{"id":3761,"date":"2013-07-13T01:51:04","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:51:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3761"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:51:04","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:51:04","slug":"03-synthetic-method-and-integral-yoga-vol-02-second-series-1949","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/02-other-editions\/letters-of-sri-aurobindo\/02-second-series-1949\/03-synthetic-method-and-integral-yoga-vol-02-second-series-1949","title":{"rendered":"-03_Synthetic Method and Integral Yoga.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

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

\nSYNTHETIC METHOD AND INTEGRAL YOGA<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

\n

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

\n
\n
\nThe Ce<\/font>ntral
\nAim<\/font><\/i>
\n<\/font>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nI DO not agree with the view that the world is an
\nillusion, mithya.<\/i> The Brahman is here as well as in
\nthe supracosmic Absolute. The thing to be overcome
\nis the Ignorance which makes us blind and prevents
\nus from realising Brahman in the world as well as
\nbeyond it and the true nature of existences.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n12-4-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nThe Object of Integral Yoga<\/i> <\/font>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE object of the Yoga is to enter into and be
\npossessed by the Divine Presence and Consciousness,
\nto love the Divine for the Divine’s sake alone, to be
\ntuned in our nature into the nature of the Divine,
\nand in our will and works and life to be the instrument of the Divine. Its object is not to be a great
\nYogi or a Superman (although that may come)
\n<\/b>or <\/b>to grab at the Divine for the sake of the ego’s power,. <\/font><\/p>\n

Page – 3<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\npride or pleasure. It is not for Moksha, though
\nliberation comes by it and all else may come, but
\nthese must not be our objects. The Divine alone is
\nour object. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nInclusive Method of Integral Yoga<\/i> <\/font>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nAs regards S’s question\u2014this is not a Yoga of
\nBhakti alone; it is or at least it claims to be an
\nintegral Yoga, that is, a turning of all the being in
\nall its parts to the Divine. It follows that there must
\nbe knowledge and works as well as Bhakti, and in
\naddition, it includes a total change of the nature,
\na seeking for perfection, so that the nature also may
\nbecome one with the nature of the Divine. It is not
\nonly the heart that has to turn to the Divine and
\nchange, but the mind also\u2014so knowledge is necessary and the will and power of action and creation
\nalso\u2014so works too are necessary. In this Yoga the
\nmethods of other Yogas are taken up\u2014like this of
\nPurusha-Prakriti, but with a difference in the final
\nobject. Purusha separates from Prakriti, not in
\norder to abandon her, but in order to know himself
\nand her and to be no longer her plaything, but the
\nknower, lord and upholder of the nature; but having <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 4<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nbecome so or even in becoming so, one offers all
\nthat to the Divine. One may begin with knowledge
\nor with works or with Bhakti or with Tapasya of
\nself-purification for perfection (change of nature) and
\ndevelop the rest as a subsequent movement or one
\nmay combine all in one movement. There is no
\nsingle rule for all, it depends on the personality and
\nthe nature. Surrender is the main power of the
\nYoga, but the surrender is bound to be progressive; a complete surrender is not possible in the beginning,
\nbut only a will in the being for that completeness,\u2014
\nin fact it takes time; yet it is only when the surrender
\nis complete that the full flood of the sadhana is possible. Till then there must be the personal effort
\nwith an increasing reality of surrender. One calls in
\nthe power of the Divine Shakti and once that begins
\nto come into the being, it at first supports the personal endeavour, then progressively takes up the
\nwhole action, although the consent of the sadhak continues to be always necessary. As the Force works,
\nit brings in the different processes that are necessary
\nfor the sadhak, processes of knowledge, of Bhakti,
\nof spiritualised action, of transformation of the
\nnature. The idea that they cannot be combined is
\nan error. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n30-8-1937 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 5<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nNecessity of Yoga in Action<\/i> <\/font>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE object of the sadhana is opening of the
\nconsciousness to the Divine and the change of the
\nnature. Meditation or contemplation is one means
\nto this but only one means; bhakti is another; work
\nis another. Chitta-shuddhi was preached by the
\nYogins as a first means towards realisation and they
\ngot by it the saintliness of the saint and the quietude
\nof the sage but the transformation of the nature of
\nwhich we speak is something more than that, and
\nthis transformation does not come by contemplation alone; works are necessary. Yoga in action is
\nindispensable. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n13-10-1934 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nPlace of Works in Integral Yoga<\/i> <\/font>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nI HAVE never disputed the truth of the old Yogas\u2014
\nI have myself had the experience of Vaishnava
\nBhakti and of Nirvana in the Brahman; I recognise
\ntheir truth in their own field and for their own
\npurpose\u2014the truth of their experience so far as it
\ngoes\u2014though I am in no way bound to accept the <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

