Practices in Integral Yoga Continued
Work
Dedicated work is a central aspect of the Integral Yoga. In Yoga, work is not to be done out of the usual motives—to receive monetary recompense and enjoy the pleasures it affords, to obtain power or position over others, for the pride it gives or to appear respectable or attractive to others, or even for the simple pleasure or joy we get from doing the work. Naturally, some or all of these factors may be there in the early stages of yogic practice, but they are to be gradually replaced by an attitude of doing the work as perfectly as possible as an offering to the Divine for the Divine’s purpose and not for our own personal benefit. This occurs mainly as a gradual, inner change in attitude and consciousness, but these changes should have corollaries in the outer expression of the work too. For example, the usual motives should become less prominent in the choice of work. The choice should be determined more by an inner predilection or guidance rather than outer rewards. Here, our inner nature, qualities, abilities, tendencies may be helpful indicators. However, unless or until there is some reasonably clear inner indication that changing our type of work is required, it may be more useful in the beginning to focus on changing how we approach and do the work rather than changing the type of work itself.
A relatively simple discipline to help effect the change in attitude required is to make a conscious offering of the work each time we begin and complete it. This in itself may be difficult to get established as a regular practice at first, but once it does get established it becomes relatively easier to maintain it and increase its frequency. This discipline is useful because it gets the consciousness concentrated in the true attitude towards our work and activities, however briefly, whenever they are performed. It is relatively more difficult to maintain this conscious awareness of offering while doing the work itself, because the consciousness naturally gets concentrated on the work and its execution. This is alright, and even to remember and think of the Divine with the outer consciousness during the work itself may interfere with its execution and diminish its quality. A continuous memory and concentration on the Divine during the work activity can gradually develop, but it generally does so as a result of a split in the consciousness between an inner part of the consciousness that maintains a conscious contact and memory of the Divine, and an outer part of the consciousness that is concentrated on and engaged in the work. This division between the developing inner consciousness in contact with the Divine and the outer consciousness focused on outer activity grows gradually with the overall sadhana, but it is directly supported by the repeated offering and dedication before and after the work is done.
The Mother once suggested a useful and powerful practice to heal the division between the inner consciousness focused on the Divine and all the activities of outer life. It consists essentially in imagining that she is there with us as we carry out our daily activities. For example, starting from the morning when we get out of bed and brush our teeth, we should imagine she is there with us as we brush. If we drive to work, we can imagine she is there with us as we drive. Whether we imagine her physical presence or her spiritual presence does not essentially matter. This practice can be especially useful when we are faced with a difficulty or a decision to make. We should try to do nothing that we would not do in front of the Mother. This imagined sense of the Mother being always with us reflects a fundamental truth, for indeed the Divine is always present.
Another important way to bring the spirit of sadhana into our work and activities is through the development of organization, harmony, peace, and quiet concentration in all our activities. Just as cleanliness and order should be established in our home, it should be established in our physical work environment and activities. Our work tools, whether they be books and papers or wrenches and screw drivers, should be kept in order. Our relations with our superiors and subordinates should also be kept harmonious and peaceful. They should be viewed as superiors or subordinates only in the sense of their functional organizational relationship for the purposes of carrying out the work as efficiently as possible, not in the sense of superiority or inferiority in essential worth or value. Like other persons, they should be treated as different expressions of the Divine having an underlying essential oneness with ourselves and with the Divine; therefore with respect and care. However, for the purposes of the work, we should relate to our supervisors and subordinates according to our responsibilities. Sometimes this may mean carrying out directions from our superiors that we disagree with for the sake of maintaining order and harmony in the work organization. Similarly, it may mean being insistent or at times even severe with subordinates, though anger should be avoided and respect should be maintained. Tact, understanding, and interpersonal skill should be the hallmarks in our dealings with both our superiors and subordinates. More generally, there should be developed a spirit of cooperation, harmony, and good will in relationships with coworkers. We should view the work enterprise with its various organizational structures and interpersonal relationships as a particular collective embodiment of the divine working towards a particular divine purpose, in which we play our part in the whole as best as we can. Naturally, dispersion in useless chatter or frivolous activity detracts from serious and quality work and concentrated sadhana. We should work in a quiet and concentrated way, whatever the behavior of others. We should not be overly concerned with the misbehavior of others, or try to coerce others to behave as we would like them to, unless it is our specific responsibility to do so. Our own example will be a more powerful instrument for influencing others than our pleadings or complaints.
