Sri Aurobindo
Western education
Aravind Ghose (Calcutta 15.8.1872 - Pondicherry 5.12.1950), along
with his two brothers, was given an entirely Western education by their
Anglophile father. After infant schooling at a convent in Darjeeling,
they were taken to England to live with a clergyman's family in
Manchester. From there they joined St. Paul's public school in West
London, and later went on to Cambridge Unversity. There Sri Aurobindo
was a brilliant scholar, winning record marks in the Classical Tripos
examination. But he had already been touched by a will for the
Independence of India, and did not wish to become an official of the
colonial administration - the position his father and his education had
marked him out for. He managed to disqualify himself by failing to take
the mandatory riding test, and instead returned to India in 1893 in the
service of the Indian princely State of Baroda, where he remained up to
1906.
Nationalist leader
In that year he returned to his birthplace, Calcutta, as the first
Principal of the new Bengal National College. He resigned that post
because of his increasingly active involvement in the Nationalist
Movement. Sri Aurobindo was the first of the Nationalist leaders to
insist on full independence for India as the goal of the movement, and
for several years he lent all his considerable abilities and energies to
this struggle. This led to him being arrested on a charge of treason and
being kept in solitary confinement for almost a year as an 'under trial'
prisoner in Alipore jail. During this time he had a number of
fundamental spiritual experiences which convinced him of the truth of
the "Sanatana Dharma" - the ancient spiritual knowledge and practice of
India.
Pondicherry
After he was acquitted and released, this spiritual awareness led him
to take refuge from continuing pursuit by the British authorities in
Pondicherry, then part of French India, where he devoted himself
intensively to the exploration of the new possibilities it opened up to
him. Supported by his spiritual collaborator, The Mother, and using his
new-found spiritual capacities, he continued to work tirelessly for the
upliftment of India and the world. When India gained its Independence on
15.8.1947, he responded to the request for a message to his countrymen
by speaking of five dreams that he had worked for, and which he now saw
on the way to fulfilment.
Five Dreams
These five Dreams were:
"... a revolutionary movement which would create a free and united
India." " ... the resurgence and liberation of the peoples of Asia and
her return to her great role in the progress of human civilization."
"... a world-union forming the outer basis of a fairer, brighter and
nobler life for all mankind." "... the spiritual gift of India to the
world." "... a step in evolution which would raise man to a higher and
larger consciousness and begin the solution of the problems which have
perplexed and vexed him since he first began to think and to dream of
individual perfection and a perfect society."
Optimistic and dynamic world-view
The great originality of Sri Aurobindo is to have fused the modern
scientific concept of evolution with the perennial gnostic experience of
an all-pervading divine consciousness supporting all phenomenal
existence. His synthesis was not a philosophic construct, but a
realisation stemming from direct spiritual experience. The unfolding of
more and more complex forms and higher levels of consciousness out of an
original total material inconscience is seen as the gradual return to
self-awareness and the diverse self-expression of involved Spirit. This
process is evidently not complete, and the evolution of higher levels of
consciousness and less unconscious forms of expression are to be
expected. But with the development of Mind, individual human beings can,
if they choose, use their will and intelligence to begin to participate
consciously in this process of self-discovery and self-exploration. This
knowledge founds an optimistic and dynamic world-view, which gives each
individual a meaningful place in a progressive cosmic unfolding, and
casts our understanding of human endeavour, whether individual or
collective, in a new and purposeful perspective. Many facets of this
world-view are elaborated in the 35 volumes of Sri Aurobindo's Collected
Works.
From the Auroville Web site, http://www.auroville.org/vision/sriauro.htm
Sri Aurobindo's Teaching and Method of Sadhana
The teaching of Sri Aurobindo starts from that of the ancient sages
of India that behind the appearances of the universe there is the
Reality of a Being and Consciousness, a Self of all things, one and
eternal. All beings are united in that One Self and Spirit but divided
by a certain separativity of consciousness, an ignorance of their true
Self and Reality in the mind, life and body. It is possible by a certain
psychological discipline to remove this veil of separative consciousness
and become aware of the true Self, the Divinity within us and all.
