{"id":960,"date":"2013-07-13T01:31:35","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:31:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=960"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:31:35","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:31:35","slug":"15-the-supreme-will-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\/15-the-supreme-will-vol-20-the-synthesis-of-yoga-volume-20","title":{"rendered":"-15_The Supreme Will.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\nChapter
\nVIII<\/span><\/font><\/b> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/font>The Supreme
\nWill<\/font><\/b> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>I<\/font><\/span>N
\nTHE<\/span><\/font> light of this progressive manifestation of the
\nSpirit, first apparently bound in the Ignorance, then free in the power and
\nwisdom of the Infinite, we can better understand the great and crowning
\ninjunction of the Gita to the Karmayogin, \u201cAbandoning all Dharmas, all
\nprinciples and laws and rules of conduct, take refuge in me alone.\u201d All
\nstandards and rules are temporary constructions founded upon the needs of the
\nego in its transition from Matter to Spirit. These makeshifts have a relative
\nimperativeness so long as we rest satisfied in the stages of transition,
\ncontent with the physical and vital life, attached to the mental movement, or
\neven fixed in the ranges of the mental plane that are touched by the spiritual
\nlustres. But beyond is the unwalled wideness of a supramental infinite
\nconsciousness and there all temporary structures cease. It is not possible to
\nenter utterly into the spiritual truth of the Eternal and Infinite if we have
\nnot the faith and courage to trust ourselves into the hands of the Lord of all
\nthings and the Friend of all creatures and leave utterly behind us our mental
\nlimits and measures. At one moment we must plunge without hesitation, reserve,
\nfear or scruple into the ocean of the free, the infinite, the Absolute. After
\nthe Law, Liberty; after the personal, after the general, after the universal
\nstandards there is something greater, the impersonal plasticity, the divine
\nfreedom, the transcendent force and the supernal impulse. After the strait path
\nof the ascent the wide plateaus on the summit.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are
\nthree stages of the ascent, \u2013 at the bottom the bodily life enslaved to the
\npressure of necessity and desire, in the middle the mental, higher emotional
\nand psychic rule that feels after greater interests, aspirations, experiences,
\nat the summits first a deeper psychic and spiritual state and then a
\nsupramental eternal consciousness in which all
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 197<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

our<\/span><\/span> aspirations and
\nseekings discover their own intimate significance. In the bodily life first
\ndesire and need and then the practical good of the individual and the society
\nare the governing consideration, the dominant force. In the mental life ideas
\nand ideals rule, ideas that are half-lights wearing the garb of Truth, ideals
\nformed by the mind as a result of a growing but still imperfect intuition and experience.
\nWhenever the mental life prevails and the bodily diminishes its brute
\ninsistence, man the mental being feels pushed by the urge of mental Nature to
\nmould in the sense of the idea or the ideal the life of the individual, and in
\nthe end even the vaguer more complex life of the society is forced to undergo
\nthis subtle process. In the spiritual life, or when a higher power than Mind
\nhas manifested and taken possession of the nature, these limited motive-forces
\nrecede, dwindle, tend to disappear. The spiritual or supramental Self, the
\nDivine Being, the supreme and immanent Reality, must be alone the Lord within
\nus and shape freely our final development according to the highest, widest,
\nmost integral expression possible of the law of our nature. In the end that
\nnature acts in the perfect Truth and its spontaneous freedom; for it obeys only
\nthe luminous power of the Eternal. The individual has nothing further to gain,
\nno desire to fulfil; he has become a portion of the impersonality or the
\nuniversal personality of the Eternal. No other object than the manifestation
\nand play of the Divine Spirit in life and the maintenance and conduct of the
\nworld in its march towards the divine goal can move him to action. Mental ideas,
\nopinions, constructions are his no more; for his mind has fallen into silence,
\nit is only a channel for the Light and Truth of the divine knowledge. Ideals
\nare too narrow for the vastness of his spirit; it is the ocean of the Infinite
\nthat flows through him and moves him for ever.<\/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

Whoever
\nsincerely enters the path of works, must leave behind him the stage in which
\nneed and desire are the first law of our acts. For whatever desires still
\ntrouble his being, he must, if he accepts the high aim of Yoga, put them away
\nfrom him into
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

