{"id":2157,"date":"2013-07-13T01:39:49","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:39:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2157"},"modified":"2013-12-02T02:02:19","modified_gmt":"2013-12-02T10:02:19","slug":"81-note-on-the-text-vol-23-24-the-synthesis-of-yoga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/23-24-the-synthesis-of-yoga\/81-note-on-the-text-vol-23-24-the-synthesis-of-yoga","title":{"rendered":"-81_ \u00a0Note on the Text.html"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tNote on the Text <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t Note on the Text <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTHE SYNTHESIS OF YOGA<\/b> first appeared in seventy-seven monthly
\ninstalments in the philosophical review Arya<\/i>, beginning with its first issue, August 1914, and continuing until its last, January 1921. The
\nArya<\/i>
\ntext of the Synthesis <\/i>consisted of five introductory chapters numbered I \u00ad V and seventy-two other chapters numbered I \u00ad II and IV \u00ad LXXIII
\n(the number III was inadvertently omitted). Each of the instalments was written immediately before its publication. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIn the Arya <\/i>the division of the main series of chapters into four parts, corresponding to the yogas of Works, Knowledge, Devotion and
\nSelf-Perfection, was not marked explicitly until the fifth year, when the heading “The Yoga of Self-Perfection” began to be added above the
\nchapter numbers. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe Synthesis of Yoga <\/i>was left incomplete when the Arya<\/i>
\nceased publication in January 1921. Before abandoning the work, Sri Aurobindo wrote part of a chapter entitled “The Supramental
\nTime Consciousness”, which was meant to follow the last published chapter of “The Yoga of Self-Perfection”. He never completed this
\nchapter and never published the portion that he had written. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tA letter that Sri Aurobindo wrote in 1936 gives some idea of his
\npurpose in writing The Synthesis of Yoga <\/i>and his overall plan for the work: <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe Synthesis of Yoga <\/i>was not meant to give a method for all to follow. Each side of the Yoga was dealt with separately with
\nall its possibilities, and an indication [was given] as to how they meet so that one starting from knowledge could realise
\nKarma and Bhakti also and so with each path. It was intended when the Self-Perfection was finished, to suggest a way in
\nwhich all could be combined, but this was never written. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOne can gauge how much of
\nThe Synthesis of Yoga <\/i>remained to be written by comparing the actually
\n\t\t\tcompleted chapters of "The Yoga <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>913<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\tof Self-Perfection" with the outline of this part found in chapter X of
\nPart IV. The “elements and requisites of perfection, siddhi<\/i>” which are set forth discursively in that chapter are listed more explicitly in
\nSapta<\/i>
\nChatus<\/font>t<\/font>haya<\/i>, a text of 1913 published along with Record of Yoga <\/i>in volume 10 of THE<\/font> COMPLETE<\/font> WORKS OF<\/font> SRI<\/font> AUROBINDO<\/font>. The system
\nof seven (sapta<\/i>) sets of four elements (chatus<\/font>t<\/font>haya<\/i>) evidently underlies the
\ntructure of Part IV of The Synthesis of Yoga<\/i>. The last and most general
\n\t\t\tchatus<\/font>t<\/font>haya<\/i>, the siddhi
\n\t\t\tchatus<\/font>t<\/font>haya<\/i>, is taken up first, in chapters I to IX..
