912 and 1920 and a few entries in 1909, 1911 and 1927. It also contains related materials Sri Aurobindo wrote about his practice of yoga during this period, including descriptions of the seven 'chatusthayas' (groups of four elements), which are the basis of the yoga of the 'Record'.
The sadhan is now concentrated on the vijnana-chatusthaya with an initial stress on the physical siddhi which is still secondary except in the sharira ananda, mainly the kamananda.
At present the ideality is passing through a stage of what would formerly have been called relapse, but is now recognised as a reversion to a lower movement in order to get rid of still existing defects or possibilities of defect and transform the remnants of the lower into the spirit and the form of the higher movement.
Script. "Develop T² and ideation, restore kamananda. Persist in rupa and vishaya and samadhi".
1) Kamananda is restored; it has recovered its power of continuity and its means against vismriti, but is still strongly subject to diminution which manifests chiefly in ambulando. It is clear that the initial conquest of vismriti is firm and real, since it manifests at once after discontinuity and has not to be built up again. The siddhi is subject to diminution and relapse into mechanical discontinuity; it has to overcome these tendencies and to complete its conquest of vismriti, for so long as the latter is only initial and not complete, the relapse to discontinuity must always be possible.
2) T² and ideation are working on the physical level of the intellect. They are getting rid of the inspirational and intuitional substance which most lend themselves to the attack of unideal tapas and intellectual error, because their enlightenment is essentially a partial illumination intervening in an initial ignorance. All is being turned to substance of revelatory thought, for it is this that illumines largely and is in its nature a self sight that does not address itself at all to the initial ignorance of the intellect. Even in T² the conversion to revelatory thought is being rapidly led towards completeness.
3) Rupa has been baffled in its development of stable variety.
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Variety has been partially developed in power, but subject to all the old difficulties. In the crude the tyranny of the type form which obstructs and excludes the others, obstructs their spontaneous manifestation and allows only a difficult development pursued and overcome by the type form which, even when they emerge, returns upon them and usurps their place. In the developed and dense other forms occur, but are imperfect, unstable and confined to a few persistent forms or kinds of form. The principle of barring a free variety by insistence on already common rupas is still the chief and hitherto a successful weapon of the obstruction.
4) Vishaya is simply unable to overcome the barrier.
In samadhi, antardarshi and swapna, in the vangmaya the inspirational and intuitional forms have been entirely taken up into the revelatory form, so that both form and substance are now of this highest element of the inferior ideality. Moreover this inferior ideality is full of the spirit and presence of the superior ritam. The same movement has to be effected in the waking thought-speech and in the ideation and it has in fact begun, but here owing to the greater diffusion of the mind it is more difficult.
The revelatory thought has in a way taken up all the other forms, but their effects still remain as a limiting element which prevents and conditions the play of the knowledge. Especially it is now acting on the level of the intellect and its revelations are on that level pursued by the uncertainties of the intellect, by its tapas or ineffectual straining after certainty and effectivity, by its smallness of periphery in the conscious being and scope of knowledge and power. The object seems to be to meet these difficulties in their own field and even there to establish the fullness of revelatory light and substance and the free certainties of the superior ideality.
Here the script programme has been initially fulfilled. But in the rupa it has not been justified. Rupa has only become capable of variety; it has not accomplished it. Vishaya has only effected an uncertain and scanty initial play, an action of subtle sparsha just verging on the sthula, a dim fragmentary beginning of ҫravana. In samadhi vishaya has begun to play more freely, but in jagrat it
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has not broken down the barrier. In samadhi taste and smell are still crude and faint. Samadhi has established everywhere an initial ideality and regularisation by the ideality, but the action in each member is hampered by intermissions of obstruction and in swapna incoherence though no longer the rule, still recurs persistently in the reading and the dialogue etc have not yet, except sometimes in dream, a large continuity.
Primary utthapana after a brilliant beginning has relapsed into ineffectivity and subjection to physical fatigue. Arogya is limited to an incomplete and struggling inhibition of the fragments of roga,—but these only occur by persistent exposure to the action of their habitual causes,—and to a preparation for the conquest of the two or three fixed rogas; the actual conquest is still far from effectuation. In saundarya no advance except the stronger fixture of the sukshma bhava of youth and ananda and a certain light and prophecy of it in the eyes and face. Kamananda is still afflicted by diminution and discontinuity; the conquest of vismriti is still only initial.
