{"id":1121,"date":"2013-07-13T01:32:41","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1121"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:32:41","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:41","slug":"04-synthetic-method-and-integral-yoga-vol-23-letters-on-yoga-volume-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/23-letters-on-yoga-volume-23\/04-synthetic-method-and-integral-yoga-vol-23-letters-on-yoga-volume-23","title":{"rendered":"-04_Synthetic Method and Integral Yoga.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\nS<\/font>ECTION<\/font>
\nT<\/font>WO<\/font><\/b> <\/font><\/p>\n


\nSynthetic Method and Integral Yoga<\/span><\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n


\n              A<\/font><\/b>S REGARDS<\/font> X’s question \u2013 this is not a
\nyoga of bhakti alone; it is or at least it claims to be an integral yoga, that
\nis, a turning of all the being in all its parts to the Divine. It follows that
\nthere must be knowledge and works as well as bhakti, and in addition, it
\nincludes a total change of the nature, a seeking for perfection, so that the
\nnature also may become one with the nature of the Divine. It is not only the
\nheart that has to turn to the Divine and change, but the mind also \u2013 so
\nknowledge is necessary, and the will and power of action and creation also \u2013 so
\nworks too are necessary. In this yoga the methods of other yogas are taken up \u2013
\nlike this of Purusha-Prakriti, but with a difference in the final object.
\nPurusha separates from Prakriti, not in order to abandon her, but in order to
\nknow himself and her and to be no longer her plaything, but the knower, lord and
\nupholder of the nature; but having become so or even in becoming so, one offers
\nall that to the Divine. One may begin with knowledge or with works or with
\nbhakti or with Tapasya of self-purification for perfection (change of nature) and
\ndevelop the rest as a subsequent movement or one may combine all in one
\nmovement. There is no single rule for all, it depends on the personality and
\nthe nature. Surrender is the main power of the yoga, but the surrender is bound
\nto be progressive; a complete surrender is not possible in the beginning, but
\nonly a will in the being for that completeness, \u2013 in fact it takes time; yet it
\nis only when the surrender is complete that the full flood of the sadhana is
\npossible. Till then there must be the personal effort with an increasing
\nreality of surrender. One calls in the power of the Divine Shakti and once that
\nbegins to come into the being, it at first supports the personal endeavour,
\nthen progressively takes up the whole action, although the consent of the
\nsadhak continues to be always necessary. As the Force works, it brings in the
\ndifferent processes that are necessary for the sadhak, processes of knowledge,
\nof bhakti, of spiritualised action, <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 525<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

of transformation of the nature.
\nThe idea that they cannot be combined is an error.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The object of the sadhana is
\nopening of the consciousness to the Divine and the change of the nature. Meditation
\nor contemplation is one means to this but only one means; bhakti is another;
\nwork is another. Chitta-shuddhi was preached by the yogins as a first means
\ntowards realisation and they got by it the saintliness of the saint and the
\nquietude of the sage but the transformation of the nature of which we speak is
\nsomething more than that, and this transformation does not come by contemplation
\nalone; works are necessary, yoga in action is indispensable.<\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The growth out of the ordinary
\nmind into the spiritual consciousness can be effected either by meditation,
\ndedicated work or bhakti for the Divine. In our yoga, which seeks not only a
\nstatic peace or absorption but a dynamic spiritual action, work is indispensable.
\nAs for the supramental Truth, that is a different matter; it depends only on
\nthe descent of the Divine and the action of the Supreme Force and is not bound
\nby any method or rule.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have never disputed the truth
\nof the old yogas \u2013 I have myself had the experience of Vaishnava Bhakti and of
\nNirvana in the Brahman; I recognise their truth in their own field and for
\ntheir own purpose \u2013 the truth of their experience so far as it goes \u2013 though I
\nam in no way bound to accept the truth of the mental philosophies founded on
\nthe experience. I similarly find that my yoga is true in its own field \u2013 a
\nlarger field, as I think \u2013 and for its own purpose. The purpose of the old is
\nto get away from life to the Divine \u2013 so, obviously, let us drop Karma. The
\npurpose of the new is to reach the Divine and bring the fullness of what is
\ngained into life \u2013 for that, yoga by works is indispensable. It seems to me
\nthat there is no mystery about that or anything to <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 526<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

