A Centenary Tribute

Part III

Sri Aurobindo's Vision-Arabinda Basu

The Main Distinctive Mark of Integral Yoga

I THANK Professor Sachidananda Mohanty for giving me an opportunity to be associated with this volume of tributes to K.D. Sethna. Sethna has written on almost all topics under the sun. History, Archaeology, Old Testament Studies, Egyptology, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, Science, Poetry, Aesthetics and last but not the least, facets of Sri Aurobindo's life and works. The clear ray of his luminous intelligence shed light on all of these subjects. However, the favourite subject that he holds most dear to his heart is Sri Aurobindo. And of Sri Aurobindo, the most important and significant contribution is the introduction, exposition and practice of the Integral Yoga. Hence, I am translating into English here an article written in Bengali by Sri Aurobindo and entitled "The Main Distinctive Mark of Integral Yoga".

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The Main Distinctive Mark of Integral Yoga¹

A good deal has been said about integral yoga from the point of view of thinking and theory. Now when many have come and are coming to this path, it has become necessary to explain simply the path of this yoga of ours, its goal, and the main characteristic mark of the accomplishment of this yoga. The state of yoga, union, is not accessible to rational

1. Sri Aurobinder Bangla Rachana (The BengaliWritings of Sri Aurobindo), Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 4th Edition 2001, pp. 227-28.

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intellect, its true understanding depends on experience and is a fruit of self-realisation. Even then it is necessary to place before the rational intellect such an indication of it as will paint to mental perception its directions, the end of the journey and a map for the easy understanding of those who wish to know the goal of the yoga and its main distinctive mark.

(incomplete)

Our ideal is not liberation, not attaining Nirvana by being dissolved in the indeterminable Unlimited; the ideal is attainment of divine consciousness by the individual and by the collective, unity, perfection, and delight in the divine consciousness and being self-realised, life and works established in the self and inspired and directed by the divine Shatki, - works as of a liberated yogi. It has been said in the Geeta, 'do works being established in yoga', that kind of action done from yoga, is not only a limb of this sadhana but also a part of its realisation. The manifestation of life, of the inner and the outer in the divine being and the expression of divine unity is the goal and the characteristic sign of the state of its realisation.

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There are four limbs of the integral yoga, Knowledge, Works, Love, and Realisation. The cloud-piercing temple of Truth of the life of god, is based on these four pillars.

The goal of the yoga of knowledge in the integral yoga is not liberation, not dissolution, nor the escape of one afraid of the world, not disgust of the universe of the ascetic, not excluding the Lilamaya, Playful Divine for seeking Parabrahman. The goal of this knowledge is awareness of God, to raise our consciousness to the divine consciousness, to be united with it, one in the self and the world, one in vijnana, the supermind and in mind, life and general consciousness, one in the body, we will not exclude anything. Full Oneness... All this is Brahman, the

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fourth, the causal, the subtle, the gross, deep sleep, dream, waking, Brahma and Maya, Purusha, Prakriti, you, I, He is all, Vasudeva is all this, this is the root mantra of this Knowledge.

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The Gita says equality is yoga, 'equality is said to be yoga'. Further, those whose mind is firmly established are conquerors of the creation though remaining in the world, because since the Supreme Brahman is equally present everywhere, the wise man who is accomplished in yoga and is a doer of works is in all action and in all ways established in Brahman, [translated from Gita] Even here on the earth the creation is conquered by them whose mind is established in equality. The equal Brahman is faultless, therefore, they are stationed in Brahman. This is the root foundation of the truth of equality.

In the method of sadhana of the integral yoga equality is. the primary ladder in the ascent to its realisation. Or we may say brahmabhava², is the ground of yoga, equality is the branch and all the results obtainable by sadhana are various leaves, flowers and fruit. Full being, complete self-knowledge, integral consciousness, fullness of the power of the concentration of the energy, complete undivided delight, there is no way of attaining any of these without equality, the fullness of these is manifested and securely gained only in equality, that is why it should be understood that so long as

2. It is difficult to suggest the meaning of brahmabhava here by one or two English words. It seems to me that what Sri Aurobindo intends to say | is that the seeker of the integral yoga has the sense, feeling, and spiritual perception of Brahman everywhere and in everything. He is fully inclined towards Brahman. That is why his equality is based on the knowledge of the presence of the faultless Brahman and the spiritual beyond the sattwik, the pure mental equality, taught by the Stoic philosophers of ancient Greece to their followers and also by the Gita. The sattwik equality leads on to spiritual equality.

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perfect equality is not permanent, large and concrete in the seeker, the accomplishment of this yoga is shaky and inadequate. When equality is perfectly realised the path of yoga becomes equal, without any thorn, straight and full of joy.

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To be one with the Divine Being, to connect our consciousness with the Divine Consciousness and dwell in it, to dissolve one's power by the influence of the Divine Force, to be self-realised and perfect by attaining the Divine Nature, this is the goal of the integral yoga. In one word, to accomplish birth of god, divine life.

Not featureless, ineffable dissolution, that kind of liberation is not intended by me. Brahman is eternal and ancient, the expression of Brahman as the world is also eternal and perpetual. I am a centre of that manifestation, the whole world is my limit, the whole cosmos is my universal form, all living creatures are my innumerable self. Just as the ineffable Oneness of the unlimited Brahman is real, so also the unity of Brahman qualified by many forms is true.

Brahman the Master, the supreme Person in his nature as the unmoving Person, enjoys that indeterminable Oneness, simultaneously also enjoys in the same receptacle, unity in the moving Person. This play of the Purushottama....The fullness of the Unlimited is in enjoyment of the delight of these two kinds. The undivided being of the Divine is one. We call that being the Supreme Self.

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