Integral Yoga of Aurobindo

45



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JEEVALAYA INSTITUTE OF PHILOSOPHY
(Affiliated to the Pontifical Urbaniana University, Rome)


Concept of Integral Yoga According to Sri Aurobindo



Bro. James Thekkumcherikunnel, MCBS
(Reg. No: 535)




Director
Rev. Dr. Jose Thundathil, MCBS


A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Philosophy
For the Partial Fulfillment of the Degree of
Bachelor of Philosophy


Bangalore
January, 2013
Acknowledgement
I am very glad to submit my thesis because it is the fruit of my long-term research and effort. I took a critical study on Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo. This thesis will help us to know more about Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo.
On this occasion, raising my hearts to God Almighty I would like to thank all who have helped me in so many different ways in the completion of this work first and foremost I thank God Almighty, who guided me with His divine providence. Now I cannot but thank Rev. Dr. Jose Thundathil mcbs, my director of the thesis. I also thank Rev. Dr. Augustine Paikattu mcbs, our Rector and Rev. Dr. Abraham Kochupurayil mcbs, and the dean of studies for giving me chance to pursue this course of philosophy. I thank all the professors of the faculty of philosophy at Jeevalaya Institute of Philosophy. Thanks to the librarians, computer operators, for the valuable services they have rendered for me to fulfil this paper. I am very much thankful to my friends for their encouragement and support.

Bro. James Thekkumcherikunnel
January 15, 2013
Jeevalaya Institute of Philosophy
Bangalore







Table of Contents
Acknowledgment i
Table of Contents ii
General Introduction v
Chapter One
A Brief History of Aurobindo and Yoga
Introduction
1.1 Sri Aurobindo and His Childhood
1.1.1 Different Stages of his Life
1.1.1.1 Political Life of Sri Aurobindo
1.1.1.2 The Spiritual Life of Sri Aurobindo
1.1.2 The Important Works of Sri Aurobindo
1.2 Yoga: Its Origin and Background
1.2.1 Origin of Yoga
1.2.2 The Aim and Purpose of Yoga
1.2.3 Longing of the Human Heart from Loneliness
1.2.4 Occasional Experience
1.2.5 All Yoga is one
Conclusion
Chapter Two
The Four Kinds of Yoga in Hinduism
Introduction
2.1. Jnana- Yoga
2.2. Karma- Yoga
2.3. Bhakti – Yoga
2.4. Astanga- Yoga
2.4.1 Yama- The Practice of Restraints
2.4.2 Niyama- Observance
2.4.3 Asana- Bodily Posture
2.4.4 Pranayama- Breath Control
2.4.5 Prathyahara- Withdrawal of the Sense Organs
2.4.6 Dharana- Fixation of Attention
2.4.7 Dhyana- Meditation
2.4.8 Samadhi- Absorptive Concentration
Conclusion
Chapter Three
Sri Aurobindo's Integral Yoga
Introduction
3.1 Aim of Integral Yoga
3.2 The Three Constituent Elements in Sadhana
3.2.1 Purification
3.2.2 Liberation
3.2.3 Perfection
3.3 The Three Means to the Object of Sadhana
3.3.1 Sadhana through Work
3.3.2 Sadhana through Knowledge and Meditation
3.3.3 Sadhana through Love and Devotion
3.4 The Process of Transformation in Sadhana
3.4.1 Integration
3.4.2 Transformation
3.4.3 Triple Transformation
3.4.3.1 Psychicisation
3.4.3.2 Spiritualisation
3.4.3.3 Supramentalisation
3.5 Integral Yoga
Conclusion
General Conclusion
Bibliography

General Introduction
India's religious histories, both ancient and model are well supplied with names of persons whose heart is centered on almighty God. As an outstanding example of 20th century we find the name of Sri Aurobindo, who made an attempt to synthesize eastern and western currents, we are discussing in this paper the various aspects of yoga and Sri Aurobindo's Integral Yoga.
Aurobindo was born in Calcutta, he was sent to England. When he was seven educated at St. Paul's school in London and king's college, he was thoroughly steeped in the classical humanism of his tome. The essence of Sri Aurobindo's thought is perhaps to be found in his old age. The European influences as are Aurobindo's own typical concept of supermind, over mind and so on, which appear to be central to his "The Life Divine." Sri Aurobindo is so intimately fused with his yogic experiences that failure unless the student is initiated into the mysteries of Yoga.
He began to take interest in the freedom struggle of India. The Indian freedom struggle became a passion to which he dedicated himself on his return to India. The political action of Sri Aurobindo covered eight years from 1902 to 1910. In the beginning of April 1910 he sailed for Pondicherry in French India. There he stats write book on the Araya. His most important books are the life divine, the synthesis of yoga, essays on the Gita and Isa Upanishad. Other works were then concerned with the sprit and significance of Indian civilization and culture; foundation of Indian culture with the time meaning of the Vedas. The secret of the Vedas is the progress of human society. He founded on ashram in Pondicherry. First he had four disciples, afterwards more and more joined.
Sri Aurobindo died on December 5, 1950. But the works that he initiated continued under the guidance of the mother, Mira Richard. The ashram has always been functioning under the general guidance of the mother.
I have divided, Sri Aurobindo's concept of Integral Yoga in to three chapters. The first chapter deals with brief history of Sri Aurobindo and yoga. Second chapter is about the four kinds of the yoga in Hinduism. Last chapter is Sri Aurobindo's Integral Yoga.











