{"id":3719,"date":"2013-07-13T01:50:42","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3719"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:50:42","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:50:42","slug":"05-integral-yoga-and-partial-spiritual-paths-vol-04-fourth-series-1951","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/02-other-editions\/letters-of-sri-aurobindo\/04-fourth-series-1951\/05-integral-yoga-and-partial-spiritual-paths-vol-04-fourth-series-1951","title":{"rendered":"-05_INTEGRAL YOGA AND PARTIAL SPIRITUAL PATHS.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\n
\nSECTION ONE <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\nIntegral Yoga and Partial Spiritual Paths<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nThe Aim of Integral Yoga and the Ideal
\nof Supermanhood<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nTo come to this Yoga merely with the idea of 
\nbeing a superman would be an act of vital
\negoism which would defeat its own object. Those
\nwho put this object in the front of their preoccupations 
\ninvariably come to grief, spiritually and otherwise.
\nThe aim of this Yoga is, first, to enter into the
\ndivine consciousness by merging into it the separative
\nego (incidentally, in doing so one finds one’s
\ntrue individual self which is not the limited, vain
\nand selfish human ego but a portion of the Divine)
\nand, secondly, to bring down the supramental consciousness 
\non earth to transform mind, life and body.
\nAll else can be only a result of these two aims, not
\nthe primary object of the Yoga.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-3<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nDifference between Integral Yoga and
\nOld Yogas<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n(1) <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHERE are many planes above man’s mind\u2014the
\nsupramental is not the only one, and on all of them
\nthe Self can be realised,\u2014for they are all spiritual planes. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nMind, vital and physical are inextricably mixed 
\ntogether only on the surface consciousness\u2014the inner
\nmind, inner vital, inner physical are separated from
\neach other. Those who seek the Self by the old
\nYogas separate themselves from mind, life and body
\nand realise the self of it all as different from these
\nthings. It is perfectly easy to separate mind, vital
\nand physical from each other without the aid of <\/i>Supermind. It is done by the ordinary Yogas. The
\ndifference between this and the old Yogas is not that
\nthey are incompetent and cannot do these things–
\nthey can do this perfectly well\u2014but that they proceed 
\nfrom realisation of Self to Nirvana or some Heaven
\nand abandon life. The Supramental is necessary for 
\nthe transformation of terrestrial life and being, not
\nfor reaching the Self. One must realise Self first, only 
\nafterwards can one realise the Supermind.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n 16-4-1936<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-4<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n(2)<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe former Yogins preferred to remain in the
\nwide consciousness aloof from the play of the energies
\n\u2014they regarded the latter as something belonging
\nto the life of illusion which would fall away only by
\nthe rejection of the physical life through knowledge.
\nIt is when you oscillate from one consciousness to
\nanother that you seem to lose the higher one or feel
\nas if it were lost. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n18-5-1933 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n<\/a>Wrong Attitude towards Old Yogas<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nWONDERFUL! The realisation of the Self which
\nincludes the liberation from ego, the consciousness
\nof the One in all, the established and consummated
\ntranscendence out of the universal Ignorance, the
\nfixity of the consciousness in the union with the
\nHighest, the Infinite and Eternal is not anything
\nworth doing or recommending to anybody\u2014is "not
\na
\nvery difficult stage"! <\/font><\/p>\n

\nNothing new! Why should there be anything
\nnew? The object of spiritual seeking is to find out what is eternally true, not what is new in Time. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-5<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nFrom where did you get this singular attitude
\ntowards the old Yogas and Yogis? Is the wisdom
\nof the Vedanta and Tantra a small and trifling
\nthing? Have then the sadhakas of the Ashram
\nattained to self-realisation and are they liberated
\nJivanmuktas, free from ego and ignorance? If not,
\nwhy then do you say, "it is not a very difficult
\nstage", "their goal is not high. Is it such a long process?" <\/font><\/p>\n

\nI have said that this Yoga is "new" because it
\naims at the integrality of the Divine in this world
\nand not only beyond it and at a supramental realisation.
\nBut how does that justify a superior contempt
\nfor the spiritual realisation which is as much the
\naim of this Yoga as of any other? <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n3-4-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/a>Difficulty of Self-realisation <\/font><\/i><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIT (self-realisation) is not a long process? The whole
\nlife and several lives more are often not enough
\nto achieve it. Ramakrishna’s Guru took 30 years
\nto arrive and even then he did not claim that he
\nhad realised it. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-6<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/a>Absurdity of Depreciating Old Yogas<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nAs for the depreciation of the old Yogas as
\nsomething
\nquite easy, unimportant and worthless and
\nthe depreciation of Buddha, Yajnavalkya and
\nother great spiritual figures of the past, is it not
\nevidently absurd on the face of it? <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n14-4-1936<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/a>Spiritualisation and Supramental Change<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n(1) <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nSPIRITUALISATION means the descent of the higher
\npeace, force, light, knowledge, purity, Ananda,
\netc., which belong to any of the higher planes
\nfrom Higher Mind to Overmind, for in any of these
\nthe Self can be realised. It brings about a subjective
\ntransformation; the instrumental Nature is only
\nso far transformed that it becomes an instrument
\nfor the Cosmic Divine to get some work done, but
\nthe self within remains calm and free and united
\nwith the Divine. But this is an incomplete individual
\ntransformation\u2014the full transformation of the
\ninstrumental Nature can only come when the <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-7<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nsupramental change takes place. Till then the
\nnature remains full of many imperfections, but the
\nSelf in the higher planes does not mind them, as it
\nis itself free and unaffected. The inner being down
\nto the inner physical can also become free and
\nunaffected. The Overmind is subject to limitations
\nin the working of the effective Knowledge, limitations
\nin the working of the Power, subject to a partial
\nand limited Truth, etc. It is only in the Supermind
\nthat the full Truth-consciousness comes, into being.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\n25-3-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n(2) <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nCertainly, they (higher planes) can realise the
\nSelf. It is not at all necessary to get the Supramental
\nplanes for that. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n14-4-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n(3) <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nA complete silence makes realisation of the Self
\nmore possible\u2014but that can be had on the Higher
\nMind level, far below Overmind. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n21-8-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-8<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/a>Realisation of the Impersonal Self and the
\nIntegral Knowledge<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nTHE sadhaka of integral Yoga who stops short at the
\nImpersonal is no longer a sadhaka of integral Yoga.
\nImpersonal realisation is the realisation of the silent
\nSelf, of the pure Existence, Consciousness and
\nBliss in itself without any perception of an Existent,
\nConscient, Blissful. It leads therefore to Nirvana.
\nIn the integral knowledge the realisation of the
\nSelf and of the impersonal Sachchidananda is only a
\nstep, though a very important step, or part of the
\nintegral knowledge. It is a beginning, not an end of
\nthe highest realisation. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n25-5-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n<\/a>The Impersonal and the Integral Divine<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIT is rather surprising that you should be unable
\nto understand such a simple and familiar statement; 
\nfor that has been always the whole reason of this
\nYoga that to follow after the Impersonal only brings
\ninner experience or, at the most, mukti.<\/i> Without
\nthe action of the integral Divine there is no change
\nof the whole nature. If it were not so, the Mother would not be here and I would not be here if a realisation
\nof the Impersonal were sufficient. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\n15-9-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-9<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/a>Living in the <\/b> True Consciousness and Having
\nthe Complete Truth<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nLIVING in the true consciousness is living in a consciousness
\nin which one is spiritually in union with
\nthe Divine in one way or another. But it does not 
\nfollow that by so living one will have the complete,
\nexact and infallible truth about all actions, all things
\nand all persons. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n12-7-1936<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/a>Supramental All-Knowledge and Lower Ignorance<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIT is only the Supramental that is all-knowledge.
\nAll below that from Overmind to Matter is Ignorance
\n\u2014an Ignorance growing from level to level towards
\nthe full knowledge. Below Supermind. there may
\nbe knowledge but it is not all-knowledge. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n20-9-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-10 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/a>Vedantic Laya and the Highest Truth<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIT is the Vedantic Adwaita experience of laya.<\/i> It
\nis only one phase of the experience, not the whole or
\nthe highest Truth of the Divine.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\n1933 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n<\/a>Laya and Supramentalisation<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nNo. The impulse towards laya<\/i> is a creation of the
\nmind, it is not the sole possible destiny of the soul.
\nWhen the mind tries to abolish its own Ignorance,
\nit finds no escape from it except by laya,<\/i> because it
\nsupposes that there is no higher principle of cosmic
\nexistence beyond itself\u2014beyond itself is only the pure
\nSpirit, the absolute impersonal Divine. Those who
\ngo through the heart (love, bhakti) do not accept
\nlaya,<\/i> they believe in a state beyond of eternal companionship
\nwith the Divine or dwelling in the Divine
\nwithout laya.<\/i> All this quite apart from Supramentalisation.
\nWhat then becomes of your starting-point
\nthat laya<\/i> is the inevitable destiny of the soul and it is
\nonly the personal descent of the Avatar that saves
\nit from inevitable laya<\/i>! <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-11 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/a>Beginning and End of Creation\u2014Merging in the
\nInactive Brahman <\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\nand the Divine
\nObject in the World<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nTHERE is a world of Ignorance, there are worlds
\nalso of Truth. Creation has no beginning and no
\nend. It is only a particular creation that can be said
\nto have a beginning and an end. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n13-11-1933  <\/font><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIt is possible for an individual to escape from
\nthis world of Ignorance and merge in the inactive
\nBrahman but it leaves the divine object in birth
\nand in the world unfulfilled.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\n14-11-1933 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font>⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe Inactive Brahman and the active Personal
\nBrahman are two aspects of the Divine\u2014in the
\nSupreme these are fused into each other, not separate.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nNovember 1933 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-12 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/a>Temporal and Eternal Lila<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE Vaishnavites accept the world as a Lila, but
\nthe true Lila is elsewhere in the eternal Brindavan.
\nAll the religions which believe in the personal
\nGodhead accept the universe as a reality, a lila or
\na creation made by the Will of God, but temporal
\nand not eternal. The one that is the eternal stands
\nabove. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n23-6-1937 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/a>Puranic and Vaishnavite Idea of the Kingdom of
\nHeaven on Earth<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE idea of a temporary kingdom of heaven on
\nearth is contained in the Puranas and conceived by
\nsome Vaishnava saints or poets; but it is a devotional
\nidea, no philosophical base is given for
\nthe expectation. I think the Tantric overcoming 
\nof imperfections is an individual achievement, not collective.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n 23-6-1937 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-13 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/a>Limitation of Religions<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIT is correct, religions at best modify only the
\nsurface of the nature. Moreover, they degenerate
\nvery soon into a routine of ceremonial habitual
\nworship and fixed dogmas. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n<\/a>Shankara and Mayavada<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nSHANKARA surely stands or fails by the Mayavada,
\nEven the Bhaja-Govindam poem is Mayavadic in
\nspirit. I am not well acquainted with these other
\nwritings, so it is difficult for me to say anything
\nabout that side of the question. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n23-6-1937 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n<\/a>Mayavada, Nirvana and the Integral Yoga<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nAbout Nirvana: <\/font><\/p>\n