Page \u2013 198<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

the<\/span><\/span> hands of the
\nLord within us. The supreme Power will deal with them for the good of the
\nsadhaka and for the good of all. In effect, we find that once this surrender is
\ndone, \u2013 always provided the rejection is sincere, \u2013 egoistic indulgence of
\ndesire may for some time recur under the continued impulse of past nature but
\nonly in order to exhaust its acquired momentum and to teach the embodied being
\nin his most unteachable part, his nervous, vital, emotional nature, by the
\nreactions of desire, by its grief and unrest bitterly contrasted with calm
\nperiods of the higher peace or marvellous movements of divine Ananda, that
\negoistic desire is not a law for the soul that seeks liberation or aspires to
\nits own original god-nature. Afterwards the element of desire in those
\nimpulsions will be thrown away or persistently eliminated by a constant denying
\nand transforming pressure. Only the pure force of action in them (pravŗtti)
\njustified by an equal delight in all work and result that is inspired or
\nimposed from above will be preserved in the happy harmony of a final
\nperfection. To act, to enjoy is the normal law and right of the nervous being;
\nbut to choose by personal desire its action and enjoyment is only its ignorant
\nwill, not its right. Alone the supreme and universal Will must choose; action
\nmust change into a dynamic movement of that Will; enjoyment must be replaced by
\nthe play of a pure spiritual Ananda. All personal will is either a temporary
\ndelegation from on high or a usurpation by the ignorant Asura.<\/span><\/p>\n

The social
\nlaw, that second term of our progress, is a means to which the ego is subjected
\nin order that it may learn discipline by subordination to a wider collective
\nego. This law may be quite empty of any moral content and may express only the
\nneeds or the practical good of the society as each society conceives it. Or it
\nmay express those needs and that good, but modified and coloured and
\nsupplemented by a higher moral or ideal law. It is binding on the developing
\nbut not yet perfectly developed individual in the shape of social duty, family
\nobligation, communal or national demand, so long as it is not in conflict with
\nhis growing sense of the higher Right. But the sadhaka of the Karmayoga will
\nabandon this also to the Lord of works. After he has made this surrender, his
\nsocial impulses and judgments will, like his <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 199<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

desires, only be used
\nfor their exhaustion or, it may be, so far as they are still necessary for a
\ntime to enable him to identify his lower mental nature with mankind in general
\nor with any grouping of mankind in its works and hopes and aspirations. But
\nafter that brief time is over, they will be withdrawn and a divine government
\nwill alone abide. He will be identified with the Divine and with others only
\nthrough the divine consciousness and not through the mental nature.<\/span><\/p>\n

For, even
\nafter he is free, the sadhaka will be in the world and to be in the world is to
\nremain in works. But to remain in works without desire is to act for the good
\nof the world in general or for the kind or the race or for some new creation to
\nbe evolved on the earth or some work imposed by the Divine Will within him. And
\nthis must be done either in the framework provided by the environment or the
\ngrouping in which he is born or placed or else in one which is chosen or
\ncreated for him by a divine direction. Therefore in our perfection there must
\nbe nothing left in the mental being which conflicts with or prevents our
\nsympathy and free self-identification with the kind, the group or whatever
\ncollective expression of the Divine he is meant to lead, help or serve. But in
\nthe end it must become a free self-identification through identity with the
\nDivine and not a mental bond or moral tie of union or a vital association
\ndominated by any kind of personal, social, national, communal or credal egoism.
\nIf any social law is obeyed, it will not be from physical necessity or from the
\nsense of personal or general interest or for expediency or because of the
\npressure of the environment or from any sense of duty, but solely for the sake
\nof the Lord of works and because it is felt or known to be the Divine Will that
\nthe social law or rule or relation as it stands can still be kept as a figure
\nof the inner life and the minds of men must not be disturbed by its
\ninfringement. If, on the other hand, the social law, rule or relation is
\ndisregarded, that too will not be for the indulgence of desire, personal will
\nor personal opinion, but because a greater rule is felt that expresses the law
\nof the Spirit or because it is known that there must be in the march of the
\ndivine All-Will a movement towards the changing, exceeding or abolition of existing
\nlaws and forms for the sake of a freer larger life necessary to the world’s
\nprogress. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 200<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