This is the fourth week of May, the month of decisive preparation of finality and perfection in the vijnana chatusthaya. It is proposed to effect the perfection of the primary ideality in ideation and speech thought and as far as possible in T². Rupa, vishaya, samadhi, the three defective members, have to insist on their initial completeness in the ideality. The preparation of the sharira siddhi has to insist also against the powerful obstruction of the old imperfect physicality which defends its habits as the law of the being.
The satyam brihat of the tapas, the physical telepathy and the telepathy of the mental and pranic planes is being established in the idealised intelligence under the guidance of the ideality; the object is to eliminate in its own field the false stress, the intellectual decision, so that the ideal ritam may be freed from the pursuit of the intellect.
In samadhi ideality took more firmly hold of rupa. There was
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also the beginning of the specific religious ideality and the ideal sense of prayer and adoration as an element of love and oneness with the Divine.
This is being extended and transformed into the finality of the personal relation of the Jiva with the Iswara
In samadhi at night obstruction, with prevalent incoherence. It was only by force of tapas that the play of the siddhi was brought about, and the free play could not be secured.
For some days there has been a strong revival of the obstruction to the whole siddhi, but specially the ideality. The object is to enforce the old rule of a recurring period of relapse, enduring usually for a fortnight more or less, or even longer, and the method is to enforce a sort of lethargy of unresponsiveness in the mind and physicality by which first, if possible, all action shall be obstructed, secondly, whatever action is enforced by tapas shall be imperfect and marred by the old asiddhi, thirdly, as a result things which seemed to have been eliminated shall be revived, thus discouraging the faith and the tapas. The first object has not been gained, because in spite of periods of cessation, the tapas has insisted and the action of the ideality has been enforced even in this adverse condition, but the other two objects have been partially and temporarily gained. The action of the ideality is no longer free, but dependent on tapas and a struggle with the lethargic obstruction, the revived action of the intellect has vitiated the perfection of the ideality and even touches of imperfection have come in the first two chatusthayas. Nevertheless the siddhi advances and no longer behind the veil, as formerly in periods of relapse, but openly, though with apparent concessions to asiddhi used for strengthening the siddhi. The principle of subconscient progress has been eliminated, but the principle of finesse still continues.
The main progress this morning is the enforcement, 1, of the constant habitual action of the ideality, in spite of the physical brain's lethargy, 2, of the constant combined action of ideation, speech thought and T² to which is being added the lipi. These
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used to give place to each other and act alternately. There is also a movement to add the action of rupa and vishaya and kamananda but the power of multiple tapas is not yet strong enough to effect the perfect combination.
This enforcement of the combined action of ideation, T² and speech thought of the ideal kind is being more and more insisted on and is on the point of becoming spontaneous and normal. The main defect lies now in the downward gravitation which prevents the thought from being of the highest elevation possible, the stuff of intellect mixed in the ideation and vak by the persistence of a background of intellectual demand and pursuit of the thought by a vague intellectual observation and judgment, which though not often explicit hampers the ideality, and the continuance of external intellectual suggestion in T². Nevertheless the change from ideal intervention to a massed ideal movement of all the activities of the consciousness, progresses with considerable rapidity.
In Samadhi unprecedent[ed]ly large play of coherent reading of great length; but incoherence also persists side by side with it. The other members also had coherent play but less prominently.
The insistence on Kamananda is less, the continuity is suspended, but recurrence remains.
T² advances steadily. Tapas (telepathic) is becoming normally effective and more clearsighted and therefore more accurate. Strong tapas which was hitherto discouraged, because it brought the tapatya, is now being encouraged and the remnants of tapatya are being transformed into forcible prolongation of right tapas. Accordingly the brihat satyam of T² is becoming as complete as it can be without perfect ritam and without the play of the superior ideality. For that combination alone can give all the right data in their right place including tendencies which are latent or obscurely implied and eventualities of which there is no present sign. The intimations of the mental and rajasic planes like those of the physical are receiving their right measure of satyam and it is now seen that all have their truth, except certain speculations, as to present and
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past especially, which are the intuitions of what might have been and may possibly be as the result of past intentions and tendencies, but do not correspond to any actually accomplished event.
Strong and successful secondary utthapana of position.
It is remarkable that fatigue of the physical mind and will, or rather the mind and will of the body, was not at all in question; for from the first it was as if already eliminated, except for a few ineffective attempts at return. Only at the end it came in in support of the muscular reaction. Primary utthapana was therefore established except in so far as it failed, through failure of secondary utthapana.
