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Introduction
There is a lot of talk about yoga, nowadays. It is
becoming a fashion to talk of yoga and especially Integral Yoga. What does it ‘really correspond to in our head’ when we speak of yoga?
For most, both in the West and the East, it is primarily Asanas – Hathayoga Asanas.
For those who have read a bit the literature of yoga, make it their ‘final goal of life’.
But what do they expect from this goal? Some say they want to know themselves, others want to know the truth of their being: Why are we born and what
should we do? Still others want to help humanity. Basically, at the back of their mind what they have is ‘the idea that they’ll become superior to others, will get a greater power than others and consequently
dominate others’ in the form of Gurus or spiritual masters, cult-figures – a hundred different names to hide one’s ambitions for power. People mix up yoga with the fulfilment of one’s hidden ambition. They borrow some spiritual jargon, they imitate what other genuine spiritual leaders do, they take up philosophies and ideas and put on them their own stamp to make themselves more marketable. A hundred different ways to hide one’s sweet ambitions!
But Integral Yoga is not interested in these ambitions for power. Integral yoga is done for the sake of the Divine – primarily and ultimately. For the
seeker of Integral Yoga, yoga is not the aim or goal of life – it is the only way to live, the true way of life.
Aspiration
The very starting point of Integral Yoga is aspiration – that is when one has a kind of vague sensation that ‘behind the universe there is
something worth knowing, which is probably the only thing worth living for. To know that, not to live in this perpetual falsehood where things are so perverted and artificial… that would be the true beginning of
spiritual life.’
This, at a deeper level, as described by The Mother, is to find the Divine and live it. We must feel at the same time that the thing is so
precious, so important that your entire life is not sufficient for aspiring it. The inner zeal must be to belong to this marvellous thing, this beautiful consciousness and not live for the sake of oneself, one’s
personal and petty satisfaction.
For such a living, the second step is to become conscious of oneself, of the different parts in one’s being and their respective activities.
‘You must learn to distinguish these parts one from one another, so that you may become clearly aware of the origin of the movements that are right and wrong, true and false, egoistic and non-egoistic movements and
the many impulses and reactions, that drive us. With this awareness concentrate in the heart and offer all your movements at that heart centre which is the seat of inner being,’ advises The Mother.
Effort
This must be the first aim of Integral Yoga - to gain control of and mastery over oneself. And this can be achieved not through any
particular activity or activities. It can be done through all works and in all situations of life: All life is yoga.
Actually, the occult truth of all works is that it is the effort which gives joy. Effort makes the being vibrate at a certain degree of
tension which makes it possible for one to feel the joy. Whatever the field-material, moral, intellectual, which creates these vibrations enables one to get connected with universal vibrations – and it is this
contact that gives one joy. This applies to all – even those who do not practise yoga, who lead an ordinary life. It is the exchange of forces with universal forces that gives joy.
For example, take a writer, says The Mother. The efforts put in to the best of his ability, bring this contact and the writer attracts new
ideas. This concentration, this intensity of will lies at the origin of joy. Therefore those who are lazy will never find this joy – they do not have ‘the strength to be joyful’!
Fourfold Discipline
But in Integral Yoga this contact in work is not done with the universal forces but with a Universal Consciousness, the Divine Being. And
this contact can be done by means of a fourfold discipline:
- Psychic Discipline: ‘Psyche is the psychological centre of our being, the seat of highest truth of our existence. There have been many methods in
the past, which were suggested for a psychic contact: psychological, religious, mechanical. Also, through meditation, revelation, and concentration. But one thing indispensable is the will to realise it.
- Mental Discipline: To widen it, and to make it supple and profound. The best way, suggested by The Mother, is that of Thesis – Antithesis –
Synthesis. One must not allow the mind to judge things and people for it is not an instrument of knowledge. It has to be silent and attentive to receive knowledge from above and manifest it. Try to look and
understand from another’s view and also try to find solutions which reasonably satisfy both parties, advises The Mother.