\nWHEN I wrote in the Arya,<\/i> I was setting
\nforth an
\novermind view of things to the mind and putting<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-14 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nit in mental terms, that was why I had sometimes
\nto use logic. For in such a work\u2014mediating between
\nthe intellect and the supra-intellectual\u2014logic has
\na place, though it cannot have the chief place it
\noccupies in purely mental philosophies. The Mayavadin
\nhimself labours to establish his point of view
\nor his experience by a rigorous logical reasoning.
\nOnly, when it comes to an explanation of Maya,
\nhe, like the scientist dealing with Nature, can do
\nno more than arrange and organise his ideas of the
\nprocess of this universal mystification; he cannot
\nexplain how or why his illusionary mystifying Maya
\ncame into existence. He can only say, "Well, but 
\nit is there." <\/font><\/p>\n

\nOf course, it is there. But the question is, first,
\nwhat is, it? Is it really an illusionary Power and
\nnothing else, or is the Mayavadin’s idea of it a
\nmistaken first view, a mental imperfect reading,
\neven perhaps itself an illusion? And next, "Is
\nillusion the sole or the highest Power which the
\nDivine Consciousness or Superconsciousness possesses?"
\nThe Absolute is an absolute Truth free from
\nMaya, otherwise liberation would not be possible.
\nHas then the supreme and absolute Truth no other
\nactive Power than a power of falsehood and with
\nit, no doubt, for the two go together, a power of
\ndissolving or disowning the falsehood,\u2014which is <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-15 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nyet there for ever? I suggested that this sounded a
\nlittle queer. But queer or not, if it is so, it is so\u2014
\nfor, as you point out, the Ineffable cannot be subjected
\nto the laws of logic. But who is to decide
\nwhether it is so? You will say, those who get there.
\nBut get where? To the Perfect and the Highest
\npūrṇam param.<\/i> <\/b> Is the Mayavadin’s featureless
\nBrahman that Perfect, that Complete\u2014is it the
\nvery Highest? Is there not or can there not be a
\nhigher than that highest, parāt param?<\/i> That is not a
\nquestion of logic, it is a question of spiritual
\nfact, of a supreme and complete experience. The
\nsolution of the matter must rest not upon logic,
\nbut upon a growing, ever heightening, widening
\nspiritual experience\u2014an experience which must of
\ncourse include or have passed thorough that of Nirvana
\nand Maya, otherwise it would not be complete
\nand would have no decisive value. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nNow to reach Nirvana was the first radical result
\nof my own Yoga. It threw me suddenly into a
\ncondition above and without thought, unstained by
\nany mental or vital movement; there was no ego,
\nno real world\u2014only when one looked through the
\nimmobile senses, something perceived or bore
\nupon its sheer silence a world of empty forms,
\nmaterialised shadows without true substance. There
\nwas no One or many even, only just absolutely That, <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-16 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nfeatureless, relationless, sheer, indescribable,
\nunthinkable,
\nabsolute, yet supremely real and solely
\nreal. This was no mental realisation nor something
\nglimpsed somewhere above,\u2014no abstraction,\u2014it
\nwas positive, the only positive reality\u2014although
\nnot a spatial physical world, pervading, occupying
\nor rather flooding and drowning this semblance of 
\na physical world, leaving no room or space for any
\nreality but itself, allowing nothing else to seem at
\nall actual, positive or substantial. I cannot say there
\nwas anything exhilarating or rapturous in the
\nexperience, as it then came to me,\u2014(the ineffable
\nAnanda I had years afterwards), \u2014but what it
\nbrought was an inexpressible Peace, a stupendous
\nsilence, an infinity of release and freedom. I lived
\nin that Nirvana day and night before it began to
\nadmit other things into itself or modify itself at all,
\nand the inner heart of experience, a constant
\nmemory of it and its power to return remained until
\nin the end it began to disappear into a greater
\nSuperconsciousness from above. But meanwhile
\nrealisation added itself to realisation and fused
\nitself with this original experience. At an early
\nstage the aspect of an illusionary world gave place
\nto one in which illusion* is only a small surface<\/font><\/p>\n

\n                                    
\n<\/font><\/u><\/p>\n

\n*In fact it is not an illusion in the sense of an imposition
\nof something baseless and unreal on the consciousness, but a 
\nmisinterpretation by the conscious mind and sense and a falsifying
\nmisuse of manifested existence. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-17<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nphenomenon with an immense Divine Reality
\nbehind it and a supreme Divine Reality above it
\nand an intense Divine Reality in the heart <\/b> of everything
\nthat had seemed at first only a cinematic 
\nshape or shadow. And this was no reimprisonment
\nin the senses, no diminution or fall from supreme
\nexperience, it came rather as a constant heightening
\nand widening of the Truth; it was the spirit that
\nsaw objects, not the senses, and the Peace, the
\nSilence, the freedom in Infinity remained always,
\nwith the world or all worlds only as a continuous
\nincident in the timeless eternity of the Divine. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nNow, that is the whole trouble in my approach
\nto Mayavada. Nirvana in my liberated consciousness
\nturned out to be the beginning of my realisation,
\na first step towards the complete thing, not
\nthe sole true attainment possible or even a culminating
\nfinale. It came unasked, unsought for,
\nthough quite welcome. I had no least idea about it
\nbefore, no aspiration towards it, in fact my aspiration
\nwas towards just the opposite, spiritual power to help
\nthe world and to do my work in it, yet it came
\n\u2014without even a "May I come in" or a <\/b> "By your
\nleave". It just happened and settled in as if for all <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-18 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\neternity or as if it had been really there always.
\nAnd then it slowly grew into something not less
\nbut greater than its first self. How then could I
\naccept Mayavada or persuade myself to pit against
\nthe Truth imposed on me from above the logic of Shankara? <\/font><\/p>\n