There is
\nstill left the moral law or the ideal and these, even to<\/span>
\nmany who think themselves free, appear for ever sacred and intangible. But the
\nsadhaka, his gaze turned always to the heights, will abandon them to Him whom
\nall ideals seek imperfectly and fragmentarily to express; all moral qualities
\nare only a poor and rigid travesty of his spontaneous and illimitable
\nperfection. The bondage to sin and evil passes away with the passing of nervous
\ndesire; for it belongs to the quality of vital passion, impulsion or drive of
\npropensity in us (rajoguņa) and is extinguished with the transformation of
\nthat mode of Nature. But neither must the aspirant remain subject to the gilded
\nor golden chain of a conventional or a habitual or a mentally ordered or even a
\nhigh or clear sattwic virtue. That will be replaced by something profounder and
\nmore essential than the minor inadequate thing that men call virtue. The original
\nsense of the word was manhood and this is a much larger and deeper thing than
\nthe moral mind and its structures. The culmination of Karmayoga is a yet higher
\nand deeper state that may perhaps be called \u201csoulhood\u201d \u2013 for the soul is
\ngreater than the man; a free soulhood spontaneously welling out in works of a
\nsupreme Truth and Love will replace human virtue. But this supreme Truth cannot
\nbe forced to inhabit the petty edifices of the practical reason or even
\nconfined in the more dignified constructions of the larger ideative reason that
\nimposes its representations as if they were pure truth on the limited human
\nintelligence. This supreme Love will not necessarily be consistent, much less
\nwill it be synonymous, with the partial and feeble, ignorant and emotion-ridden
\nmovements of human attraction, sympathy and pity. The petty law cannot bind the
\nvaster movement; the mind’s partial attainment cannot dictate its terms to the
\nsoul’s supreme fulfilment. <\/span><\/p>\n

At first, the
\nhigher Love and Truth will fulfil its movement in the sadhaka according to the
\nessential law or way of his own nature. For that is the special aspect of the
\ndivine Nature, the particular power of the supreme Shakti, out of which his soul
\nhas emerged into the Play, not limited indeed by the forms of this law or way,
\nfor the soul is infinite. But still its stuff of nature bears that stamp,
\nevolves fluently along those lines or turns around
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 201<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

the<\/span><\/span> spiral
\ncurves of that dominating influence. He will manifest the divine Truth-movement
\naccording to the temperament of the sage or the lion-like fighter or the lover
\nand enjoyer or the worker and servant or in any combination of essential attributes
\n(gunas) that may constitute the form given to his being by its own inner urge.
\nIt is this self-nature playing freely in his acts which men will see in him and
\nnot a conduct cut, chalked out, artificially regulated, by any lesser rule or
\nby any law from outside.<\/span><\/p>\n

But there is
\na yet higher attainment, there is an infinity (ānantya) in which even this
\nlast limitation is exceeded, because the nature is utterly fulfilled and its
\nboundaries vanish. There the soul lives without any boundaries; for it uses all
\nforms and moulds according to the divine Will in it, but it is not restrained,
\nit is not tied down, it is not imprisoned in any power or form that it uses.
\nThis is the summit of the path of works and this the utter liberty of the soul
\nin its actions. In reality, it has there no actions; for all its activities are
\na rhythm of the Supreme and sovereignly proceed from That alone like a
\nspontaneous music out of the Infinite.<\/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 total
\nsurrender, then, of all our actions to a supreme and universal Will, an
\nunconditioned and standardless surrender of all works to the government of
\nsomething eternal within us which will replace the ordinary working of the ego-nature,
\nis the way and end of Karmayoga. But what is this divine supreme Will and how
\ncan it be recognised by our deluded instruments and our blind prisoned
\nintelligence?<\/span><\/p>\n

Ordinarily,
\nwe conceive of ourselves as a separate \u201cI\u201d in the universe that governs a
\nseparate body and mental and moral nature, chooses in full liberty its own
\nself-determined actions and is independent and therefore sole master of its works
\nand responsible. It is not easy for the ordinary mind, the mind that has not
\nthought nor looked deeply into its own constitution and constituents, it is
\ndifficult even for minds that have thought but have no spiritual vision and
\nexperience, to imagine how there can be anything else in us truer, deeper and
\nmore powerful than
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 202<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

this<\/span><\/span> apparent \u201cI\u201d
\nand its empire. But the very first step towards self-knowledge as towards the
\ntrue knowledge of phenomena is to get behind the apparent truth of things and
\nfind the real but masked, essential and dynamic truth which their appearances
\ncover.<\/span><\/p>\n