- Vital Discipline: Vital is the seat of impulsions, desires, enthusiasm, depressions, passions and revolts. It has to be controlled but not
suppressed. The best way to control it is to keep close to the consciousness of the ideal that has to be realised.
- Physical Discipline: ‘By a rational and discerning physical education, to make body strong and supple enough to become a fit instrument in the
material world. Not to be a slave of mind’s ambitions and vital’s forces but to be a conscious master of its own.’
If these four disciplines are practised on a daily basis, one can gradually move closer to one’s inner being. One can contact the
representative of the Divine within oneself.
The Integral Yoga is the Yoga of Sri Aurobindo. And if one wants to proceed and succeed in Integral Yoga there is no alternative and
substitute to The Mother. People consider Her as a Divine Consciousness, a Divine Power and then on the daily basis bring in other influences and other gurus. But, we must remember that The Mother is a
transformative power and Integral Yoga cannot be done without Her. Any other yoga could succeed with or without the help of any guru – but the Integral Yoga cannot succeed without Her. So, people have the option to
do what they want, but in the name of Integral Yoga let us not make any compromises either because of the fear of society, the government, the law of the country or religious resistance. Either we accept Integral
Yoga and all its ingredients squarely and fully or we do not take it up at all.
Each guru has its own approach – but in Integral Yoga there is no human substitute to Mother and Sri Aurobindo. People may do all kinds of
things in Their name and with their philosophy, but none has the sanction to act on Their behalf. Each guru is free to act on the strength or weakness of his capacity and each disciple has the choice to choose his
master. But let us not dilute or misinterpret the Integral Yoga. We may not be able to follow it, we may not be able to understand it in all its shades and depth, but let us not manipulate it to suit it to our own
ego purposes.
Nature - Soul
It is the development of the individual soul by the process of self-surrender to The Mother and Sri Aurobindo and to manifest Their will in our works
is the aim and object of Integral yoga. All other aims are only scaffoldings on the way to the ascent or descent. Often times, because of the individual ego’s follies and desires and ambitions, the psyche may
suffer, but in due course it is bound to return to take hold on our being. Similarly on the collective level the nation – every nation has a soul – may blunder, but it does not mean that it cannot go through the
process of catharsis and come back to express its mission in the harmony and unity of the world nations. India, because of its rigidity of mind and old thinking refused the Cripps Proposal. Now, the partition weighs
heavy on the Psyche of the Indian nation. But, there is similarly a move towards a greater inner and outer development in India.
Alike, the nation-soul of Germany – there cannot be a country without a soul, just as there cannot be a human body without a soul – which had denied
its own soul in the past century, can be cleansed of its war-scars and move forward. For this, for its psyche or nation-soul to come to terms with itself, it need not dwell in its past – for its past karma has been
already absorbed by Sri Aurobindo and The Mother – but it must move into the future with faith and vision. It must participate in the evolutionary call towards a greater world-union. Or else, it may make a blunder
of denying its soul once again. Those who have trouble in identifying themselves with the German nation-soul may look into its ancient past and there you’ll find the proud mission of its soul, a soul that has done a
lot of insearching. This is what Sri Aurobindo had taught the Indian youth when India’s identity was in crisis during the British rule – to bring out the nation-soul in a new body. Thus Germany’s nation-soul must
re-incarnate with a new form. For this a new vision is needed, that which will emancipate it. And that vision is eminently Sri Aurobindo’s.
I am dwelling on all this because I have a feeling that unless some of these cobwebs are not burnt off from the youth of Germany, they may not be able
to take up Integral Yoga fearlessly and integrally. The seeking soul in the youth may seek out in confusion lesser goals and ideals than Integral Yoga if this fear-psychosis lasts. So, in Germany, it is of utmost
importance, that its youth looks into its own true identity first in order to identify themselves with the true soul of their nation. In discovering themselves, they will re-discover their great nation: Germany!
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