Chapter One
A Brief History of Aurobindo and Yoga
Introduction
Sri Aurobindo was born in Calcutta. The day was August 15, 1872, the time- 5.00 a.m., the hour of dawn. The date is doubly important. The date has an even greater and deeper significance. Aurobindo has explained it thus:
"The fifteenth August is the day of the assumption of Virgin Mary; it implies that the physical nature is raised to the divine nature." And this was in a way the goal of Sri Aurobindo's life to divinize the earth, to make matter the spirits willing bride. "In a sudden inspiration, Dr. Ghose decided to call the boy Aurobindo, a Sanskrit for lotus. He also gave him an English- style middle name, Ackroyd, after his friend Annete Akroyd, a lady who founded a Brahma girl's school in Calcutta."
The name given to Sri Aurobindo at the birth was quaintly Aurobindo Ackroyd Ghose. His father Dr. K. D. Ghose had returned from England with a completely Western outlook. Later Sri Aurobindo was to say in a humorous tone about his father "Everyone makes the forefathers of a great man very religious minded, pious etc. It is not true in my case at any rate. My father was a tremendous atheist." But Dr. Ghose was also generous to all faults. Nobody went empty handed from his door. And mother of Sri Aurobindo's, Swarnalathadevi was so beautiful and gracious that she was known as the 'rose of Rangpur'. Sri Aurobindo was the third among the five children. The two elder brothers were Benoy Bhushan and Monomohan and the younger sister was Sarojini followed by the youngest brother, Barindranath.
"Sri Aurobindo, at the age of seven was taken with his two elder brothers to England for education and lived there for fourteen years." Automatically he learned many foreign languages and he practiced the foreign culture but his mind was filled with Indian culture and the independence of India.
He was a great philosopher and yogi. He worked hard for the independence of our nation. At that time, he wrote many poems and essays on India. He was always seeking the wisdom about the Supreme Being. Gradually he developed the knowledge about Indian philosophy and Indian civilization. He started one ashram in Pondicherry and many welcomed his way of life in the ashram. At the age of seventeen, he expired from this world, even though his philosophical works and contributions are living in the mind of each Indian.
1.1 Sri Aurobindo and his Childhood
"Sri Aurobindo was the third son of Krishnaadan Ghose and Swarna Latha Devi." After receiving his primary education at Loreto convent, brought up at first in an English family at Manchester, he joined St. Paul's School at London in 1884. And in 1890 he went from it with a senior classical scholarship to King's college, Cambridge where he studied for two years. At this time, Gaekwar at Baroda was in London. Aurobindo saw him, obtained an appointment in the Baroda service and left England for India arriving there in February in 1893.
1.1.1 Different Stages of his Life
Sri Aurobindo's education in England gave him a wide introduction to the culture of ancient, medieval and of modern Europe. He was a brilliant scholar in Greek and Latin. He had learned French from his childhood in Manchester and studied for himself German and Italian sufficiently to study Goethe and Dante in the original tongues. At the twentieth of his age, he came back to India. But he did not know the Indian languages even his own mother tongue, Bengali. After his twentieth age only he learned his mother tongue and immediately he asked to write many doctrines on Bengali.
1.1.1.1 Political Life of Sri Aurobindo
The political action of Sri Aurobindo covered eight years from 1902 to 1910. During the first half of this period, he worked behind the senses, preparing with other co workers for the beginnings of the Swadeshi movement. The agitation in Bengal furnished an opening for the public initiation of a more forward and direct political action than the moderate reforms which had till then been the creed of the Indian national congress.
"In 1906, he abandoned his job at Baroda in order to dedicate himself completely to politics." In May 1908 he was arrested in the Alipore conspiracy case in which Mr. Prankle and his wife were killed. After a detention of one year, as under trial prisoner in the Alipore jail, he came out in May 1909 to find the party organization broken. For almost a year, he was striving single handed as the sole remaining leader at the nationalist in India to revive the movement. He published at this time, to aid his effort a weekly English paper, the Karmayogin and a Bengali weekly The Dharma.
"A third prosecution was launched against him at this movement for a signed article in Karmayogin. In his absence it was pressed against the printer of the paper who was convicted, but the conviction was quashed on appeal in the high court of Calcutta." The most important contribution of Sri Aurobindo as a political philosopher is his advocacy of a responsible constitutional and popular system of government in India entirely free from alien control. He formulated this idea for the country in the pages of Bandematharam in 1907.
The second important contribution of Sri Aurobindo to political science is his stress on freedom. He is an advocate of full political freedom for alienations. He worked for betterment of economical life of people. The third important political contribution of Sri Aurobindo is the theory of world state. The retention of armed sovereign states is undoubtedly a danger to the world peace.
1.1.1.2 The Spiritual Life of Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo was not only a political leader but also a spiritual leader. He had a basic concept about God and Soul. "During his imprisonment in 1908 at Alipore, he had the opportunity to read once again the Upanishads and the Gita. He had deep spiritual experience that completely changed the direction of his future activity. After his acquittal, he emerged from the jail as a changed man." It was here that he had his first spiritual experience says and, in his own words, "It was no longer by its (the jail's) high walls that I was imprisoned: No it was Vasudeva who surrounded me." Shortly after his release in 1910, he had a powerful religious experience. He settled in Pondicherry, where his ashram was established. He remained there until his death. Sri Aurobindo's yoga and spiritual philosophy are founded on four greater realizations. Two of them he had realized in full before his coming to Pondicherry in 1910. The first realization is that the realization of the silent, space less and timeless Brahman. In his mediation, in the jail, Sri Aurobindo was already on his way to the other two realizations that of the supreme reality with the static and dynamic Brahman as its two aspects and that of the higher planner off conscious leading to the super mind.
1.1.2 The Important Works of Sri Aurobindo
During all of his study at Pondicherry from 1910 onwards, he remained more and more exclusively devoted in his spiritual work and his Sadhana. In 1914, after four years of silent yoga, he began the publication of the philosophical monthly, the Arya. Most of his important works, the life divine, the synthesis of yoga, essays on Gita, the Isha Upanishads appeared serially in the Arya. These works embodied much of the inner knowledge that had come to him in his practice of yoga.
The other works were concerned with the spirit and the significance of Indian civilization and culture, the true meaning of the Vedas, the progress of human society, the nature and evolution of poetry, the possibility of the unification of human race. At this time he began publishing his poems both those written in England and in Baroda and those fewer in number added during his period of political activity and in the years of his residence at Pondicherry.
1.2 Yoga: Its Origin and Background
Any attempt at an explanation or definition of yoga necessarily involves going into the question of its origin and purpose and its relation to the development of man's philosophical thought and also his religious ideas and experience. The country of origin of yoga is undoubtedly India, where, for many hundreds of years, it has been a part of man's activities to higher spiritual achievements.
Etymologically, the Sanskrit word yoga derives from the root yuj, meaning 'to bind together', and 'hold first 'or yoke which also governs the Latin iunger and iugun, in Indian religion the term yoga serves in general to designate any ascetic technique and any method of mediation. The classical form of yoga is darsana expounded by Patanjali in his yoga sutra, and is from this system that we must see out if we are to understand the position of yoga in the history of Indian thought. To describe yoga, we need to have research into its history and present situation.
1.2.1 Origin of Yoga
The question of the origin of yoga can be looked at from two different angles. Firstly, there is the problem of its historical origin the distant past in India. Secondly, we may feel that it is also important to inquire into the psychological reason for the appearance of yoga. Broadly speaking, yoga is the conscious and directed activity of an individual aspiring to a super sensory and supra intellectual experience, which is to him of spiritual value and which fully or to some extent, transforms or deepens his life and of his knowledge or understanding of reality and of himself. This obviously means that the aim of yoga is to bring about higher or more accomplished state of mind, which transcends man's usual everyday experience and opens for him a new field of vision and capacity to grasp this vision.
1.2.2 The Aim and Purpose of Yoga
The fundamental purpose of yoga of Indian philosophy, we see that religions' doctrine and meditation techniques are to free man from the temporal and conditional structure of existence. Yoga is for the liberation of man from the continuum of space and time finitudes is gained. And in this way, it is maintained by transforming through meditation techniques and ascetical practices the empirical consciousness into the trans-conscious state. It is the aim of yoga to point out that the partial way that would lead to transcendence.
1.2.3 Longing of the Human Heart from Loneliness
There is the longing of the human heart to escape from or to overcome its loneliness. Man becomes aware of his loneliness when he discovers that he is an individual alone as he feels safe in his parental home, his neighbourhood his social class, his political party or his tribal community, this problem doesn't arise. All the experience and satisfactions some relationships and activities can give do not really abolish the solitude and self enclosedness of human heart; they only cover it up or obscure it temporarily. Therefore, some individuals try to break out the prison to individuality into the wider realm of transcendental spiritual reality in which they feel at one with essence of reality of with reality as a whole or with creator.
1.2.4 Occasional Experience
In everybody's life, there are occasional experiences that might be described as temporarily opening a channel in the individual to a wider and deeper dimension of life than the one to which the individual normally has access. We use to describe the nature of experience, in the terms of 'intuition' and 'inspiration'. Under favorable conditions, several dement of inspirational and intuitional value may combine to create a climate of higher achievement and close relatedness to the universal in which the individual may feel entirely fulfilled.
1.2.5 All Yoga is one
The study of yoga is the study of the higher self within us. It is the study of that science which has something to tell about our unchanging real identity. The human individual has an apparent outer identity, which is seen be and known to the rest of the world. It is what they see in a person what they know about a person. The apparent outer personality of man is subject to change and subject to ultimate destruction. The real being is hidden inside. Man's true real identity is absolutely free from all characteristics. So, wise men made an attempt know the inner self. Knowing the self therefore is the greatest achievement and attainment. Knowledge of self is really the supreme goal and purpose of life. All various types of yoga are means to get true knowledge about the inner self. "For Sri Aurobindo, the contact of the human consciousness with the divine is the very essence of yoga." "The yoga of Sri Aurobindo marks a momentous programme and project of yogic research taking within its sweep all the domains of life all aspects of culture, a synthesis of the systems of yoga based upon a new discovery resulting in an ever growing methodized discipline for a transmutation of man into a new transform humanity or super humanity."
Conclusion
In this chapter, I tried to make a study of philosophical and historical backgrounds of Sri Aurobindo and yoga. Sri Aurobindo developed his philosophy by his own experience through reading books and intuition. He was a great philosopher, yogi, revolutionary, poet, spiritual teacher and visionary. He developed his knowledge about Indian philosophy and western philosophy. Yoga is the system that teaches us how to control our body and mind in the belief that we can become united with the spirit of the universe. All types of yoga, by using different methods, try to achieve the knowledge of the inner self, where there is infinite joy, eternal bliss, peace, perfection and liberation.