\ntruth of the mental philosophies founded on the
\nexperience. I similarly find that my Yoga is true in
\nits own field\u2014a larger field, as I think\u2014and for its
\nown purpose. The purpose of the old is to get away
\nfrom life to the Divine\u2014so obviously, let us drop
\nKarma. The purpose of the new is to reach the
\nDivine and bring the fullness of what is gained into
\nlife\u2014for that, Yoga by works is indispensable. It
\nseems to me that there is no mystery about that or
\nanything to perplex anybody\u2014it is rational and
\ninevitable. Only you say that the thing is impossible; but that is what is said about everything before it is
\ndone. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nI may point out that Karmayoga is not a new but
\na very old Yoga; the Gita was not written yesterday
\nand Karmayoga existed before the Gita. Your idea
\nthat the only justification in the Gita for works is
\nthat it is all an unavoidable nuisance, so better make
\nthe best use of it, is rather summary and crude. If
\nthat were all, the Gita would be the production of an
\nimbecile and I would hardly have been justified in
\nwriting two volumes on it or the world in reading it
\nas one of the greatest scriptures, especially for its
\ntreatment of the place of works in spiritual endeavour. There is surely more in it than that. Anyhow,
\nyour doubts whether works can lead to realisation
\nor rather your flat and sweeping denial of the <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

\npossibility contradicts the experience of those who
\nhave achieved this supposed impossibility. You say
\nthat work lowers the consciousness, brings you out of
\nthe inner into the outer\u2014yes, if you consent to externalise yourself in it instead of doing works from
\nwithin; but that is what one has to learn not to do.
\nThought and feeling also can externalise one in the
\nsame way; but it is a question of linking thought,
\nfeeling and act firmly to the inner consciousness by
\nliving there and making the rest an instrument.
\nDifficult? Even Bhakti is not easy and Nirvana for
\nmost<\/i> men more difficult than that. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nI do not know why you drag in humanitarianism, activism, philanthropical  seva,<\/i> etc. None of
\nthese are part of my Yoga or in harmony with my
\nworks, so they don’t touch me. I never thought that
\npolitics or feeding the poor or writing beautiful
\npoems would lead straight to Vaikuntha or the
\nAbsolute. If it were so, Romesh Dutt on one side
\nand Baudelaire on the other would be the first to
\nattain the Highest and welcome us there. It is not
\nthe form of the work itself or mere activity but the
\nconsciousness and Godward will behind it that are
\nthe essence of Karmayoga; the work is only the necessary instrumentation for the union with the Master
\nof works, the transit to the pure will and power
\nof Light from the will and power of the Ignorance. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 8 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nFinally, why suppose that I am against meditation
\nor bhakti? I have not the slightest objection to your
\ntaking either or both as the means of approach to
\nthe Divine. Only I saw no reason why anyone should
\nfall foul of works and deny the truth of those who
\nhave reached, as the Gita says, through works
\nperfect realisation and oneness of nature with the
\nDivine, samsiddhim sadharmyam<\/i> (as did Janaka and
\nothers)\u2014simply because he himself cannot find or
\nhas not yet found their deeper secret\u2014hence my
\ndefence of works. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n;23-12-1934 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nWorks and Meditation<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE including of the outer consciousness in the
\ntransformation is of supreme importance in this
\nYoga\u2014meditation cannot do it. Meditation can
\ndeal only with the inner being. So work is of primary
\nimportance\u2014only it must be done with the right
\nattitude and in the right consciousness, then it is as
\nfruitful as any meditation can be.
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 9 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nWorks and Meditation<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nWORK by itself is only a preparation, so is meditation by itself, but work done in the increasing
\nYogic consciousness is a means of realisation as much
\nas meditation is…. I have not said, I hope, that
\nwork only<\/i> prepares. Meditation also prepares for
\nthe direct contact. If we are to do work only as a
\npreparation and then become motionless meditative
\nascetics, then all my spiritual teaching is false and
\nthere is no use for Supramental realisation or anything else that has not been done in the past…. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe ignorance underlying this attitude is in the
\nassumption that one must necessarily do only work
\nor only meditation. Either work is the means or
\nmeditation is the means, but both cannot be! I have
\nnever said, so far as I know, that meditation should
\nnot be done. To set up an open competition or a
\nclosed one between work and meditation is a trick
\nof the dividing mind and belongs to the old Yoga.
\nPlease remember that I have been declaring all
\nalong an integral Yoga in which Knowledge,
\nBhakti, Works\u2014light of consciousness, Ananda and
\nlove, will and power in works\u2014meditation, ado-
\nration, service of the Divine have all their place. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 10 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nMeditation is not greater than Yoga of works nor
\nworks greater than Yoga by knowledge\u2014both are
\nequal. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nAnother thing\u2014it is a mistake to argue from one’s
\nown very limited experience, ignoring that of others
\nand build on it large generalisations about Yoga. This
\nis what many do, but the method has obvious de-
\nmerits. You have no experience of major realisations
\nthrough works, and you conclude that such realisations are impossible. But what of the many who have
\nhad them\u2014elsewhere and here too in the Ashram? <\/font><\/p>\n