\nBut I do not insist on everybody passing through 
\nmy experience or following the Truth that is its
\nconsequence. I have no objection to anybody accepting
\nMayavada as his soul’s truth or his mind’s truth
\nor their way out of the cosmic difficulty. I object
\nto it only if somebody tries to push it down my
\nthroat or the world’s throat as the sole possible,
\nsatisfying and all-comprehensive explanation of
\nthings. For it is not that at all. There are many
\nother possible explanations; it is not at all satisfactory,
\nfor in the end it explains nothing; and it is\u2014and
\nmust be unless it departs from its own logic\u2014
\nall-exclusive, not in the least all-comprehensive.
\nBut that does not matter. A theory may be wrong
\nor at least one-sided and imperfect and yet extremely
\npractical and useful. This has been amply shown by
\nthe history of Science. In fact, a theory whether philosophical
\nor scientific, is nothing else than a support
\nfor the mind, a practical device to help it to deal
\nwith its object, a staff to uphold it and make it walk
\nmore confidently and get along on its difficult <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-19 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\njourney. The very exclusiveness and one-sidedness of
\nthe Mayavada make it a strong staff or a forceful
\nstimulus for a spiritual endeavour which means
\nto be one-sided, radical and exclusive. It supports
\nthe effort of the Mind to get away from itself and
\nfrom Life by a short cut into superconscience.
\nOr rather it is the Purusha in Mind that wants to <\/i>get away from the limitations of Mind and Life
\ninto the superconscient Infinite. Theoretically, the
\nway for that is for the mind to deny all its perceptions
\nand all the preoccupations of the vital and
\nsee and treat them as illusions. Practically, when
\nthe mind draws back from itself, it enters easily
\ninto a relationless peace in which nothing matters,
\n\u2014for in its absoluteness there are no mental or
\nvital values\u2014and from which the mind can rapidly
\nmove towards that great short cut to the superconscient,
\nmindless trance, suṣupti.<\/i> In proportion to
\nthe thoroughness of that movement all the perceptions
\nit had once accepted become unreal to it\u2014
\nillusion, Maya. It is on its road towards immergence. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nMayavada therefore with its sole stress on Nirvana,
\nquite apart from its defects as a mental theory
\nof things, serves a great spiritual end and, as a
\npath, can lead very high and far. Even, if the Mind
\nwere the last word and there were nothing beyond
\nit except the pure Spirit, I would not be averse to <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

Page-20<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\naccepting it as the only way out. For what the
\nmind with its perceptions and the vital with its 
\ndesires have made of life in this world, is a very
\nbad mess, and if there were nothing better to be
\nhoped for, the shortest cut to an exit would be the
\nbest. But my experience is that there is something
\nbeyond mind; Mind is not the last word here of
\nthe Spirit. Mind is an ignorance-consciousness and
\nits perceptions cannot be anything else than either
\nfalse, mixed or imperfect\u2014even when true, a
\npartial reflection of the Truth and not the very
\nbody of Truth herself. But there is a Truth-
\nConsciousness, not static only and self-introspective,
\nbut also dynamic and creative, and I prefer to get
\nat that and see what it says about things and can
\ndo rather than take the short cut away from things
\noffered as its own end by the Ignorance. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nStill, I would have no objection if your attraction
\ntowards Nirvana were not merely a mood of the 
\nmind and vital but an indication of the mind’s true
\nroad and the soul’s issue. But it seems to me that
\nit is only the vital recoiling from its own disappointed
\ndesires in an extreme dissatisfaction, not the soul
\nleaping gladly to its true path. This vairagya is
\nitself a vital movement; vital vairagya is the reverse
\nside of vital desire\u2014though the mind of course is 
\nthere to give reasons and say ditto. Even this <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-21 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nvairagya, if it is one-pointed and exclusive, can
\nlead or point towards Nirvana. But you have
\nmany sides to your personality or rather many
\npersonalities in you; it is indeed their discordant
\nmovements each getting in the way of the other,
\nas happens when they are expressed through the
\nexternal mind, that have stood much in the way of
\nyour sadhana. There is the vital personality which
\nwas turned towards success and enjoyment and
\ngot it and wanted to go on with it but could not
\nget the rest of the being to follow. There is the
\nvital personality that wanted enjoyment of a deeper
\nkind and suggested to the other that it could very
\nwell give up these unsatisfactory things if it got an
\nequivalent in some faeryland of a higher joy.
\nThere is the psycho-vital personality that is the
\nVaishnava within you and wanted the Divine
\nKrishna and bhakti and Ananda. There is the
\npersonality which is the poet and musician and a
\nseeker of beauty through these things. There is
\nthe mental-vital personality which, when it saw the
\nvital standing in the way, insisted on a grim struggle
\nof Tapasya, and it is no doubt that also which
\napproves Vairagya and Nirvana. There is the
\nphysical-mental personality which is the Russellite,
\nextrovert, doubter. There is another mental-emotional
\npersonality all whose ideas are for belief in <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

Page-22<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nthe Divine, Yoga, bhakti, Guruvada. There is the
\npsychic being also which has pushed you into the
\nsadhana and is waiting for its hour of emergence. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhat are you going to do with all these people?
\nIf you want Nirvana, you have either to expel them
\nor stifle them or beat them into coma. All authorities
\nassure us that the exclusive Nirvana business
\nis a most difficult job (kaṣṭam dehavadbhiḥ,<\/i> says the
\nGita), and your own attempt at suppressing the
\nothers was not encouraging,\u2014according to your
\nown account it left you as dry and desperate as
\na sucked orange, no juice left anywhere. If the
\ndesert is your way to the promised land, that does
\nnot matter. But\u2014well, if it is not, then there is
\nanother way\u2014it is what we call the integration,
\nthe harmonisation of the being. That cannot be
\ndone from outside, it cannot be done by the mind
\nand vital being\u2014they are sure to bungle their
\naffair. It can be done only from within, by the
\nsoul, the Spirit which is the centraliser, itself the
\ncentre of these radii. In all of them there is a truth
\nthat can harmonise with the true truth of the others.
\nFor there is a truth in Nirvana\u2014Nirvana is nothing
\nbut the peace and freedom of the Spirit which can
\nexist in itself, be there world or no world, world-
\norder or world-disorder. Bhakti and the heart’s
\ncall for the Divine have a truth\u2014it is the truth of <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-23 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nthe divine Love and Ananda. The will for Tapasya
\nhas in it a truth\u2014it is the truth of the Spirit’s
\nmastery over its members. The musician and poet
\nstand for a truth, it is the truth of the expression of
\nthe Spirit through beauty. There is a truth behind
\nthe mental affirmer; even there is a truth behind
\nthe mental doubter, the Russellian, though far
\nbehind him\u2014the truth of the denial of false forms.
\nEven behind the two vital personalities there is a
\ntruth, the truth of the possession of the inner and
\nouter worlds not by the ego but by the Divine.
\nThat is the harmonisation for which our Yoga
\nstands\u2014but it cannot be achieved by any outward
\narrangement, it can only be achieved by going
\ninside and looking, willing and acting from the
\npsychic and from the spiritual centre. For the
\ntruth of the being is there and the secret of Harmony
\nalso is there.  <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n<\/a>The Snake-rope Image and Illusionism<\/font><\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/i><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nYOUR objection is correct. The snake-rope image
\ncannot be used to illustrate the non-existence of the
\nworld, it would only mean that our seeing of the
\nworld is not that of the world as it really is. The idea <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

Page-24<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nof complete illusion would better be illustrated by
\nthe juggler’s rope-climbing trick where there is
\nno rope and no climber, and yet one is persuaded
\nthat they are there. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n1933 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n<\/a>The Real Difficulty*<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nSRI AUROBINDO has no remarks to make on Huxley’s
\ncomments with which he is in entire agreement.
\nBut in the phrase "To its heights we can always
\nreach", very obviously "we" does not refer to
\nhumanity in general but to those who have a sufficiently
\ndeveloped inner spiritual life. It is probable<\/font><\/p>\n