perplex anybody \u2013 it is rational
\nand inevitable. Only you say that the thing is impossible; but that is what is
\nsaid about everything before it is done. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I may point out
\nthat Karmayoga is not a new but a very old yoga; the Gita was not written
\nyesterday and Karmayoga existed before the Gita. Your idea that the only
\njustification in the Gita for works is that it is an unavoidable nuisance, so better
\nmake the best use of it, is rather summary and crude. If that were all, the
\nGita would be the production of an imbecile and I would hardly have been
\njustified in writing two volumes on it or the world in admiring it as one of
\nthe greatest scriptures, especially for its treatment of the problem of the
\nplace of works in spiritual endeavour. There is surely more in it than that.
\nAnyhow, your doubt whether works can lead to realisation or rather your flat
\nand sweeping denial of the possibility contradicts the experience of those who
\nhave achieved this supposed impossibility. You say that work lowers the consciousness,
\nbrings you out of the inner into the outer \u2013 yes, if you consent to externalise
\nyourself in it instead of doing works from within; but that is what one has to
\nlearn not to do. Thought and feeling can also externalise one in the same way;
\nbut it is a question of linking thought, feeling and act firmly to the inner
\nconsciousness by living there and making the rest an instrument. Difficult?
\nEven Bhakti is not easy and Nirvana for most men more difficult than all. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do not know
\nwhy you drag in humanitarianism, activism, philanthropical sevā<\/i>, etc. None of these are part of my yoga or in harmony
\nwith my definition of works, so they don’t touch me. I never thought that
\npolitics or feeding the poor or writing beautiful poems would lead straight to
\nVaikuntha or the Absolute. If it were so, Romesh Dutt on one side and
\nBaudelaire on the other would be the first to attain the Highest and welcome us
\nthere. It is not the form of the work itself or mere activity but the
\nconsciousness and Godward will behind it that are the essence of Karmayoga; the
\nwork is only the necessary instrumentation for the union with the Master of
\nworks, the transit to the pure Will and power of Light from the will and power
\nof the Ignorance. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Finally, why
\nsuppose that I am against meditation or <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 527<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

bhakti? I have not the slightest
\nobjection to your taking either or both as the means of approach to the Divine.
\nOnly I saw no reason why anyone should fall foul of works and deny the truth of
\nthose who have reached, as the Gita says, through works perfect realisation and
\noneness of nature with the Divine, samsiddhim<\/i>
\nsādharmyam<\/i> (as did Janaka and
\nothers) \u2013 simply because he himself cannot find or has not yet found their
\ndeeper secret \u2013 hence my defence of works.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do not mean by work action done
\nin the ego and the ignorance, for the satisfaction of the ego and in the drive
\nof rajasic desire. There can be no Karmayoga without the will to get rid of
\nego, rajas and desire, which are the seals of ignorance. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do not mean
\nphilanthropy or the service of humanity or all the rest of the things \u2013 moral
\nor idealistic \u2013 which the mind of man substitutes for the deeper truth of
\nworks. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I mean by work
\naction done for the Divine and more and more in union with the Divine \u2013 for the
\nDivine alone and nothing else. Naturally that is not easy at the beginning, any
\nmore than deep meditation and luminous knowledge are easy or even true love and
\nbhakti are easy. But like the others it has to be begun in the right spirit and
\nattitude, with the right will in you, then all the rest will come. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Works done in
\nthis spirit are quite as effective as bhakti or contemplation. One gets by the
\nrejection of desire, rajas and ego a quietude and purity into which the Peace
\nineffable can descend; one gets by the dedication of one’s will to the Divine, by
\nthe merging of one’s will in the Divine Will the death of ego and the enlarging
\ninto the cosmic consciousness or else the uplifting into what is above the
\ncosmic; one experiences the separation of Purusha from Prakriti and is
\nliberated from the shackles of the outer nature; one becomes aware of one’s inner
\nbeing and sees the outer as an instrument; one feels the universal Force doing
\none’s works and the Self or Purusha watching or witness but free; one feels all
\none’s works taken from one and done by the universal or supreme Mother or by
\nthe Divine Power<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 528<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

