{"id":947,"date":"2013-07-13T01:31:31","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:31:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=947"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:31:31","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:31:31","slug":"08-the-four-aids-vol-20-the-synthesis-of-yoga-volume-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/20-the-synthesis-of-yoga-volume-20\/08-the-four-aids-vol-20-the-synthesis-of-yoga-volume-20","title":{"rendered":"-08_The Four Aids.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

\n


\n
\nChapter I<\/span><\/font><\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/span>The
\nFour Aids<\/span><\/font><\/b> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>Y<\/font>OGA-SIDDHI<\/font><\/span>, the
\nperfection that comes from the practice of Yoga, can be best attained by the
\ncombined working of four great instruments. There is, first, the knowledge of the
\ntruths, principles, powers and processes that govern the realisation \u2013
\nśāstra. Next comes a patient and persistent action on the lines laid
\ndown by this knowledge, the force of our personal effort \u2013\u00a0 <\/span>utsāha. There intervenes, third,
\nuplifting our knowledge and effort into the domain of spiritual experience, the
\ndirect suggestion, example and influence of the Teacher \u2013 guru. Last comes the
\ninstrumentality of Time \u2013 kāla; for in all things there is a cycle of
\ntheir action and a period of the divine movement.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>*<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe supreme Shastra of
\nthe integral Yoga is the eternal Veda secret in the heart of every thinking and
\nliving being. The lotus of the eternal knowledge and the eternal perfection is
\na bud closed and folded up within us. It opens swiftly or gradually, petal by
\npetal, through successive realisations, once the mind of man begins to turn
\ntowards the Eternal, once his heart, no longer compressed and confined by
\nattachment to finite appearances, becomes enamoured, in whatever degree, of the
\nInfinite. All life, all thought, all energising of the faculties, all
\nexperiences passive or active, become thenceforward so many shocks which
\ndisintegrate the teguments of the soul and remove the obstacles to the
\ninevitable efflorescence. He who chooses the Infinite has been chosen by the
\nInfinite. He has received the divine touch without which there is no awakening,
\nno opening of the spirit; but once it is received, attainment is sure, whether
\nconquered swiftly in the course of one human life or pursued patiently through
\nmany stadia of the cycle of existence in the manifested universe.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 47<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

 <\/span>      Nothing can be taught to
\nthe mind which is not already concealed as potential knowledge in the unfolding
\nsoul of the creature. So also all perfection of which the outer man is capable,
\nis only a realising of the eternal perfection of the Spirit within him. We know
\nthe Divine and become the Divine, because we are That already in our secret
\nnature. All teaching is a revealing, all becoming is an unfolding. Self-attainment
\nis the secret; self-knowledge and an increasing consciousness are the means and
\nthe process.<\/span><\/p>\n

The usual agency of this
\nrevealing is the Word, the thing heard (śruta). The Word may come to us
\nfrom within; it may come to us from without. But in either case, it is only an
\nagency for setting the hidden knowledge to work. The word within may be the
\nutterance of the inmost soul in us which is always open to the Divine; or it
\nmay be the word of the secret and universal Teacher who is seated in the hearts
\nof all. There are rare cases in which none other is needed, for all the rest of
\nthe Yoga is an unfolding under that constant touch and guidance; the lotus of
\nthe knowledge discloses itself from within by the power of irradiating
\neffulgence which proceeds from the Dweller in the lotus of the heart. Great
\nindeed, but few are those to whom self-knowledge from within is thus sufficient
\nand who do not need to pass under the dominant influence of a written book or a
\nliving teacher.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ordinarily, the Word
\nfrom without, representative of the Divine, is needed as an aid in the work of
\nself-unfolding; and it may be either a word from the past or the more powerful
\nword of the living Guru. In some cases this representative word is only taken
\nas a sort of excuse for the inner power to awaken and manifest; it is, as it
\nwere, a concession of the omnipotent and omniscient Divine to the generality of
\na law that governs Nature. Thus it is said in the Upanishads of Krishna, son of
\nDevaki, that he received a word of the Rishi Ghora and had the knowledge. So
\nRamakrishna, having attained by his own internal effort the central
\nillumination, accepted several teachers in the different paths of Yoga, but
\nalways showed in the manner and swiftness of his realisation that this
\nacceptance was a concession to the general rule by which effective knowledge
\nmust be received as by a disciple from a Guru.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 48<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