Sri Aurobindo's teaching states that this One Being and Consciousness
is involved here in Matter. Evolution is the method by which it
liberates itself; consciousness appears in what seems to be inconscient,
and once having appeared is self-impelled to grow higher and higher and
at the same time to enlarge and develop towards a greater and greater
perfection. Life is the first step of this release of consciousness;
mind is the second; but the evolution does not finish with mind, it
awaits a release into something greater, a consciousness which is
spiritual and supramental. The next step of the evolution must be
towards the development of Supermind and Spirit as the dominant power in
the conscious being. For only then will the involved Divinity in things
release itself entirely and it become possible for life to manifest
perfection.
But while the former steps in evolution were taken by Nature without
a conscious will in the plant and animal life, in man Nature becomes
able to evolve by a conscious will in the instrument. It is not,
however, by the mental will in man that this can be wholly done, for the
mind goes only to a certain point and after that can only move in a
circle. A conversion has to be made, a turning of the consciousness by
which mind has to change into the higher principle. This method is to be
found through the ancient psychological discipline and practice of Yoga.
In the past, it has been attempted by a drawing away from the world and
a disappearance into the height of the Self or Spirit. Sri Aurobindo
teaches that a descent of the higher principle is possible which will
not merely release the spiritual Self out of the world, but release it
in the world, replace the mind's ignorance or its very limited knowledge
by a supramental Truth-Consciousness which will be a sufficient
instrument of the inner Self and make it possible for the human being to
find himself dynamically as well as inwardly and grow out of his still
animal humanity into a diviner race. The psychological discipline of
Yoga can be used to that end by opening all the parts of the being to a
conversion or transformation through the descent and working of the
higher still concealed supramental principle.
This, however, cannot be done at once or in a short time or by any
rapid or miraculous transformation. Many steps have to be taken by the
seeker before the supramental descent is possible. Man lives mostly in
his surface mind, life and body, but there is an inner being within him
with greater possibilities to which he has to awake - for it is only a
very restricted influence from it that he receives now and that pushes
him to a constant pursuit of a greater beauty, harmony, power and
knowledge. The first process of Yoga is therefore to open the ranges of
this inner being and to live from there outward, governing his outward
life by an inner light and force. In doing so he discovers in himself
his true soul which is not this outer mixture of mental, vital and
physical elements but something of the Reality behind them, a spark from
the one Divine Fire. He has to learn to live in his soul and purify and
orientate by its drive towards the Truth the rest of the nature. There
can follow afterwards an opening upward and descent of a higher
principle of the Being. But even then it is not at once the full
supramental Light and Force. For there are several ranges of
consciousness between the ordinary human mind and the supramental
Truth-Consciousness. These intervening ranges have to be opened up and
their power brought down into the mind, life and body. Only afterwards
can the full power of the Truth-Consciousness work in the nature. The
process of this self-discipline or Sadhana is therefore long and
difficult, but even a little of it is so much gained because it makes
the ultimate release and perfection more possible.
There are many things belonging to older systems that are necessary
on the way - an opening of the mind to a greater wideness and to the
sense of the Self and the Infinite, an emergence into what has been
called the cosmic consciousness, mastery over the desires and passions;
an outward asceticism is not essential, but the conquest of desire and
attachment and a control over the body and its needs, greeds and
instincts are indispensable. There is a combination of the principles of
the old systems, the way of knowledge through the mind's discernment
between Reality and the appearance, the heart's way of devotion, love
and surrender and the way of works turning the will away from motives of
self-interest to the Truth and the service of a greater Reality than the
ego. For the whole being has to be trained so that it can respond and be
transformed when it is possible for that greater Light and Force to work
in the nature.