controlling and acting from
\nbehind the heart. By constant referring of all one’s will and works to the
\nDivine, love and adoration grow, the psychic being comes forward. By the
\nreference to the Power above, we can come to feel it above and its descent and
\nthe opening to an increasing consciousness and knowledge. Finally, works,
\nbhakti and knowledge go together and self-perfection becomes possible \u2013 what we
\ncall the transformation of the nature. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These results
\ncertainly do not come all at once; they come more or less slowly, more or less
\ncompletely according to the condition and growth of the being. There is no
\nroyal road to the divine realisation. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is the
\nKarmayoga laid down in the Gita as I have developed it for the integral
\nspiritual life. It is founded not on speculation and reasoning but on
\nexperience. It does not exclude meditation and certainly does not exclude
\nbhakti, for the self-offering to the Divine, the consecration of all oneself to
\nthe Divine which is the essence of this Karmayoga are essentially a movement of
\nbhakti. Only it does exclude a life-fleeing exclusive meditation or an
\nemotional bhakti shut up in its own inner dream taken as the whole movement of
\nthe yoga. One may have hours of pure absorbed meditation or of the inner
\nmotionless adoration and ecstasy, but they are not the whole of the integral
\nyoga.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have never put any ban on
\nbhakti. Also I am not conscious of having banned meditation either at any time.
\nI have stressed both bhakti and knowledge in my yoga as well as works, even if
\nI have not given any of them an exclusive importance like Shankara or
\nChaitanya. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The difficulty
\nyou feel or any sadhak feels about sadhana is not really a question of
\nmeditation versus bhakti versus works. It is a difficulty of the attitude to be
\ntaken, the approach or whatever you may like to call it. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you can’t as
\nyet remember the Divine all the time you are working, it does not greatly
\nmatter. To remember and dedicate at the beginning and give thanks at the end
\nought to be enough for the present. Or at the most to remember too when there
\nis a <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 529<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

pause. Your method seems to me
\nrather painful and difficult, \u2013 you seem to be trying to remember and work with
\none and the same part of the mind. I don’t know if that is possible. When
\npeople remember all the time during work (it can be done), it is usually with
\nthe back of their minds or else there is created gradually a faculty of double
\nthought or else a double consciousness \u2013 one in front that works, and one
\nwithin that witnesses and remembers. There is also another way which was mine
\nfor a long time \u2013 a condition in which the work takes place automatically and
\nwithout intervention of personal thought or mental action, while the
\nconsciousness remains silent in the Divine. The thing, however, does not come
\nso much by trying as by a very simple constant aspiration and will of
\nconsecration v or else by a movement of the consciousness separating the inner
\nfrom the instrumental being. Aspiration and will of consecration calling down a
\ngreater Force to do the work is a method which brings great results, even if in
\nsome it takes a long time about it. That is a great secret of sadhana, to know
\nhow to get things done by the Power behind or above instead of doing all by the
\nmind’s effort. I don’t mean to say that the mind’s effort is unnecessary or has
\nno result \u2013 only if it tries to do everything by itself, that becomes a
\nlaborious effort for all except the spiritual athletes. Nor do I mean that the
\nother method is the longed-for short cut; the result may, as I have said, take
\na long time. Patience and firm resolution are necessary in every method of
\nsadhana. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Strength is all
\nright for the strong \u2013 but aspiration and the Grace answering to it are not
\naltogether myths; they are great realities of the spiritual life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The including of the outer
\nconsciousness in the transformation is of supreme importance in this yoga \u2013 meditation
\ncannot do it. Meditation can deal only with the inner being. So work is of
\nprimary importance \u2013 only it must be done with the right attitude and in the
\nright consciousness, then it is as fruitful as any meditation can be.  <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 530<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

To keep up work helps to keep up
\nthe balance between the internal experience and the external development;
\notherwise one-sidedness and want of measure and balance may develop. Moreover,
\nit is necessary to keep the sadhana of work for the Divine because in the end
\nthat enables the sadhak to bring out the inner progress into the external
\nnature and life and helps the integrality of the sadhana.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is no stage of the sadhana
\nin which works are impossible, no passage in the path where there is no
\nfoothold and action has to be renounced as incompatible with concentration on
\nthe Divine. The foothold is there always; the foothold is the reliance on the
\nDivine, the opening of the being, the will, the energies to the Divine, the
\nsurrender to the Divine. All work done in that spirit can be made a means for
\nthe sadhana. It may be necessary for an individual here and there to plunge
\ninto meditation for a time and suspend work for that time or make it
\nsubordinate; but that can only be an individual case and a temporary
\nretirement. Moreover, a complete cessation of work and entire withdrawal into
\noneself is seldom advisable; it may encourage a too one-sided and visionary
\ncondition in which one lives in a sort of mid-world of purely subjective experiences
\nwithout a firm hold on either external reality or on the highest Reality and
\nwithout the right use of the subjective experience to create a firm link and
\nthen a unification between the highest Reality and the external realisation in
\nlife. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Work can be of
\ntwo kinds \u2013 the work that is a field of experience used for the sadhana, for a
\nprogressive harmonisation and transformation of the being and its activities,
\nand work that is a realised expression of the Divine. But the time for the latter
\ncan be only when the Realisation has been fully brought down into the
\nearth-consciousness; till then all work must be a field of endeavour and a
\nschool of experience.<\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Work by itself is only a
\npreparation, so is meditation by itself, <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 531<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