This ego or
\n\u201cI\u201d is not a lasting truth, much less our essential part; it is only a
\nformation of Nature, a mental form of thought-centralisation in the perceiving
\nand discriminating mind, a vital form of the centralisation of feeling and
\nsensation in our parts of life, a form of physical conscious reception
\ncentralising substance and function of substance in our bodies. All that we
\ninternally are is not ego, but consciousness, soul or spirit. All that we
\nexternally and superficially are and do is not ego but Nature. An executive
\ncosmic force shapes us and dictates through our temperament and environment and
\nmentality so shaped, through our individualised formulation of the cosmic
\nenergies, our actions and their results. Truly, we do not think, will or act
\nbut thought occurs in us, will occurs in us, impulse and act occur in us; our
\nego-sense gathers around itself, refers to itself all this flow of natural
\nactivities. It is cosmic Force, it is Nature that forms the thought, imposes
\nthe will, imparts the impulse. Our body, mind and ego are a wave of that sea of
\nforce in action and do not govern it, but by it are governed and directed. The
\nsadhaka in his progress towards truth and self-knowledge must come to a point
\nwhere the soul opens its eyes of vision and recognises this truth of ego and
\nthis truth of works. He gives up the idea of a mental, vital, physical \u201cI\u201d that
\nacts or governs action; he recognises that Prakriti, Force of cosmic nature
\nfollowing her fixed modes, is the one and only worker in him and in all things
\nand creatures.<\/span><\/p>\n

But what has
\nfixed the modes of Nature? Or who has originated and governs the movements of
\nForce? There is a Consciousness \u2013 or a Conscient \u2013 behind that is the lord,
\nwitness, knower, enjoyer, upholder and source of sanction for her works; this
\nconsciousness is Soul or Purusha. Prakriti shapes the action in us; Purusha in
\nher or behind her witnesses, assents, bears and upholds it. Prakriti forms the
\nthought in our minds; Purusha in her or behind her knows the thought and the
\ntruth in it. Prakriti
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 203<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\n
\ndetermines<\/span><\/span> the result
\nof the action; Purusha in her or behind her enjoys or suffers the consequence.
\nPrakriti forms mind and body, labours over them, develops them; Purusha upholds
\nthe formation and evolution and sanctions each step of her works. Prakriti
\napplies the Will-force which works in things and men; Purusha sets that
\nWill-force to work by his vision of that which should be done. This Purusha is
\nnot the surface ego, but a silent Self, a source of Power, an originator and
\nreceiver of Knowledge behind the ego. Our mental \u201cI\u201d is only a false reflection
\nof this Self, this Power, this Knowledge. This Purusha or supporting
\nConsciousness is therefore the cause, recipient and support of all Nature’s
\nworks, but he is not himself the doer. Prakriti, Nature-Force, in front and
\nShakti, Conscious-Force, Soul-Force behind her, \u2013 for these two are the inner
\nand outer faces of the universal Mother, \u2013 account for all that is done in the
\nuniverse. The universal Mother, Prakriti-Shakti, is the one and only worker.<\/span><\/p>\n

Purusha-Prakriti,
\nConsciousness-Force, Soul supporting Nature, \u2013 for the two even in their
\nseparation are one and inseparable, \u2013 are at once a universal and a
\ntranscendent Power. But there is something in the individual too which is not
\nthe mental ego, something that is one in essence with this greater reality: it
\nis a pure reflection or portion of the one Purusha; it is the Soul Person or
\nthe embodied being, the individual self, Jivatman; it is the Self that seems to
\nlimit its power and knowledge so as to support an individual play of
\ntranscendent and universal Nature. In deepest reality the infinitely One is also
\ninfinitely multiple; we are not only a reflection or portion of That<\/span> but we are That; our spiritual individuality \u2013 unlike
\nour ego \u2013 does not preclude our universality and transcendence. But at present
\nthe soul or self in us intent on individualisation in Nature allows itself to
\nbe confused with the idea of the ego; it has to get rid of this ignorance, it
\nhas to know itself as a reflection or portion or being of the supreme and
\nuniversal Self and solely a centre of its consciousness in the world-action.
\nBut this Jiva Purusha too is not the doer of works any more than the ego or the
\nsupporting consciousness of the Witness and Knower. Again and always it is the
\ntranscendent and universal Shakti who is the sole doer. But behind her is the
\none Supreme who manifests through her as the dual power, Purusha-<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 204<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

 rakriti,
\nIshwara-Shakti.\u00b9 The<\/span> Supreme becomes dynamic as the
\nShakti and is by her the sole originator and Master of works in the universe.<\/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

