The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo

CHAPTER I

WHAT IS YOGA?

"GREATER than the doers of askesis (tapasya), greater even than the men of knowledge and greater than the men of works is the Yogi. Therefore, O Aujuna, become a Yogi." (The Gita, Chap. 6.46).

consciousness and being, they must be incorporated in Yoga and informed with its quickening and sublimating spirit.

What then is Yoga? The etymological sense of the word is union, yoke (Dutch juk, German joch, Latin jugum, Sanskrit yuj). It means the linking or union of the human consciousness with something higher, some- thing transcendent, something eternal and divine. In the ignorance of his dividing mind, though not in spiritual fact, man is cut off from his transcendent source and sustenance. He regards himself as a separate being among countless separate beings and things, his life as his own personal concern, his thoughts and ideas as his own mental creation and possession, and his successes and failures as the exclusive outcome of his personal effort. This self- separation of the individual from the unity of the universe and the eternity of the transcendent constitutes his essential ignorance, Adam's fall from Eden; and so long as he persists in this egoistic separation, there can be no recovery by him of his own infinite and immortal Self, his spiritual knowledge and freedom, and the truth and unity of universal existence. His mind may go on developing itself, but unless it extends its frontiers and consciously advances towards the Infinite, it will condemn itself to an endless and fruitless spinning round the desires and wants of the life-soul. A philosophy which is born of the mere intellect is either an abstraction or a specious justification of the socialised instincts and tendencies of the ignorant human nature. In the former case, it is unrelated

to life, in the latter, it is an apologist for life, an advocate of what is and has been, rather than a guide to what should be. Its humanism is a squalid worship of the normal and the common, and its pragmatism and realism, wedded to materialistic science, a means of perpetuating the natural, unregenerate humanity of man. Salvation lies in breaking out of this vicious circle by turning the mind inwards and upwards, by an ascent of conscious- ness towards the Infinite and Eternal, and a transforming descent of the Infinite into the finite. This is Yoga.

Man has first to be conscious of the manifold ignorance in which he lives. It may be, in some cases, a learned or reflective ignorance, full of a smug self-conceit and self-satisfaction, but it is ignorance none the less, which, according to Sri Aurobindo, is sevenfold in its nature, and keeps the consciousness of man utterly wrapped in itself.

"We are ignorant of the Absolute which is the source of all being and becoming, we take partial facts of being, temporal relations of the becoming for the whole truth of existence,—this is the first, the original ignorance. We are ignorant of the spaceless, timeless, immobile and immutable Self, we take the constant mobility and mutation of the cosmic becoming in Time and Space for the whole truth of existence,—that is the second, the cosmic ignorance. We are ignorant of our universal self, the cosmic existence, the cosmic consciousness, our infinite unity with all being and becoming; we take our limited

egoistic mentality, vitality, corporeality for our true self and regard everything other than that as not-self,—that is the third, the egoistic ignorance. We are ignorant of our eternal becoming in Time, we take this little life in a small. span of Time, in a petty field of Space, for our beginning,, our middle and our end,—that is the fourth, the temporal ignorance. Even within this brief temporal becoming, we are ignorant of our large and complex being, of that in us which is superconscient, subconscient, intraconscient, circumconscient to our surface becoming, we take that surface becoming with its small selection of overtly mentalised experiences for our whole existence,—that is the fifth, the psychological ignorance. We are ignorant of the true constitution of our becoming, we take the mind or life or body or any two of these or all three for our true principle or the whole account of what we are, losing sight of that which constitutes them and determines by its occult presence and is meant to determine sovereignly by its emergence their operations—this is the sixth, the constitutional ignorance. As a result of all these ignorances, we miss the true knowledge, government and enjoyment of our life in the world; we are ignorant in our thought, will, sensations, actions, return wrong or imperfect responses at every point to the questionings of the world, wander in a maze of errors and desires, strivings and failures, pain and pleasure, sin and stumbling, follow a crooked road, grope blindly for a changing goal,—that is the seventh, the practical ignorance." ¹

¹ The Life Divine by Sri Aurobindo.

