{"id":1237,"date":"2013-07-13T01:33:28","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1237"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:33:28","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:33:28","slug":"20-the-elements-of-perfection-vol-21-the-synthesis-of-yoga-volume-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/21-the-synthesis-of-yoga-volume-21\/20-the-elements-of-perfection-vol-21-the-synthesis-of-yoga-volume-21","title":{"rendered":"-20_The Elements of Perfection.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\nChapter X<\/span><\/font><\/b> <\/font><\/p>\n

The
\nElements of Perfection<\/span><\/font><\/b> <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

W<\/font><\/b>HEN<\/font>
\nthe self is purified of the wrong and confused action of the instrumental
\nNature and liberated into its self-existent being, consciousness, power and
\nbliss and the Nature itself liberated from the tangle of this lower action of
\nthe struggling gunas and the dualities into the high truth of the divine calm
\nand the divine action, then spiritual perfection becomes possible. Purification
\nand freedom are the indispensable antecedents of perfection. A spiritual
\nself-perfection can only mean a growing into oneness with the nature of divine
\nbeing, and therefore according to our conception of divine being will be the aim,
\neffort and method of our seeking after this perfection. To the Mayavadin the
\nhighest or rather the only real truth of being is the impassive, impersonal,
\nself-aware Absolute and therefore to grow into an impassive calm, impersonality
\nand pure self-awareness of spirit is his idea of perfection and a rejection of
\ncosmic and individual being and a settling into silent self-knowledge is his
\nway. To the Buddhist for whom the highest truth is a negation of being, a
\nrecognition of the impermanence and sorrow of being and the disastrous nullity
\nof desire and a dissolution of egoism, of the upholding associations of the
\nIdea and the successions of Karma are the perfect way. Other ideas of the
\nHighest are less negative; each according to its own idea leads towards some
\nlikeness to the Divine, sādŗśya<\/i><\/span>,
\nand each finds its own way, such as the love and worship of the Bhakta and the
\ngrowing into the likeness of the Divine by love. But for the integral Yoga
\nperfection will mean a divine spirit and a divine nature which will admit of a
\ndivine relation and action in the world; it will mean also in its entirety a
\ndivinising of the whole nature, a rejection of all its wrong knots of being and
\naction, but no rejection of any part of our being or of any field of our
\naction. The approach to perfection must be therefore a large and com- <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 664<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

plex<\/span>
\nmovement and its results and workings will have an infinite and varied scope.
\nWe must fix in order to find a clue and method on certain essential and
\nfundamental elements and requisites of perfection, siddhi<\/i>; for if these are secured, all the rest will be found to be
\nonly their natural development or particular working. We may cast these
\nelements into six divisions, interdependent on each other to a great extent but
\nstill in a certain way naturally successive in their order of attainment. The
\nmovement will start from a basic equality of the soul and mount to an ideal
\naction of the Divine through our perfected being in the largeness of the
\nBrahmic unity.<\/p>\n

The first
\nnecessity is some fundamental poise of the soul both in its essential and its
\nnatural being regarding and meeting the things, impacts and workings of Nature.
\nThis poise we shall arrive at by growing into a perfect equality, samatā<\/i><\/span>. The self,
\nspirit or Brahman is one in all and therefore one to all; it is, as is said in
\nthe Gita which has developed fully this idea of equality and indicated its
\nexperience on at least one side of equality, the equal Brahman, samam<\/i><\/span> brahma<\/span><\/i>; the
\nGita even goes so far in one passage as to identify equality and yoga, samatvam<\/i><\/span> yoga ucyate<\/span><\/i>.
\nThat is to say, equality is the sign of unity with the Brahman, of becoming
\nBrahman, of growing into an undisturbed spiritual poise of being in the
\nInfinite. Its importance can hardly be exaggerated; for it is the sign of our
\nhaving passed beyond the egoistic determinations of our nature, of our having
\nconquered our enslaved response to the dualities, of our having transcended the
\nshifting turmoil of the gunas, of our having entered into the calm and peace of
\nliberation. Equality is a term of consciousness which brings into the whole of
\nour being and nature the eternal tranquillity of the Infinite. Moreover, it is
\nthe condition of a securely and perfectly divine action; the security and
\nlargeness of the cosmic action of the Infinite is based upon and never breaks
\ndown or forfeits its eternal tranquillity. That too must be the character of
\nthe perfect spiritual action; to be equal and one to all things in spirit, understanding,
\nmind, heart and natural consciousness, \u2013 even in the most physical consciousness,
\n\u2013 and to make all their workings, whatever their outward adaptation to the
\nthing to be done, always and imminuably<\/span> full of the
\ndivine
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 665<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

equality and calm must be its
\ninmost principle. That may be said to be the passive or basic, the fundamental
\nand receptive side of equality, but there is also an active and possessive side,
\nan equal bliss which can only come when the peace of equality is founded and
\nwhich is the beatific flower of its fullness.<\/p>\n