If this is
\nthe truth of works, the first thing the sadhaka has to do is to recoil from the
\negoistic forms of activity and get rid of the sense of an \u201cI\u201d that acts. He has
\nto see and feel that everything happens in him by the plastic conscious or subconscious
\nor sometimes superconscious automatism of his mental and bodily instruments
\nmoved by the forces of spiritual, mental, vital and physical Nature. There is a
\npersonality on his surface that chooses and wills, submits and struggles, tries
\nto make good in Nature or prevail over Nature, but this personality is itself a
\nconstruction of Nature and so dominated, driven, determined by her that it
\ncannot be free. It is a formation or expression of the Self in her, \u2013 it is a
\nself of Nature rather than a self of Self<\/span>, his natural
\nand processive, not his spiritual and permanent being, a temporary constructed personality,
\nnot the true immortal Person. It is that Person that he must become. He must
\nsucceed in being inwardly quiescent, detach himself as the observer from the
\nouter active personality and learn the play of the cosmic forces in him by
\nstanding back from all blinding absorption in its turns and movements. Thus
\ncalm, detached, a student of himself and a witness of his nature, he realises
\nthat he is the individual soul who observes the works of Nature, accepts
\ntranquilly her results and sanctions or withholds his sanction from the impulse
\nto her acts. At present this soul or Purusha is little more than an acquiescent
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b9 <\/span>Ishwara-Shakti
\nis not quite the same as Purusha-Prakriti; for Purusha and Prakriti are
\nseparate powers, but Ishwara and Shakti contain each other. Ishwara is Purusha
\nwho contains Prakriti and rules by the power of the Shakti within him. Shakti
\nis Prakriti ensouled by Purusha and acts by the will of the Ishwara which is
\nher own will and whose presence in her movement she carries always with her.
\nThe Purusha-Prakriti realisation is of the first utility to the seeker on the
\nWay of Works; for it is the separation of the conscient being and the Energy
\nand the subjection of the being to the mechanism of the Energy that are the
\nefficient cause of our ignorance and imperfection; by this realisation the
\nbeing can liberate himself from the mechanical action of the nature and become
\nfree and arrive at a first spiritual control over the nature. Ishwara-Shakti
\nstands behind the relation of Purusha-Prakriti and its ignorant action and
\nturns it to an evolutionary purpose. The Ishwara-Shakti realisation can bring
\nparticipation in a higher dynamism and a divine working and a total unity and
\nharmony of the being in a spiritual nature.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 205<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

spectator, influencing
\nperhaps the action and development of the being by the pressure of its veiled
\nconsciousness, but for the most part delegating its powers or a fragment of
\nthem to the outer personality, \u2013 in fact to Nature, for this outer self is not
\nlord but subject to her, anīśa; but, once unveiled, it can make its
\nsanction or refusal effective, become the master of the action, dictate
\nsovereignly a change of Nature. Even if for a long time, as the result of fixed
\nassociation and past storage of energy, the habitual movement takes place
\nindependent of the Purusha’s assent and even if the sanctioned movement is persistently
\nrefused by Nature for want of past habit, still he will discover that in the
\nend his assent or refusal prevails, \u2013 slowly with much resistance or quickly
\nwith a rapid accommodation of her means and tendencies,<\/span>
\n\u2013 <\/span>she
\nmodifies herself and her workings in the direction indicated by his inner sight
\nor volition. Thus he learns in place of mental control or egoistic will an
\ninner spiritual control which makes him master of the Nature-forces that work
\nin him and not their unconscious instrument or mechanic slave. Above and around
\nhim is the Shakti, the universal Mother and from her he can get all his inmost
\nsoul needs and wills if only he has a true knowledge of her ways and a true
\nsurrender to the divine Will in her. Finally, he becomes aware of that highest
\ndynamic Self within him and within Nature which is the source of all his seeing
\nand knowing, the source of the sanction, the source of the acceptance, the
\nsource of the rejection. This is the Lord, the Supreme, the One-in-all,
\nIshwara-Shakti, of whom his soul is a portion, a being of that Being and a
\npower of that Power. The rest of our progress depends on our knowledge of the
\nways in which the Lord of works manifests his Will in the world and in us and
\nexecutes them through the transcendent and universal Shakti.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Lord sees
\nin his omniscience the thing that has to be done. This seeing is his Will, it
\nis a form of creative Power, and that which he sees the all-conscious Mother,
\none with him, takes into her dynamic self and embodies, and executive Nature-Force
\ncarries it out as the mechanism of their omnipotent omniscience. But this
\nvision of what is to be and therefore of what is to be done arises out of the
\nvery being, pours directly out of the cons-<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 206<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

ciousness<\/span><\/span><\/span> and delight
\nof existence of the Lord, spontaneously, like light from the Sun. It is not our
\nmortal attempt to see, our difficult arrival at truth of action and motive or
\njust demand of Nature. When the individual soul is entirely at one in its being
\nand knowledge with the Lord and directly in touch with the original Shakti, the
\ntranscendent Mother, the supreme Will can then arise in us too in the high divine
\nmanner as a thing that must be and is achieved by the spontaneous action of
\nNature. There is then no desire, no responsibility, no reaction; all takes
\nplace in the peace, calm, light, power of the supporting and enveloping and
\ninhabiting Divine.<\/span><\/p>\n