but work done in the increasing
\nyogic consciousness is a means of realisation as much as meditation is…. I
\nhave not said, I hope, that work only prepares. Meditation also prepares for
\nthe direct contact. If we are to do work only as a preparation and then become
\nmotionless meditative ascetics, then all my spiritual teaching is false and
\nthere is no use for supramental realisation or anything else that has not been
\ndone in the past…. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The ignorance
\nunderlying this attitude is in the assumption that one must necessarily do only
\nwork or only meditation. Either work is the means or meditation is the means,
\nbut both cannot be! I have never said, so far as I know, that meditation should
\nnot be done. To set up an open competition or a closed one between work and
\nmeditation is a trick of the dividing mind and belongs to the old yoga. Please
\nremember that I have been declaring all along an integral yoga in which\u00a0 <\/span>Knowledge, Bhakti, Works \u2013 light of
\nconsciousness, Ananda and love, will and power in works \u2013 meditation,
\nadoration, service of the Divine have all their place. Meditation is not
\ngreater than yoga of works nor works greater than yoga by knowledge \u2013 both are
\nequal. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Another thing \u2013 it
\nis a mistake to argue from one’s own very limited experience, ignoring that of
\nothers and build on it large generalisations about yoga. This is what many do,
\nbut the method has obvious demerits. You have no experience of major
\nrealisations through works, and you conclude that such realisations are
\nimpossible. But what of the many who have had them \u2013 elsewhere and here too in
\nthe Ashram? <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Don’t conclude
\nhowever that I am exalting works as the sole means of realisation. I am only
\ngiving it its due place.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You forget that men differ in
\nnature and therefore each will approach the sadhana in his own way \u2013 one
\nthrough work, one through bhakti, one through meditation and knowledge \u2013 and
\nthose who are capable of it, through all together. You are perfectly justified
\nin following your own way, whatever may be the theories of others \u2013 but let
\nthem follow theirs. In the end all <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 532<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

can converge together towards the
\nsame goal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What you felt before was in your
\nmental being and consciousness, after coming here you have evidently come out
\ninto your external and physical consciousness, that is why you feel as if all
\nyou had before was gone. It is only covered over by the obscurity of the physical
\nconsciousness and not gone. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for sadhana,
\nI presume you mean by that some kind of exercise of concentration etc. For work
\nalso is sadhana, if done in the right attitude and spirit. The sadhana of inner
\nconcentration consists in:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. Fixing the consciousness
\nin the heart and concentrating there on the idea, image or name of the Divine
\nMother, whichever comes easiest to you.<\/p>\n

2. A gradual and
\nprogressive quieting of the mind by this concentration in the heart.<\/p>\n

3. An aspiration
\nfor the Mother’s presence in the heart and the control by her of mind, life and
\naction.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But to quiet the
\nmind and get the spiritual experience it is necessary first to purify and
\nprepare the nature. This sometimes takes many years. Work done with the right
\nattitude is the easiest means for that \u2013 i.e. work done without desire or ego,
\nrejecting all movements of desire, demand or ego when they come, done as an
\noffering to the Divine Mother, with the remembrance of her and prayer to her to
\nmanifest her force and take up the action so that there too and not only in inner
\nsilence you can feel her presence and working.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prayer and meditation count for
\nso much in yoga. But the prayer must well up from the heart on a crest of
\nemotion or aspiration, the Japa or meditation come in a live push carrying the
\njoy or the light of the thing in it. If done mechanically and merely as a thing
\nthat ought to be done (stern grim duty!), it must tend towards want of interest
\nand dryness and so be\u00a0 <\/span>ineffective….\u00a0 <\/span>You were doing Japa too much as a means for
\nbringing about a <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 533<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