\nChapters XI to XVIII correspond to the śā<\/font>nti <\/i>and samata
\n\t\t\tchatus<\/font>t<\/font>haya<\/i>,
\nthe first two of the seven. Chapters XIX to XXV, and the incomplete chapter “The Supramental Time Consciousness”, correspond to the
\n\t\t\tfirst two elements of the third or vijnā<\/font>na
\n\t\t\tchatus<\/font>t<\/font>haya<\/i>. By breaking off at
\n\t\t\tthis point, Sri Aurobindo left untreated the rest of the third and all of
\nthe fourth chatus<\/font>t<\/font>haya<\/i>. He had covered the fifth and sixth
\n\t\t\tchatus<\/font>t<\/font>haya <\/i>to  some degree in the rest of the Synthesis<\/i>, but undoubtedly intended to
\ndeal with them in more depth before concluding. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhen Sri Aurobindo turned his attention to
\nThe Synthesis of Yoga<\/i>
\nduring the 1930s after a gap of more than a decade, he made no effort to complete “The Yoga of Self-Perfection”. Instead he applied himself
\nto the revision of already existing chapters. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTHE<\/font> REVISION OF<\/font> The Synthesis of Yoga<\/i> <\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t Sri Aurobindo revised the text of The Synthesis of Yoga <\/i>during three distinct periods, referred to below as Period 1, Period 2, and Period 3. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPeriod 1. At various times after the printed text of the Arya <\/i>began to appear, perhaps up to the end of the 1920s, Sri Aurobindo made
\ncorrections to certain chapters of The Synthesis of Yoga <\/i>while reading over his own copies of the journal. Most of these chapters received
\nonly sporadic and minor revision; two chapters of Part II, however, were substantially altered. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPeriod 2. During 1932, and possibly somewhat before and after, Sri Aurobindo undertook a full-scale revision of
\nThe Synthesis of Yoga<\/i>
\n\t\t\twith a view to publishing it as a book. At this time he revised all
\n\t\t\tthe chapters of what became Part I, "The Yoga of Divine Works", and
\n\t\t\tnine chapters of what became Part II, "The Yoga of Integral
\n\t\t\tKnowledge"  <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>914<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t(the addition of part-titles was part of the revision). He began this
\nwork by marking up pages torn from the Arya <\/i>and then continued on copies handwritten or typed by disciples. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPeriod 3. During the early 1940s, Sri Aurobindo did further work on the later chapters of Part I, using typed copies of the pages from the
\nArya <\/i>revised during Period 2. At the same time he began to write two new chapters, which he apparently intended to add to this part, but
\nwhich he abandoned before completion. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDuring the later part of the 1940s, Sri Aurobindo lightly revised
\nthe entire first part of the Synthesis <\/i>while preparing it for publication. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhat follows is a brief part-by-part description of the revision.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t Introduction: The Conditions of the Synthesis<\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSri Aurobindo made sporadic minor changes to these five chapters during Period 1 and possibly also Period 2 of the revision. His alterations and additions, marked in issues of the
\nArya <\/i>and a set of pages torn
\nfrom the journal, were not discovered until the 1970s, and appear as part of the text for the first time in the present edition. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPart I: The Yoga of Divine Works <\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe twelve chapters of this part correspond to eleven
\nArya <\/i>chapters:
\nI \u00ad II and IV \u00ad XII. (There was no chapter numbered III in the Arya<\/i>; the present chapters V and VI correspond to
\nArya <\/i>chapter VI.) Sri
\nAurobindo revised each of these chapters during Period 2. The work done ranges from the light retouching of some pages to the rewriting or
\nnew-writing of long passages. During Period 3 he continued the work of revision begun in Period 2, concentrating on the last six chapters,
\nand prepared the entire part for publication. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tChapter I<\/b>. Moderately revised during Period 2. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tChapters II \u00ad IV.<\/b> Heavily revised during Period 2. Sri Aurobindo added the entire second half of chapter IV at this time. He also made stylistic
\nchanges and added new material to all three chapters, but did not fundamentally alter their structure. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tChapters V and VI.<\/b> Completely rewritten during Period 2 on the basis of Arya
\n<\/i>chapter VI, little of which remains in the final text. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>915<\/font> 
\n <\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\tChapters VII \u00ad XII.<\/b> Extensively revised during Periods 2 and 3. The
\ntyped sheets containing the later stages of the Period 2 revision of chapters VII and VIII were misplaced before the start of Period 3,
\nobliging Sri Aurobindo to work on transcripts of the Arya <\/i>pages containing only the earlier stages of the revision. The unused versions from
\nPeriod 2 have since been found, and are reproduced in the reference volume (volume 35). <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAppendix: Chapter XIII.<\/b> During Period 3, Sri Aurobindo wrote this draft of a chapter meant to follow the last complete chapter of Part
\nI, but did not prepare it for publication in the 1948 edition of the Synthesis<\/i>. Found among his papers after his passing, it was published
\nfor the first time in the 1955 edition of the book. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAround the same time that Sri Aurobindo worked on the chapter
\npublished as “Appendix: Chapter XIII”, he produced several drafts of a chapter entitled “The Yogic Consciousness and Works”, which he
\nalso intended to place at the end of Part I. None of these drafts are sufficiently well worked out to be published as part of the text of
\nThe<\/i>
\nSynthesis of Yoga<\/i>. The most important of them are reproduced in the reference volume (volume 35). <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPart II: The Yoga of Integral Knowledge <\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThese twenty-eight chapters correspond to
\nArya <\/i>chapters XIII \u00ad XL. Sri
\nAurobindo revised eleven of these chapters during Periods 1 and 2, but did not prepare any of them for publication. The Period 2 revision was
\nincorporated into the text of the 1955 edition; the Period 1 revision was not discovered until the 1970s and appears in print for the first
\ntime in the present edition. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tChapter I<\/b>. Extensively revised during Period 2. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tChapter II.<\/b> First four paragraphs revised significantly during Period 2. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tChapters III \u00ad<\/b> VIII. Never revised. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tChapter IX.<\/b> Extensively revised during Period 2. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tChapters X \u00ad XIV<\/b>. Never revised.