The secondary was tried in the morning in the arms, in two horizontal positions A Ia & b, frontal triangular and frontal straight. In Ia siddhi came easily; the attempt to enforce [an]anima, though recurrent, failed in persistence and in violence; self-existent utthapana, free from defect of anima, was established and remained. In Ib there was violent opposition, but it failed in the right arm, but succeeded in the left by persistence of pain of ananima aided afterwards by pressure of downward garima from above,–not gravitation, but pressure of some other external force which comes in when gravitation weakens. Gravitation is attraction from below, this is a mass of pressure from above. In the right arm self existent utthapana was established. In the left it became strong enough to maintain the position in spite of pressure and pain and even to make the pain recurrent instead of persistent and to discourage and sometimes lighten the pressure, but not to get rid of it. The whole lasted 2½ continuous hours. In the result force of self-existent utthapana is established in the arms as was shown in the afternoon, but ananima still remains to limit and resist the siddhi, though with greatly diminished force.
In the afternoon two positions of the legs, B.I & II, lying on the back, crooked position, lower parts horizontal, and lying on each side, alternately, horizontal II.a (straight) & II.b crooked. In B I. defect of anima was strong and prevented long abhyasa, but while recently and for a long time mahima has entirely failed to support the laghima, this time it came and held. In B II, (a) was
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found difficult owing to violent attack of ananima, but this was persistently recurrent, not persistent, and there was in the intervals complete utthapana; in (b) the recurrence was less persistent and less violent. On the whole on the left the utthapana was well maintained, either self-existent or satapas, for about 15 minutes; on the right there was after 7 or 8 minutes the overpowering by defect of anima. Therefore this utthapana of B positions can only be regarded as preparatory, as it was declared to be before it began.
In arms AA, (ie lying on back), the old self-existent utthapana force recovered strength and maintained itself, after one or two downward tendencies of lapse, even in sleep.
Throughout the increased power and effectivity of tapas was very marked.
In Samadhi free action of rupa and frequent initial stability and continuity. Incoherence has invaded the lipi in the deeper swapna.
The dealings of the ideality with the revived intellect element, show an increasing subtlety and fullness of the vijnana, giving a clear ideal interpretation of the obscure brain-suggestions, which if carried to the extreme will mean a full satyam brihat with a sufficient ritam. But the process means a continual indulgence of the obscuration by the intellect which involves a suspension of the direct and primary action of the ideality. Behind the obscuration the superior ideality is growing in power upon the whole thought action.
The increase of the ritam in the satyam brihat of the telepathies on the lowest level has been proceeding rapidly, but complete ritam is not yet established.
Lipi is being left entirely to itself to establish the eightfold quality in perfectly spontaneous lipi without aid of the tapas or the suggestions. The first result of the movement has been to bring back the full etheric resistance to the manifestation with the result of
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fragmentariness, called formerly the desultory lipi, and defect in all the eight qualities. It is now attempting to dispel the imperfections, as yet only with a very partial success.
Recovery by the speech thought of its higher ideal pitch at which it now moves normally without any need of the least attention or tapas.
In samadhi lipi recovered its coherency in deep swapna samadhi, but there is an intermediate stage between dream and samadhi, the one passing over into the other, in which incoherence is still common. Nevertheless the incoherence can be pieced together: sometimes it arises from fragments of a sentence or thought being put together without the connecting words or thoughts, and then they have to be filled in, sometimes from the coalition of thoughts which are not connected and then they have to be separated.
Utthapana of position A I tried for about an hour. Self existent utthapana of laghima in the primary force, good for maintaining the position, if unafflicted, for two or three hours, if afflicted, for a shorter time, but not making the position entirely normal to the feeling of the body, only natural or much more natural than before. Anima not violently defective, but the defect slowly increases in force, compelling desistence in the end or at least interruption.
Subsequently, on almost immediately resuming, it was found that the compulsion of the asiddhi was not imperative, as it had appeared, but, the abhyasa being interrupted, it could not be seen how far the ananima could be eliminated. In the evening the will of the body to utthapana failed.
A II tried, but the self-existent u[tthapana]-shakti was found not to have even half the full primary force.
The movement in T² continues; tapas is steadily increasing.
For the last two days kamananda has been recovering its force, but is still deficient in ambulando.
Growth of rupa in Samadhi.
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Entire absorption in another activity; the ideality continued to play of itself and to grow in quality. Rupa became increasingly powerful in Samadhi and more frequent in antardarshi.