result, I meant too much as a
\ndevice, a process laid down for getting the thing done. That was why I wanted
\nthe psychological conditions in you to develop, the psychic, the mental, for
\nwhen the psychic is forward, there is no lack of life and joy in the prayer,
\nthe aspiration, the seeking, no difficulty in having the constant stream of bhakti and when the mind is quiet and in-turned and upturned there is no
\ndifficulty or want of interest in meditation. Meditation, by the way, is a
\nprocess leading towards knowledge and through knowledge, it is a thing of the
\nhead and not of the heart, so if you want dhyāna<\/i>,
\nyou can’t have an aversion to knowledge. Concentration in the heart is not
\nmeditation, it is a call on the Divine, on the Beloved. This yoga too is not a
\nyoga of knowledge alone, knowledge is one of its means, but its base being
\nself-offering, surrender, bhakti, it is based in the heart and nothing can be
\neventually done without this base. There are plenty of people here who do or
\nhave done Japa and base themselves on bhakti, very few comparatively who have
\ndone the \u201chead\u201d meditation; love and bhakti and works are usually the base; how
\nmany can proceed by knowledge? Only the few.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I was quite in earnest in
\nspeaking of the progress you had made by the psychic movement and the endeavour
\nto detect and remove the ego. I had already written to you strongly approving
\nof that way. It is in our yoga the way to devotion and surrender \u2013 for it is
\nthe psychic movement that brings the constant and pure devotion and the removal
\nof ego that makes it possible to surrender. The two things indeed go together. The
\nother way, which is the way to knowledge, is the meditation in the head by
\nwhich there comes the opening above, the quietude or silence of the mind and
\nthe descent of peace, etc. of the higher consciousness generally till it
\nenvelops the being and fills the body and begins to take up all the movements.
\nBut this involves a passage through silence and certain emptiness of the
\nordinary activities \u2013 they being pushed out and done as a purely superficial
\naction \u2013 and you strongly dislike silence and emptiness. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 534<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

The third way
\nwhich is one of the two ways towards yoga by works is the separation of the
\nPurusha from the Prakriti, the inner silent being from the outer active one, so
\nthat one has two consciousnesses or a double consciousness, one behind watching
\nand observing and finally controlling and changing the other which is active in
\nfront. But this also means living in an inner peace and silence and dealing
\nwith the activities as if they were a thing of the surface. The other way of
\nbeginning the yoga of works is by doing them for the Divine, for the Mother,
\nand not for oneself, consecrating and dedicating them till one concretely feels
\nthe Divine Force taking up the activities and doing them for one. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If there is any
\nsecret or key of my yoga which you say you have not found, it lies in these
\nmethods\u2014and, in reality, there is nothing so mysterious, impossible or even new
\nabout them in themselves. It is only the farther development at a later stage
\nand the aim of the yoga that are new. But that one need not concern oneself
\nwith in the earlier stages unless one wishes to do so as a matter of mental
\nknowledge.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Meditation is one means of
\napproach to the Divine and a great way, but it cannot be called a short cut \u2013 for
\nmost it is a long and most difficult though a very high ascent. It can by no
\nmeans be short unless it brings a descent, and even then it is only a
\nfoundation that is quickly laid; afterwards meditation has to build laboriously
\na big superstructure on that foundation. It is very indispensable but there is
\nnothing of the short about it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Karma is a much
\nsimpler road provided one’s mind is not fixed on the Karma to the exclusion of
\nthe Divine. The aim must be the Divine and the work can only be a means. The
\nuse of poetry etc. is to keep one in contact with one’s inner being and that
\nhelps to prepare for the direct contact with the inmost, but one must not stop
\nwith that, one must go on to the real thing. If one thinks of being a literary
\nman or a poet or a painter as things worthwhile for their own sake, then it is
\nno longer the yogic spirit. That is why I have sometimes to say that <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 535<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