Chapter Two
The Four Kinds of Yoga in Hinduism
Introduction
In this chapter I mainly deal with the four kinds of yoga in Hinduism. They are Jnana-Yoga, Bhakti Yoga Karma Yoga and Astanga Yoga. The Bhagavad- Gita gives us the complete knowledge about Jnana yoga, karma yoga and Bhakti yoga. Patanjali defines Astanga yoga as the complete suppression of all mental modes or process.
In the Bhagavad-Gita we have a unique synthesis of knowledge, action and devotion. Man possesses three faculties: intellect, will and emotion. He thinks, wills and feels. "The intellect has given rise to the philosophy of knowledge; will to philosophy of action and emotion to the philosophy of devotion." The Gita tries to build up a philosophy of Karma based on Jnana and supported by Bhakti in a beautiful manner. Astanga yoga is more practical. The act of yoga is a matter of constant practice and serves discipline of the body, the vital forces and mind it is pre- eminently an art of mental discipline. "The yoga prescribes the practice of restraints (Yama), observance (Niyama), bodily posture (Asana), and breathe control (Pranayama), withdrawal of the sense organs (Prathyahara), fixation of attention (Dharana), meditation (Dhyana) and absorptive concentration (Samadhi), as aids to yoga."
2.1. Jnana- Yoga
Man has three fold faculties intellect, will and emotion. Intellect has given rise to the philosophy of knowledge which is called Jnana yoga in Bhagavad- Gita: will have given rise to the philosophy of action which termed as karma yoga and emotion to the philosophy of devotion which is called Bhakti yoga. Here we discuss the Jnana yoga.
The Gita recognizes two kinds of knowledge, that which seeks to understand the phenomenon of existence externally through intellect and that which, by force of intuition grasps the ultimate principle behind the apparent series. When subject to logical intellect, the spirit of men tends to lose itself in nature and identify itself with its activities. In order to grasp the truth of existence in its source and reality within, it has to free itself from the snare of their false identification.
"The intellectual apprehension of the details of existence is called Vijnana as distinct from Jnana as the integral knowledge of the common foundation of all existence."
The Gita accepts the yoga system as a way for mental training. There are three steps which are essential for the yogic discipline. They are: "1. purification of mind, body and senses. 2. concentration or withdrawal of the consciousness from the dispersed movement of thoughts running after senses and fixing it on the supreme and 3 identification with real when we reach it.
2.2. Karma Yoga
The importance of this concept for an understanding of the Gita approach to duty is gauged from such well known reference to it as representing the central teaching of the Gita as the core concept of duty as envisaged in the Gita etc. In the beginning of the Kurukshetra war, we find Arjuna despondent and declining to fight but as a result of Sri Krishna's persuasion he makes up his mind to take part in the war.
In order to understand the implications of the karma yoga, it is necessary to consider separately the two terms constituting it. The word karma here signifies the duties that, in accordance with custom and tradition were found associated with a particular section or class of the people the Varna dharma as they are described. The word yoga means "Harnessing". In karma-yoga the idea of the result must be totally dismissed from the mind of the doer before as well as during the act.
2.3. Bhakti – Yoga
According to Bhagavad Gita and similar devotional texts this renunciation of desire for specific ends can be attained only through Bhakti yoga the loving surrender to God's will. Ritual actions are properly performed are meritorious and ascetic meditation leads to realise. But there two modes of action either require wealth are difficult to perfect. Purportedly quoting Krishna himself Bhagavad Gita offers a theological response to their difficulties. "Those who dedicate all of response to their actions (karma) to me, those who revere me for those I am the savoir from the sea of the cycle of death. (12.6-17.7) Those who see their actions as God's actions and the results as God's will are liberated from the traps of karma."
2.4. Astanga- Yoga
Patanjali defines yoga as complete suppression of all mental process. Vyasa defines it as absorptive concentration. It is possible for all persons to attain yoga by repeated practice and detachment. The distracted, infatuated and occasionally steady minds are not fit for yoga. The one pointed and restricted minds are fit for it. Yoga generates occult powers, clairvoyance, clairaudience, thought reading thought transference and the like. If the yogin is infatuated with them, he falls from yoga. The yogic practises only can lead the yogin from a lower stage to higher stage. Yoga is not theoretical or speculative. It is practical. The yoga prescribes the practices of Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyna, Samadhi, as aids to yoga.
2.4.1 Yama- The Practice of Restraints
Yama consist in non-injury (ahimsa), truthfulness in thought and speech (satya), non-stealing (asteya), sexual restrains (brahmachaya), and non- acceptance of unnecessary gifts (aprigraha). These are negative virtues. Ahimsa is non killing. Killing (himsa) is the root of all other negative and positive virtues. So the absolute non-injury is prescribed by the yoga system. Truthfulness consists in thought and speech being in strict accord with the realty of things. Speech is used for conveying one's own knowledge to others; if then, this speech is not deceptive or mistaken but if is so only when it is used for benefiting all living beings and not when it is used for injuring them.
Abstinence from misappropriation (Asteya), 'misappropriation' consists in obtain things from others in a manner not sanctioned by the scriptures. Celibacy-control of the secret generative organ incontinence, the fourth danger in the path of success, includes, besides the physical enjoyment, even talking to, looking at, or thinking other sex, with lust full intentions.
The last is greediness, which consists not only in coveting more that necessary, but also in keeping in possession anything beyond the very necessaries of life. Several practitioners are known to carry this requirement to the extent of not accepting any thing whatever from others.
2.4.2 Niyama- Observance
Observance consists in purity (Sauca), contentment (Santhosha), mortification (Tapas) study (Sarvadhyaya) and devotion to God the duties so far described are negative or of the kind of omission: those enjoyed here positive or have commission. Among these, purity or cleanliness is not of two kinds external and internal; the former is brought about by such means as washing with clay and water etc. and eating purified things.
2.4.3 Asana- Bodily Posture
Having described Yama and Niyama, the first two accessories of yoga, it is proposed to describe third – asana or posture. Though numerous variations of the mode of keeping the body in position at the time of performing yoga are given in different books, the general and most convenient definition of posture is that it should be perfectly steady and should cause no painful sensation, whatever shape it make. The various postures of the body like padmasana, virsana, bhadrasana, svastika, etc. are the means of controlling it and keeping it healthy and fit. They hope tone up the nervous system.
2.4.4 Pranayama- Breath Control
It consists in controlling natural breathing and subjecting it to a definite law. It consists in slow and deep inhalation. These three functions should be performed for definite periods. The time of inhalation, the time for retention of breath and the time of exhalation should be in proportion. 1, 4 and 2. The vital forces move the body. The mind has desire and will which are expressed in bodily actions. So regulation of vital force leads to the control of the mind. Breath control is conducive to the concentration of the mind. The Yoga- Bhasya says: "There is no austerity higher than breath regulation because there from results the removal of impurities and illumination of right knowledge. It can learn only under the guidance of experts."
2.4.5 Prathyahara- Withdrawal of the Sense Organs
Pratyahara consists in the withdrawal of the senses from their respective objects. If the mind is withdrawal from external sensible objects, the external senses are automatically withdrawn from them. So in this state, the mind is not disturbed by sights sounds etc. coming through the eye, the ear, and other senses, but keeps all of them under perfect control. Just as when the king bee flies out, the other flies after him and when he enters the hive, they also fall into the sense became inhibited when the mind is inhabited.
The above mentioned five disciplines of restraint (yama), observance (niyama), bodily posture (asana), breath- control (pranayama) are the external aids to yoga (bahirangaSadhana). The last three disciplines, fixation of mind (dharana), meditation (dhyana), and absorptive meditation (dhyana), and absorptive concentration or ecstasy (samathi), are the internal aids to yoga (antaanga-Sadhana). They directly lead to conscious ecstasy (sampranjata- samadhi).
2.4.6 Dharana- Fixation of Attention
It is fixing of mind on a particular object, having described the means of purifying the inner self and of avoiding distractions, the author proceeds to point the proper way to final end. Samadhi the object may either intra- organic or extra-organic. "The mind is fixed on navel, the heart and the tip of tongue, the middle of eyebrows, the throat and the like. Or it fixed on an external object, the idol or image of a deity or any similar object."Any such thing contemplated upon externally or internally should be strictly associated with nothing but holiness and purity. The bodily posture controls the body, breath control regulates the vital forces the withdrawal of the sense from their objects controls the sense and the fixation of attention controls the mind. It prepares the mind for meditation.
2.4.7 Dhyana- Meditation
It consists in the continuous flow of the same cognition of the object of attention undisturbed by any other cognition. It is entire fixing of mind on object thought, to the extent of making it one with it. In fact the mind should, at the time, be conscious only of itself and the object to the exclusion of other objects leads to meditation, if the cognition produced by it continues unbroken for long time. It is steadfast contemplation of the object without any break or disturbance. This has the effect of giving us a clear and distinct representation of the object first by parts and aspects. But by long continued meditation the mind can develop the partial representation of it.
2.4.8 Samadhi- Absorptive Concentration
Samadhi or concentration is the final step in the practices of yoga. In Samadhi the mind is so deeply absorbed in the object of contemplation to the extent that it has awareness of itself. Absorption carried to the extent of forgetting the act, and of becoming the thing thought of, is trance or Samadhi it takes on the form of object and loses itself as it were. So her only the object thought remains shining in the mind. It should be noted, however that the Samadhi as a discipline is different from the Samadhi or Yoga defined as the restrain of mind. Samadhi is of two kinds; Conscious or Samprajnata and Supra Conscious or Asamprajnanata.
In the Samprajnata Samadhi consciousness of the object of meditation persists, in the Asamprajnata Samadhi. It is transcended. In Asamprajnata Samadhi meditator and the object of meditation are completely fused together and there is not even consciousness of the object of meditation. Here no new mental modification arises. They are checked, thought latent impressions may continue. It is the highest form of yoga the perfect mystic ecstasy.
Conclusion
Hinduism speaks of mainly four kinds of Yoga. They are jnana-yoga, Karma-yoga, Bhakthi-yoga and Astanaga-yoga. Bhagavad Gita gives knowledge about Jnana-yoga, Karma-yoga and Bhakthi- yoga. Jnana, Karma and Bhakti Yoga are the three compliomentery ways of salvation in the Bhagavat Gita. One can attain salvation through following the three ways.
In Astanga-yoga the art of Yoga is a matter of constant practice and sever discipline of the body, the vital forces and mind. It is pre-eminently and art of mental discipline. The Yoga prescribes the practice of restrains (yama), observe (Niyama), bodily posture (asana), breath control (Pranayama), withdrawal of the sense organs (Prtyahara), fixation of attention (Dharana), mediation (Dhyana) and absorptive concentration (Samadhi), as aids to yoga. The foundation of yoga, as of all authentic spirituality, is a universal Patanjali's first limp, therefore is not posture or meditation but moral discipline (Yama). The constituent elements of self-restraint (Niyama) are concerned with the inner life of yogins. According to yoga the relating of God to prakriti and purusa is inseparable and organic. He is not the creator, preserver or destroyer of prakriti which eternal, though mutable.