The upshot of the last month is to have founded firmly the ideality in the inferior or primary form, it is true, but with a substance of superior, that is to say, secondary ideality, and to have applied it to the whole range of thought including T². In the latter, however, it is still weak and has comparatively little scope. The lower intellectuality is on the point of abolition but the intuitive has still its role and must keep it till the superior ideality has got into its own characteristic form and occupied the place now held by the primary ideality. Samadhi has grown greatly in strength, especially in the last few days. Rupa in swapna is very strong, various and rich and stability up to the tertiary initial is common; but the prolonged stability is only in the shadowy forms. Reading has become free and current, but not always coherent, or even when coherent, not cohesive; the sentences are sufficient to themselves and have not, except exceptionally, a visible relation to each other. Rupa is pressing forward in antardarshi, but has not yet fixed its hold on the bahirdarshi. Vishaya is still unable to break down the barrier.
As a result of the work done in the last few days which was accomplished in the complete control (dasya), the passivity of the intellect has been greatly intensified and a new action is coming into being from above which evidently belongs to the secondary ideality. This is the beginning of the tertiary dasya.
Secondary utthapana II.a.b. left side for more than half an hour, variation for five minutes to IIb(a), slanting upwards. The opposition to mahima and laghima was all this time entirely ineffective and in fact rare, though occasionally it recurred only to give up the attempt almost immediately. The opposition to anima,
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though recurrent, could not persist, was not vehemently recurrent and was often in abeyance. Only after more than half an hour the disinclination of the body indicated a suppressed force of denial of the utthapana shakti
Rupa continues to grow in the swapna with a reflex action in the antardarshi. Stability is greatly increased. Vishaya in swapna is preparing to normalise itself. Only the self existent progress of all the parts in unison without exclusiveness or interruption has to be established. Vishaya and rupa in jagrat held on.
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For the whole first fortnight of June the active sadhana has been suspended; there has been the absorbing preoccupation of another activity. At first the play of the ideality was associated with it, but it is now abated and is turning again to the sadhana. Still, this has left behind it the beginning of a movement to substitute the ideal for the ordinary mental action in all intellectual activities, eg, poetry, study etc.
The first movement has been action of the secondary uttha-pana.
This morning. B II, left, almost entirely b, for upward of an hour; simultaneously, A.A.b₁, left arm raised half way for an hour, lying on the right side, and neck, C b, in the same position. In all mahima and laghima triumphant. In B II the sharp defect of anima has lost its power of persistence and also of persistent recurrence; it occurred once or [twice]1 for a moment in the first half hour, once or twice with a more prolonged but with no very intense recurrence in the second. In C b, it came only for a time. The place of the old oppressive defect of anima has been taken by the pressure of garima on the limb, a weighing down, a sort of dull combined defect of the three qualities with the result of a temporary disinclination and declaration of inability in the body; but this could
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not last. It was stronger in A.A.b than in B II and in C b than in either of the other asanas. But in none could it prevail. All three might have been continued. But the object now is not, as before, to prolong the period of the asana which means only to postpone the return of the nir-utthapana, but to abolish the denial. This is being done by the will bringing in the nature of the vijnana into the body and abhyasa is now rather [ ]2 a test than a means of the siddhi.
In the later morning A III; vertical position of both arms, walking, for between half an hour and an hour. Here too mahima laghima is in possession, but the defect of utthapana shakti is greater, due to the survival of the defect of anima shown by a reaction in the muscles after cessation, which was absent from the asanas of the early morning. The asana could not have been continued longer without some strain and difficulty. No evident reaction from the walking in this position.
The movement is now to replace finally in trikaldrishti the action through the intellect by the action through the intuitive mind. In trikaldrishti the survival of the inferior action is strong and will take some time to eliminate. It prevents decisive trikaldrishti and perpetuates error of stress and error of interpretation of the will-messages and knowledge-messages from the ideality.
Kamananda has gone back for the time being. Smarana is no longer always sufficient to recall it. Arogya also is thrown back in chronic rogas 1 and 2; but in the latter only under great stress lasting for the whole fortnight and here the siddhi tendency is evident even in failure.
Ready manifestation of the lipi is also a little dulled, as well as the strong play of the swapna samadhi and rupa. The lipi suffers chiefly in legibility. The tendency to stability is strong, but resisted and embarrassed.
All is, however, ready to reemerge against the strong obstruction. Full siddhi will come when interruption can no longer impair the vivacity of the siddhi.
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On one side the absorption of work continues, on the other the sadhan is determining its upward movement. The ideality is gradually gaining upon the strong remnant of the intellectual obstruction and its obstinate lingering on the mental method of reception. The obstructed kamananda is resuming its force of sasmarana action, but has not yet reaffirmed strongly the trend to continuity. The rest of the physical siddhi does not advance.
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