This colossal and multiform ignorance is due to the alienation of the human consciousness from the infinite and universal consciousness; it can be abolished only by healing the division. And Yoga is the only means, the only effective spiritual dynamism that can completely heal this division. Here Yoga means not the union, which is the goal, but the process or method by which the union is achieved. This is the second meaning of the word. The ethical rules and austerities, metaphysical speculation and cogitation, even religious cults and creeds have nothing to do with Yoga—they rotate within the confines of the mental consciousness; but Yoga is a movement of the human consciousness to contact the Infinite by self- transcendence; it is a direct leap or a headlong plunge into -the Eternal. Even its start is characterised by an aspiration for such a leap or plunge; its motive force is a hunger for the Absolute. So long as there is a complacency in the mind with its thoughts and ideas and principles, and a contented confidence in the will to realise them, there can be no aspiration for Yoga; and all one's spiritual or religious life may consist only in ethical efforts or ceremonial observances to purify and refine some surface strands of one's nature. Yoga—all true Yoga of whatever denomination—is revolutionary spirituality, it is a breaking out of the prison of the mind, or the eddy of the life-force, or the rigidity of the physical formula, and a passionate winging up towards the heights and widenesses of Spirit. Mysticism is its very soul, and a supra-rational élan of the inmost being is its irresistible drive. It is one of the

most daring adventures of human consciousness, fraught with dangers and difficulties, liable to be misled by false glimmers, and stranded or shipwrecked on the shoals of egoistic enjoyments. And yet it is an adventure which every human being has to launch upon in one life or another, because that is the only way to the inevitable .self-transcendence and divine fulfilment, which is his destiny. What dangers does he not brave, what risks does he not manfully take in the adventures of his material life! How many lives have not been sacrificed in the expeditions and explorations undertaken from age to age! Failures after failures have been accepted on the way to a cherished goal; dire threats and temptations, severe privations and difficulties have been resolutely passed through, and yet the adventurous spirit of man has known no defeat or discouragement! It has embraced martyrdom and suffering in the service of science and the general advancement of its intellectual and material aims. If that is the price willingly paid for the accomplishment of passing terrestrial purposes, is it any wonder that the elite of humanity, those who are spiritually evolved, have, in all ages and climes, staked their all on the discovery of the truth of their existence and the indestructible essence of their being? Is it any wonder that they strove and struggled and suffered, denying themselves all respite and relaxation, for the realisation of the Infinite and Eternal? Is it any wonder that, feeling asphixiated in the dim cave of the mind, and tormented by the ceaseless goad of desires, they panted for a glimpse of the Light and a breath of the inner

freedom? "...If the Divine has any value, is it not worth some trouble and time and labour to follow after Him, and must we insist on having Him without any training or sacrifice or suffering or trouble? It is surely irrational to make a demand of such a nature."¹

But there are Yogas and Yogas. There are spurious Yogas as there are genuine ones. There are partial and limited, as there are comprehensive and integral ones. But a genuine thing does not become suspect because it is counterfeited. What branch of knowledge is there, what object of man's quest but is shadowed by shams and sought to be foiled by fakes? The seeker of Truth, if he has an inner perception of it and a faith in its existence, can never be daunted or discouraged by fakes and impostures; he proceeds straight to his goal through any distractions and difficulties he may meet on the way. Impostures are there only to deflect the weak in faith; they generate doubt and diffidence in them, cloud and bewilder their intelligence, and unnerve their will to achieve, but those who are strong in faith know that every genuine thing has a corresponding counterfeit, whose function is only to prove the worth of its contrary. Besides, all sorts of unusual feats and practices are often lumped together under the omnibus term. Yoga. From necromancy to levitation, from acid-swallowing to fire-walking, any extraordinary display of occult or magical powers is allowed to impress the mind and confuse its perception

¹ Letters of Sri Aurobindo.

of spiritual values. Yoga, as I have said above, is a con- tact or union with the Infinite and Eternal, and not with any merely supraphysical beings and forces. It is a direct movement of the consciousness and being of man through a series of self-purifications and self-enlargements towards the Truth of existence and its unconditioned peace and bliss. It is a surpassing of the ego, a conquest of desires, and a release from the hold of blinding passions. It is, at its best, a complete and irrevocable reversal of consciousness, a putting on of the immortality of Spirit and a shuffling off of the normal, tattered mask of humanity. Yoga is the only means by which man can become divine, and his life of stress and cares a pulse and pæan of light.