 <\/span>      But usually the
\nrepresentative influence occupies a much larger place in the life of the sadhaka.
\nIf the Yoga is guided by a received written Shastra, \u2013 some Word from the past
\nwhich embodies the experience of former Yogins, \u2013 it may be practised either by
\npersonal effort alone or with the aid of a Guru. The spiritual knowledge is
\nthen gained through meditation on the truths that are taught and it is made
\nliving and conscious by their realisation in the personal experience; the Yoga
\nproceeds by the results of prescribed methods taught in a Scripture or a
\ntradition and reinforced and illumined by the instructions of the Master. This
\nis a narrower practice, but safe and effective within its limits, because it
\nfollows a well-beaten track to a long familiar goal.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the sadhaka of the
\nintegral Yoga it is necessary to remember that no written Shastra, however
\ngreat its authority or however large its spirit, can be more than a partial
\nexpression of the eternal Knowledge. He will use, but never bind himself even
\nby the greatest Scripture. Where the Scripture is profound, wide, catholic, it
\nmay exercise upon him an influence for the highest good and of incalculable
\nimportance. It may be associated in his experience with his awakening to
\ncrowning verities and his realisation of the highest experiences. His Yoga may
\nbe governed for a long time by one Scripture or by several successively, \u2013 if
\nit is in the line of the great Hindu tradition, by the Gita, for example, the
\nUpanishads, the Veda. Or it may be a good part of his development to include in
\nits material a richly varied experience of the truths of many Scriptures and
\nmake the future opulent with all that is best in the past. But in the end he
\nmust take his station, or better still, if he can, always and from the
\nbeginning he must live in his own soul beyond the limitations of the word that
\nhe uses. The Gita itself thus declares that the Yogin in his progress must pass
\nbeyond the written Truth, \u2013 śabdabrahmātivartate \u2013 beyond all that he
\nhas heard and all that he has yet to hear, \u2013 śrotavyasya śrutasya ca.
\nFor he is not the sadhaka of a book or of many books; he is a sadhaka of the
\nInfinite.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another kind of Shastra
\nis not Scripture, but a statement of the science and methods, the effective
\nprinciples and way of working of the path of Yoga which the sadhaka elects to
\nfollow. Each path has its Shastra, either written or traditional, passing from
\nmouth to mouth through a long line of Teachers. In India a great authority, a
\nhigh reverence even is ordinarily attached to <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 49<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

the written or traditional teaching. All the
\nlines of the Yoga are supposed to be fixed and the Teacher who has received the
\nShastra by tradition and realised it in practice guides the disciple along the
\nimmemorial tracks. One often even hears the objection urged against a new
\npractice, a new Yogic teaching, the adoption of a new formula, \u201cIt is not
\naccording to the Shastra.\u201d But neither in fact nor in the actual practice of
\nthe Yogins is there really any such entire rigidity of an iron door shut
\nagainst new truth, fresh revelation, widened experience. The written or
\ntraditional teaching expresses the knowledge and experiences of many centuries
\nsystematised, organised, made attainable to the beginner. Its importance and
\nutility are therefore immense. But a great freedom of variation and development
\nis always practicable. Even so highly scientific a system as Rajayoga can be
\npractised on other lines than the organised method of Patanjali. Each of the
\nthree paths of the trimārga,\u00b9 breaks into many bypaths which meet again at
\nthe goal. The general knowledge on which the Yoga depends is fixed, but the
\norder, the succession, the devices, the forms must be allowed to vary; for the
\nneeds and particular impulsions of the individual nature have to be satisfied
\neven while the general truths remain firm and constant.<\/span><\/p>\n

