{"id":783,"date":"2013-07-13T01:30:23","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=783"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:30:23","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:30:23","slug":"73-letter-on-yoga-vol-27-supplement-volume-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/27-supplement-volume-27\/73-letter-on-yoga-vol-27-supplement-volume-27","title":{"rendered":"-73_Letter on Yoga.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\nSUPPLEMENT TO<\/font><\/b>
\n<\/font>
\nVOLUMES  <\/font>
\n<\/b><\/font>22-24<\/font><\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

\nLETTERS ON YOGA<\/b><\/p>\n

LETTER ON YOGA was written to the Maharani of Baroda.<\/font><\/p>\n

 Letter<\/font><\/span><\/b>
\n<\/font>
\non Yoga<\/font><\/b><\/font>
\n<\/font>
\n
\n<\/span>TO THE MAHARANI OF BARODA<\/p>\n

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

                               
\n<\/span> IT <\/font><\/b>IS true that I have by the
\npractice of Yoga attained to the higher spiritual consciousness which comes by Yoga,
\n<\/span>and t<\/span>his
\ncarries with it a certain power. Especially there is <\/span>the
\npower to communicate to those who are ready or to help them towards that
\nspiritual state which, in its perfection, is a condition of unalterable inner
\ncalm, strength and felicity. But this spiritual
\npeace<\/span>
\n<\/span>and joy is something quite different from
\nmental peace and happiness. And it cannot be reached without a spiritual
\ndiscipline.<\/p>\n

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

       
\nI do not know whether this has been rightly
\nexplained to your Highness. I may say briefly that there are two states of
\nconsciousness in either of which one can live. One is a higher consciousness
\nwhich stands above the play of life and governs it; this is variously called the
\nSelf, the Spirit or the Divine. The other is the normal consciousness in which
\nmen live; it is something quite superficial, an instrument of the Spirit for the
\nplay of life. Those who live and act in the normal consciousness are governed
\nentirely by the common movements of the mind and are naturally subject to grief
\nand joy and anxiety and desire or to everything else that makes up the ordinary
\nstuff of life. Mental quiet and happiness they can get, but it can never be
\npermanent or secure. But the spiritual consciousness is all light, peace, power
\nand bliss. If one can live entirely in it, there is no question; these things
\nbecome naturally and securely his. But even if he can live partly in it or keep
\nhimself constantly\/open to it, he receives enough of this spiritual light and
\npeace and strength and happiness to carry him securely through all the shocks of
\nlife. What one gains by opening to this spiritual consciousness, depends on what
\none seeks from it; if it is peace, one gets peace; if it is light or knowledge,
\none lives in a great light and receives a knowledge deeper and truer than any
\nthe normal mind of man can acquire; if it is strength or power, he gets a
\nspiritual strength for the inner life or<\/font><\/p>\n

Page-415
\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

Yogic power to govern the outer work and
\naction; if it is happiness, he enters into a beatitude far greater than any joy
\nor happiness that the ordinary human life can give.
\n        <\/span>There are many ways of opening to this Divine Consciousness or entering
\ninto it. My way which I show to others by a constant practice is to go inward
\ninto oneself, to open by aspiration to the Divine and once one is conscious of
\nit and its action, to give oneself to it entirely. This self-giving means not to
\nask for anything but the constant contact or union with the Divine
\nConsciousness, to aspire for its peace, power, light and felicity, but to ask
\nnothing else and in life and action to be its instrument only for whatever work
\nit gives one to do in the world. If one can once open and feel the Divine Force,
\nthe Power of the Spirit working in the mind and heart and body, the rest is a
\nmatter of remaining faithful to it, calling for it always, allowing it to do its
\nwork when it comes and rejecting every other and inferior force that belongs to
\nthe lower consciousness and the lower nature.
\n        <\/span><\/span>I have written so much in order to
\nexplain my position and the nature of my Yogic power. I do not usually ask
\nanyone to practise this Yoga, because it is possible only for those who have
\nfrom the beginning or who develop a strong call to it; others cannot go through
\nit all <\/i>to the end. Nor do I often go out of my way to help those who are
\nmerely in need of some kind of quietude of external <\/i>nature though I do
\nnot refuse to do it in certain cases. My aim is to create a center of spiritual
\nlife which shall serve as a means of bringing down the higher consciousness and
\nmaking it a power not merely for ‘salvation’ but for a divine life upon earth.
\nIt is with this object that I have withdrawn from public life and founded this
\nAshram in Pondicherry (so called for want of a better word, for it is not an
\nAshram of Sannyasins, but of those who want to leave all else and prepare for
\nthis rule). But at the same time I have a small number of disciples all over
\nIndia who live in their families and receive spiritual help from me even at a
\ndistance.
\n        <\/span>This is all I can answer to your Highness at present. It is for you to
\ndecide (<\/font>Alternative
\nwords: <\/i>see
\nfor yourself<\/span><\/font>)<\/span> whether what you seek has anything to do with what I have explained in
\nthis letter.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-416<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SUPPLEMENT TO VOLUMES  22-24 LETTERS ON YOGA LETTER ON YOGA was written to the Maharani of Baroda.  Letter on Yoga TO THE MAHARANI OF BARODA…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-27-supplement-volume-27","wpcat-16-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783","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=783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}