\n                                                         
\n<\/u> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n*These remarks were dictated by Sri Aurobindo a
\npropos<\/i> the
\nphrase "To its heights we can always reach" occurring in the
\nfollowing passage in The Life Divine<\/i> quoted and commented
\nupon by Aldous Huxley in his book. The Perennial Philosophy,<\/i> <\/font><\/font>
\n (P. 74:) <\/font><\/p>\n

\n"The touch of Earth is always reinvigorating to the son of
\nEarth, even when he seeks a supraphysical Knowledge. It may
\neven be said that the supraphysical can only be really mastered
\nin its fullness\u2014to its heights we can always reach\u2014when we
\nkeep our feet firmly on the physical. ‘Earth is His footing,’ says
\nthe Upanishad whenever it images the Self that manifests in the
\nuniverse." (Vol. <\/b> I, chap. II) <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-25<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nthat Sri Aurobindo was thinking of his own experience.
\nAfter three years of spiritual effort with
\nonly minor results he was shown by a Yogi the way
\nto silence his mind. This he succeeded in doing
\nentirely in two or three days by following the
\nmethod shown. There was an entire silence of
\nthought and feeling and all the ordinary movements
\nof consciousness except the perception and recognition
\nof things around without any accompanying
\nconcept or other reaction. The sense of ego disappeared
\nand the movements of the ordinary life
\nas well as speech and action were carried on by
\nsome habitual activity of Prakriti alone which was
\nnot felt as belonging to oneself. But the perception
\nwhich remained saw all things as utterly unreal; 
\nthis sense of unreality was overwhelming and
\nuniversal. Only some undefinable Reality was perceived
\nas true which was beyond space and time and
\nunconnected with any cosmic activity, but yet was
\nmet wherever one turned. This condition remained
\nunimpaired for several months and even when the
\nsense of unreality disappeared and there was a
\nreturn to participation in the world-consciousness,
\nthe inner peace and freedom which resulted from
\nthis realisation remained permanently behind all
\nsurface movements and the essence of the realisation
\nitself was not lost. At the same time an experience <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-26<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nintervened: something else than himself took up his
\ndynamic activity and spoke and acted through
\nhim but without any personal thought or initiative.
\nWhat this was remained unknown until Sri
\nAurobindo came to realise the dynamic side of the
\nBrahman, the Ishwara and felt himself moved by that
\nin all his sadhana and action. These realisations
\nand others which followed upon them, such as
\nthat of the Self in all and all in the Self and all as the
\nSelf, the Divine in all and all in the Divine, are the
\nheights to which Sri Aurobindo refers and to which
\nhe says we can always rise; for they presented to him
\nno long or obstinate difficulty. The only real difficulty
\nwhich took decades of spiritual effort to carry
\nout towards completeness was to apply the spiritual
\nknowledge utterly to the world and to the surface
\npsychological and outer life and to effect its transformation
\nboth on the higher levels of Nature and on
\nthe ordinary mental, vital and physical levels down
\nto the subconscience and the basic Inconscience
\nand up to the supreme Truth-consciousness or
\nSupermind in which alone the dynamic transformation
\ncould be entirely integral and absolute. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n

4-11-1946<\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

Page-27<\/font> <\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/a>This-Worldliness, Other-Worldliness and
\nthe Integral Yoga<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nONE thing I feel I must say in connection with your
\nremark about the soul of India and X’s observation
\nabout "this stress on this-worldliness to the exclusion
\nof other-worldliness". I do not quite understand in
\nwhat connection his remark was made or what he
\nmeant by this-worldliness, but I feel it necessary to
\nstate my own position in the matter. My own life
\nand my Yoga have always been since my coming to
\nIndia both this-worldly and other-worldly without
\nany exclusiveness on either side. All human interests
\nare, I suppose, this-worldly and most of them have
\nentered into my mental field and some, like politics,
\ninto my life, but at the same time, since I set foot on
\nthe Indian soil on the Apollo Bunder in Bombay, I
\nbegan to have spiritual experiences, but these were
\nnot divorced from this world but had an inner and
\ninfinite bearing on it, such as a feeling of the Infinite
\npervading material space and the Immanent
\ninhabiting material objects and bodies. At the same
\ntime I found myself entering supraphysical worlds
\nand planes with influences and an effect from them
\nupon the material plane, so I could make no sharp
\ndivorce or irreconcilable opposition between what I 
\nhave called the two ends of existence and all that lies <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-28 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nbetween them. For me all is Brahman and I find
\nthe Divine everywhere. Everyone has the right to
\nthrow away this-worldliness and choose other-worldliness
\nonly, and if he finds peace by that choice he is
\ngreatly blessed. I, personally, have not found it
\nnecessary to do this in order to have peace. In my
\nYoga also I found myself moved to include both
\nworlds in my purview\u2014the spiritual and the material
\n\u2014and to try to establish the Divine Consciousness
\nad the Divine Power in men’s hearts and earthly
\nlife, not for a personal salvation only but for a life
\ndivine here. This seems to me as spiritual an aim
\nas any and the fact of this life taking up earthly
\npursuits and earthly things into its scope cannot,
\nI believe, tarnish its spirituality or alter its Indian
\ncharacter. This at least has always been my view
\nand experience of the reality and nature of the
\nworld and things and the Divine: it seemed to me
\nas nearly as possible the integral truth about them
\nand I have therefore spoken of the pursuit of it as
\nthe integral Yoga. Everyone is, of course, free to
\nreject and disbelieve in this kind of integrality or to
\nbelieve in the spiritual necessity of an entire other-
\nworldliness altogether, but that would make the
\nexercise of my Yoga impossible. My Yoga can
\ninclude indeed a full experience of the other worlds
\nthe plane of the Supreme-Spirit and the other planes <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-29 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nin between and their possible effects upon our life
\nand the material world; but it will be quite possible
\nto insist only on the realisation of the Supreme
\nBeing or Ishwara even in one aspect, Shiva, Krishna
\nas Lord of the world and Master of ourselves and
\nour works or else the Universal Sachchidananda,
\nand attain to the essential results of this Yoga and
\nafterwards to proceed from them to the integral
\nresults if one accepted the ideal of the divine life and
\nthis material world conquered by the Spirit. It is
\nthis view and experience of things and of the truth of
\nexistence that enabled me to write The Life Divine
\n<\/i>and Savitri.<\/i> The realisation of the Supreme, the
\nIshwara, is certainly the essential thing; but to
\napproach Him with love and devotion and bhakti,
\n<\/i>to serve Him with one’s works and to know Him, not
\nnecessarily by the intellectual cognition, but in a
\nspiritual experience, is also essential in the path of
\nthe integral Yoga. If you accept K’s insistence that
\nthis and no other must be your<\/i> path, it is this you
\nhave to attain and realise, then any exclusive other-worldliness 
\ncannot be your<\/i> way. I believe that you
\nare quite capable of attaining this and realising the
\nDivine and I have never been able to share your 
\nconstantly recurring doubts about your capacity
\nand their persistent recurrence is not a valid ground
\nfor believing that they can never be overcome. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-30<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nSuch a persistent recurrence has been a feature in
\nthe sadhana of many who have finally emerged and
\nreached the goal; even the sadhana of very great
\nYogis has not been exempt from such violent and constant
\nrecurrences, they have sometimes been special
\nobjects of such persistent assaults, as I have indeed
\nindicated in Savitri<\/i> in more places than one, and
\nthat was indeed founded on my own experience.
\nIn the nature of these recurrences there is usually
\na
\nconstant return of the same adverse experiences,
\nthe same adverse resistance, thoughts destructive
\nof all belief and faith and confidence in the future
\nof the sadhana, frustrating doubts of what one
\nhas known as the truth, urgings to abandonment of
\nthe Yoga or to other disastrous counsels of déchéance.
\n<\/i>The course taken by the attacks is not indeed the
\nsame for all, but still they have strong family resemblance.
\nOne can eventually overcome if one begins
\nto realise the nature and source of these assaults
\nand acquires the faculty of observing them, bearing,
\nwithout being involved or absorbed into their gulf,
\nfinally becoming the witness of their phenomena
\nand understanding them and refusing the mind’s
\nsanction even when the vital is still tossed in the
\nwhirl and the most outward physical mind still
\nreflects the adverse suggestions. In the end, these
\nattacks lose their power and fall away from the <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-31<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nnature; the recurrence becomes feeble or has no
\npower to last: even, if the detachment is strong
\nenough, they can be cut out very soon or at once.
\nThe strongest attitude to take is to regard these
\nthings as what they really are: incursions of dark
\nforces from outside taking advantage of certain
\nopenings in the physical mind or the vital part,
\nbut not a real part of oneself or spontaneous creation
\nin one’s own nature. To create a confusion and darkness
\nin the physical mind and to throw into it or
\nawake in it mistaken ideas, dark thoughts, false
\nimpressions is a favourite method of these assailants,
\nand if they can get the support of this mind from
\nover-confidence in its own correctness or the natural
\nrightness of its impressions and inferences, then
\nthey can have a field-day until the true mind
\nreasserts itself and blows the clouds away. Another
\ndevice of theirs is to awake some hurt or rankling
\nsense of grievance in the lower vital parts and keep
\nthem hurt or rankling as long as possible. In that
\ncase one has to discover these openings in one’s
\nnature and learn to close them permanently to such
\nattacks or to throw out the intruders at once or as
\n<\/i>soon as possible. The recurrence is no proof of a
\nfundamental incapacity; if one takes the right
\ninner attitude, it can and will be overcome. One
\nmust have faith in the Master of our life and works, <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-32 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\neven if for a long time He conceals Himself, and
\nthen in His own right time He will reveal His Presence.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nYou have always believed in Guruvada: I would 
\nask you then to put your faith in the Guru and the
\nguidance and rely on the Ishwara for the fulfilment,
\nto have faith in my abiding love and affection, in
\nthe affection and divine goodwill and loving kindness
\nof the Mother, stand firm against all attacks
\nand go forward perseveringly towards the spiritual
\nGoal and the all-fulfilling and all-satisfying touch
\nof the All-Blissful, the Ishwara. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n28-4-1949 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n<\/a>The Vedantin and the Worldly Experience<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nNo certainly I did not mean that the Vedantin
\nwho sees a greater working behind the appearances
\nof the world is living in a different world from
\nthis material one\u2014if I had meant that, all that I
\nhad written would be without point or sense. I
\nmeant a Vedantin who lives in this world with all
\nits suffering and ignorance and ugliness and evil
\nand has had a full measure of these things, betrayal <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-33 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nand abandonment by friends, failure of outward
\nobjects and desires in life, attack and persecution,
\naccumulated illnesses, constant difficulty, struggles,
\nstumblings in his Yoga. It is not that he lives in a
\ndifferent world, but he has a different way of
\nmeeting its ordeals, blows and dangers. He takes
\nthem as the nature of this world and the result of
\nthe ego-consciousness in which it lives. He tries
\ntherefore to grow into another consciousness in
\nwhich he feels what is behind the outward appearance,
\nand as he grows into that larger consciousness
\nhe begins to feel more and more a working behind
\nwhich is helping him to grow in the spirit and
\nleading him toward mastery and freedom from
\nego and ignorance and he sees that all has been
\nused for that purpose. Till he reaches this consciousness
\nwith its larger knowledge of things, he
\nhas to walk by faith and his faith may sometimes
\nfail him, but it returns and carries him through
\nall the difficulties. Everybody is not bound to
\naccept this faith and this consciousness, but there
\nis something great and true behind it for the
\nspiritual life.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n19-4-1934 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-34<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/a>Comments on Henri Massis’s Views on Transformation<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nI DO not gather from these extracts* the true nature
\nof the transformation spoken of here. It seems to be
\nsomething mental and moral with the love of God
\nand a certain kind of union in separateness brought
\nabout by this divine love as the spiritualising
\nelement. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nLove of God and union in separateness through
\nthat love and a transformation of the nature by
\nrealising certain mental, ethical, emotional\u2014
\nperhaps even physical possibilities (for the Vaishnavas
\nspeak of a new cinmaya<\/i> body) is the principle
\nof Vaishnava Yoga. So there is nothing here that
\nwas not already present in that line of Asiatic
\nmysticism which looks to a Personal Deity and
\ninsists on the eternal pre-existence and survival of
\nthe individual being. A spiritual raising of the
\nnature to its highest possibilities is a part of the
\nTantric discipline\u2014so that too is not absent from
\nIndian Yoga. The writer seems, like most European
\nwriters, to know only Illusionism and Buddhism
\nand to accept them as the whole wisdom of Asia
\n(sagesse asiatique); but even there he misinterprets
\ntheir idea and their experience. Adwaita even in<\/font><\/p>\n