An integral and
\nsynthetic Yoga needs especially not to be bound by any written or traditional
\nShastra; for while it embraces the knowledge received from the past, it seeks
\nto organise it anew for the present and the future. An absolute liberty of
\nexperience and of the restatement of knowledge in new terms and new
\ncombinations is the condition of its self-formation. Seeking to embrace all
\nlife in itself, it is in the position not of a pilgrim following the highroad
\nto his destination, but, to that extent at least, of a path-finder hewing his
\nway through a virgin forest. For Yoga has long diverged from life and the
\nancient systems which sought to embrace it, such as those of our Vedic
\nforefathers, are far away from us, expressed in terms which are no longer
\naccessible, thrown into forms which are no longer applicable. Since then
\nmankind has moved forward on the current of eternal Time and the same problem
\nhas to be approached from a new starting-point. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b9 The triple
\npath of Knowledge, Devotion and Works.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 50<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

By this Yoga we not only
\nseek the Infinite, but we call upon the Infinite to unfold himself in human
\nlife. Therefore the Shastra of our Yoga must provide for an infinite liberty in
\nthe receptive human soul. A free adaptability in the manner and the type of the
\nindividual’s acceptance of the Universal and Transcendent into himself is the
\nright condition for the full spiritual life in man. Vivekananda, pointing out
\nthat the unity of all religions must necessarily express itself by an
\nincreasing richness of variety in its forms, said once that the perfect state
\nof that essential unity would come when each man had his own religion, when not
\nbound by sect or traditional form he followed the free self-adaptation of his
\nnature in its relations with the Supreme. So also one may say that the
\nperfection of the integral Yoga will come when each man is able to follow his
\nown path of Yoga, pursuing the development of his own nature in its upsurging
\ntowards that which transcends the nature. For freedom is the final law and the
\nlast consummation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile certain
\ngeneral lines have to be formed which may help to guide the thought and
\npractice of the sadhaka. But these must take as much as possible the form of
\ngeneral truths, general statements of principle, the most powerful broad
\ndirections of effort and development rather than a fixed system which has to be
\nfollowed as a routine. All Shastra is the outcome of past experience and a help
\nto future experience. It is an aid and a partial guide. It puts up signposts,
\ngives the names of the main roads and the already explored directions, so that
\nthe traveller may know whither and by what paths he is proceeding. <\/span><\/p>\n

The rest depends on
\npersonal effort and experience and upon the power of the Guide.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>*<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The development of the experience
\nin its rapidity, its amplitude, the intensity and power of its results, depends
\nprimarily, in the beginning of the path and long after, on the aspiration and
\npersonal effort of the sadhaka. The process of Yoga is a turning of the human
\nsoul from the egoistic state of consciousness absorbed in the outward
\nappearances and attractions of things to <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 51<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

a higher state in which the Transcendent and
\nUniversal can pour itself into the individual mould and transform it. The first
\ndetermining element of the siddhi is, therefore, the intensity of the turning,
\nthe force which directs the soul inward. The power of aspiration of the heart,
\nthe force of the will, the concentration of the mind, the perseverance and
\ndetermination of the applied energy are the measure of that intensity. The
\nideal sadhaka should be able to say in the Biblical phrase, \u201cMy zeal for the
\nLord has eaten me up.\u201d It is this zeal for the Lord, \u2013 utsāha, the zeal of
\nthe whole nature for its divine results, vyākulatā, the heart’s eagerness
\nfor the attainment of the Divine, \u2013 that devours the ego and breaks up the
\nlimitations of its petty and narrow mould for the full and wide reception of
\nthat which it seeks, that which, being universal, exceeds and, being
\ntranscendent, surpasses even the largest and highest individual self and
\nnature.<\/span><\/p>\n

