The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo

CHAPTER XXIX

THE INTEGRAL TRANSFORMATION

PART III

THE THREE STEPS OF TRANSFORMATION

THE essential function of the soul is to offer all things to the Divine for transformation, for it has come down into mortal birth for the only purpose of accomplishing a perfect manifestation of the Divine in its phenomenal becoming. But for the soul or the psychic, our mind, life and body would have always remained in an un- relieved darkness and gone on chasing after the fleeting objects of the world, and involving themselves more and more in futile struggles and endless suffering.

The psychic awakes as it evolves in Nature, and tries to influence its instrumental being at first from behind the veil and afterwards more and more overtly. Itself all love and devotion for the Divine, it infects the mind, life and body with its own passion and purity and seeks to turn them Godwards and towards the fulfilment of the very reason of their existence. The potential lord and master of its nature, it emerges from its secret crypt, and, little by little, begins to influence, purify, control and convert mind, life and body till, psychically

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transformed, they become fit instruments of its self- expression in the world.

The psychic transformation is, therefore, the first step in the long and uphill labour of transformation undertaken by the followers of the Integral Yoga. The whole nature has first to be psychicised, that is to say, tuned to the psychic key, suffused with the psychic love and devotion for the Divine, and lit up with the psychic purity. Surrender and self-consecration in work, surrender and a passionate self-giving in feelings and emotions, surrender and a loving concentration in thought and reflection, and an intense and constant aspiration for an integral and dynamic union with the Divine in all the members of the being—this is the first sure indication of a full and direct psychic action on the nature. The native impulse in the psychic is to give all it possesses to the Divine. As it emerges from its occult depths, it spreads its influence upon the members of its phenomenal nature, and tries to turn them towards the Divine. It may try at first to convert the intellect and the "larger mind of insight and intuitional intelligence", but the thinking mind, as soon as it undergoes a spiritual influence, seems almost always to betray a tendency to drift towards the abstract, the Impersonal, the Immutable. A better and more dynamically effective approach is through the heart. The feelings and emotions of the heart are nearer to the seat of the psychic, and it can seize on them with a greater ease and make them flow towards its eternal Lover and Master. Love and adoration of the

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Supreme, the All-Beautiful and All-Blissful, becomes, under the direct influence of the psychic, a flaming, absorbing passion, a passion like that of a Chaitanya or a Mirabai, which devours all egoistic ties and attachments. "This approach through adoration can get its- full power and impetus only when the mind goes beyond impersonality to the awareness of a supreme Personal Being: then all becomes intense, vivid, concrete, the heart's emotion, feeling, spiritualised sense reach their absolute, an entire self-giving becomes possible, imperative."¹ The sâdhaka comes more and more to be conscious of his soul and its will, and seeks to follow it in his life. His emotional being develops into a lover of God and a lover of men and all creatures, and a spiritual peace and purity and bliss flood his whole nature. He becomes a bhakta, a saint.

But the mind and the heart are not the whole of man,, there is his life with its desires and its will to possess- and enjoy all that it finds attractive in the world. It has' an infinite hunger raging interminably in its finite, limited form. When the vital will feels the pressure of the psychic upon it and undergoes its purifying influence,, it turns to the Divine and learns to surrender to Him with an enthusiasm all its own, an enthusiasm and fervour which no other part of our being can show in an equal measure. The surrender of the personal will to the Truth-Will of the Divine eliminates the insistent

¹ The Life Divine by Sri Aurobindo.

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self-assertion of the ego, and considerably helps the widening of the consciousness.

"A combination of all these three approaches, the approach of the mind, the approach of the will, the approach of the heart, creates a spiritual or psychic condition of the surface being and nature in which there is a larger and more complex openness to the psychic light within us and to the spiritual Self or the Ishwara, to the Reality now felt above and enveloping and penetrating us. In the nature there is a more powerful and many-sided change, a spiritual building and self- creation, the appearance of a composite perfection of the saint, the selfless worker and the man of spiritual -knowledge.'¹

In proportion as the sâdhaka learns to live in his depths .and offer all his nature to the direct influence of his emergent soul, there begins a series of transmuting experiences in him. The psychic being comes forward as the unveiled guide and ruler of the nature. "A guidance, a governance begins from within which exposes every movement to the light of Truth, repels what is false, obscure, opposed to the divine realisation: every region of the being, every nook and corner of it, every movement, formation, direction, inclination of thought, will, emotion .sensation, action, reaction, motive, disposition, propensity,

¹ The Life Divine by Sri Aurobindo.