Disinterested Work Done for the Divine
Whereas the spirit of sadhana in work that has been described can be brought into whatever work we do, a specialized work done in offering for the growth and establishment of the collective Yoga can be a useful element of our karma yoga. I am referring here especially to voluntary service towards one or more of the various collective activities and enterprises associated with the Integral Yoga or aligned with its aims. These include the various Ashrams, centers, study groups, businesses, and other organizations that aim to express in outward form the spirit of the Yoga and the Divine. This type of volunteer work has several advantages. One is that if pursued without regard for monetary recompense, it provides a surer sign that this particular motive is not driving the activity. Monetary donations to such organizations represent further progress in this direction. Second, it may more directly assist in the establishment of Yoga and its spirit in the collective consciousness of humanity. A third advantage is that it may put us into contact with other individuals consciously pursuing the Integral Yoga, from whom we may learn. A fourth advantage is that by being a part of a collective carrying out the spirit and work of the Yoga, we enter into a flow of the collective divine energy and activity and make ourselves an instrument in its larger work and aims. Of course, the main motive of such work should be our simple self-offering to the Divine.
Living within
In previous sections I have discussed how to introduce yogic practice into many of the activities of daily life. In this section I will discuss various aspects and ways of cultivating the general yogic poise of living within. In most people, the consciousness is projected outwards towards the world and its many varied activities, and it often becomes dispersed and fragmented as it confronts and deals with an unending stream of outer impacts. In Yoga, the consciousness must gradually relinquish this primarily outgoing movement and become concentrated and centered within, and focused on the Divine. Whereas a complete withdrawal from the world and its activities is as a rule prohibited in the Integral Yoga, a withdrawal from various outer activities and contacts that are unnecessary and tend to disperse the conscious and deflect it from its inner focus is often advisable. The ultimate aim is to be permanently centered in the inner consciousness in union with the Divine while also engaging in outer activities, but in the initial stages of Yoga, it is important to concentrate on establishing this inner poise from which we can act outwardly in the true way. Therefore, it is often useful to examine our outer activities and their effects on our consciousness, and withdraw ourselves from those which are unnecessary and harmful.
For example, parties or even social interactions with particular individuals that tend to lower and disperse the consciousness can often be usefully avoided. Other ways in which the consciousness may tend to get exteriorized and fragmented are through watching television, playing video games, and surfing the world wide web. Social interactions and recreational outlets can often be usefully reduced, and when needed, they can take different forms more conducive to Yoga. In this connection it may be noted that deeply listening to some forms of music, especially classical forms and certain ‘new age’ music, can be a good way to go deeper within into the inner consciousness. Similarly, engaging in other creative arts such as writing prose or poetry, making handicrafts, drawing, painting, and sculpture, are also productive ways to use our free time to help awaken the inner consciousness.
Equanimity
A primary aim in the Yoga is to develop equality, more commonly referred to as equanimity, with regard to the various impacts and difficulties of life. The development of this attitude and inner poise is closely intertwined with the notion of living within. It is not possible to live within centered in the inner consciousness if we are constantly being thrown off balance by the shocks of life or upset whenever our personal preferences or vital desires do not pan out. Equality means to keep our inner center and poise under all conditions. We should not lose it in excited and eager grasping at pleasure, nor in disturbance by unpleasant circumstances or events. It can and must be developed to the extent that we are both inwardly and outwardly unshaken by any outward occurrences, however wonderful or adverse they may seem. It does not mean, however, that we should not strive for what is right, or that failure and falsity are as good as success and truth. It does not mean that we should dull our senses to unpleasant things, or that we should not discriminate between things. What it does mean is that we should not become mentally or vital upset by things that happen, that we should remain centered within and deal with outward circumstances, not out of desire or repulsion, anger or fear, but out of inner quietude, clear perception, and inner strength.