But this is only one
\nside of the force that works for perfection. The process of the integral Yoga
\nhas three stages, not indeed sharply distinguished or separate, but in a
\ncertain measure successive. There must be, first, the effort towards at least
\nan initial and enabling self-transcendence and contact with the Divine; next,
\nthe reception of that which transcends, that with which we have gained
\ncommunion, into ourselves for the transformation of our whole conscious being;
\nlast, the utilisation of our transformed humanity as a divine centre in the
\nworld. So long as the contact with the Divine is not in some considerable
\ndegree established, so long as there is not some measure of sustained identity,
\nsāyujya, the element of personal effort must normally predominate. But in
\nproportion as this contact establishes itself, the sadhaka must become
\nconscious that a force other than his own, a force transcending his egoistic
\nendeavour and capacity, is at work in him and to this Power he learns
\nprogressively to submit himself and delivers up to it the charge of his Yoga.
\nIn the end his own will and force become one with the higher Power; he merges
\nthem in the divine Will and its transcendent and universal Force. He finds it
\nthenceforward presiding over the necessary transformation of his mental, vital
\nand physical being with an impartial wisdom and provident<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 52<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

effectivity of which the eager and interested
\nego is not capable. It is when this identification and this self-merging are
\ncomplete that the divine centre in the world is ready. Purified, liberated,
\nplastic, illumined, it can begin to serve as a means for the direct action of a
\nsupreme Power in the larger Yoga of humanity or superhumanity, of the earth’s
\nspiritual progression or its transformation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Always indeed it is the
\nhigher Power that acts. Our sense of personal effort and aspiration comes from
\nthe attempt of the egoistic mind to identify itself in a wrong and imperfect
\nway with the workings of the divine Force. It persists in applying to
\nexperience on a supernormal plane the ordinary terms of mentality which it
\napplies to its normal experiences in the world. In the world we act with the
\nsense of egoism; we claim the universal forces that work in us as our own; we
\nclaim as the effect of our personal will, wisdom, force, virtue the selective,
\nformative, progressive action of the Transcendent in this frame of mind, life
\nand body. Enlightenment brings to us the knowledge that the ego is only an
\ninstrument; we begin to perceive and feel that these things are our own in the
\nsense that they belong to our supreme and integral Self, one with the
\nTranscendent, not to the instrumental ego. Our limitations and distortions are
\nour contribution to the working; the true power in it is the Divine’s. When the
\nhuman ego realises that its will is a tool, its wisdom ignorance and
\nchildishness, its power an infant’s groping, its virtue a pretentious impurity,
\nand learns to trust itself to that which transcends it, that is its salvation.
\nThe apparent freedom and self-assertion of our personal being to which we are
\nso profoundly attached, conceal a most pitiable subjection to a thousand
\nsuggestions, impulsions, forces which we have made extraneous to our little
\nperson. Our ego, boasting of freedom, is at every moment the slave, toy and
\npuppet of countless beings, powers, forces, influences in universal Nature. The
\nself-abnegation of the ego in the Divine is its self-fulfilment; its surrender
\nto that which transcends it is its liberation from bonds and limits and its
\nperfect freedom.<\/span><\/p>\n

But still, in the
\npractical development, each of the three stages has its necessity and utility
\nand must be given its time or its <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

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\n\u2013 53<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

place. It will not do, it cannot be safe or
\neffective to begin with the last and highest alone. It would not be the right
\ncourse, either, to leap prematurely from one to another. For even if from the
\nbeginning we recognise in mind and heart the Supreme, there are elements of the
\nnature which long prevent the recognition from becoming realisation. But
\nwithout realisation our mental belief cannot become a dynamic reality; it is
\nstill only a figure of knowledge, not a living truth, an idea, not yet a power.
\nAnd even if realisation has begun, it may be dangerous to imagine or to assume
\ntoo soon that we are altogether in the hands of the Supreme or are acting as
\nhis instrument. That assumption may introduce a calamitous falsity; it may
\nproduce a helpless inertia or, magnifying the movements of the ego with the Divine
\nName, it may disastrously distort and ruin the whole course of the Yoga. There
\nis a period, more or less prolonged, of internal effort and struggle in which
\nthe individual will has to reject the darkness and distortions of the lower
\nnature and to put itself resolutely or vehemently on the side of the divine
\nLight. The mental energies, the heart’s emotions, the vital desires, the very
\nphysical being have to be compelled into the right attitude or trained to admit
\nand answer to the right influences. It is only then, only when this has been
\ntruly done, that the surrender of the lower to the higher can be effected,
\nbecause the sacrifice has become acceptable. <\/span><\/p>\n