\nDon’t conclude however that I am exalting works
\nas the sole means of realisation. I am only giving it
\nits due place. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n19-12-1934 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nPrayer and Meditation<\/i><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPRAYER and meditation count for so much in Yoga.
\nBut the prayer must well up from the heart on a crest
\nof emotion or aspiration, the Japa or meditation
\ncome in a live push carrying the joy or the light of
\nthe thing in it. If done mechanically and merely as
\na thing that ought to be done (stern grim duty!), it <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 11 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nmust tend towards want of interest and dryness and
\nso be ineffective.. . .You were doing Japa too much
\nas a means for bringing about a result, I meant too
\nmuch as a device, a process laid down for getting
\nthe thing done. That was why I wanted the psychological conditions in you to develop, the psychic, the mental, for when the psychic is forward, there
\nis no lack of life and joy in the prayer, the aspiration,
\nthe seeking, no difficulty in having the constant
\nstream of bhakti and when the mind is quiet and
\ninturned and upturned there is no difficulty or want
\nof interest in meditation. Meditation, by the way,
\nis a process leading towards knowledge and through
\nknowledge, it is a thing of the head and not of the
\nheart, so if you want dhyana,<\/i> you can’t have an aversion to knowledge. Concentration in the heart is
\nnot meditation, it is a call on the Divine, on the
\nBeloved. This Yoga too is not a Yoga of knowledge
\nalone, knowledge is one of its means, but its base
\nbeing self-offering, surrender, bhakti, it is based
\nin the heart and nothing can be eventually done
\nwithout, this base. There are plenty of people here
\nwho do or have done Japa and base themselves on
\nbhakti, very few comparatively who have done the
\n"head" meditation; love and bhakti and works are
\nusually the base; how many can proceed by knowledge? Only the few. <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

\n
\nThree Approaches to the Divine<\/i> <\/font>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nMEDITATION is one means of approach to the Divine
\nand a great way, but it cannot be called a short
\ncut\u2014for most it is a long and most difficult though
\na very high ascent. It can by no means be short
\nunless it brings a descent, and even then it is only
\na foundation that is quickly laid; afterwards meditation has to build laboriously a big superstructure
\non that foundation. It is very indispensable but
\nthere is nothing of the short about it. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nKarma is a much simpler road provided one’s
\nmind is not fixed on the Karma to the exclusion of
\nthe Divine. The aim must be the Divine and the
\nwork can only be a means. The use of poetry etc. is
\nto keep one in contact with one’s inner being and
\nthat helps to prepare for the direct contact with the
\ninmost, but one must not stop with that, one must
\ngo on to the real thing. If one thinks of being a
\nliterary man or a poet or a painter as things worth
\nwhile for their own sake, then it is no longer the
\nYogic spirit. That is why I have sometimes to say
\nthat our business is to be Yogis, not merely poets,
\npainters, etc. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nLove, bhakti, surrender, the psychic opening are
\nthe only short cuts to the Divine\u2014or can be; for
\n<\/b>if <\/b>the love and bhakti are too vital, then there is likely <\/font><\/p>\n