Chapter Three
Sri Aurobindo's Integral Yoga
Introduction
According to Sri Aurobindo, Integral Yoga or Purna yoga or supra mental yoga refers to the process of the union of all the parts of the one's being with divine, and the transmutation of all their jarring elements into a harmonious state of higher divine conscious and existence. Sri Aurobindo defined integral yoga in the early 1900s as "a path of integral seeking of the Divine by which all that we are is in the end liberated out of the Ignorance and its undivine formations into a truth beyond the Mind, a truth not only of highest spiritual status but of a dynamic spiritual self-manifestation in the universe." He describes the nature and practice of integral yoga in his work The Synthesis of Yoga. As the title of that work indicates, his integral yoga is yoga of synthesis, intended to harmonize the paths of karma, jnana, and bhakti yoga as described in the Bhagavad Gita. It can also be consider a synthesis between Vedanta and Tantra, and even between Eastern and Western approaches to spirituality.
"The word yoga literally means union, but yoga as used by Patanjali does not mean the spiritual union of the individual soul with universal soul. Man's highest aspiration is to attain as integral self perfection in which he can fully cooperate with the divine creative power in the formation of divine life on earth." Sri Aurobindo's yoga speaks about a total transformation of this earthly life into the divine life, a descent of the divine consciousness right into a darkness and ignorance of the mind, life and even the body. Therefore, a divine fulfilment and not a divine negation is the real object of Sri Aurobindo's yoga. Then Sri Aurobindo's integral yoga endeavours to change ultimately the whole earth and not mealy some privileged individuals.
Integral is a term applies to a wide-ranging set of developments in philosophy, psychology, religious, thought and other areas that seek interdisciplinary and comprehensive frameworks. The term is often combined with others such as approach, conscious, culture, paradigm, philosophy, society, theory, and worldview. Major themes of this range of philosophies and teachings include a synthesis of science and religion, evolutionary spirituality, and holistic programs of development for body, mind, soul and spirit.
To enable individuals to consciously participate in evolution Sri Aurobindo formulated a spiritual disciple- integral yoga. Yoga connotes union with the divine. In addition, integral yoga is so called because it aims at a harmonised totality of spiritual realisation and experiences. Its aim is integral experience of the divine reality. Its method is an integral opening of the completely conscious, beatitude to its being and integral transformation of the whole nature. He spells out three steps of progressive self-achievement that lead to integral transformation where the individual acts from guidance of the psychic being rather than the ego. The next step often concurrent with the first is to become aware of the universal self. The third is supramental transformation in which the power of the super mind acts upon the individual and transforms him into a supramental being. In this chapter, I try to analyse Aurobindo's understanding of Yoga is how it affects the union between the divine and man or how he explains it as a means of God realisation.
3.1 Aim of Integral Yoga
Sri Aurobindo as "the conversion of the human soul into the divine soul and of natural life into divine living" describes the entire definition of the aim of integral yoga. Most yogas, except such paths as Natya Yoga, only develop a single aspect of the being, and have as their aim a state of liberation or transcendence. However, the aim of integral yoga is the transformation of the entire being. Because of this, the various elements of one's make-up Physical, Vital, Mental, Psychic, and Spiritual, and the means of their transformation, are described in great detail by Sri Aurobindo, who in this way formulates an entire integral psychology. The goal is then the transformation of the entire nature of one's being. Nothing is left behind.
Corresponding to three principal powers of the individual-will, knowledge, and love-there are there Yogas: the yoga of work (karmayoga), the yoga of knowledge, (jnana yoga), and the yoga of love and devotion (bhakti yoga). Integral yoga takes up the essence of the theses three yogas, but differs in its aim according to its comprehensiveness. Sri Aurobindo's integral union aims at the integrality of the divine, the fulfilment of the individual's divine destiny upon earth. It is a union with the divine in life rather than a union with supreme in some heaven beyond.
In integral yoga, the goal is not only a transcendent liberation, nirvana, or moksha as in other spiritual paths, but also, in addition to that, the realisation of the Divine in the physical world as well. All of which is part of the same process of integral realisation. An integral realisation of Divine Being; not only a realisation of the One in its indistinguishable unity, but also in its multitude of aspects which are also necessary to the complete knowledge of it by the relative consciousness; not only realisation of unity in the Self, but of unity in the infinite diversity of activities, worlds and creatures. Therefore, it is also, an integral liberation. Not only the freedom born of unbroken contact of the individual being in all its parts with the Divine, sayujyamukti, by which it becomes free even in its separation, even in the duality; not only the salokyalmukti by which the whole conscious existence dwells in the same status of being as the Divine, in the state of Sachchidananda; but also the acquisition of the divine nature by the transformation of this lower being into the human image of the divine, sadharmyamukti, and the complete and final release of all, the liberation of the consciousness from the transitory mould of the ego and its unification with the One Being, universal both in the world and the individual and transcendentally one both in the world and beyond all universe.
"Sri Aurobindo defines yoga as, a methodized effort towards self-perfection by expression of the potentialities latent in the being and a union of the human individual with the universal and transcendent existence we see partially expressed in an in the cosmos." Yoga means not only union but it also means the prose or method by which that union is achieved. Sri Aurobindo's yoga does not deal with superficial psychological motives or with the surface manipulations of the mental realm. It aims at a spiritual change of consciousness, a re-founding of life, and growth of the spirit in nature. That is, human existence functions as a means of reaching the divine or becoming one with the divine.
Integral yoga is a way of complete self- realisation: a complete transformation of conscious on each plane of being corresponding to a complete transformation of life. This character of integral yoga is described by Sri Aurobindo thus: our mind, will heart life body, and inner and inmost existence, our super conscious and subconscious, as well as our conscious parts must all be thus given, must all become a means a field of this realisation and transformation and participate in the illumination and change from human into a divine consciousness and nature.
Integral yoga's aim is to rise and enter into a higher divine consciousness and to manifest this higher consciousness upon earth. This includes change of consciousness as well as change of life. The old yogas demanded a complete renunciation of the worldly life, but integral yoga aims at new transformed life. Life becomes a field of experience and training in which the seeker free from ordinary desires and attachments in the mind, life, and body, that is the ordinary life, is dealt with from a new inner attitude. In the new life all connections must be founded on a spiritual intimacy other than any of one's present connections, which implies a transition from ego- centeredness to God centeredness. Integral yoga has for its end more than the ordinary aims of humanity; its aim is to live in the divine, in God and in mere egoism, but simultaneously not apart from nature and mundane existence. The true object of integral yoga is of two kinds; a growth of the spirit in nature and a spiritual change of consciousness. This full object of yoga can only be accomplished when true conscious yoga in man becomes outwardly co-existent and connected with life; "All life is yoga."