But even
\nbefore that highest approach to identity is achieved, something of the supreme
\nWill can manifest in us as an imperative impulsion, a God-driven action; we
\nthen act by a spontaneous self-determining Force but a fuller knowledge of meaning
\nand aim arises only afterwards. Or the impulse to action may come as an
\ninspiration or intuition, but rather in the heart and body than in the mind;
\nhere an effective sight enters in but the complete and exact knowledge is still
\ndeferred and comes, if at all, later. But the divine Will may descend too as a
\nluminous single command or a total perception or a continuous current of
\nperception of what is to be done into the will or into the thought or as a
\ndirection from above spontaneously fulfilled by the lower members. When the
\nYoga is imperfect, only some actions can be done in this way, or else a general
\naction may so proceed but only during periods of exaltation and illumination.
\nWhen the Yoga is perfect, all action becomes of this character. We may indeed
\ndistinguish three stages of a growing progress by which, first, the personal
\nwill is occasionally or frequently enlightened or moved by a supreme Will or
\nconscious Force beyond it, then constantly replaced and, last, identified and
\nmerged in that divine Power-action. The first is the stage when we are still
\ngoverned by the intellect, heart and senses; these have to seek or wait for the
\ndivine inspiration and guidance and do not always find or receive it. The
\nsecond is the stage when human intelligence is more and more replaced by a high
\nillumined or intuitive spiritualised mind, the external human heart by the
\ninner psychic heart, the senses by a purified and selfless vital
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 207<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

force<\/span><\/span>. The third
\nis the stage when we rise even above spiritualised mind to the supramental
\nlevels.<\/span><\/p>\n

In all three
\nstages the fundamental character of the liberated action is the same, a
\nspontaneous working of Prakriti no longer through or for the ego but at the
\nwill and for the enjoyment of the supreme Purusha. At a higher level this
\nbecomes the Truth of the absolute and universal Supreme expressed through the
\nindividual soul and worked out consciously through the nature, \u2013 no longer
\nthrough a half-perception and a diminished or distorted effectuation by the
\nstumbling, ignorant and all-deforming energy of lower nature in us but by the
\nall-wise transcendent and universal Mother. The Lord has veiled himself and his
\nabsolute wisdom and eternal consciousness in ignorant Nature-Force and suffers her
\nto drive the individual being, with its complicity, as the ego; this lower
\naction of Nature continues to prevail, often even in spite of man’s half-lit
\nimperfect efforts at a nobler motive and a purer self-knowledge. Our human
\neffort at perfection fails, or progresses very incompletely, owing to the force
\nof Nature’s past actions in us, her past formations, her long-rooted associations;
\nit turns towards a true and high-climbing success only when a greater Knowledge
\nand Power than our own breaks through the lid of our ignorance and guides or
\ntakes up our personal will. For our human will is a misled and wandering ray
\nthat has parted from the supreme Puissance. The period of slow emergence out of
\nthis lower working into a higher light and purer force is the valley of the
\nshadow of death for the striver after perfection; it is a dreadful passage full
\nof trials, sufferings, sorrows, obscurations, stumblings, errors, pitfalls. To
\nabridge and alleviate this ordeal or to penetrate it with the divine delight
\nfaith is necessary, an increasing surrender of the mind to the knowledge that
\nimposes itself from within and, above all, a true aspiration and a right and
\nunfaltering and sincere practice. \u201cPractise unfalteringly,\u201d says the Gita,
\n\u201cwith a heart free from despondency,\u201d the Yoga; for even though in the earlier
\nstage of the path we drink deep of the bitter poison of internal discord and
\nsuffering, the last taste of this cup is the sweetness of the nectar of
\nimmortality and the honey-wine of an eternal Ananda. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 208<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chapter VIII   The Supreme Will    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 IN THE light of this progressive manifestation of the Spirit, first apparently bound in the Ignorance, then free…<\/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-960","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\/960","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=960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/960\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}