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desire, habit of the conscious or subconscious physical, even the most concealed, camouflaged, mute, recondite, is lighted up with the unerring psychic light".¹.. .And there begins also "a free inflow of all kinds of spiritual experience, experience of the Self, experience of the Ishwara and the Divine śakti, experience of cosmic consciousness, a direct touch with cosmic forces and with the occult movements of universal Nature, a psychic sympathy and unity and inner communication and interchanges of all kinds with other beings and with Nature, illuminations of the mind by knowledge, illuminations of the heart by love and devotion and spiritual joy and ecstasy, illumination. of the sense and the body by higher experience, illumination of dynamic action in the truth and largeness of a. purified mind and heart and soul, the certitudes of the divine light and guidance, the joy and power of the divine force working in the will and the conduct."² All. parts of the nature are lit up and quickened and transfigured by the presence and influence of the psychic. The mind develops an immediate vision and sense of the Truth, the heart the spiritual fire and rhythm in its feelings and emotions and a widening embrace of the world, and the will a one-pointed concentration in its aspiration- to surrender and serve. The whole being tends to become a living altar of the Divine.

But though all this change and transformation may

¹The Life Divine by Sri Aurobindo.

² ibid.

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appear to most sadhaks of the traditional yogas as superlative and definitive,—indeed, few of them can conceive of a higher state—they are only the first decisive steps in the Integral Yoga. The psychic transformation, even at its highest, is only a psychicisation of the inferior instrumentation of the nature, it is not a radical transformation of its basic elements, nor a victorious transcendence of its inherent limitations. It is a "reflected and modified .manifestation of things whose full reality, intensity, large- ness, oneness and diversity of truth and power and delight are above us, above mind and therefore above any perfection, within mind's own formula, of the foundations or .superstructure of our present nature."¹

The second step has, therefore, to be taken in the direction of the higher spiritual ranges of the mind and beyond. "A higher spiritual transformation must intervene on the psychic or psycho-spiritual change; the psychic movement inward to the inner being, the Self or Divinity within us, must be completed by an opening upward to a .supreme spiritual status or a higher existence."² The opening within has to be supplemented by an opening above. The consciousness of the sâdhaka has to ascend .above the human mind into the Higher mind, the Illumined mind, the plane of Intuition and the Overmind, .and receive from them the transmuting light and force peculiar to them. This ascent may not take place if he

¹ The Life Divine by Sri Aurobindo.

² a ibid.

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remains satisfied with the experiences of the Spirit in the terms of his human mind; it is only if the psychic being in him is fully awakened and aspires for the realisation of the supramental existence, the divine Reality above the ranges of the mind, that the lid of the mind is broken and his consciousness wings up into the thrilled infinitudes of the Spirit or commands a vision of the infinity above him—"an eternal Presence or an infinite Existence, an infinity of consciousness, an infinity of bliss,—a boundless Self, a boundless Light, a boundless Power, a boundless Ecstasy."¹"The experience is in accord with that which is brought to us by the first opening of vision: the mind rises into the higher plane of pure self, silent, tranquil, illimitable; or it rises into regions of light or of felicity, or into planes where it feels an in- finite Power or a divine Presence or experiences the contact of a divine Love or Beauty or the atmosphere of a wider and greater and luminous Knowledge."² In the beginning, when the mind comes down from these shining altitudes of experience, it finds that it has brought back with it nothing better than a blurred impression, or that it has lost much of what it saw or felt above. But gradually it learns to retain much of its higher realisations, and make the whole nature profit by them. These ascents of the consciousness take place usually in trance, but are "perfectly possible in a concentration of the waking

¹The Life Divine by Sri Aurobindo,

² ibid.

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consciousness or, where that consciousness has become sufficiently psychic, at any unconcentrated moment by an upward attraction or affinity."¹ Consequent upon the ascents, the descents of light and power and peace become more frequent and expansively effective, and they change and illumine the very texture of the human consciousness and knowledge. "A light and power, a knowledge and force are felt which first take possession of the mind and remould it, afterwards of the life part and remould that, finally of the little physical consciousness and leave it no longer little but wide and plastic and even infinite. For this new consciousness has itself the nature of infinity: it brings to us the abiding spiritual sense and awareness of the infinite and eternal with a great largeness. of the nature and a breaking down of its limitations,. immortality becomes no longer a belief or an experience but a normal self-awareness, the close presence of the Divine Being, his rule of the world and our self and natural members, his force working in us and everywhere,. the peace of the infinite, the joy of the infinite are now concrete and constant in the being; in all sights and forms one sees the Eternal, the Reality, in all sounds one hears it, in all touches feels it; there is nothing else but its, forms and personalities and manifestations; the joy or adoration of the heart, the embrace of all existence, the unity of the Spirit are abiding realities. The consciousness of the mental creature is turning or has been already

¹ The Life Divine by Sri Aurobindo.