\n                                  
\n<\/font><\/u> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n*From "La De\u00b4fense de l’Occident" by Henri Massis <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-35<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nits extreme form does not aim at the extinction of
\nexistence, the adoption of nothingness, the end of
\nthe being and destruction of the essence. Only a
\ncertain kind of Nihilistic Buddhism aims at that
\nand even so, that Nothingness, Sunya, is described
\non another side of it as the Permanent. What
\nthese disciplines aim at is a passing from Time to
\nEternity, a putting off of the finite and putting on
\nof the Infinite, a casting off of the bonds of ego
\nand its results, desire, suffering, a falsified existence,
\nin order to live in the true Self. These descriptions
\nof the Christian writer betray an entire ignorance
\nof the realisation which he decries, its infinity,
\nfreedom, surpassing peace, the ecstasy of the
\nBrahmananda. It is an extinction of the limited
\nindividual personality but a liberation into cosmic
\nand then into transcendent consciousness\u2014an
\nextinction of thought .and life but a liberation into
\nan unlimited consciousness and knowledge and
\nbeing. The personality is extinguished but in
\nsomething greater than itself, not in something
\nless nor in mere "Néant". If it be said that that
\nnegates earthly life, so does the Christian ideal,
\nfor the Christian ideal aims at the attainment of
\na celestial existence beyond the earth existence
\n(beyond this single earth life, for reincarnation is
\nnot admitted), which is only a vale of sorrows and <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-36 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\na passing ordeal. It insists on the preservation of
\nthe spiritual personality, but so do Vaishnavism and
\nShaivaism and other "Asiatic" ideals. The writer’s
\nignorance of the many-sidedness of Asiatic wisdom
\ndeprives his depreciation of it of all value. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe phrases which struck you as resembling
\nsuperficially at least our ideal of transformation
\nare of a general character and could be adopted
\nwithout hesitation by almost any spiritual discipline,
\neven Illusionism would be willing to include
\nit as a stage or experience on the way. All depends
\non the content you put into the words, what actual
\nchange in the consciousness and life they are
\nintended to cover. If the transformation be "from
\nsin to sainthood" by the union of the soul with God
\n"in an intellectual light full of love"\u2014which is the
\nmost definite description of it in these extracts,
\n\u2014then it is not at all identical, but rather very
\nfar from what I mean by transformation. For the
\ntransformation I aim at is not from sin to sainthood,
\nbut from the lower nature of the Ignorance to the
\nDivine Nature of Light, Peace, Truth, Divine Power
\nand Bliss beyond the Ignorance. It journeys
\ntowards a supreme self-existent good and leaves
\nbehind it the limited struggling human conception
\nof sin and virtue; it is not an intellectual light that
\nis the sun of its aspiration but a spiritual <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-37 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nsupraintellectual supramental light; it is not
\nsaint-hood
\nthat is its culmination but divine consciousness 
\n\u2014or if you like, soul-hood, spirit-hood, conscious self-hood, 
\ndivine-hood. There is therefore between
\nthese two kinds or two degrees of transformation
\nan immense difference. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tI.    "C’est un abandon héro\u00efque o\u00f9
\n\tl’\u00e2me parvient au sommet de 1’activit\u00e9 libre, o\u00f9 la personne se transforme, o\u00f9 ses facult\u00e9s sont
\n\t\u00e9pur\u00e9es, d\u00e9ifi\u00e9es par la gr\u00e2ce, sans que son essence soit d\u00e9truite."
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n