Integral yoga is Sri Aurobindo's name for his synthesis of yoga methods it complements all partial approaches by integrating the entire being of man through a synthesis of karma, Jnana, and bhakti yoga. In the words of Sri Aurobindo, "by knowledge we seek unity with the divine in his conscious being; by woks we seek also unity with the divine in his conscious being, not statically, but dynamically, through conscious union with the divine will; but by love we seek unity with him in all the delight of his being."
It is clear by now that the aim of integral yoga is not only freedom from bondage of human nature but also its perfect control with a view to transform, spiritualise and divinise it. According to Sri Aurobindo, integral yoga "is a difficult yoga to follow and not many can really meet the demands it makes on the nature. It is a slow and difficult process; the road is long it is hard to establish even the necessary basis. The old existing nature resists and obstructs and difficulties rise one after another and repeatedly till they are overcome." The difficult and complex way of integral yoga is therefore not a path for anyone to follow but only for those who accept to seek its aim, and for those whose inner strength is supplemented by the true aid of the guru.
This yoga can only do to the end by those who are ready to abolish ego, and cannot do if there are the demands and instincts of the lower parts of human nature. This means the old habits of the mental, vital and physical formations. The path of integral yoga is not a short cut to the divine, spiritual victory needs the struggle and labour to reach the heights; his yoga is biter like poison in the beginning' because of the difficulty and struggle, but in the end sweet as nectar, because of the joy realisation, the peace of liberation."
3.2 The Three Constituent Elements in Sadhana
The passage from the human to the divine involves necessary two stages, one of preparation as elaborated above, in which the soul and its instruments must become fit, and another of actual illumination and realisation in the prepared soul through its instruments. These two stages are not clearly separated they are necessary to each other and continue simultaneously. The object of the three constituent elements is to arrive at the whole truth of the seeker's self and spirit, and knowledge and bliss of the sadhak's complete being. To arrive at freedom, mastery and perfection, but also to arrive at true relation with his own and with universal nature, the sadhak has to go back to the real self and soul within. The cultivation of these three elements makes the nature a fit instrument for divine works. The characteristic powers of the instruments, mind, life and body, must not only be purified of defects but also raised to a capacity for a greater action of the enlarged divine power and in the end they must undergo a spiritual and supramental transformation.
3.2.1 Purification
The first necessity for an active perfection of the being is the purification of all its members. The being itself, the spirit in man, needs no purification; it is pure in itself and is not affected by the faults of its instrumentation of mind, heart and body, the seats of impurity. This instrumentation must be rectified if the working of the spirit is not to be marred by its present concession to the pleasure of the lower nature. Sri Aurobindo describes purification as a release, "it is a throwing away of limiting, binding, obscuring imperfections and confusions; purification from desire brings the freedom of the physic prana, purification from the wrong emotions and troubling reactions the freedom of the heart, purification from the obscuring limited thought of the sense-mind the freedom intelligence, purification from mere intellectuality the freedom of the gnosis."The object of the purification is to make the lower being a clear mirror in which the divine reality can be reflected, that is a preparation of nature for its final transformation into the supernature.
According to Sri Aurobindo the systematic purification of the whole being can be done through the triple method of yoga- knowledge, love and works- in a growing vision of the psychic being, and an implicit faith in the divine guidance. In the integral Sadhana, the sadhak has to gain a more deep- rooted psychological insight regarding the primary forces of one's nature, to strike at their roots rather than understanding and changing the symptoms of impurity.
3.2.2 Liberation
Purification as an instrumental liberation prepares the ground for a spiritual liberation, which is of a larger and more essential character. Sri Aurobindo describes liberation as, that inner change which is essential to perfection and indispensable to spiritual freedom. It implies two things, a rejection and an assumption, a negative and a positive side; the negative movement of freedom is liberation from the principles bonds, the master-knots of the lower soul nature, the positive side an opening or growth into the higher spiritual existence." For Sri Aurobindo a spiritualised liberation from the ego means the replacement of ego by an oneness in the transcendental divine and identification with the universal Being. This transcendent existence can apprehend but it can be realised and lived in the spirit.
However, liberation is not only the freedom of an unbroken contact of the individual being in all its parts with the divine, but an integral liberation includes the acquisition of the divine nature, the complete and final release of all. The liberation of the individual soul is the primary divine necessity and there pivot on which all turns, but there is a tendency of this single liberated soul to extend the same divine self- consciousness in other individual souls of our terrestrial humanity.
3.2.3 Perfection
Purification and liberation are the indispensable antecedents of perfection; when the self is purified and liberated into it self-existent being then spiritual perfection becomes possible; a human perfection aims at a more outward social action, towards our fellow-men and our environment. This human perfection must include self-mastery and a mastery of the soundings. Man's urge of the self-perfection is to be self-ruler and king. Perfection as used in integral yoga refers to a growth out of a lower undivine into a higher divine nature. Sri Aurobindo describes perfection as a "divine spirit and a divine nature which will admit of a divine relation and action in the world."
Integral perfection is concerned with the sadhak's growth into the truth and power of the spirit and using that power for the spiritual perfection in all our nature, "a living of man in the divine and a divine living of the spirit in humanity."
3.3 The Three Means to the Object of Sadhana
Corresponding to the three principal faculties of the human being- will, knowledge and love, there are three corresponding yogas, karma yoga, jnana yoga and bhakti yoga. The yoga of the knowledge seeks fulfilment in the intellectual being of man; the yoga of works envisages union with the will, and the yoga of devotion in the eternal delight. In traditional yogas, one main power of the being or the one group of its powers made the means on the path, but in Sri Aurobindo's synthetic yoga, all powers are included and combined in the transforming instrumentation. An integral turning of the whole human being through action, knowledge and love, will have the unique result of integral self-fulfilment. Sri Arobindo's integral yoga absorbs this cardinal principle of the Gita but he adds the ideal of higher planes and the suramental truth- consciousness, and the bringing down of that consciousness as a means of complete transformation of earthly life. In integral Sadhana, it is not only the heart that has to turn to the divine, but also the mind and will of action. But since men differ in nature each sadhak will approach the Sadhana in one's way- one through work, one through devotion, one through meditation, and those who are capable of it through all together. Each method is a preparative help towards the proper direction of the realisation of the Sadhana in the three parts of the being.