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turned wholly into the consciousness of the spiritual being. This is the second of the three transformations, uniting the manifested existence with what is above it, it is the middle step of the three, the decisive transition of the spiritually evolving nature."¹

But even the spiritual transformation with its immense achievements—the universalisation of the human consciousness, the widening and illumination of human nature, the bridging up of the chasm between the human mind and the higher realms of the Spirit, the direct and dynamic contact with the cosmic forces, the union and communion with the cosmic Divine—cannot transform the whole human nature into the Supernature. To the mind that considers spiritual values and realisations in the gross, and possesses no insight into their depths and degrees, the achievements of the spiritual transformation may appear as exceptionally high and rare. But they are inadequate to the fulfilment of the ideal Sri Aurobindo has placed before us. Human nature is a complex manifold, shot through with the threads of the ego, and the light and power of the higher planes that come down to illumine and transform it cannot completely prevail against its tangled impurities. The first and most important reason of it is, that the light and power that descend cannot act in their native purity and force— their action is interfered with, obscured, diminished and diluted by the lower energies of human nature. The

¹ The Life Divine by Sri Aurobindo.

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second reason is, that the powers of the higher ranges of the spiritual mind, were it even possible for them to work here in their own purity and force, could not achieve a radical conversion of human nature, for, they are not the supreme creative powers of the Spirit. It is only the supreme creative Light-Force, the cit-tapas of the Supermind or vijñāna, that can act here in its full power, without suffering any diminution or dilution, and effect a radical and integral conversion and transformation. The Creator alone can refashion, remould and transmute into its own substance and force what it has created. The descent of the Supramental Truth-Force is, therefore, indispensable for the supramental transformation. But the Supermind is not only above, exerting from there its transforming pressure upon the evolving earth-nature, or descending into it to accelerate and accomplish the work; it is, like all other cardinal principles of existence, also involved here below, and pressing upwards from its unlit depths for evolution, for a complete and controlling emergence. The meeting of the two is the decisive point of the supreme fruition. The supramental Light-Force can alone handle each element of human nature with a masterful finality. The utmost that the spiritual trans- formation can do is the universalisation of the conscious being of man, but it cannot transform the Inconscience, which still remains as the base of his existence. It can vouchsafe frequent glimpses of the Transcendent, or even contact and communion with It, but it cannot "dynamise the Transcendence" in this world, that is to say, it cannot

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bring down the omnipotent Consciousness-Force of the Transcendent and make it directly operative in this field of ignorance and inconscience.¹ But the supramental Will is the authentic Will of the Supreme, and its Force carries in it the fiat and fire of the Absolute. It commands an infinite power of free self-determination. It knows the precise hour and the precise way of dealing with each element of our nature, and its touch is infallibly transforming. It descends into the human mind and widens it into infinity, filling it with its own all-revealing illumination; it descends into the heart and floods it with its own termless bliss and love and sweetness; it descends into life and its energies and informs them with its own all-achieving force. Its powers, unlike those of the spiritual mind-ranges, suffer no clouding or dilution by their contact with the elements of the earthly nature—they work in their own right and in the divine fullness of their. potencies. One comes to perceive, as one advances in the Yoga of the supramental transformation, that the members of one's being, now that they are already purified and illumined, respond with a joyous spontaneity to the action of the Supermind upon them. They seem, as it were, to recognise their Creator, and readily submit to its benignly transforming force. The supramental Light-Force descends into the subconscient and

¹ "So long as there is not the supramental change down to the subconscient, complete and full, the lower nature has always a hold on some part of the being". The Life Divine.

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inconscient ranges of our being and fills them with its electric energies and irradiates their immemorial gloom.

The transforming action of the Supermind is characterised by a certain sovereign effectivity and a natural radicality impossible to any other spiritual power. If it sometimes halts in its working or retraces its steps, it is because it has chosen to allow the parts of human nature time and some amount of latitude to adjust themselves to the high-pitched demands of the transformation. It does often force the pace and quicken the momentum of the change, but never at the cost of repression or mutilation of any part—it knows the magic of conversion and transmutation without compulsion. If its action seems to be at times exacting or compelling, it is because it proceeds in the light of a knowledge, which knows exactly when a part is ripe for transformation, and acts with the consent of the purusa dwelling in that part. Its power and its unfailing effectivity derives from the fact of its dynamic unity and identity with our whole being, and even when it deals with details and infinitesimal parts, it never loses itself in them, but acts from a perfect knowledge of the organic unity of all being and its inner harmony with all universal existence.