But there are varieties of genuine Yoga, each having its own particular method and particular result. Though each aims at the Infinite and Eternal, the starting point, approach and contact of each are different. Most of them use one part of the being of man as a lever, and lead his consciousness through it to the Infinite. Some attempt a greater sweep and a wider approach, working through the complex elements of human nature, loosening many a knot, straightening out many a twist, and releasing into expression something of the splendour of the Infinite upon earth. I propose to deal with this subject of the varieties of Yoga in the next chapter. Here I shall confine myself to considering the inevitable—and, I could have also said, imperative—necessity of Yoga for a radical change of human consciousness, without which the present

human culture and civilisation, weighted down with material pre-occupations and blinded by animal passions, will precipitate itself into disintegration and cease to exist before long. In his evolution man has arrived at a stage when his nature must either consent to be converted into the Supernature or go slithering down into perdition.

If we look with a searching and dispassionate eye into the heart of Nature's universal working in the material world, we perceive that all life is Yoga—a slowly, spirally, precariously evolving stupendous Yoga of Nature aiming at a progressive reproduction and revelation of the divine Image in her own terms. From the incipient surge of energy which sprinkles the spaces with suns and stars, and the emergent life-sparkle which makes the earth smile with verdure, and the mobile wonder and variety of animal creation with its developing gamut of sensibilities and range of expressive faculties and organs, to the phenomenal growth of reason and imagination and intuition in man, his fine, symmetrical body, his rich heart of feelings and emotions, his intrepid, adventurous spirit, his powers of foresight and invention, and, above all, his divination of the Godhead in himself, and his persistent, though vaguely felt and very imperfectly realised aspiration for its infinity and immortality, purity and freedom and blissful harmony, is nothing but a mounting travail, a purposive endeavour, a long and labouring Yoga of Nature for the unveiled manifestation of the One whom she holds secret in herself, and a conscious, constant, and dynamic union with Him in her terrestrial play. Nature

is not inconscient and blind, nor her universal strivings a senseless gamble of caprice and chance, and a purposeless expenditure of force—she is big with God.

"But what Nature aims at for the mass in a slow evolution, Yoga effects for the individual by a rapid revolution. It works by a quickening of all her energies, a sublimation of all her faculties. While she develops the spiritual life with difficulty and has constantly to fall back from it for the sake of her lower realisations, the sublimated force, the concentrated method of Yoga can attain directly and carry with it the perfection of the mind and even, if she will, the perfection of the body. Nature seeks the Divine in her own symbols; Yoga goes beyond Nature to the Lord of Nature, beyond universe to the Transcendent, and can return with the transcendent light and power, with the fiat of the Omnipotent."¹

Yoga could also be said to be at once the way and the ultimate goal of evolutionary Nature; but in the ignorance through which Nature passes in order to reach the perfect Yoga or union with the Divine in the infinity of His Knowledge, she forgets in her creatures, though not in the still depths of her being, this primal and determining truth of her existence and evolution in the material world: the developing ego acts as a veil between her and her Lord. In man the ego erects a thick wall between the individual and the universal, with the result that the