3.3.1 Sadhana through Work
Karma yoga selects for its instrumentation the will as the doer of action; by purification, concentration, and from of discipline it becomes a means for contact of the sadhak's soul with the universe. Sri Aurobindo refers to work not as action of philanthropy, which the mind of man substitutes for the deeper truth of works, but as action done for and in union with the divine. Any work done as a sacrifice to the divine, as a means of self-dedication through karma, is a field of inner training. In the path of works, action is the knot to be loosened first, and the sadhak must endeavour to loosen it where it is centrally tied, in desire and in ego.
The total surrender of all the sadhak's actions to a supreme will, to something eternal within him, replacing the ordinary working of the ego- nature, is the way and end of the karma yoga. Desire less work carries along with it three results that are of central importance for the sadhak's spiritual ideal. (1) It leads inevitably towards the essence of an integral devotion, (2) it returns by communion with the divine will and force into a way of knowledge more integral than any human intelligence can construct or discover, (3) in renouncing egoism of the sadhak's mind, will and action, all these actions become now directed towards the Divine. In this way, all works became a dynamic worship and sources of the divine. According to Sri Aurobindo, "All action must be done in a more and more Godward and finally a God-possessed consciousness; our woks must be a sacrifice to the divine and in the end a surrender of all our being, mind, will, heart, sense, life and body to the one must make God-love and God–service our only motive. The transformation of the motive–force and very character of works is indeed its master idea; it is the foundation of its unique synthesis of works, love and knowledge.
3.3.2 Sadhana through Knowledge and Meditation
In Sri Aurobindo's spiritual psychology, knowledge does not mean mental knowledge; mental knowledge refers to the sum total of objects that the mind grasps, but it never penetrates into the essential unity of things. Besides, the mind can know only the surface of things and not their essential substance and reality. In the spiritual life, the ultimate aim of the knowledge is not mental understanding or enlightenment, but being and becoming. Intellectual illumination may be able to lead to right arrangement of clear and true conceptions, but is in itself ineffective because the change of the being may not at all take place. The central aim of knowledge is the recovery of the self, the self as reality, and the universe as reality of the self and not mere material force. This aim presupposes the admission that one's present mode of being is not one's true self-existence. This self is not only the reality behind the movement of one's psychological being but also behind the transcendent and universal existence.
3.3.3 Sadhana through Love and Devotion
Aiming at the unity of the human soul with the supreme spirit, devotion selects the emotional powers of the soul and turns them all Godwards. Bhakti yoga, as a culture of spiritual emotions, exclusively turns the human heart towards the love of the divine. Sri Aurobindo's approach to the love is more comprehensive as compared it the orthodox principles and practice of bhakti yoga. In the integral yoga, the integral divine is the object of the sadhak's love and devotion. Love as the greatest power of the divine delivers the seeker from all egoistic limitations, but this love must carry with it the expansion of knowledge and action of the divine will. Though love and bhakti are two aspects of the psychic felling, Sri Aurobindo distinguish them as follows; "The nature of bhakti is adoration, worship, self- offering to what is greater than oneself; the nature of love is a feeling or a seeking for closeness and union. Self- giving is the character of both; both are necessary in the yoga and each gets its full force when supported by the other."
In the Gita's triple path of yoga, neither karma yoga-will, nor bhakti yoga felling, nor jnana yoga-thought, can be separated, each need for its fullness the incorporation and fusion of the others. In the integral view theses, three paths are one; works fulfil themselves in knowledge, the later is not complete without the former, and the crown of the union of knowledge and works is love; for love is the delight of union. As the power of divine self-delight, it brings richness and fullness. Fulfilled love includes knowledge and is not consistent with divine works.
3.4 The Process of Transformation in Sadhana
One of the means of integral Sadhana is related to the psychic and spiritual transformation; it may be helpful to give a comprehensive explanation regarding the terms integration and transformation before arriving at Sri Aurobindo's integral transformation.
3.4.1 Integration
In passing from one level to another, climbing to higher spiritual levels, the lower faculty is compelled to take up as much as it can assimilate of the higher, enlarging itself and arriving at a more ample self-accommodation to the higher faculties.
Integration takes up what has already been evolved into each higher-grade as it is reached; each ascent, a successive fixing in higher principles, does not carry with it higher potentialities surcharging them with a deeper and finer significance. The higher is able to manifest in the lower gradation, which brings with it a partial change of the old nature. Integration is not only a process of heightening, an ascent to a new level and taking up of the lower levels, but is also a process of widening the range of consciousness.
3.4.2 Transformation
In a spiritual sense, a realisation makes the experience more real and dynamic and impels, "the making real to us and in ourselves of the self, the transcendent and universal divine." Transformation expresses certain spiritual concepts and spiritual facts of integral yoga. For Sri Aurobindo transformation does not mean mere purification of the nature by the influence of the spirit, this is only part of a psycho- spiritual change, but he means by spiritual transformation a bringing down of the static and dynamic divine consciousness into very part of the being; the entire replacement of the present consciousness by the spiritual consciousness. In the transformation when the higher consciousness from above comes into the mind, vital or body, then the imperfections of these instruments have to be faced mended. Ones they have been fundamentally purified and made capable of receiving what is beyond them then transformation can take place.
3.4.3 Triple Transformation
The other major topic in Sri Aurobindo's integral yoga is the Triple transformation. This refers to the process through which reality is transformed into the divine. This is described in The Life Divine and Letters on Yoga. The Triple Transformation refers to the two-fold movement of spiritual transformation-the inward pychicisation by which the sadhak gets in contact with the inner divine principle or Psychic Being, and the spiritual transformation or spiritualisation. The former represents the Inner Guide which is realised through the Heart, the latter can be compared to the traditional concept of Vedantic, Buddhist and popular guru enlightenment and the descriptions of the Causal and Ultimate stages of spiritual development in the evolutionary philosophy of the integral thinker Ken Wilber.
For Sri Aurobindo, both these stages are equally necessary and important, as both serve as prerequisites for the third and by far the most difficult element of change in the triple transformation, the Supramentalisation of the entire being.