The personal will of the
\nsadhaka has first to seize on the egoistic energies and turn them towards the
\nlight and the right; once turned, he has still to train them to recognise that
\nalways, always to accept, always to follow that. Progressing, he learns, still
\nusing the personal will, personal effort, personal energies, to employ them as
\nrepresentatives of the higher Power and in conscious obedience to the higher
\nInfluence. Progressing yet farther, his will, effort, energy become no longer
\npersonal and separate, but activities of that higher Power and Influence at
\nwork in the individual. But there is still a sort of gulf or distance which
\nnecessitates an obscure process of transit, not always accurate, sometimes even
\nvery distorting, between the divine Origin and the emerging human current. At
\nthe end of the process, with the progressive disappearance of egoism and
\nimpurity and igno<\/span>–<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 54<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

rance<\/span><\/span>, this last separation
\nis removed; all in the individual becomes the divine working.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>*<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

As the supreme Shastra
\nof the integral Yoga is the eternal Veda secret in the heart of every man, so its
\nsupreme Guide and Teacher is the inner Guide, the World-Teacher, jagad-guru,
\nsecret within us. It is he who destroys our darkness by the resplendent light
\nof his knowledge; that light becomes within us the increasing glory of his own
\nself-revelation. He discloses progressively in us his own nature of freedom,
\nbliss, love, power, immortal being. He sets above us his divine example as our
\nideal and transforms the lower existence into a reflection of that which it
\ncontemplates. By the inpouring of his own influence and presence into us he
\nenables the individual being to attain to identity with the universal and
\ntranscendent. <\/span><\/p>\n

What is his method and
\nhis system? He has no method and every method. His system is a natural
\norganisation of the highest processes and movements of which the nature is
\ncapable. Applying themselves even to the pettiest details and to the actions
\nthe most insignificant in their appearance with as much care and thoroughness
\nas to the greatest, they in the end lift all into the Light and transform all.
\nFor in his Yoga there is nothing too small to be used and nothing too great to
\nbe attempted. As the servant and disciple of the Master has no business with
\npride or egoism because all is done for him from above, so also he has no right
\nto despond because of his personal deficiencies or the stumblings of his
\nnature. For the Force that works in him is impersonal \u2013 or superpersonal \u2013 and
\ninfinite.<\/span><\/p>\n

The full recognition of
\nthis inner Guide, Master of the Yoga, lord, light, enjoyer and goal of all sacrifice
\nand effort, is of the utmost importance in the path of integral perfection. It
\nis immaterial whether he is first seen as an impersonal Wisdom, Love and Power
\nbehind all things, as an Absolute manifesting in the relative and attracting
\nit, as one’s highest Self and the highest Self of all, as a Divine Person
\nwithin us and in the world, in one of his \u2013 or her \u2013 numerous forms and names
\nor as the ideal <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 55<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n

<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

which the mind conceives. In the end we perceive
\nthat he is all and more than all these things together. The mind’s door of
\nentry to the conception of him must necessarily vary according to the past
\nevolution and the present nature.<\/span><\/p>\n