¹ Sri Aurobindo

individual is aware of himself as only a finite, mortal being engaged in an unequal struggle with the immense,. unpredictable forces that assail him from many invisible sources. But, paradoxical as it may seem, the very ego which accentuates division and discord, chooses, after its development is complete, to break down the wall and seek by its willed self-extinction the expansion and. fulfilment of the real spiritual individual. Nature then- begins to yearn in the individual for a conscious and constant Yoga with her eternal Lord and Lover. What was a slow and subconscious Yoga carried on behind the veil, with many recoils and detours, becomes now a swift-moving contingent of concentrated forces marching forward to the conquest of Reality. The conscious co- operation of the wakened and aspiring individual will with the Divine Will accelerates the pace of evolution and compresses the work of many centuries into a single life or even into a few compact but vibrant years. This is the inestimable advantage of Yoga—it is a quickening and revolutionary force, seconded, fortified and sped up by higher spiritual forces, to achieve its crowning end. Yoga breaks away from the tardy process of Nature and, stringing up all the energies of the individual being and firing his central will, sweeps him on to the inevitable fulfilment of his life—the freedom and immortality of the Eternal and Infinite.

The times are full of the promise of a generalisation of Yoga in humanity. On the one hand, degeneracy has progressed far in human nature; the noble ideals, the

higher spiritual values of human life have receded into the background, leaving only the animal appetites to rage and riot on the surface. On the other hand, there is a seeking, an aspiration, hardly definite yet, faint and flickering in the gusty darkness, but persistent and steadily insistent, for a thorough overhauling, a radical change of the ends and endeavours of life. There is, therefore, a crucial conflict of possibilities between two contrary eventualities. Religion, ethics, social and political creeds, .literature and arts, science and its materialistic ideologies have all failed to arrest the general decay and degradation; man is being fast drained of his humanity. And yet divinity is undeniably awaking deep down in him, and the first glints of light are filtering into his darkness. Will not a heavenly spring blossom out of this bleak and "blighting winter? What alchemy, what power of God can produce this miracle? There is only one alchemy, one irresistible power—it is Yoga. If the extinction of the .human race is to be avoided, an ascent to a higher consciousness and a divine conversion and transfiguration of the whole being of man by the power of the Divine is the only means. A desperate and pervasive degeneracy calls for a radical and revolutionary redemption—and that can only be Yoga.

"All Yoga is in its nature a new birth; it is a birth out of the ordinary, the mentalised material life of man into a higher spiritual consciousness and a greater and diviner .being. No Yoga can be successfully undertaken and

followed unless there is a strong awakening to the necessity of that larger spiritual existence....And since Yoga is in its essence a Turning away from the ordinary material and animal life led by most men or from the more mental but still limited way of living followed by the few to a greater spiritual life, to the way divine, every part of our energies that is given to the lower existence in the spirit of that existence is a contradiction of our aim and our self-dedication. On the other hand, every energy or activity that we can convert from its allegiance to the lower and dedicate to the service of the higher is so much gained on our road, so much taken from the powers that oppose our progress. It is the difficulty of this wholesale conversion that is the source of all the stumblings in the path of Yoga. For our entire nature and its environment, all our personal and all our universal self are full of habits and of influences that are opposed to our spiritual rebirth and work against the whole-heartedness of our endeavour. In a certain sense we are nothing but a complex mass of mental, nervous and physical habits held together by a few ruling ideas, desires and associations,—an amalgam of many small self-repeating forces with a few major vibrations. What we propose in our Yoga is nothing less than to break up the whole formation of our past and present which makes up the ordinary material and mental man, and to create a new centre of vision and a new universe of activities in ourselves which shall constitute a divine humanity or a superhuman nature."¹

¹ The Synthesis of Yoga or On Yoga-I by Sri Aurobindo.

This, then, is the nature of Yoga whose generalisation :in humanity appears to be the next evolutionary saltus; for, evolution is cyclic and not rectilinear, and the emergence of a new dawn out of the darkness of a passing night is not a freak, but the ineluctable law of Nature. A materialistic humanity, withered and warped by unbelief, and buried in the litter of its transitory gains, shall rise and turn at last to the pursuit of Yoga for the recovery of its- divine heritage, and the refounding of its life on earth upon the dynamic unity and harmony of the all-pervading .Spirit.