The next
\nnecessity of perfection is to raise all the active parts of the human nature to
\nthat highest condition and working pitch of their power and capacity, śakti<\/i><\/span>, at
\nwhich they become capable of being divinised into true instruments of the free,
\nperfect, spiritual and divine action. For practical purposes we may take the
\nunderstanding, the heart, the prana and the body as the four members of our
\nnature which have thus to be prepared, and we have to find the constituent
\nterms of their perfection. Also there is the dynamical force in us (vīrya<\/i><\/span>) of
\nthe temperament, character and soul nature, svabhāva<\/i><\/span>, which makes the
\npower of our members effective in action and gives them their type and
\ndirection; this has to be freed from its limitations, enlarged, rounded so that
\nthe whole manhood in us may become the basis of a divine manhood, when the Purusha,
\nthe real Man in us, the divine Soul, shall act fully in this human instrument
\nand shine fully through this human vessel. To divinise<\/span>
\nthe perfected nature we have to call in the divine Power or Shakti to replace
\nour limited human energy so that this may be shaped into the image of and
\nfilled with the force of a greater infinite energy, daivī<\/i><\/span> prakŗti<\/span>, bhāgavatī<\/span>
\nśakti<\/span><\/i>. This perfection will grow in the
\nmeasure in which we can surrender ourselves, first, to the guidance and then to
\nthe direct action of that Power and of the Master of our being and our works to
\nwhom it belongs, and for this purpose faith is the essential, faith is the
\ngreat motor-power of our being in our aspirations to perfection, \u2013 here, a
\nfaith in God and the Shakti which shall begin in the heart and understanding,
\nbut shall take possession of all our nature, all its consciousness, all its dynamic
\nmotive-force. These four things are the essentials of this second element of
\nperfection, the full powers of the members of the instrumental nature, the
\nperfected dynamis of the soul nature, the assumption of them into the action of
\nthe divine Power, and a perfect faith in all our members to call and support
\nthat assumption, śakti<\/i><\/span>, vīrya<\/span>, daivī<\/span> prakŗti<\/span>, śraddhā<\/span><\/i>. <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 666<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

But so long as
\nthis development takes place only on the highest level of our normal nature, we
\nmay have a reflected and limited image of perfection translated into the lower
\nterms of the soul in mind, life and body, but not the possession of the divine
\nperfection in the highest terms possible to us of the divine Idea and its
\nPower. That is to be found beyond these lower principles in the supramental
\ngnosis; therefore the next step of perfection will be the evolution of the
\nmental into the gnostic being. This evolution is effected by a breaking beyond
\nthe mental limitation, a stride upward into the next higher plane or region of
\nour being hidden from us at present by the shining lid of the mental
\nreflections and a conversion of all that we are into the terms of this greater
\nconsciousness. In the gnosis itself, vij\u00f1āna<\/i><\/span>, there are several gradations which open at
\ntheir highest into the full and infinite Ananda. The gnosis once effectively
\ncalled into action will progressively take up all the terms of intelligence,
\nwill, sense-mind, heart, the vital and sensational being and translate them by
\na luminous and harmonising conversion into a unity of the truth, power and
\ndelight of a divine existence. It will lift into that light and force and
\nconvert into their own highest sense our whole intellectual, volitional,
\ndynamic, ethical, aesthetic, sensational, vital and physical being. It has the
\npower also of overcoming physical limitations and developing a more perfect and
\ndivinely instrumental body. Its light opens up the fields of the superconscient
\nand darts its rays and pours its luminous flood into the subconscient<\/span>
\nand enlightens its obscure hints and withheld secrets. It admits us to a
\ngreater light of the Infinite than is reflected in the paler luminosity even of
\nthe highest mentality. While it perfects the individual soul and nature in the
\nsense of a diviner existence and makes a full harmony of the diversities of our
\nbeing, it founds all its action upon the Unity from which it proceeds and takes
\nup everything into that Unity. Personality and impersonality, the two eternal
\naspects of existence, are made one by its action in the spiritual being and
\nNature body of the Purushottama.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