This inner Guide is
\noften veiled at first by the very intensity of our personal effort and by the
\nego’s preoccupation with itself and its aims. As we gain in clarity and the
\nturmoil of egoistic effort gives place to a calmer self-knowledge, we recognise
\nthe source of the growing light within us. We recognise it retrospectively as
\nwe realise how all our obscure and conflicting movements have been determined
\ntowards an end that we only now begin to perceive, how even before our entrance
\ninto the path of the Yoga the evolution of our life has been designedly led
\ntowards its turning-point. For now we begin to understand the sense of our
\nstruggles and efforts, successes and failures. At last we are able to seize the
\nmeaning of our ordeals and sufferings and can appreciate the help that was
\ngiven us by all that hurt and resisted and the utility of our very falls and stumblings.
\nWe recognise this divine leading afterwards, not retrospectively but
\nimmediately, in the moulding of our thoughts by a transcendent Seer, of our
\nwill and actions by an all-embracing Power, of our emotional life by an
\nall-attracting and all-assimilating Bliss and Love. We recognise it too in a
\nmore personal relation that from the first touched or at the last seizes us; we
\nfeel the eternal presence of a supreme Master, Friend, Lover, Teacher. We
\nrecognise it in the essence of our being as that develops into likeness and
\noneness with a greater and wider existence; for we perceive that this
\nmiraculous development is not the result of our own efforts: an eternal
\nPerfection is moulding us into its own image. One who is the Lord or Ishwara of
\nthe Yogic philosophies, the Guide in the conscious being (caitya guru or
\nantaryamin), the Absolute of the thinker, the Unknowable of the Agnostic, the
\nuniversal Force of the materialist, the supreme Soul and the supreme Shakti,
\nthe One who is differently named and imaged by the religions, is the Master of
\nour Yoga.<\/span><\/p>\n

To see, know, become and
\nfulfil this One in our inner selves and in all our outer nature, was always the
\nsecret goal and becomes now the conscious purpose of our embodied existence. <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 56<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n

<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

     To be conscious of him in all parts of our being
\nand equally in all that the dividing mind sees as outside our being, is the
\nconsummation of the individual consciousness. To be possessed by him and
\npossess him in ourselves and in all things is the term of all empire and
\nmastery. To enjoy him in all experience of passivity and activity, of peace and
\nof power, of unity and of difference is the happiness which the Jiva, the
\nindividual soul manifested in the world, is obscurely seeking. This is the
\nentire definition of the aim of integral Yoga; it is the rendering in personal
\nexperience of the truth which universal Nature has hidden in herself and which
\nshe travails to discover. It is the conversion of the human soul into the
\ndivine soul and of natural life into divine living.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>*<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

     The surest way towards this integral fulfilment
\nis to find the Master of the secret who dwells within us, open ourselves
\nconstantly to the divine Power which is also the divine Wisdom and Love and
\ntrust to it to effect the conversion. But it is difficult for the egoistic
\nconsciousness to do this at all at the beginning. And, if done at all, it is
\nstill difficult to do it perfectly and in every strand of our nature. It is
\ndifficult at first because our egoistic habits of thought, of sensation, of
\nfeeling block up the avenues by which we can arrive at the perception that is
\nneeded. It is difficult afterwards because the faith, the surrender, the
\ncourage requisite in this path are not easy to the ego-clouded soul. The divine
\nworking is not the working which the egoistic mind desires or approves; for it
\nuses error in order to arrive at truth, suffering in order to arrive at bliss,
\nimperfection in order to arrive at perfection. The ego cannot see where it is
\nbeing led; it revolts against the leading, loses confidence, loses courage.
\nThese failings would not matter; for the divine Guide within is not offended by
\nour revolt, not discouraged by our want of faith or repelled by our weakness;
\nhe has the entire love of the mother and the entire patience of the teacher.
\nBut by withdrawing our assent from the guidance we lose the consciousness,
\nthough not all the actuality \u2013 not, in any case, the eventuality \u2013 of its
\nbenefit.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

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\n\u2013 57<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n

<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

      And we withdraw our assent because we fail to distinguish
\nour higher Self from the lower through which he is preparing his
\nself-revelation. As in the world, so in ourselves, we cannot see God because of
\nhis workings and, especially, because he works in us through our nature and not
\nby a succession of arbitrary miracles. Man demands miracles that he may have
\nfaith; he wishes to be dazzled in order that he may see. And this impatience,
\nthis ignorance may turn into a great danger and disaster if, in our revolt
\nagainst the divine leading, we call in another distorting Force more satisfying
\nto our impulses and desires and ask it to guide us and give it the Divine Name.<\/span><\/p>\n