\n      What is meant by free activity? With us the freedom consists in freedom from the darkness, limitation, error, suffering, transience of the ignorant lower Nature, but also in a total surrender to the Divine. Free action is the action of the Divine in us and through us; no other action can be free. That seems to be accepted in II and III; but this perception, this conception is as old as spiritual knowledge itself\u2014it is not peculiar to Catholicism. What again is meant by the purification and deification of the faculties by Grace? If it is an ethical
\n\tpurification, that goes a very small way and does not bring deification.
\n\tAgain, if the deification is limited by the intellectual light, it must be a rather petty affair at the best. There was a similar aim in ancient Indian spirituality, but it had a larger sweep and a higher height than that. No spiritual<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPage-38<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

discipline aims at purification or deification by the destruction of the essence\u2014there can be no such thing, the very phrase is meaningless and self- contradictory. The essence of the being is indestructible. Even the most rigid Adwaita discipline does not aim at any such destruction; its object is the purest purity of the essential self. Transformation aims at this essential purity of the pure Spirit, but it asks also for the purity and divinity of the supreme Nature; it is not the essence of being but the accidents of our undeveloped imperfect nature that are destroyed and replaced by the manifestation of the divine Nature. The monistic Adwaita aims at the disappearance of the ego, not of the essence of the person; it arrives at this disappearance by identity with the One, by dissolution of the Nature-constructed ego into the reality of the eternal Self, for that, it says, not ego, is the essence of the person\u2014so a’ham, tat tvam asi.<\/i> In our idea of transformation also there is the destruction of the ego, its dissolution into the cosmic and the divine consciousness, but by that destruction we recover the true or spiritual person which is an eternal portion of the Divine.
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tII.   
\n\t"La contemplation du Chr\u00e9tien est ins\u00e9parable de l’\u00e9tat de la Gr\u00e2ce* et de
\n\tvie divine. S’il
\n 
\n\t<\/font><\/u> 
\n\t
\n\t* Grace is not a conception peculiar to the Christian spiritual
\n\tidea\u2014it is there in Vaishnavism, Shaivaism, the Shakta religion,
\n\u2014it is as old as the Upanishads. <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPage-39 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

doit s’an\u00e9antir, c’est encore sa personnalit\u00e9 qui triomphe en se laissant arracher
\n\t\u00e0 tout ce qui n’est pas elle, en brisant tous les liens qui 1’unissent \u00e0 son individu de chair, afin que
\n\tle Dieu vivant puisse s’en saisir, 1’assumer, 1’habiter." <\/font><\/p>\n


\n\tIII.   "Libert\u00e9 consiste d’abord
\n\t\u00e2 subordonner ce qui est inf\u00e9rieur dans sa nature a ce qui lui est sup\u00e9rieur." 
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThese passages can be taken in the above sense and as approximating to our ideal; but the confusion
\n\there is in the use of the word "personality". Personality is a temporary formation and to eternise it would be to eternise ignorance and limitation. The
\n\ttrue "I" is not the mental ego or the present personality which is only a mask, but the eternal "I" which assumes various personalities in various lives. The Christian and European conception of a single life on earth tends to bring about this error by making our present personality appear as if it were our whole self.. .. Again, it is not merely the bodily individuality to which ignorance ties
\n\tus,<\/i> but the mental individuality and vital individuality also; All these ties have to be broken, the imperfect forms of mind and life transcended, <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPage-40 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

mind transformed into something beyond mind, life into divine life, if the transformation is to be real and not merely a new shaping or heightening 
\n\tof the lights of the Ignorance. <\/font><\/p>\n


\n\tIV.  "Cette solitude de 1’\u00e2me (de 1’asc\u00e8te asiatique)…. n’est pas
\n\tle vrai loisir spirituel, la solitude active o\u00f9 s’op\u00e8re la transformation du p\u00e8che en saintet\u00e9 par 1’union de 1’\u00e2me avec Dieu dans une lumi\u00e8re intellectuelle toute pleine d’amour." 
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n

\nI have commented already on this description of the transformation to be effected and have to add only one more reserve. The solitude of the self in the Divine has no doubt to be active as well as passive and static; but none who has not arrived at the silence and motionless solitude of the eternal Self can have the free and integral activity of the higher divine Nature. For the action is based on the silence and by the silence it is free.
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n


\n\tV.   "..la vie chr\u00e9tienne\u2014mystique progressive qui est un enrichissement, un
\n\t\u00e9largissement infini de la personne humaine." 
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThis is not our idea of transformation\u2014for the human person is the mental
\n\tbeing limited by life and body. An enrichment and enlargement of it cannot go beyond the extreme limit of that formula, it can only widen and adorn its present poverty and narrowness. It cannot ascend out of the mental <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPage-41<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

ignorance into a greater Truth and Light or bring that down in any fullness into earthly nature, which is the aim of transformation as we conceive it.
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n


\n\tVI.   "Pour 1’asiatique la personnalit\u00e9 est la chute de 1’homme; pour
\n\tle chr\u00e9tien, c’est le dessein m\u00eame de Dieu, le principe de 1’union, le sommet naturel de la cr\u00e9ation, qu’il appelle tout enti\u00e8re
\n\t\u00e0 la Grace." 
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe personality of this single life in man is a formation in the Ignorance, therefore a fall; it cannot be the summit of the being. We do not admit
\n\tthat it is the summit of the natural creation either, but say there are higher summits to which we have to climb and reveal their powers in earthly nature.
\n\tThe natural creation is an evolution of the hidden Divine Consciousness in Nature which is limited
\n\tand disguised at first by the Ignorance. It has still to climb out of the
\n\tIgnorance\u2014therefore to get beyond the human person into the divine person. It is in this spiritual evolution that the Plan Divine (dessein de Dieu) manifests its central and significant line and calls all creation to the crowning Grace. 
\n\tYou will see, therefore, that the resemblance of the transformation here to our ideal is only on the surface, in the words, but not in the content of the words which is much narrower and of another order. So far as there is agreement and coincidence, <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tPage-42<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

