TOWARDS PURNA-YOGA
(I)
By V. Madhusudan Reddy
(This article was previously published in ‘Purushottama Yoga’: London talks on
‘The Life Divine’ published by Institute of Human Study, Hyderabad, 1996.)
India has always had a passion as it were for diversity-in-unity and this has been the central characteristic of her culture. And this love and passion for diversity has helped her to appreciate divergent viewpoints in the light of some underlying principle of oneness. Because she realised this oneness it has been possible for her to appreciate all the great religions of the world and accept them as divergent avenues of approach to the common goal of integration of the human with the Divine. She also accepted all the founders of great religions equally as great manifestations or incarnations of some aspect or the other of the Divine. She called some as the Vibhutis and others as Avatars or Prophets, nonetheless, she accepted them all as manifestations of the Divine in history. She not only had this kind of liberal attitude towards religions and prophets but also appreciated the great philosophies which many cultures of the world developed because she knew quite well that each country evolves a particular philosophy according to its own unique ethos. She even had great respect for the different social systems and political philosophies of different cultures as these were given to themselves by their peoples depending upon their needs and capacities. In all these, India has always been guided by one important consideration; the destiny of life being affirmed as union with the Eternal she always believed that there are many ways leading to the same destination. The different religions and philosophies of the world are viewed as various modes of intellectual formulation of that concrete fullness of existence which is essentially non-verbal and non-intellectual. Accordingly, she encouraged on her soil all manner of spiritual experiments which helped life to remain in harmony with the Supreme. The findings of these many experiments are embodied in her traditional Yoga-systems which embody each a unique truth, a very special spiritual finding.
Different Yoga-systems are particularly suitable for different individuals who belong to varying psychological types. But essentially they all are attuned to the same goal namely, direct union with the ultimate truth of existence. This concept of union with the ground of existence—the object of Yoga—is pivotal to Indian culture. All religious movements are oriented towards it, all philosophical systems spring from it and all social and political ideologies keep obliged to reckon with it. The task of social reconstruction and political rebuilding in India has always remained grounded in the basic theme of man’s ultimate spiritual destiny.
It is the oneness that underlies plurality. Religion with the Hindus, in particular, is a way of life. A single spiritual text or one code of ethics or law cannot exhaust human predication; plurality is the very essential expression of oneness.
Union with the ground of existence is what is called Yoga; yoga is union of the human with the Divine, it is the union of the truth of the individual existence with the truth of cosmic existence. This existential union has been achieved by different individuals through different Yogas. Each Yoga focusing on one aspect or power of the individual uses it as a leverage to realise this union. It is only Sri Aurobindo who speaks of an integral union with the integral Divine. In the Middle Ages in India the negative and static elements in the concept of existential union were emphasised as a result of which renunciation of the world was thought to be necessary for spiritual integration with the Divine. A transcendental peace in the bosom of the Eternal beyond space, time and action became the goal. The world was deemed a prison-house and seekers therefore concentrated on that Yoga which helped them to escape this nightmare of samsara. The method of Sankhya—of uncompromising dualism between Purusha and Prakriti—came in handy for such seekers. The Yoga of withdrawal from Prakriti eventually resulted in renunciation and asceticism. This negative approach to life was not in keeping with the Vedic and Upanishadic spirit which is absolutely positive and affirmative. The emphasis was on renunciation and escape from the tentacles of Prakriti; so the accent was on purusha, how one should be a witness and how he should have nothing to do with the world. But this was a negative approach which was not there in the Upanishadic and Vedic times. The Gita and the Puranas too are equally life-and-world affirmative. They all speak not only of Being but of Becoming, of both Purusha and Prakriti. For them it is Prakriti of Purusha, and they enjoyed the light of Being as much as the dynamism of Becoming. In the Middle Ages in India this was not the case and the emphasis was on escapism as the only means of liberation of the soul. Affirmation of life which is basic to the Hindu tradition was again reaffirmed in the nineteenth century by Sri Ramakrishna. With Dayananda this trend returned once again most vigorously into the life of the people which gave the necessary impetus to the many social reformist movements. More and more they thought of people as a whole and their life-problems. They were all taken into consideration because they believed Prakriti to be as real as the Spirit. This life-affirmative approach of the Vedas and the Upanishads returns to the subcontinent with Raja Ram Mohan Roy who was indeed the father of Indian Renaissance.
Sri Ramakrishna did realise the essential oneness of all religions but was not gifted with the power of expressing his experience of spiritual synthesis as he himself was an illiterate person. Sri Ramakrishna did realise in the crucible of his own soul the integral spiritual oneness of all religions. The Vedas bring down upon earth and into the lives of men the glory of gods. They help people to become progressively receptive to the many powers and puissances of the gods. With the Upanishads something different happens, the Rishis are no longer thinking of the gods and of bringing down upon earth their boons or powers; they are engaged with the knowledge of the nature of world, man and God. There is a major shift in this quest; they glorify the earth—the dynamic aspect of the Divine. Not the reality of the gods alone but the reality of the earth is emphasised by them. The Puranas have a different story to tell; the focus is on the unity of the two dimensions of Reality—finite and the infinite, time and eternity. All the aspects of existence as it were are brought together into a single focus. For the dharma is the uniting factor, whereas the Gita lays great emphasis on the establishment of dharma in the life of the people. Dharma becomes the ideal of life with Vivekananda who even goes to the other extreme and advocated the Divine-in-man, and more so the One-in-the-poor, nay the One-as-the-poor, daridranarayana. He forcefully advocates the worship of God in human form, in a human body, of god-in-society and not the one who is above everything. Sri Aurobindo stresses the need for the integral experience of the Divine and a creative and affirmative attitude to life; he takes all the aspects and poises of the Divine. Sri Aurobindo envisages the integration of the light of Atman with the resourcefulness of the psychic being. He is concerned not only with the non-evolutionary nature of the atman but also with the powers and forces of the evolutionary Nature. The psychic being has a double nature; it is pure consciousness as well as our dynamic inner nature. Psychic nature is our divine nature; it is paraprakriti as the Gita puts it.