Naturally, an area in which this inner poise of equality gets most tested, and thus provides the amplest opportunity to develop it, is in our interpersonal contacts with others. In this context, equality means especially not to become upset, angry, disappointed, jealous, envious, fearful, or anxious by what other people may say or do. Instead, we should look at these things calmly and squarely, “without distortions created by personal feeling, and try to understand what is behind them, why they happen, what is to be learnt from them, what is it in oneself which they are cast against and what inner profit or progress one can make out of them; it means self-mastery over the vital movements,—anger and sensitiveness and pride as well as desire and the rest,—not to let them get hold of the emotional being and disturb the inner peace, not to speak and act in the rush and impulsion of these things, always to act and speak out of a calm inner poise of the spirit.” (Letters on Yoga, pp. 662) Sri Aurobindo explains that it is not easy to achieve this poise and ability in any perfect measure, but that we should always try to establish and strengthen it.
Another way in which our equality is tested is through the various inner and outer difficulties we face in life and in sadhana. We should learn to remain quietly unmoved in the face of adverse events that happen, whether in the world at large, to those we is close to, or to ourselves. Such events can be taken as tests of our equality, and as opportunities to strengthen and extend it. We may have to live or work in circumstances which appear adverse, and which may seem to make sadhana and the development of inner peace and quietude impossible. Ultimately, however, inner peace and an inner union with the Divine are not dependent on outward conditions. Indeed, by remaining concentrated within in communion with the Divine, it is possible to become inwardly detached from and unaffected by even severe pain and the most deplorable conditions. Again, this does not mean that we must passively accept adverse conditions or events, that we should not try to change them for the better or to counteract them in appropriate ways. Indeed, sometimes this may be exactly what such things are “trying to tell us,” but this can be done more effectively if we act in a calm and deliberate manner, rather than as an emotional reaction to the circumstances.
What has been said for outer events and circumstances also pertains to inner events and circumstances. It is not helpful to become depressed or discouraged by even persistent mistakes, wrong movements, or what may appear as a lack of progress. Feelings of guilt, disgust, or self- directed anger only disturb the sadhana more. The inner change required in the Integral Yoga is extensive and difficult; it requires great patience and perseverance. The resistances of our nature to change, and the difficulties in changing, must be dealt with very coolly, with a clear perceptiveness and unruffled persistence that is neither shaken by temporary failures nor elated by momentary successes.
Sri Aurobindo has discussed three different approaches towards developing this inner equality: endurance, indifference, and submission. We can develop and extend our ability to endure the impacts of the world, whether these assaults are mental and aimed against our cherished ideas and ideals, emotional and aimed against our feelings, vital and stimulating our instinctual reactions, or physical and affecting our sense of comfort. This way reposes on the will, and we train this capacity by consciously confronting and even welcoming adverse impacts, gradually increasing our capacity to bear them without reacting.
The second approach reposes on the intellect—we cultivate an intellectual indifference to the impacts of things, an attitude that refuses to be caught in the attractions or repulsions of the senses or the dualities of the outer mind and nature. We draw back from the petty joys and troubles of life and take less and less interest in them, as if they were children’s games. We see that life is full of transient comings and goings, and learn to take interest instead in the deeper abiding truth of the spirit. In this way, we detach ourselves more and more from the petty circumstances and events of the outer life.
The third approach leans on the emotional being, and has relations with the development of devotion. Here we develop a resignation to circumstances founded on a submission to the will of the Divine. We learn to accept adversities as an imposition of the Divine for the Divine’s own purposes, whether for its universal will, or for our own personal growth. Indeed, often we find that we grow more through adversity than good fortune. By understanding and taking this viewpoint, we can learn to accept even the severest blows of life as coming from the Divine, as his hammer and chisel shaping our nature into a fit instrument and form for his habitation and use. Sri Aurobindo explains that the cultivation of any or all these approaches towards equality helps us to become conscious of a separation between the inner being which quietly bears, disengages from, or accepts the impacts of the world, and an outer part in which the customary reactions continue for a time to occur, but gradually lose their force and hold, and begin to reflect the poise of the inner being.
This development of equality to the impacts of the world and its difficulties supports the development of the inner witness consciousness which was one of the central objects of the discipline of concentration discussed earlier. Deep within, there is a part of us which is separate from our outer nature and unaffected by it. It is one of the principle aims of the Integral Yoga to take our poise in this inner purusha, and it is from that poise that we can hope not only to remain unaffected by the adversities of life, but to gradually change and transform the outer nature itself so that it shall reflect the inner peace and harmony of the Divine. Our periods of concentration can focus on the cultivation and extension of this inner purusha consciousness, while all the adverse circumstances of our life can be used to further strengthen it so that we may not get dislodged from it under even the most extreme conditions. Just as in the periods of concentration, prayer or mantra can be useful to concentrate and quiet the consciousness, so too in the midst of difficulties these methods may be useful adjuncts. In successfully dealing with adversity, inner peace and quietness, and a quiet leaning on or an ardent call for the support of the Divine are the most effective remedies.