our business is to be yogis, not
\nmerely poets, painters, etc.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Love, bhakti,
\nsurrender, the psychic opening are the only short cuts to the Divine \u2013 or can
\nbe; for if the love and bhakti are too vital, then there is likely to be a
\nseesaw between ecstatic expectation and Viraha, Abhiman, despair, etc., which makes
\nnot a short cut but a long one, a zigzag \u2013 not a straight flight \u2013 a whirling
\nround one’s own ego instead of a running towards the Divine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have always said that work done
\nas sadhana \u2013 done, that is to say, as an outflow of energy from the Divine and
\noffered to the Divine or work done for the sake of the Divine or work done in a
\nspirit of devotion is a powerful means of sadhana and that such work is
\nespecially necessary in this yoga. Work, bhakti and meditation are the three
\nsupports of yoga. One can do with all three or two or one. There are people who
\ncan’t meditate in the set way that one calls meditation, but they progress through
\nwork or through bhakti or through the two together. By work and bhakti one can
\ndevelop a consciousness in which eventually a natural meditation and
\nrealisation becomes possible.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All that is
\nquite different from X’s idea of making oneself virtuous and self-controlled
\nand pure by some mysterious innate power in the pursuit of literature. If he
\nhad asked me the question about work and sadhana, I would have answered him
\notherwise. Of course literature and art are or can be a first introduction to
\nthe inner being \u2013 the inner mind, inner vital; for it is from there that they
\ncome. And if one writes poems of bhakti, poems of divine seeking, etc. or
\ncreates music of that kind, it means that there is a bhakta or seeker inside
\nwho is supporting himself by that self-expression. But it was not from any
\npoint of view like that that X put his question and it was not from that point
\nof view that I gave my answer. It was about some especial character-making
\nvirtue that he seemed to attribute to literature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is altogether unprofitable to
\nenquire who or what class will <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 536<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

arrive first or last at the goal.
\nThe spiritual path is not a field of competition or a race that this should
\nmatter. What matters is one’s own aspiration for the Divine, one’s own faith,
\nsurrender, selfless self-giving. Others can be left to the Divine who will lead
\neach according to his nature. Meditation, work, bhakti are each means of
\npreparative help towards fulfilment; all are included in this path. If one can
\ndedicate oneself through work, that is one of the most powerful means towards
\nthe self-giving which is itself the most powerful and indispensable element of
\nthe sadhana.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To cleave to the
\npath means to follow it without leaving it or turning aside. It is a path of
\nself-offering of the whole being in all its parts, the offering of the thinking
\nmind and the heart, the will and actions, the inner and the outer instruments so
\nthat one may arrive at the experience of the Divine, the Presence within, the
\npsychic and spiritual change. The more one gives of oneself in all ways, the
\nbetter for the sadhana. But all cannot do it to the same extent, with the same
\nrapidity, in the same way. How others do it or fail to do it should not be
\none’s concern \u2013 how to do it faithfully oneself is the one thing important.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To say that one enters the stream
\nof sadhana through work only is to say too much. One can enter it through
\nmeditation or bhakti also, but work is necessary to get into full stream and
\nnot drift away to one side and go circling there. Of course all work helps
\nprovided it is done in the right spirit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are several sadhaks who
\nhave advanced very far by work alone, work consecrated to the Mother or else by
\nwork mainly with very little time for meditation. Others have advanced far by
\nmeditation mainly, but work also. Those who tried to do meditation alone and
\nbecame impatient of work (because they could not consecrate it to the Mother)
\nhave generally been failures like X and Y. But one or two may succeed by
\nmeditation alone, if it is in their nature or if they have an intense <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 537<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

and unshakable faith and bhakti.
\nAll depends on the nature of the sadhak.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for the purātan<\/i> mānuş<\/i> I do not see that the workers have their external
\nbeing less changed than others. There are some who are where they were or only
\na little progressive, there are others who have changed a great deal \u2013 none is transformed
\naltogether, though some have found a sure and sound spiritual and psychic
\nbasis. But that applies equally to workers who do not spend time in meditation
\nand to those who spend a long time in meditation. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Each sadhak must
\nbe left to himself and the Mother to find his right way which need not be that
\nof his neighbour.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for the line on which most
\nstress is laid, it depends on the nature. There are some people who are not cut
\nout for meditation and it is only by work that they can prepare themselves;
\nthere are also those who are the opposite. As for the enormous development of
\negoism, that can come whatever one follows. I have seen it blossom in the dhyānī<\/i> as well as in the
\nworker; X says it does so in the bhakta. So it is evident that all soils are
\nfavourable to this Narcissus flower. As for \u201cno need of sadhana\u201d, obviously one
\nwho does not do any sadhana cannot change or progress. Work, meditation,
\nbhakti, all must be done as sadhana.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why argue from your personal
\nexperience, great or little, and turn it into a generalisation? A great many
\npeople (the majority perhaps) find it (sadhana through work) the easiest of
\nall. Many find it easy to think of the Mother when working; but when they read
\nor write, their mind goes off to the thing read or written and they forget
\neverything else. I think that is the case with most. Physical work on the other
\nhand can be done with the most external part of the mind, leaving the rest free
\nto remember or to experience. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 538<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