The most important step in sadhana is the integration of one’s own being with the forces of Nature. Nature means all the powers and potentialities which are there operative within the Divine’s becoming. In Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga the seeker is not interested in the liberation of his soul as much as his transformation. This requires complete control over the energies of one’s being. And then with the help of those one will be able to transform his being. Integral yoga is the art of harmonious and creative living on the basis of the integral experience of the Supreme Being. It opens the springs of creative inspiration hidden in the psychic. We need in this heroic dispensation both light and force. We open ourselves through Integral Yoga to the creative force which is concealed within the psychic. We therefore aim at the serenity of self-poise which perceives the light of the Eternal amidst the storm and stress of collective living. This therefore is the Yoga of our times; it aims at the active and conscious participation of the sadhaka in the workings of the world with a view to promote and support the outflowering of the Divine through the march of civilisation. The sadhaka believes both in eternity and in time; in fact it is Integral yoga which helps the Eternal to manifest progressively through Time. Here we may recall that in the birth centenary year of Sri Aurobindo the Mother gave the message: “One more step towards Eternity”. Eternity is the manifestation of the Eternal in Time; when the Eternal blends increasingly with Time and manifests through it we progressively move towards eternity. Eternity is the manifest form of the Eternal within the framework of space and time. The manifestation of the Divine within the human phenomenon is indeed a luminous and numinous epiphany par excellence.
The soul has always been eternal, and there is a difference between eternity and immortality. The word ‘immortality’ gets its significance only in relation to earth-existence. We do not describe stones as being immortal, and we should not describe the atman also as immortal. The atman is eternal because it is non-evolutionary; it does not enter the phenomenal world and therefore we cannot describe atman as being immortal. When the Vedic Rishis spoke of men as amrtasya putrah, children of immortality, they must have indeed envisioned this divine possibility in the human phenomenon. Immortality can be understood only in the context of life upon earth, but when will we become immortal? If we are after realising the eternality of Atman and escape this world we can never become immortal at all. But if we live here the span of our lives and not think of the eternal element within us trying to manifest within us then also we will remain mortal even as the body is mortal. The Gita does not attempt, at least ostensibly, to bring body and soul together into the Kurukshetra of life. Only Sri Aurobindo brings them together; we are here, he declares, to become immortal which is possible only when we allow the Eternal to manifest in Time. The vision of multidimensional, multiform Being is central to Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga. The world-process involving both Matter and Spirit is the continual action of the creative energy of the Supreme Being-in-manifestation. The Supreme Shakti is always in manifestation trying to help the Eternal to manifest Itself through the individual. In Sri Aurobindo a unique role is assigned to the embodied soul. Outside body, evolution is not possible. After we leave the body we must again come back in a new body to promote our own evolution and indirectly help the progressive manifestation of the Divine upon earth. Sri Aurobindo thus gives equal importance to the soul and the body. It is incumbent on the aspirant to live as long as it is possible, but constantly aspiring for the progressive manifestation of the Divine through him and within him. The human spirit is an active centre of self-expression of the Divine Being. That is why we are required to be born again and again upon earth; whereas traditional spirituality always focuses on escape from the cycle of birth and rebirth and get back elsewhere beyond. The truth is that the Divine can fulfil himself upon earth only through the birth of the individual. Of course, the choice is ours; it is our freedom to escape, but then eventually we have to return to the earth if we have to fulfill or carry out the Will of the Divine. Such is the importance given to the conscious human individual. His responsibility is twofold : i) to realise the infinitude of consciousness and ii) to participate in the creative adventure of Being, which means that the integrally liberated individual not only lives in the infinite consciousness of the Supreme Being but also participates in the dynamic working of Becoming. Such an individual is essentially ‘a child of immortality’, a unique centre of infinite creative freedom as well as a dynamic source and channel of expression of the many hidden possibilities of the Being. It is because the Spirit is embodied here in an individual form that it is assured that the Divine will increasingly manifest himself here upon earth.
The Gita is emphatic in its declaration that greater than the man of works, and greater than the one who does tapasya is the Yogi. Krishna exhorts each one of us to become a Yogi.
tapasvibhyo ‘dhiko yogi
jnanibhyo ‘pi mato ‘dhikah
karmibhyas ca ‘dhiko yogi
tasmad yogi bhava ‘rjuna.1
“The Yogin is greater than the doers of askesis, greater than the men of knowledge, greater also than the men of works; become therefore the Yogin, O Arjuna.”2
But the Gita does not tell us explicitly as to why a person should be a yogi? It does not explain how a yogi is different from and higher than a person who does mere tapasya. A person who does mere sadhana is wanting to escape the work, whereas the Yogi strives here to participate both in the consciousness and nature of Brahman. He endeavors ceaselessly to unite the human with the Divine, integrate Matter and Spirit. For the ancients, realisation was integral; it was a double realisation of both the consciousness and nature of the Divine.
From the editor's desk
Towards Purna Yoga, II