Page – 13 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nto be a seesaw between ecstatic expectation and
\nviraha, abhiman, despair, etc., which makes not a
\nshort cut but a long one, a zigzag\u2014not a straight
\nflight\u2014a whirling round one’s own ego instead of
\na running towards the Divine. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nThree Ways of Sadhana<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nI WAS quite in earnest in speaking of the progress
\nyou had made by the psychic movement and the
\nendeavour to detect and remove the ego. I had
\nalready written to you strongly approving of that
\nway. It is in our Yoga the way to devotion and
\nsurrender\u2014-for it is the psychic movement that
\nbrings the constant and pure devotion and the
\nremoval of ego that makes it possible to surrender.
\nThe two things indeed go together.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe other way, which is the way to knowledge,
\nis the meditation in the head by which there comes
\nthe opening above, the quietude or silence of the
\nmind and the descent of peace, etc. of the higher
\nconsciousness generally till it envelops the being and
\nfills the body and begins to take up all the movements.
\nBut this involves a passage through silence, a certain
\nemptiness of the ordinary activities\u2014they being <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n

\npushed out and done as a purely superficial action
\n\u2014and you strongly dislike silence and emptiness. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe third way which is one of the two ways
\ntowards Yoga by works is the separation of the
\nPurusha from the Prakriti, the inner silent being
\nfrom the outer active one, so that one has two consciousnesses or a double consciousness, one behind
\nwatching and observing and finally controlling and
\nchanging the other which is active in front. But
\nthis also means living in an inner peace and silence
\nand dealing with the activities as if they were a thing
\nof the surface. The other way of beginning the
\nYoga of works is by doing them for the Divine, for
\nthe Mother, and not for oneself, consecrating and
\ndedicating them till one concretely feels the Divine
\nForce taking up the activities and doing them for one. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIf there is any secret or key of my Yoga which
\nyou say you have not found, it lies in these methods
\n\u2014and, in reality, there is nothing so mysterious,
\nimpossible or even new about them in themselves.
\nIt is only the farther development at a later stage
\nand the aim of the Yoga that are new.. But that
\none need not concern oneself with in the earlier
\nstages unless one wishes to do so as a matter of
\nmental knowledge. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n11-9-1935 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 15 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nThree Supports of Yoga<\/i> <\/font>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nI HAVE always said that work done as sadhana\u2014
\ndone, that is to say, as an outflow of energy from the
\nDivine and offered to the Divine or work done for
\nthe sake of the Divine or work done in a spirit of
\ndevotion is a powerful means of sadhana and that
\nsuch work is especially necessary in this Yoga. Work,
\nbhakti and meditation are the three supports of Yoga.
\nOne can do with all three or two or one. There
\nare people who can’t meditate in the set way that
\none calls meditation, but they progress through work
\nor through bhakti or through the two together.
\nBy work and bhakti one can develop a consciousness
\nin which eventually a natural meditation and realisation becomes possible.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAll that is quite different from N’s idea of making
\noneself virtuous and self-controlled and pure by
\nsome mysterious innate power in the pursuit of
\nliterature. If he had asked me the question about
\nwork and sadhana, I would have answered him
\notherwise. Of course literature and art are or can
\nbe a first introduction to the inner being\u2014the inner
\nmind, inner vital; for it is from there that they come.
\nAnd if one writes poems of bhakti, poems of divine
\nseeking, etc. or creates music of that kind, it means
\nthat there is a bhakta or seeker inside who is <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 16<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nsupporting himself by that self-expression. But it was
\nnot from any point of view like that that N put his
\nquestion and it was not from that point of view
\nthat I gave my answer. It was about some especial
\ncharacter-making virtue that he seemed to attribute to literature. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n18-11-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe Central Need<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIT is altogether unprofitable to enquire who or what
\nclass will arrive first or last at the goal. The spiritual path is not a field of competition or a race that
\nthis should matter. What matters is one’s own
\naspiration for the Divine, one’s own faith, surrender,
\nselfless self-giving. Others can be left to the Divine
\nwho will lead each according to his nature. Meditation, work, bhakti are each means of preparative
\nhelp towards fulfilment; all are included in this
\npath. If one can dedicate oneself through work,
\nthat is one of the most powerful means towards
\nthe self-giving which is itself the most powerful
\nand indispensable element of the sadhana. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nTo cleave to the path means to follow it without
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 17 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nleaving it or turning aside. It is a path of self-offering
\nof the whole being in all its parts, the offering of
\nthe thinking mind and the heart, the will and
\nactions, the inner and the outer instruments so that
\n.one may arrive at the experience of the Divine,
\nthe Presence within, the psychic and spiritual
\nchange. The more one gives of oneself in all ways,
\nthe better for the sadhana. But all cannot do it
\nto the same extent, with the same rapidity, in the
\nsame way. How others do it or fail to do it should
\nnot be one’s concern\u2014how to do it faithfully oneself
\nis the one thing important. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n8-8-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 18<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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