But while it is
\ndifficult for man to believe in something unseen within himself, it is easy for
\nhim to believe in something which he can image as extraneous to himself. The
\nspiritual progress of most human beings demands an extraneous support, an
\nobject of faith outside us. It needs an external image of God; or it needs a
\nhuman representative, \u2013 Incarnation, Prophet or Guru; or it demands both and
\nreceives them. For according to the need of the human soul the Divine manifests
\nhimself as deity, as human divine or in simple humanity \u2013 using that thick
\ndisguise, which so successfully conceals the Godhead, for a means of
\ntransmission of his guidance.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Hindu discipline of
\nspirituality provides for this need of the soul by the conceptions of the Ishta
\nDevata, the Avatar and the Guru. By the Ishta Devata, the chosen deity, is
\nmeant, \u2013 not some inferior Power, but a name and form of the transcendent and
\nuniversal Godhead. Almost all religions either have as their base or make use
\nof some such name and form of the Divine. Its necessity for the human soul is
\nevident. God is the All and more than the All. But that which is more than the
\nAll, how shall man conceive? And even the All is at first too hard for him; for
\nhe himself in his active consciousness is a limited and selective formation and
\ncan open himself only to that which is in harmony with his limited nature.
\nThere are things in the All which are too hard for his comprehension or seem
\ntoo terrible to his sensitive emotions and cowering sensations. Or, simply, he
\ncannot conceive as the Divine, cannot approach or cannot recognise something
\nthat is too much out of the circle of his <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 58<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

ignorant or partial conceptions. It is necessary
\nfor him to conceive God in his own image or in some form that is beyond himself
\nbut consonant with his highest tendencies and seizable by his feelings or his
\nintelligence. Otherwise it would be difficult for him to come into contact and
\ncommunion with the Divine.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even then his nature
\ncalls for a human intermediary so that he may feel the Divine in something
\nentirely close to his own humanity and sensible in a human influence and
\nexample. This call is satisfied by the Divine manifest in a human appearance,
\nthe Incarnation, the Avatar \u2013 <\/span>Krishna<\/span>, Christ, Buddha. Or if
\nthis is too hard for him to conceive, the Divine represents himself through a
\nless marvellous intermediary, \u2013 Prophet or Teacher. For many who cannot conceive
\nor are unwilling to accept the Divine Man, are ready to open themselves to the
\nsupreme man, terming him not incarnation but world-teacher or divine
\nrepresentative.<\/span><\/p>\n

This also is not enough;
\na living influence, a living example, a present instruction is needed. For it
\nis only the few who can make the past Teacher and his teaching, the past
\nIncarnation and his example and influence a living force in their lives. For
\nthis need also the Hindu discipline provides in the relation of the Guru and
\nthe disciple. The Guru may sometimes be the Incarnation or World-Teacher; but
\nit is sufficient that he should represent to the disciple the divine wisdom,
\nconvey to him something of the divine ideal or make him feel the realised
\nrelation of the human soul with the Eternal.<\/span><\/p>\n

The sadhaka of the
\nintegral Yoga will make use of all these aids according to his nature; but it
\nis necessary that he should shun their limitations and cast from himself that
\nexclusive tendency of egoistic mind which cries, \u201cMy God, my Incarnation, my
\nProphet, my Guru,\u201d and opposes it to all other realisation in a sectarian or a
\nfanatical spirit. All sectarianism, all fanaticism must be shunned; for it is
\ninconsistent with the integrity of the divine realisation.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the contrary, the
\nsadhaka of the integral Yoga will not be satisfied until he has included all
\nother names and forms of Deity in his own conception, seen his own Ishta Devata
\nin all others, unified all Avatars in the unity of Him who descends in<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 59<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