In this discipline, the inspiration of the Master, and in the
difficult stages his control and his presence are indispensable - for it
would be impossible otherwise to go through it without much stumbling
and error which would prevent all chance of success. The Master is one
who has risen to a higher consciousness and being and he is often
regarded as its manifestation or representative. He not only helps by
his teaching and still more by his influence and example but by a power
to communicate his own experience to others.
This is Sri Aurobindo's teaching and method of practice. It is not
his object to develop any one religion or to amalgamate the older
religions or to found any new religion - for any of these things would
lead away from his central purpose. The one aim of his Yoga is an inner
self-development by which each one who follows it can in time discover
the One Self in all and evolve a higher consciousness than the mental, a
spiritual and supramental consciousness which will transform and
divinise human nature.
From "Sri Aurobindo on Himself", Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library, vol. 26
at the Auroville Web site, http://www.sriaurobindoashram.org/ashram/yoga/index.php
Integral Yoga
Many Aurovilians, certainly those who have specifically come for
Auroville's spiritual vision and call, are practicing the 'Integral
Yoga' as described by Sri Aurobindo, and naturally refer to it in their
communications in daily life as well as on this site. We add here below
some introductory definitions relating to the yoga in the words of Sri
Aurobindo himself:
Central purpose of the Integral Yoga
Transformation of our superficial, narrow and fragmentary human way
of thinking, seeing, feeling and being into a deep and wide spiritual
consciousness and an integrated inner and outer existence and of our
ordinary human living into the divine way of life.
Integral yoga
This yoga accepts the value of cosmic existence and holds it to be a
reality; its object is to enter into a higher Truth-Consciousness or
Divine Supramental Consciousness in which action and creation are the
expression not of ignorance and imperfection, but of the Truth, the
Light, the Divine Ananda (Bliss). But for that, the surrender of the
mortal mind, life and body to the Higher Consciousness is indispensable,
since it is too difficult for the mortal human being to pass by its own
effort beyond mind to a Supramental Consciousness in which the dynamism
is no longer mental but of quite another power. Only those who can
accept the call to such a change should enter into this yoga.
Sâdhanâ of the Integral Yoga
The Sâdhanâ [practice] of the Integral Yoga does not proceed through
any set mental teaching or prescribed forms of meditation, mantras or
others, but by aspiration, by a self-concentration inwards or upwards,
by a self-opening to an Influence, to the Divine Power above us and its
workings, to the Divine Presence in the heart and by the rejection of
all that is foreign to these things. It is only by faith, aspiration and
surrender that this self-opening can come.
Integral method
The method we have to pursue is to put our whole conscious being into
relation and contact with the Divine and to call Him in to transform our
entire being into His, so that in a sense God Himself, the real Person
in us, becomes the sâdhaka of the sâdhana* as well as the Master of the
Yoga by whom the lower personality is used as the centre of a divine
transfiguration and the instrument of its own perfection. In effect, the
pressure of the Tapas, the force of consciousness in us dwelling in the
Idea of the divine Nature upon that which we are in our entirety,
produces its own realisation. The divine and all-knowing and
all-effecting descends upon the limited and obscure, progressively
illumines and energises the whole lower nature and substitutes its own
action for all the terms of the inferior human light and mortal
activity.
* Sâdhana, the practice by which perfection, siddhi, is attained;
Sâdhaka, the Yogin who seeks by that practice the siddhi.
Aim of the Integral Yoga
It is not merely to rise out of the ordinary ignorant
world-consciousness into the divine consciousness, but to bring the
supramental power of that divine consciousness down into the ignorance
of mind, life and body, to transform them, to manifest the Divine here
and create a divine life in Matter.
Conditions of the Integral Yoga
This yoga can only be done to the end by those who are in total
earnest about it and ready to abolish their little human ego and its
demands in order to find themselves in the Divine. It cannot be done in
a spirit of levity or laxity; the work is too high and difficult, the
adverse powers in the lower Nature too ready to take advantage of the
least sanction or the smallest opening, the aspiration and tapasyâ
(concentration of the will) needed too constant and intense.