One must first acquire an inner Yogic consciousness and replace by it our ordinary view of things, natural movements, motives of life; one must revolutionise the present build of our being. Next, we have to go still deeper, discover our veiled psychic entity and in its light and under its government psychicise our inner and outer parts, turn mind-nature, life-nature, body-nature and all our mental, vital, physical action and states and movements into a conscious instrumentation of the soul. Afterwards or concurrently, we have to spiritualise the being in its entirety by a descent of a divine light, force, purity, knowledge, freedom and wideness. It is necessary to break down the limits of the personal mind, life and physicality, dissolve the ego, enter into the cosmic consciousness, realise the self, and acquire a spiritualised and universalised mind and heart, life force, physical consciousness. Then only the passage into the supramental consciousness begins to become possible, and even then, there is a difficult ascent to make each stage of which is a separate difficult achievement.
3.4.3.1 Psychicisation
Psychicisation is one of the most essential stages of the integral yoga. As described in The Life Divine it refers to a spiritual movement inward, so that one realises the psychic being-the psychic personality or Divine Soul-in the core of one's being, and enable this to transform the outer being, as well as serve as a spiritual Guide in the yoga. It is thanks to this Psychic transformation that the sadhak can avoid the pitfalls of the spiritual path, such as the intermediate zone.
The three central spiritual methods here are Consecration, Moving to the Depths (Concentration), and Surrender. Consecration is to open to the Force before engaging in an activity. Moving to the Depths or Concentration is a movement away from the surface existence to a deeper existence within. Surrender means offering all one's work, one's life to the Divine Force and Intent. In connecting with the evolving divine soul within, the sadhak moves away from ego, ignorance, finiteness, and the limitations of the outer being. Psychicisation can serve as a prequel to spiritualisation (equivalent to "Enlightenment"); although they do not have to follow, any rather order. However, both the psychic and the spiritual transformation are equally necessary for the final stage of Supramental transformation.
3.4.3.2 Spiritualisation
Because of the Psychic transformation, light, peace, power is drawn into and descends into the body, transforming all of its parts-physical, vital, and mental. This is the Spiritual transformation, or Spiritualisation, which refers to the bringing down of the larger spiritual consciousness or spiritual transformation. The spiritual transformation in itself however is not sufficient to avoid pitfalls of the spiritual path, or bring about Supramentalisation. For that, the psychic transformation is needed as well.
3.4.3.3 Supramentalisation
Supramentalisation is the ultimate stage in the integral yoga. It refers to the bringing down of the supramental consciousness, and the resulting transformation of the entire being. The supramental transformation is the final stage in the integral yoga, enabling the birth of a new individual fully formed by the supramental power. Such individuals would be the forerunners of a new truth-consciousness based supra-humanity. All aspects of division and ignorance of consciousness at the vital and mental levels would be overcome, replaced with a unity of consciousness at every plane, and even the physical body transformed and divinised. A new supramental species would then emerge, living a supramental, gnostic, divine life on earth.
3.5 Integral Yoga
"The movement of nature is two-fold: divine and undivine. The distinction is only for practical purposes since there is nothing that is not divine. The undivine nature, that which we are and must remain so long as the faith in us is not changed, acts through limitation and ignorance and culminates in the life of the ego; but the divine nature acts by unification and knowledge, and culminates in life divine. The passage from the lower to the higher may affect itself by the transformation of the lower and its elevation to the higher nature. It is this that must be the aim of an integral yoga."
Integral yoga is Sri Aurobindo's name for his synthesis of the yoga method. The integration of the yoga method takes up the essence of the karma yoga, jnana yoga, and bhakti yoga yogas, but differs in its aim underlying its comprehensiveness. We have seen that it is possible to strive and arrive at God by means of work alone, by means of knowledge alone, by way of the love alone. However, all these are partial realisations. Bur for a seeker of integral path Sri Aurobindo emphasises that all the three should converge. "Integral yoga is a way of complete God-realisation, a complete Self-realisation, a complete fulfilment of our being and consciousness, a complete transformation of our nature-and this implies a complete perfection of life here and not only a return to an eternal perfection elsewhere."
Sri Aurobindo observes, "the method we have to pursue, is to put our whole conscious being into contact with the divine and to call him in to transform our entire being into his, so that in a sense God himself, the real person in us, becomes the sadhaka of the Sadhana as well as the master of the yoga by whom the lower personality is used."Aurobindo's integral yoga aims at integrity in divine revelation, the fulfilment of the individual's divine destiny upon earth. It is a union with the divine in the life rather than a union with the supreme in some heaven beyond. Its aim is therefore not only related to the divine realisation of the individual, but also to bring down supramental consciousness into earth-nature.
To do the integral yoga one must first resolve to surrender entirely to the Divine, there is no other way, this is the way. However, after that, one must have the five psychological virtues, five psychological perfections and we say that the perfections are Sincerity or Transparency, Faith or Trust (Trust in the Divine), Devotion or Gratitude, Courage or Inspiration, Endurance or Perseverance.
For Sri Aurobindo the triple transformation needs to be based on a total and integral change of consciousness. It can be complete only when psychic movements inward to inner being and the opening upward to higher existence are supported by the action of supramental consciousness and force. The descending force of the divine which works through supermind transforms the mental, vital, and physical states of the person; but as long as there is a gap between the divine and earth existence there can be no radical change of surface existence.
This threefold transformation culminates in the supramental transformation of the human being that is the assent to the state of super mind or the supramental descent into lower nature, physical nature. Illumined sight will see the cosmic harmony of existence in the soul material existence, and transformed hearing will hear the cosmic symphony in the soul of the sound. In the rhythm of concords ones sees the supramental descent will be the consummation of all ways of God realisation. It will integrate harmoniously all human relations with God.
Conclusion
In this chapter, I try to study on Sri Aurobindo's idea of integral yoga as the means of God realisation God realisation means to empower us to posses or enter into union with the divine and to transform our human nature into the nature of divine. Yoga is not an easy and smooth practice, a strong mind and body and life force are needed in the yoga. In Sri Aurobindo's integral yoga, the spiritual seeker must already be a balanced individual with a devolved emotional stability, intellectual knowledge, physical health and a definite spiritual orientation. Not everyone is suited for the practice of integral Yoga, as it is a difficult and trying yoga to follow.
The three-fold method aims at helping all men to enter into union with the divine. Each one is free according to his capacity and personal aptitude to choose a method proper to his inclination to start with. It can be by way of knowledge, work or devotion. The uniqueness of the integral yoga is that the elements of the three traditional yogas are well integrated in it and aims at an integral development of the whole person who follows it. Man can be adjust and in union with the divine at the level of knowledge in a luminous way, at the level of will and action in a dynamic way. All the three are possible and if he has a comprehensive perspective, it is possible to integrate all three realisations. This final stage of union can be viewed as the active, cognitive, loving and progressive resemblance of man to God.