Faith, openness, and receptivity
Opening to Sri Aurobindo's Force
In the preceding sections, I have focused primarily on practical things that we can do to establish and develop a regular discipline of sadhana. But it would be misleading to suggest that by personal effort alone we can achieve the far-reaching aims of the Integral Yoga. What actually is required is a combination of personal effort and the Grace and Action of the Divine. The divine power, referred to in this Yoga as the Mother, is the real power in the Yoga and effects the transformation of the consciousness that the Yoga envisions. Our personal effort is required in part because the Divine Power works through it, and in part because the Divine asks for our consent to our own change. A sustained and intense personal effort is the sign of our consent and call to the Divine to effect this spiritual change and divinization of our consciousness and life. But one of the most effective ‘tricks’ of the Yoga is to call on the Divine to help or to itself effect the necessary growth and change in our nature, rather than relying solely on our own efforts.
The effective use of this ‘trick,’ however, presupposes several conditions that must be laid as a foundation. First and foremost, there must be faith in the Divine and in the divine power. This faith comes essentially from a contact with our soul or psychic being, and is not dependent on outward signs or proofs. It may start with a “suspension of disbelief,” that is, an openness to the possibility that the Divine exists, is concerned with our personal life and development, and is able and ready to act in and on us. This openness and beginning of faith may be sufficient to bring with it some experience of the Divine’s presence, some feeling of its peace, light, force, or delight which can further nurture the faith. It can then be further cultivated through prayer, aspiration, a persistent inner calling on the Divine for spiritual guidance and help.
Faith can also be supported by a growing intellectual or intuitive understanding of the spiritual principles underlying the Yoga, for example, of the idea that this world and that we ourselves are manifestations or partial expressions of the one Divine that is behind all things and who unites all in its infinite existence and consciousness. This principle cannot be proven scientifically, but it can be supported by compelling rational arguments which Sri Aurobindo and many others have provided us. Faith may also be supported by reading or listening to the accounts of those who have received help and support from the Divine in their life and spiritual practice. Actually, all of our efforts to come into inner contact with the Divine can help in the development of faith, as well as in the development of direct inner experience of the Divine, which can further strengthen and confirm our faith.
Together with faith is the need to become open and receptive to the divine power when it intervenes. This openness means to keep the consciousness turned towards the Divine, free from other movements, and expecting and able to receive what may come from the Divine. Confidence and trust in the Divine, an inner leaning on the Divine, helps to keep our consciousness open and receptive. Also needed is plasticity in the consciousness, a flexibility and subtlety that can feel or perceive the action of the divine power when it comes, and distinguish its action from mental or vital movements. In contrast, rigidity in our mental viewpoints, in a skeptical or pessimistic outlook on our spiritual possibilities, can interfere with the more potent, swift, and incalculable action of the Grace. A subtlety of perception, awake to the subtle promptings of our soul, to inner indications of the thing to be done or not to be done, to sensations of a luminous peace, love, or protection, or to inner warnings associated with unease or discomfort in certain situations, may develop as adjuncts to this growing inner opening and receptivity to the divine power, and are useful signs of their presence and development.
Progress in the Yoga follows a winding and obscured path, difficult to understand, perceive, or predict, because it moves through the twists and turns of the ignorant lower nature towards the light and vastness of the Divine. While the lower nature is still active and untransformed, it is difficult to perceive how and to what degree we are progressing. Change may be occurring in the inner parts of our nature which are unknown to the outer parts with which we identify, and may manifest outwardly only later, or rarely at particular moments, or in diluted or distorted ways. Therefore, it is necessary to persistently move forward on the path with faith—in the Divine’s wisdom, love, and power—in spite of all delays, detours, or appearances of obstruction or incapacity. We must learn to always depend on the Divine, calling on its help and intervention. The knowledge and power of the Divine are omniscient and omnipotent, and if we resolutely put ourselves in its hands, surrender to its will and action, we can be sure of our successful navigation through all the trials and difficulties of the Yoga, to the supreme deliverance and transformation.
From the editor's desk
Towards Purna Yoga, II