the Avatar, welded the truth in all teachings
\ninto the harmony of the Eternal Wisdom.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nor should he forget the
\naim of these external aids which is to awaken his soul to the Divine within
\nhim. Nothing has been finally accomplished if that has not been accomplished.
\nIt is not sufficient to worship Krishna, Christ or Buddha without, if there is
\nnot the revealing and the formation of the Buddha, the Christ or Krishna in
\nourselves. And all other aids equally have no other purpose; each is a bridge
\nbetween man’s unconverted state and the revelation of the Divine within him.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>*<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The Teacher of the
\nintegral Yoga will follow as far as he may the method of the Teacher within us.
\nHe will lead the disciple through the nature of the disciple. Teaching,
\nexample, influence, \u2013 these are the three instruments of the Guru. But the wise
\nTeacher will not seek to impose himself or his opinions on the passive
\nacceptance of the receptive mind; he will throw in only what is productive and
\nsure as a seed which will grow under the divine fostering within. He will seek
\nto awaken much more than to instruct; he will aim at the growth of the
\nfaculties and the experiences by a natural process and free expansion. He will
\ngive a method as an aid, as a utilisable device, not as an imperative formula
\nor a fixed routine. And he will be on his guard against any turning of the
\nmeans into a limitation, against the mechanising of process. His whole business
\nis to awaken the divine light and set working the divine force of which he
\nhimself is only a means and an aid, a body or a channel.<\/span><\/p>\n

The example is more
\npowerful than the instruction; but it is not the example of the outward acts
\nnor that of the personal character which is of most importance. These have
\ntheir place and their utility; but what will most stimulate aspiration in
\nothers is the central fact of the divine realisation within him governing his
\nwhole life and inner state and all his activities. This is the universal and
\nessential element; the rest belongs to individual person and circumstance. It
\nis this dynamic realisation that the sadhaka must feel and reproduce in himself
\naccording to <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 60<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

his own nature; he need not strive after an
\nimitation from outside which may well be sterilising rather than productive of
\nright and natural fruits.<\/span><\/p>\n

Influence is more important
\nthan example. Influence is not the outward authority of the Teacher over his
\ndisciple, but the power of his contact, of his presence, of the nearness of his
\nsoul to the soul of another, infusing into it, even though in silence, that
\nwhich he himself is and possesses. This is the supreme sign of the Master. For
\nthe greatest Master is much less a Teacher than a Presence pouring the divine
\nconsciousness and its constituting light and power and purity and bliss into
\nall who are receptive around him.<\/span><\/p>\n

And it shall also be a
\nsign of the teacher of the integral Yoga that he does not arrogate to himself
\nGuruhood in a humanly vain and self-exalting spirit. His work, if he has one,
\nis a trust from above, he himself a channel, a vessel or a representative. He is
\na man helping his brothers, a child leading children, a Light kindling other
\nlights, an awakened Soul awakening souls, highest a Power or Presence of the
\nDivine calling to him other powers of the Divine.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>*<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The sadhaka who has all
\nthese aids is sure of his goal. Even a fall will be for him only a means of
\nrising and death a passage towards fulfilment. For once on this path, birth and
\ndeath become only processes in the development of his being and the stages of
\nhis journey.<\/span><\/p>\n

Time is the remaining aid
\nneeded for the effectivity of the process. Time presents itself to human effort
\nas an enemy or a friend, as a resistance, a medium or an instrument. But always
\nit is really the instrument of the soul.<\/span><\/p>\n

Time is a field of
\ncircumstances and forces meeting and working out a resultant progression whose
\ncourse it measures. To the ego it is a tyrant or a resistance, to the Divine an
\ninstrument. Therefore, while our effort is personal, Time appears as a
\nresistance, for it presents to us all the obstruction of the forces that
\nconflict with our own. When the divine working and the <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 61<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

personal are combined in our consciousness, it
\nappears as a medium and a condition. When the two become one, it appears as a
\nservant and instrument.<\/span><\/p>\n

The ideal attitude of
\nthe sadhaka towards Time is to have an endless patience as if he had all
\neternity for his fulfilment and yet to develop the energy that shall realise
\nnow and with an ever-increasing mastery and pressure of rapidity till it
\nreaches the miraculous instantaneousness of the supreme divine Transformation.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 62<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chapter I   The Four Aids    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 YOGA-SIDDHI, the perfection that comes from the practice of Yoga, can be best attained by the combined working…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-20-the-synthesis-of-yoga-volume-20","wpcat-20-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947","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=947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}