General Conclusion
I have made a long journey with Sri Aurobindo's concept of Integral Yoga. Yoga itself is the system that teaches how to control our body and mind in the belief that we can become united with the spirit of the universe. All types of yoga, by using different methods, try to achieve the knowledge of the inner self, where there is infinite joy, eternal bliss, peace, perfection and liberation.
In integral yoga, the goal is not only a transcendent liberation (nirvana or moksha) as in other spiritual paths, but also, in addition to that, the realisation of the Divine in the physical world as well. The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo (which he also referred to as synthetic, Supramental, or purna yoga) advocated a total transformation: Physical, vital, mental, and spiritual. In the big picture which he envisioned, moreover, this transformation was for the purpose of not merely individual, but cosmic, salvation. The liberation of the individual was, for Aurobindo, an illusion; what was required was the divinization of the totality of the cosmos, and to literally bring the Kingdom of God on earth. Liberation of the spirit from the cycle of birth and death was not sufficient for the perfection of man's spiritual realization. The rare phenomenon of the divine body (jyotir maya deha - "radiant or luminous body") was to be the goal of all yogic endeavours. Aurobindo.said.that.realization.was.not.perfect.until.that.was.achieved.
In short, integral yoga seeks not a renunciation of life and liberation from the world but a transformation of life and the world, not a rejection of egoistic parts of one being but their transformation and integration into a divine nature. To help this transformation, Sri Aurobindo emphasises the need for total rejection of one's egoistic desires and a complete surrender to the divine supramental force.
Sri Aurobindo himself never achieved the supramental transformation. Only the Mother, whom he considered an avatar, professed to have done so. Sri Aurobindo said that in The Mother he found surrender to the Divine down to physical body itself, the cells of the body (not merely the mind and emotions), the likes of which could not be found in any human being.


















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