it is because there is contained in them what is common (a certain conversion of the consciousness) to all spiritual disciplines; for all, in the East or in the West, have a common core of experience\u2014it is in their developments, range, turn to this or that aspect or else their will towards the totality of the Truth that they differ.
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n9-1-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n<\/a>Opening of Chakras in the Integral Yoga
\nand the Tantric Sadhana<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIN our Yoga there is no willed opening of the chakras,
\nthey open of themselves by the descent of the
\nForce. In the Tantric discipline they open from
\ndown upwards, the Muladhar first; in our Yoga,
\nthey open from up downward. But the ascent of the
\nforce from the Muladhar does take place. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n12-9-1933 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n<\/a>Occultism and Occult Forces<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nOCCULTISM is the knowledge and right use of the
\nhidden forces of Nature. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-43 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nOccult forces are the forces that can only be
\nknown by going behind the veil of apparent phenomena
\n\u2014especially the forces of the subtle physical
\nand supraphysical planes. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n10-3-1932 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/a>Occultism and Integral Yoga<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nAN activity on the astral plane in contact with the
\nastral Forces attended by a leaving of the body is
\nnot a spiritual aim but belongs to the province of 
\noccultism. It is not a part of the aim of Yoga. Also
\nfasting is not permissible in the Ashram, as its practice
\nis more often harmful than helpful to the spiritual
\nendeavour. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThis aim suggested to you seems to be part of a
\nseeking for occult powers; such a seeking is looked
\non with disfavour for the most part by spiritual
\nteachers in India, because it belongs to the inferior
\nplanes and usually pushes the seeker on a path which
\nmay lead him very far from the Divine. Especially,  <\/i>a contact with the forces and beings of the astral
\n(or, as we term it, the vital) plane is attended with
\ngreat dangers. The beings of this plane are often <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-44<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nhostile to the true aim of spiritual life and establish
\ncontact with the seeker and offer him powers
\nand occult experiences only in order that they
\nmay lead him away from the spiritual path or else
\nthat they may establish their own control over him or
\ntake possession of him for their own purpose. Often,
\nrepresenting themselves as divine powers, they mislead,
\ngive erring suggestions and impulsions and pervert
\nthe inner life. Many are those who, attracted
\nby these powers and beings of the vital plane, have
\nended in a definitive spiritual fall or in mental and
\nphysical perversion and disorder. One comes inevitably
\ninto contact with the vital plane and enters
\ninto it in the expansion of consciousness which
\nresults from an inner opening, but one ought never
\nto put oneself into the hands of these beings and forces
\nor allow oneself to be led by their suggestions and
\nimpulsions. This is one of the chief dangers of the
\nspiritual life and to be on one’s guard against it
\nis a necessity for the seeker if he wishes to arrive
\nat his goal. It is true that many supraphysical or
\nsupernormal powers come with the expansion of the
\nconsciousness in Yoga; to rise out of the body consciousness,
\nto act by subtle means on the supra-
\nphysical planes, etc. are natural activities for the
\nYogi. But these powers are not sought after, they
\ncome naturally, and they have not the astral <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-45<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\ncharacter. Also, they have to be used on purely spiritual
\nlines, that is by the Divine Will and the Divine
\nForce, as an instrument, but never as an instrumentation
\nof the forces and beings of the vital plane.
\nTo seek their aid for such powers is a great error. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nProlonged fasting may lead to an excitation of the
\nnervous being which often brings vivid imaginations
\nand hallucinations that are taken for true experiences;
\nsuch fasting is frequently suggested by the
\nvital Entities, because it puts the consciousness
\ninto an unbalanced state which favours their designs.
\nIt is therefore discouraged here. The rule to be
\nfollowed is that laid down by the Gita which says
\nthat "Yoga is not for one who eats too much or who
\ndoes not eat"\u2014a moderate use of food sufficient for
\nthe maintenance of health and strength of the body. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThere is no brotherhood of the kind you describe
\nin India. There are Yogis who seek to acquire and
\npractise occult powers but it is as individuals learning
\nfrom an individual Master. Occult associations,
\nlodges, brotherhoods for such a purpose as described
\nby European occultists are not known in Asia. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nAs regards secrecy, a certain discretion or silence
\nabout the instructions of the Guru and one’s own
\nexperiences is always advisable, but an absolute
\nsecrecy or making a mystery of these things is not.
\nOnce a Guru is chosen, nothing must be concealed <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-46<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nfrom him. The suggestion of absolute secrecy is often
\na trick of the astral Powers to prevent the seeking for
\nenlightenment and succour. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n<\/a>Seeking for Powers and Realisation of Truth<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nALL these "experiments" of yours are founded upon
\nthe vital nature and the mind in connection with it; 
\nworking on this foundation, there is no security
\nagainst falsehood and fundamental error. No amount
\nof powers (small or great) developing can be a surety
\nagainst wandering from the Truth; and, if you allow
\npride and arrogance and ostentation of power to
\ncreep in and hold you, you will surely fall into error
\nand into the power of rajasic Maya and Avidya.
\nOur object is not to get powers, but to ascend towards
\nthe divine Truth-Consciousness and bring its Truth
\ndown into the lower members. With the Truth all
\nthe necessary powers will come, not as one’s own,
\nbut as the Divine’s. The contact with the Truth
\ncannot grow through rajasic mental and vital self-
\nassertion, but only through psychic purity and
\nsurrender. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n11-12-1931 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-47<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/a>Capacity for Yoga of Orientals and Europeans<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE best way to answer your letter will be, I think,
\nto take separately the questions implied in it. I will
\nbegin with the conclusion you have drawn of the
\nimpossibility of the Yoga for a non-oriental nature.
\nI cannot see any ground for such a conclusion; 
\nit is contrary to all experience. Europeans throughout
\nthe centuries have practised with success spiritual
\ndisciplines which were akin to Oriental Yoga
\nand have followed, too, ways of the inner life which
\ncame to them from the East. Their non-oriental
\nnature did not stand in their way. The approach
\nand experiences of Plotinus and the European
\nmystics who derived from him were identical, as has
\nbeen shown recently, with the approach and experiences
\nof one type of Indian Yoga. Especially,
\nsince the introduction of Christianity, Europeans
\nhave followed its mystic disciplines which were one
\nin essence with those of Asia, however much they
\nmay have differed in forms, names and symbols. If
\nthe question be of Indian Yoga itself in its own characteristic
\nforms, here too the supposed inability is
\ncontradicted by experience. In early times Greeks
\nand Scythians from the West as well as Chinese and
\nJapanese and Cambodians from the East followed
\nwithout difficulty Buddhist or Hindu disciplines;<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-48<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nat the present day an increasing number of occidentals
\nhave taken to Vedantic or Vaishnava or other Indian
\nspiritual practices and this objection of incapacity
\nor unsuitableness has never been made either from
\nthe side of the disciples or from the side of the Masters.
\nI do not see, either, why<\/i> there should be any
\nsuch unbridgeable gulf; for there is no essential
\ndifference between the spiritual life in the East and
\nthe spiritual life in the West; what difference there
\nis has always been of names, forms and symbols or
\nelse of the emphasis laid on one special aim or another
\nor on one side or another of psychological experience.
\nEven here differences are often alleged which
\ndo not exist or else are not so great as they appear. I
\nhave seen it alleged by a Christian writer (who
\ndoes not seem to have shared your friend Angus’
\nobjection to these scholastic small distinctions) that
\nHindu spiritual thought and life acknowledged or
\nfollowed after only the Transcendent and neglected
\nthe Immanent Divinity, while Christianity gave due
\nplace to both Aspects; but in point of fact, Indian
\nspirituality, even if it laid the final stress on the
\nHighest beyond form and name, yet gave ample
\nrecognition and place to the Divine immanent in
\nthe world and the Divine immanent in the human being.
\nIndian spirituality has, it is true, a wider and
\nmore minute knowledge behind it; it has followed <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-49<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nhundreds of different paths, admitted every kind of
\napproach to the Divine and has thus been able to
\nenter into fields which are outside the less ample
\nscope of occidental practice; but that makes no
\ndifference to the essentials, and it is the essentials
\nalone that matter. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nYour explanation of the ability of many Westerners
\nto practise Indian Yoga seems to be that
\nthey have a Hindu temperament in a European or
\nAmerican body. As Gandhi is inwardly a moralistic
\nWesterner and Christian, you say, so the other
\nnon-oriental members of the Ashram are essentially
\nHindus in outlook. But what exactly is this Hindu
\noutlook? I have not myself seen anything in them
\nthat can be so described nor has the Mother. My
\nown experience contradicts entirely your explanation.
\nI knew very well Sister Nivedita (she was for many
\nyears a friend and a comrade in the political field)
\nand met Sister Christine,\u2014the two closest European
\ndisciples of Vivekananda. Both were Westerners to
\nthe core and had nothing at all of the Hindu outlook; 
\nalthough Sister Nivedita, an Irish woman, had the
\npower of penetrating by an intense sympathy into
\nthe ways of life of the people around her, her own
\nnature remained non-oriental to the end. Yet
\nshe found no difficulty in arriving at realisation on
\nthe lines of Vedanta. Here in this Ashram I have <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-50<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nfound the members of it who came from the West
\n(I include especially those who have been here
\nlongest) typically occidental with all the quality
\nand also all the difficulties of the Western mind and
\ntemperament and they have had to cope with their
\ndifficulties, just as the Indian members have been
\nobliged to struggle with the limitations and obstacles
\ncreated by their temperament and training. No
\ndoubt, they have accepted in principle the conditions
\nof the Yoga, but they had no Hindu outlook when
\nthey came and I do not think they have tried to
\nacquire one. Why should they do so? It is not the
\nHindu outlook or the Western that fundamentally
\nmatters in Yoga, but the psychic turn and the spiritual
\nurge, and these are the same everywhere. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhat are the differences after all from the view-