The most outstanding feature of the action of the Supermind is its masterfully radical dealing with our physical nature. It will annul the sway of the Inconscience and the Ignorance under which our physical being labours at present, saturate the nerves, tissues and cells of our body with its own light, and quicken it with its

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own force. Our body will cease to be the gross, inert, impeding clod that it now is, and become, instead, a vibrant dynamo of luminous energies, conscious of its oneness with universal Matter. Sri Aurobindo describes his own experience of transformation in the following poem:

TRANSFORMATION

My breath runs in a subtle rhythmic stream,

It fills my members with a might divine:

I have drunk the Infinite like a giant's wine.

Time is my drama or my pageant dream.

Now are my illumined cells joy's naming scheme

And changed my thrilled and branching nerves to fine

Channels of rapture opal and hyaline

For the influx of the Unknown and the Supreme.

I am no more a vassal of the flesh,

A slave to Nature and her leaden rule;

I am caught no more in the senses' narrow mesh.

My soul unhorizoned widens to measureless sight,

My body is God's happy living tool,

My spirit a vast sun of deathless light.¹

The Supermind will consummate the work of the integration and harmonisation of our being begun by the psychic and developed by the spiritual transformation.

¹ The Collected Poems and Plays of Sri Aurobindo—Vol. II.

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The integration of the human personality seems to be one of the insistent aspirations of the progressive mind of modem humanity. What is usually meant by it is a sort of welding and harmonisation of the parts of being of which one is conscious. But such an integration, even if it succeed, will be a very imperfect one, inasmuch as it will leave out the far-flung obscure bases and the shining summits of our being, which are not normally accessible to human consciousness. We know only the active superficial parts of our being, which are but an outer fringe of our boundless existence. The ideal of integration, which is claiming our attention more and more, carries in it the promise of an unprecedented fulfilment; but the present attempts that are being made to realise it are nothing better than a clumsy groping or an awkward assortment by the rational mind, which has neither any means of exploring the subconscient and the inconscient layers of our being, except by a haphazard analysis of the superficial traits and habits of the nature, nor of scaling the limitless ranges of the Superconscient., There are two essential prerequisites of the integration of the human personality: one, the discovery and realisation of the soul or the living centre of the human being, and, second, an exploration and conquest of the totality of the being including the superconscient and the inconscient. Our finite being is centred in the Infinite, and our mortality is a passing wave of the Eternal. It is, therefore, idle to talk of the integration of its members without linking them up with the Infinite and Eternal.

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The Integral Yoga seeks to effect a perfect dynamic integration of our personality by restoring to us the whole of our lost opulent empire, rājyam samrddham.

The supramental transformation will knit in a stable and dynamic harmony the individual, the universal and the transcendent. The individual will find his complete- ness and harmonious fulfilment in his active unity with the universal and the transcendent. And this complete- ness will not be a completeness only in the consciousness of the individual, but it will also be a creative complete- ness in the will and force of his being; for, they too will be united with the Will and Force of the Supreme, which expresses itself in cosmic terms even while it transcends them.... "The complete individual is the cosmic individual, since only when we have taken the universe into ourselves—and transcended it—can our individuality be complete."¹

The supramental transformation will admit us into a participation in the working of the Supernature or Parā prakrti. The more we advance from the spiritual to the supramental transformation, the more shall we cease to be mere instruments of the divine Will and Force, and enter into a "growing conscious participation of the higher and more intimate kind" with it. This experience of conscious participation and collaboration will be an unfailing accompaniment of the later phases of the supra- mental transformation.

¹ The Life Divine by Sri Aurobindo.

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The three steps of the transformation, as described above, should not be considered as strictly successive, the spiritual transformation may begin before the psychic transformation has reached its culmination, or the supramental transformation may intervene in the midst of the spiritual transformation in order to accelerate its pace and shorten the long way. Human nature is bafflingly complex, and the Divine's dealing with it, as soon as it is surrendered to Him, is incalculable and unpredictable. Particularly, the supramental transformation, which is an exclusive operation of the Divine Mahāśakti, may often appear to our human consciousness as a whirlwind process, sweeping through the heights and bases, the deeps and shallows of our being, bursting open the sealed centres, releasing the hidden waters, illumining the recondite comers, and uniting and integrating all strands and elements and forces in a sovereign, dynamic harmony. The integral transformation is the indispensable foundation of the Life Divine, and the sine qua non of the manifestation of the Divine in the earth-consciousness.

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