Method in the Integral Yoga
To concentrate, preferably in the heart and call the presence and
power of the Mother to take up the being and by the workings of her
force transform the consciousness. One can concentrate also in the head
or between the eye-brows, but for many this is a too difficult opening.
When the mind falls quiet and the concentration becomes strong and the
aspiration intense, then there is the beginning of experience. The more
the faith, the more rapid the result is likely to be. For the rest one
must not depend on one's own efforts only, but succeed in establishing a
contact with the Divine and a receptivity to the Mother's Power and
Presence.
Key-methods
The way to devotion and surrender.
It is the psychic movement that brings the constant and pure devotion
and the removal of the ego that makes it possible to surrender.
The way to knowledge
Meditation in the head by which there comes the opening above, the
quietude or silence of the mind and the descent of peace etc. of the
higher consciousness generally till it envelops the being and fills the
body and begins to take up all the movements.
Yoga by works
Separation of the Purusha from the Prakriti, the inner silent being
from the outer active one, so that one has two consciousness or a double
consciousness, one behind watching and observing and finally controlling
and changing the other which is active in front. The other way of
beginning the yoga of works is by doing them for the Divine, for the
Mother, and not for oneself, consecrating and dedicating them till one
concretely feels the Divine Force taking up the activities and doing
them for one.
Object of the Integral Yoga
The object of the Integral Yoga is to enter into and be possessed by
the Divine Presence and Consciousness, to love the Divine for the
Divine's sake alone, to be tuned in our nature into the nature of the
Divine, and in our will and works and life to be the instrument of the
Divine.
Principle of the Integral Yoga
The whole principle of Integral Yoga is to give oneself entirely to
the Divine alone and to nobody else, and to bring down into ourselves by
union with the Divine Mother all the transcendent light, power,
wideness, peace, purity, truth-consciousness and Ananda of the
Supramental Divine.
Fundamental realisations of the Integral Yoga
The psychic change so that a complete devotion can be the main motive
of the heart and the ruler of thought, life and action in constant union
with the Mother and in her Presence. The descent of the Peace, Power,
Light etc. of the Higher Consciousness through the head and heart into
the whole being, occupying the very cells of the body. The perception of
the One and Divine infinitely everywhere, the Mother everywhere and
living in that infinite consciousness.
From Dictionary of Sri Aurobindo's Yoga, compiled from the writings
of Sri Aurobindo by M. P. Pandit (Dipti Publications, Sri Aurobindo Ashram)
at the Auroville Web site, http://www.auroville.org/vision/integralyoga.htm
The Mother
Early years
Mirra Alfassa (Paris 21.2.1878 - Pondicherry 17.11.73) was born as
the second child of an Egyptian mother and a Turkish father, a few
months after her parents had settled in France. An extraordinarily
gifted child, who became an accomplished painter and musician, she had
many inner experiences from early childhood on. In her twenties she
studied occultism in Algeria with Max Theon and his English wife Alma,
who was a highly developed medium. After her return to Paris, the Mother
worked with several different groups of spiritual seekers.
Meeting Sri Aurobindo
She first heard of Sri Aurobindo from her friend Alexandra
David-Neel, who had visited him in Pondicherry in 1912; and in 1914,
along with her second husband Paul Richard, she was able to travel to
Pondicherry and meet him in person. There, she immediately recognised
him as a mentor she had encountered in earlier visions, and knew that
her future work was at his side. Although she had to leave India after
the outbreak of the First World War, first returning to France, and then
accompanying Richard to an official post in Japan, in April 1920 she
returned to join Sri Aurobindo in Pondicherry and never left again. Sri
Aurobindo recognised in her an embodiment of the dynamic expressive
aspect of evolutionary, creative Force, in India traditionally known and
approached as the 'Supreme Mother'.
Excerpted from the Auroville Web site, http://www.auroville.org/vision/ma.htm