\nChapter XV. Moderately revised during Period 1. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tChapter XVI.<\/b> One page lightly revised during Period 1. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tChapter XVII.<\/b> Some of the later paragraphs revised significantly during   <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>916<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\tPeriod 1; the first paragraph separately revised during Period 2. The
\npresent text includes both sets of revision, which do not overlap. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tChapters XVIII \u00ad XX<\/b>. Never revised. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tChapters XXI \u00ad XXIV<\/b>. Extensively revised during Period 2. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tChapter XXV.<\/b> Never revised. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tChapter XXVI<\/b>. Lightly revised during Period 2. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tChapters XXVII and XXVIII<\/b>. Never revised. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPart III: The Yoga of Divine Love <\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tNo chapter in this part was ever revised by Sri Aurobindo. The texts
\nof these eight chapters are identical to those of Arya <\/i>chapters XLI \u00ad XLVIII. They were renumbered I \u00ad VIII and the part-title was added by
\nthe editors of the 1955 edition. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPart IV: The Yoga of Self-Perfection
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tNo chapter in this part was ever revised by Sri Aurobindo. The texts of these twenty-five chapters are identical to those of
\nArya <\/i>chapters
\nXLIX \u00ad LXXIII. They were renumbered I \u00ad XXV by the editors of the 1955 edition. The Appendix consists of two incomplete versions of a
\nchapter Sri Aurobindo began to write in 1920 or 1921, just before he discontinued the
\nArya<\/i>. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPUBLISHING<\/font> HISTORY<\/font> <\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe revised versions of chapters VII \u00ad XII of Part I of The Synthesis of<\/i>
\nYoga <\/i>were published in the quarterly review Advent <\/i>between August 1946 and April 1948. The entire first part was published by the Sri
\nAurobindo Library, Madras, in October 1948. In 1950, and again in 1953, the same text was brought out by the Sri Aurobindo Library,
\nNew York. In each of these editions, the title of the book was given as The Synthesis of Yoga<\/i>. A half-title specified that the contents consisted
\nonly of Part I (“Book One” in the American edition) of the complete work. Separate publication of the other parts had been planned, but
\nthis plan was never carried out.  <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>917<\/font>
\n <\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t In 1955, the Arya <\/i>text of the Introduction, the 1948 text of Part I,
\na text of Part II incorporating Sri Aurobindo’s revisions from Period 2, and the
\nArya <\/i>texts of the chapters comprising Part III and Part IV,
\nwere published by the Sri Aurobindo International University Centre as On Yoga I: The Synthesis of Yoga<\/i>. (On Yoga II<\/i>, published in 1958,
\nconsisted of a selection of Sri Aurobindo’s letters on yoga.) The incomplete chapter “The Supermind and the Yoga of Works” appeared
\nin this edition for the first time as chapter XIII of Part I. The SAIUC edition was reprinted, with corrections, in 1957. The same publisher
\n(under the new name Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education) issued a new edition of the same text in 1965. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIn 1970 The Synthesis of Yoga <\/i>was published as volumes 20 and 21 of the Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library. This edition was
\nreprinted many times. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe present edition has been thoroughly checked against all related manuscripts and printed texts. Many typographical and other errors have been corrected. The edition includes for the first time Sri
\nAurobindo’s scattered revisions in the Introduction and substantial revision of chapters XV \u00ad XVII of Part II. It is the first edition of the
\nbook to include the text of “The Supramental Time Consciousness”, the incomplete chapter Sri Aurobindo wrote for Part IV before setting
\naside “The Yoga of Self-Perfection”.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 <\/font>918<\/font><\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Note on the Text    Note on the Text   THE SYNTHESIS OF YOGA first appeared in seventy-seven monthly instalments in the philosophical review Arya,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-23-24-the-synthesis-of-yoga","wpcat-46-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2157","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=2157"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9805,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2157\/revisions\/9805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}