The gnostic
\nperfection, spiritual in its nature, is to be accomplished here in the body and
\ntakes life in the physical world as one of its fields, even though the gnosis
\nopens to us possession of
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 667<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

planes and worlds beyond the
\nmaterial universe. The physical body is therefore a basis of action, pratişţhā<\/i><\/span>,
\nwhich cannot be despised, neglected or excluded from the spiritual evolution: a
\nperfection of the body as the outer instrument of a complete divine living on
\nearth will be necessarily a part of the gnostic conversion. The change will be
\neffected by bringing in the law of the gnostic Purusha, vij\u00f1ānamaya<\/i><\/span> puruşa<\/span><\/i>, and
\nof that into which it opens, the Anandamaya, into the physical consciousness
\nand its members. Pushed to its highest conclusion this movement brings in a spiritualising<\/span> and illumination of the whole physical
\nconsciousness and a divinising of the law of the body. For behind the gross
\nphysical sheath of this materially visible and sensible frame there is
\nsubliminally supporting it and discoverable by a finer subtle consciousness a
\nsubtle body of the mental being and a spiritual or causal body of the gnostic
\nand bliss soul in which all the perfection of a spiritual embodiment is to be
\nfound, a yet unmanifested<\/span> divine law of the body.
\nMost of the physical siddhis acquired by certain Yogins are brought about by
\nsome opening up of the law of the subtle or a calling down of something of the
\nlaw of the spiritual body. The ordinary method is the opening up of the Chakras<\/span> by the physical processes of Hathayoga (of which
\nsomething is also included in the Rajayoga) or by the methods of the Tantric
\ndiscipline. But while these may be optionally used at certain stages by the integral
\nYoga, they are not indispensable; for here the reliance is on the power of the
\nhigher being to change the lower existence, a working is chosen mainly from
\nabove downward and not the opposite way, and therefore the development of the
\nsuperior power of the gnosis will be awaited as the instrumentative<\/span>
\nchange in this part of the Yoga.<\/p>\n

There will
\nremain, because it will then only be entirely possible, the perfect action and
\nenjoyment of being on the gnostic basis. The Purusha enters into cosmic
\nmanifestation for the variations of his infinite existence, for knowledge,
\naction and enjoyment; the gnosis brings the fullness of spiritual knowledge and
\nit will found on that the divine action and cast the enjoyment of world and
\nbeing into the law of the truth, the freedom and the perfection of the spirit.
\nBut neither action nor enjoyment will be
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 668<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

the lower action of the gunas and
\nconsequent egoistic enjoyment mostly of the satisfaction of rajasic desire
\nwhich is our present way of living. Whatever desire will remain, if that name
\nbe given, will be the divine desire, the will to delight of the Purusha
\nenjoying in his freedom and perfection the action of the perfected Prakriti and
\nall her members. The Prakriti will take up the whole nature into the law of her
\nhigher divine truth and act in that law offering up the universal enjoyment of
\nher action and being to the Anandamaya Ishwara, the Lord of existence and works
\nand Spirit of bliss, who presides over and governs her workings. The individual
\nsoul will be the channel of this action and offering, and it will enjoy at once
\nits oneness with the Ishwara and its oneness with the Prakriti and will enjoy
\nall relations with Infinite and finite, with God and the universe and beings in
\nthe universe in the highest terms of the union of the universal Purusha and
\nPrakriti. <\/p>\n

All the gnostic
\nevolution opens up into the divine principle of Ananda, which is the foundation
\nof the fullness of spiritual being, consciousness and bliss of Sachchidananda
\nor eternal Brahman. Possessed at first by reflection in the mental experience,
\nit will be possessed afterwards with a greater fullness and directness in the
\nmassed and luminous consciousness, cidghana,<\/i>
\nwhich comes by the gnosis. The Siddha<\/span> or perfected
\nsoul will live in union with the Purushottama in this Brahmic<\/span>
\nconsciousness, he will be conscious in the Brahman that is the All, sarvam<\/i><\/span> brahma<\/span><\/i>, in
\nthe Brahman infinite in being and infinite in quality, anantam<\/i><\/span> brahma<\/span><\/i>, in Brahman as self-existent
\nconsciousness and universal knowledge, j\u00f1ānam<\/i><\/span> brahma<\/span><\/i>, in Brahman as the self-existent bliss and its
\nuniversal delight of being, ānandam<\/i><\/span> brahma<\/span><\/i>. He will experience all the universe as the
\nmanifestation of the One, all quality and action as the play of his universal
\nand infinite energy, all knowledge and conscious experience as the outflowing
\nof that consciousness, and all in the terms of that one Ananda. His physical
\nbeing will be one with all material Nature, his vital being with the life of
\nthe universe, his mind with the cosmic mind, his spiritual knowledge and will
\nwith the divine knowledge and will both in itself and as it pours itself through
\nthese channels, his spirit with the one spirit in all beings. All the
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 669<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

variety of cosmic existence will
\nbe changed to him in that unity and revealed in the secret of its spiritual
\nsignificance. For in this spiritual bliss and being he will be one with That which
\nis the origin and continent and inhabitant and spirit and constituting power of
\nall existence. This will be the highest reach of self-perfection.
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 670<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chapter X  The Elements of Perfection    WHEN the self is purified of the wrong and confused action of the instrumental Nature and liberated into…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-21-the-synthesis-of-yoga-volume-21","wpcat-26-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1237\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}