\npoint of Yoga between the sadhak of Indian and the
\nsadhak of occidental birth? You say the Indian has
\nhis Yoga half done for him,\u2014first, because he has
\nhis psychic much more directly open to the Transcendent
\nDivine. Leaving out the adjective, (for it
\nis not many who are by nature drawn to the Transcendent,
\nmost seek more readily the Personal the
\nDivine immanent here, especially if they can find it
\nin a human body,) there is there no doubt an
\nadvantage. It arises simply from the strong survival
\nin India of an atmosphere of spiritual seeking and <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-51 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\na long tradition of practice and experience, while
\nin Europe the atmosphere has been lost, the
\ntradition interrupted, and both have to be rebuilt.
\nThere is an absence too of the essential<\/i> doubt which
\nso much afflicts the minds of Europeans or, it may
\nbe added, Europeanised Indians, although that
\ndoes not prevent a great activity of a practical and
\nvery operative kind of doubt in the Indian sadhak.
\nBut when you speak of indifference to fellow human
\nbeings in any deeper aspect, I am unable to follow
\nyour meaning. My own experience is that the
\nattachment to persons\u2014to mother, father, wife,
\nchildren, friends\u2014not out of sense of duty or social
\nrelationship, but through close heart-ties is quite
\nas strong as in Europe and often more intense; it is 
\none of the great disturbing forces in the way, some
\nsuccumbing to the pull and many, even advanced 
\nsadhaks, being still unable to get it out of their blood
\nand their vital fibre. The impulse to set up a "spiritual"
\nor a "psychic" relationship with others\u2014very
\nusually covering a vital mixture which distracts
\nthem from the one aim\u2014is a persistently common
\nfeature. There is no difference here between the
\nWestern and Eastern human nature. Only the
\nteaching in India is of long standing that all must
\nbe turned towards the Divine and everything else
\neither sacrificed or changed into a subordinate and <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-52 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nancillary movement or made by sublimation a first
\nstep only towards the seeking for the Divine. This
\nno doubt helps the Indian sadhak if not to become
\nsingle-hearted at once, yet to orientate himself more
\ncompletely towards the goal. It is not always for
\nhim the Divine alone, though that is considered
\nthe highest state; but the Divine, chief and first, is  easily grasped by him as the ideal. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe Indian sadhak has his own difficulties in his
\napproach to the Yoga\u2014at least to this Yoga\u2014
\nwhich a Westerner has in less measure. Those of
\nthe occidental nature are born of the dominant
\ntrend of the European mind in the immediate past.
\nA greater readiness of essential doubt and sceptical
\nreserve; a habit of mental activity as a necessity
\nof the nature which makes it more difficult to
\nachieve a complete mental silence; a stronger turn
\ntowards outside things born of the plenitude of
\nactive life (while the Indian commonly suffers from
\ndefects born rather of a depressed or suppressed
\nvital force); a habit of mental and vital self-assertion
\nand sometimes an aggressively vigilant independence
\nwhich renders difficult any completeness of internal
\nsurrender even to a greater Light and Knowledge,
\neven to the divine Influence\u2014these are frequent
\nobstacles. But these things are not universal in
\nWesterners, and they are, on the other hand, present <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-53 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nin many Indian sadhaks; they are, like the difficulties of the typical Indian nature, superstructural
\nformations, not the very grain of the being. They
\ncannot permanently stand in the way of the soul,
\nif the soul’s aspiration is strong and firm, if the
\nspiritual aim is the chief thing in the life. They
\nare impediments which the fire within can easily
\nburn away if the will to get rid of them is strong,
\nand which it will surely burn away in the end,\u2014
\nthough less easily,\u2014even if the outer nature clings
\nlong to them and justifies them\u2014provided that
\nthe fire, the central will, the deeper impulse is
\nbehind all, real and sincere. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThis conclusion of yours about the incapacity of
\nthe non-oriental for Indian Yoga is simply born
\nof a too despondently acute sense of your own
\ndifficulties; you have not seen those equally great
\nthat have long troubled or are still troubling others,
\nNeither to Indian nor to European can the path
\nof Yoga be smooth and easy; their common human
\nnature is there to see to that. To each his own
\ndifficulties seem enormous and radical and even
\nincurable by their continuity and persistence and
\ninduce long periods of despondency and crises of
\ndespair. To have faith enough or enough psychic
\nsight to react at once or almost at once and prevent
\nthese attacks is given hardly to two or three in a<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-54<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nhundred. But one ought not to settle down into a
\nfixed idea of one’s own incapacity <\/b> or allow it to
\nbecome an obsession; for such an attitude has no
\ntrue justification and unnecessarily renders the
\nway harder. Where there is a soul that has once
\nbecome awake, there is surely a capacity within
\nthat can outweigh all surface defects and can in  the end conquer. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIf your conclusion were true, the whole aim of   this Yoga would be a vain thing; for we are not
\nworking for a race or a people or a continent or
\nfor a realisation of which only Indians or only
\nOrientals are capable. Our aim is not, either, to
\nfound a religion or a school of philosophy or a school
\nof Yoga, but to create a ground and a way of spiritual growth and experience and a way which will
\nbring down a greater Truth beyond the mind but not inaccessible to the human
\nsoul and consciousness. All can pass who are drawn to that Truth,
\nwhether they are from India or elsewhere, from
\nthe East or from the West. All may find great
\ndifficulties in their personal or common human
\nnature; but it is not their physical origin or their
\nracial temperament that can be an insuperable
\nobstacle to their deliverance. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-55<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\n<\/a>Capacity for the Integral Yoga<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nALL can do some kind of Yoga according to their
\nnature, if they have the will to it. But there are
\nfew of whom it can be said that they have capacity
\nfor this Yoga. Only some can develop a capacity,
\nothers cannot. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n16-8-1933 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n<\/a>Call to the Path and Family Duties<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nAs for your friend, it is not possible to say that she
\ncan come here; for that depends on many things
\nwhich are not clearly present here. First, one must
\nenter this Path or it must be seen that one is called
\nto it; afterwards there is the question whether one
\nis meant for the Ashram life here. The question
\nabout the family duties can be answered in this way \u2014the family duties exist so long as one is in the
\nordinary consciousness of the gṛhastha;<\/i> if the call
\nto a spiritual life comes, whether one keeps to them
\nor not depends partly upon the way of Yoga one
\nfollows, partly on one’s own spiritual necessity,
\nThere are many who pursue inwardly the spiritual <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-56 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nlife and keep the family duties, not as social duties
\nbut as a field for the practice of Karmayoga, others
\nabandon everything to follow the spiritual call
\nor line and they are justified if that is necessary
\nfor the Yoga they practise or if that is the imperative demand of the soul within <\/b> them. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n<\/a>Spiritual Life and Social Duties<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nI DON’T remember the context; but I suppose he
\nmeans that when one has to escape from the lower
\ndharma, one has often to renounce it so as to arrive
\nat a larger one, e.g., social duties, paying debts,
\nlooking after family, help to serve your country
\netc., etc. The man who turns to the spiritual life,
\nhas to leave all that behind him, often and he is
\nreproached by lots of people for his adharma. But
\nif he does not do this adharma, he is bound for
\never to the lower life\u2014for there is always some
\nduty there to be done\u2014and cannot take up the
\nspiritual dharma or can do it only when he is old
\nand his faculties impaired. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n14-9-1933 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-57<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\n<\/a>Vairagya for Worldly Life and Call for
\nthe Integral Yoga<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE difficulty is that she seems to have only
\nvairagya<\/i> for worldly life without any knowledge or
\nspecial call for this Yoga, and this Yoga and the
\nlife here are quite different things from ordinary
\nYoga and ordinary Ashram. It is not a life of meditative retirement as elsewhere. Moreover, it
\nwould be impossible for us to demand anything
\nwithout seeing her and knowing at close hand
\nwhat she is like. We are not just now for taking
\nmore inmates into the Ashram except in a very few
\ncases. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n<\/a>Political and Social Controversies and <\/b> Our Aim<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nYou write as if what is going on in Europe were a
\nwar between the powers of the Light and the powers
\nof Darkness\u2014but that is no more so than during
\nthe Great War. It is a fight between two kinds of
\nIgnorance. Our aim is to bring down a higher
\nTruth, but that Truth must be able to live by its
\nown strength and not depend upon the victory of
\none or other of the forces of the Ignorance. That <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-58 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nis the reason why we not to mix in political or 
\nsocial controversies and struggles; it would simply keep down our endeavour to a
\nlower level  and prevent the Truth from descending which is none of these things but has a quite different law
\nand basis. You speak of Brahmatej being overpowered by Kshatratej, but where is
\nthat happening? None of the warring parties incarnate either.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n17-2-1937 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n<\/a>The Supramental Descent and Change of
\nthe Earth-Consciousness<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHERE is no proposal to transform the whole earth-
\nconsciousness\u2014it is simply to introduce the supramental principle there which will transform those
\nwho can receive and embody it. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n15-12-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-59 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/a>The Intermediate Glimmer and the Full Light<\/font><\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/i><\/font>IT is the darkest nights that prepare the greatest
\ndawns\u2014and it is so because it is into the deepest
\ninconscience of material life that we have to bring,
\nnot an intermediate glimmer, but the full play of the
\ndivine Light. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n27-2-1932 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-60 <\/font>\n\t\t<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SECTION ONE   Integral Yoga and Partial Spiritual Paths   The Aim of Integral Yoga and the Ideal of Supermanhood   To come to this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-04-fourth-series-1951","wpcat-97-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3719","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=3719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3719\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}