What do you call meditation?
\nShutting the eyes and concentrating? It is only one method for calling down the
\ntrue consciousness. To join with the true consciousness or feel its descent is the
\nonly thing important and if it comes without the orthodox method, as it always
\ndid with me, so much the better. Meditation is only a means or device, the true
\nmovement is when even walking, working or speaking one is still in sadhana.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is not meditation (thinking
\nwith the mind) but a concentration or turning of the consciousness that is
\nimportant,\u2014and that can happen in work, in writing, in any kind of action as
\nwell as in sitting down to contemplate.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Meditation is best when it comes
\nspontaneously. But there should be full concentration in the work if it is to
\ntake the place of meditation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You need not have qualms about
\nthe time you give to action and creative work. Those who have an expansive
\ncreative vital or a vital made for action are usually at their best when the
\nvital is not held back from its movement and they can develop faster by it than
\nby introspective meditation. All that is needed is that the action should be
\ndedicated, so that they may grow by it more and more prepared to feel and
\nfollow the Divine Force when it moves them. It is a mistake to think that to
\nlive in introspective meditation all the time is invariably the best or the
\nonly way of yoga.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then how is it [meditation]
\nnecessary for all, if some are asked not to do it? Much meditation is for those
\nwho can meditate much. It does not follow that because much meditation is <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 539<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

good, therefore nobody should do
\nanything else.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have not suggested that you are
\nto progress by dhyāna<\/i> alone; but
\nyou have a great capacity for that and you cannot progress fully without it. In
\nthis yoga some kind of action is necessary for all \u2013 though it need not take
\nthe form of some set labour. But for the moment progress through concentration
\nand inner experience is the first necessity for you. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is what we
\ncall the activity of the mind, which always comes in the way of the
\nconcentration and tries to create doubt and dispersion of the energies. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIt can be got rid
\nof in two ways, by rejecting it and pushing it out, till it remains as an
\noutside force only \u2013 by bringing down the higher peace and light into the
\nphysical mind.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He has to learn to consecrate his
\nwork and feel the Mother’s power working through it. A purely sedentary
\nsubjective realisation is only a half realisation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I may stress one point, however,
\nthat there need not be only one way to the realisation of the Divine. If one
\ndoes not succeed or has not yet succeeded in reaching him, feeling him or
\nseeing him by the established process of meditation or by processes like japa,
\nyet one may have made progress towards it by the frequent calling of bhakti in
\nthe heart or a constantly greater enlargement of it in the consciousness or by
\nwork for the Divine and by dedication in service. You have certainly progressed
\nin these directions, increased in devotion and shown your capacity for service.
\nYou have also tried to get rid of obstacles in your vital nature and so effect
\na purification not without success in several difficult directions. The path of
\nsurrender is indeed difficult, but if one perseveres in it with sincerity,
\nthere is bound to be some <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 540<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

success and a partial overcoming
\nor diminution of the ego which may help greatly a further advance upon the way.
\nOne must learn to go forward on the path of yoga, as the Gita insists, with a
\nconsciousness free from despondency −\u00a0<\/span>anirviņņacetasā<\/i>.
\nEven if one slips, one must rectify the posture; even if one falls, one has to
\nrise and go undiscouraged on the Divine Way.
\nThe attitude must be:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Divine has
\npromised Himself to me if I cleave to Him always; that I will never cease to do
\nwhatever may come.\u201d <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sadhana is the practice of yoga.
\nTapasya is the concentration of the will to get the results of sadhana and to
\nconquer the lower nature. Aradhana is worship of the Divine, love,
\nself-surrender, aspiration to the Divine, calling the name, prayer. Dhyana is
\ninner concentration of the consciousness, meditation, going inside in Samadhi.
\nDhyana, Tapasya and Aradhana are all parts of sadhana. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 541<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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