Integral Yoga of Supramental Yogi- Sri Aurobindo

 

Yoga of Sri Aurobindo , known as Integral Yoga, is based on the three aspects that" Man is a transitional being, he is not final. He is a middle term of the evolution, not its end, crown or consummating masterpiece  (CWSA Vol12 P221). Sri Aurobindo underlines  " Evolution is not finished; reason is not the last word nor the reasoning animal the supreme figure of Nature. As man emerged out of the animal, so out of man the superman emerges"(CWSA Vol12 P443) Sri Aurobindo explains " Man is a transitional being, he is not final. He is too imperfect for that, too imperfect in capacity for knowledge, too imperfect in will and action, too imperfect in his turn towards joy and beauty, too imperfect in his will for freedom and his instinct for order. Even if he could perfect himself in his own type, his type is too low and small to satisfy the need of the universe. Something larger, higher, more capable of a rich all embracing universality is needed, a greater being, a greater consciousness summing up in itself all that the world set out to be. He has, as was pointed out by a half blind seer, to exceed himself; man must evolve out of himself the divine superman: he was born  for transcendence. Humanity is not enough, it is only a strong  stepping stone; the need of the world is a superhuman perfection of what the world can be, the goal of consciousness is divinity. The inmost need of man is not to perfect his humanity, but to be greater than himself, to be more than man, to be divine, even to be the Divine.(CWSAVol12 P230)

 

Secondly, the supramental consciousness capable of effecting transformation without loosing full power of action . What is the meant by supermind , Sri Aurobindo writes "  I mean by the supermind a power, a level, an organisation of  consciousness which is not only above the human mind, but above all that can be called mind,-another higher and wider essence and energy of consciousness altogether. Mind is that  which seeks after truth of any kind or of all kinds within its range, labours to know it, attempts to direct and utilise it. But by supermind I mean a divine awareness which inherently possesses truth, knows it by its own intrinsic identity with it and puts it into action or effect spontaneously by its own sovereign power without any need of endeavour or labour. Mind even though  it seeks after knowledge and can sometimes grasp its figure or touch its shadow, is a product of the cosmic Inconscient or of  a Half-Conscience-Ignorance; supermind is an eternal Truthconsciousness, a divine Knowledge self-maintained for ever and luminous in its own right beyond all Ignorance." (CWSA Vol12 P2594)

 

And thirdly, transformation of lower existence into divine manifestation  "even the world of ignorance and inconscience might discover its own submerged secret and begin to realise in each lower degree its divine significance.(CWSA Vol21-22 P998)What does transformation means, Sri Aurobindo explains " Our Yoga is a Yoga of transformation, but a transformation of the whole consciousness and the whole nature from the top to the bottom, from its hidden inward parts to its most tangible  external movements. It is neither an ethical change nor a religious conversion, neither sainthood nor ascetic control, neither a sublimation nor a suppression of the life and vital movements that we envisage, nor is it either a glorification or a coercive control or rejection of the physical existence. What is envisaged is a change from a lesser to a greater, from a lower to a higher, from a surface to a deeper consciousness indeed to the largest, highest, deepest possible and a total change and revolution of  the whole being in its stuff and mass and every detail into that yet unrealised diviner nature of existence. It means a bringing forward of what is now hidden and subliminal, a growing conscious in what is now superconscient to us, an illumination of the subconscient and subphysical. It implies a substitution of  the control of the nature by the soul for its present control by  the mind; a transference of the instrumentation of the nature from the outer to the now more than half-veiled inner mind, from the outer to the inner vital or life-self, from the outer  to an inner subtler vaster physical consciousness and by this transference a direct and conscious instead of an indirect and  unconscious or half conscious contact with the secret cosmic forces that move us; a breaking out from the narrow limited individual into a wide cosmic consciousness; an ascension from  mental to spiritual nature; a still farther ascension from the spirit  in mind or overspreading mind to the supramental spirit and a descent of that into the embodied being. All that has not only to  be achieved but organised before the transformation is complete. (CWSA Vol12 P371)

 

On the journey from man  to superman Sri Aurobindo ,  writes about three transformations   "there must first be the psychic change, the conversion of our whole present nature into a soul-instrumentation; on that or along with that there must be the spiritual change, the descent of a higher Light, Knowledge, Power, Force, Bliss, Purity into the whole being, even into the lowest recesses of the life and body, even into the darkness of our subconscience; last, there must supervene the supramental transmutation,—there must take place as the crowning movement the ascent into the supermind and the transforming descent of the supramental Consciousness into our entire being and nature." (CWSA Vol21-22 P924)

 

There are Four aids prescribed for  Yoga Siddhi by Sri Aurobindo.First,Shashtra  refers to the  knowledge of the truths, principles, powers and processes that govern the realisation."An integral and synthetic Yoga needs especially not to be bound by any written or traditional Shastra; for while it embraces the knowledge received from the past, it seeks to organise it anew for the present and the future. An absolute liberty of experience and of the restatement of knowledge in new terms and new combinations is the condition of its self-formation."(CWSA23-24P56)

 

Second,Utsah - "The ideal sadhaka should be able to say in the Biblical phrase, “My zeal for the Lord has eaten me up.” It is this zeal for the Lord,—uts ¯aha, the zeal of the whole nature for its divine results, vy¯ akulat¯a, the heart’s eagerness for the attainment of the Divine,—that devours the ego and breaks  up the limitations of its petty and narrow mould for the full and wide reception of that which it seeks, that which, being universal, exceeds and, being transcendent, surpasses even the largest and highest individual self and nature." (CWSA23-24P58)

 

Third,Guru-"The Teacher of the integral Yoga will follow as far as he may the method of the Teacher within us. He will lead the disciple through the nature of the disciple. Teaching, example, influence,these are the three instruments of the Guru. But the wise Teacher will not seek to impose himself or his opinions on the passive acceptance of the receptive mind; he will throw in only what is productive and sure as a seed which will grow under the divine fostering within".(CWSA23-24P66)

And last,Kala-"The ideal attitude of the sadhaka towards Time is to have an endless patience as if he had all eternity for his fulfilment and yet to develop the energy that shall realise now and with an ever-increasing mastery and pressure of rapidity till it reaches the miraculous instantaneousness of the supreme divine Transformation."(CWSA23-24P68)

 

In the course of evolution of human race western philosopher  Nietzsche also talks about emergence of Superman .On the Superman of  Nietzsche Sri Aurobindo writes " Nietzsche saw the superman as the lion-soul passing out of camel-hood, but the true heraldic device & token of the superman is the lion seated upon the camel which stands upon the cow of plenty. If thou canst not be the slave of all mankind, thou not fit to be its master and if thou canst not make thy nature as Vasistha's cow of plenty with all mankind to draw its wish from her udders, what avails thy leonine supermanhood? (CWSA Vol12P439). This underlines the difference and approach of the East and West about the existence and the future of mankind.

 

CWSA: Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo

 

Surya Pratap Singh Rajawat

Secretary ,Sri Aurobindo Society Rajasthan