The word “Consciousness” is among the most used word in both spiritual and scientific literature. At the same time it is also among the most misunderstood term. Yet Consciousness is central to everything in life. An understanding of what Consciousness is, both intellectually and spiritually, is important to understand life and creation, the spiritual journey and the evolution of life itself. Given its immense importance in Sri Aurobindo’s yoga and the metaphysics of creation, this issue of ALL LIFE IS YOGA focus on this key word so that Light can be cast upon that which is actually the very source of Light!
"To find highest beauty is to find God; to reveal, to embody, to create, as we say, highest beauty is to bring out of our souls the living image and power of God." (Sri Aurobindo)
"Sri Aurobindo came to tell the world of the beauty of the future that must be realised. He came to give not a hope but a certitude of the splendour towards which the world moves. The world is not an unfortunate accident, it is a marvel which moves towards its expression. The world needs the certitude of the beauty of the future. And Sri Aurobindo has given that assurance." (The Mother)
Sri Aurobindo came upon earth to announce the manifestation of the supramental world and not merely did he announce this manifestation but embodied also in part the supramental force and showed by example what one must do to prepare oneself for manifesting it. The best thing we can do is to study all that he has told us and endeavour to follow his example and prepare ourselves for the new manifestation. This gives life its real sense and will help us to overcome all obstacles. Let us live for the new creation and we shall grow stronger and stronger by remaining young and progressive. – The Mother
"There are four very great events in history, the siege of Troy, the life and crucifixion of Christ, the exile of Krishna in Brindavan and the colloquy with Arjuna on the field of Kurukshetra. The siege of Troy created Hellas, the exile in Brindavan created devotional religion, (for before there was only meditation and worship,) Christ from his cross humanised Europe, the colloquy at Kurukshetra will yet liberate humanity. Yet it is said that none of these four events ever happened." (SRI AUROBINDO)
"Sri Aurobindo considers the message of the Gita to be the basis of the great spiritual movement which has led and will lead humanity more and more to its liberation, that is to say, to its escape from falsehood and ignorance, towards the truth. From the time of its first appearance, the Gita has had an immense spiritual action; but with the new interpretation that Sri Aurobindo has given to it, its influence has increased considerably and has become decisive." (THE MOTHER)
The translation of the Gita printed here was put together from different sources by Anilbaran Roy, one of Sri Aurobindo’s direct disciples, who lived in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry from 1926 to 1964. He relied as much as he could on Sri Aurobindo’s translations and paraphrases, which were written as part of the running prose of the “Essays of the Gita”. Sri Aurobindo sometimes translated whole slokas, sometimes only isolated words or phrases; some slokas he left untranslated. These translations cover about one-third of the text of the Gita. It should be mentioned that Sri Aurobindo did not consider the passages he translated to be parts of a finished translation of the Gita. In 1934 he wrote to a disciple, “The translations in the Essays are more explanatory than textually precise or cast in a literary style.”
The first part of this book deals primarily with the fundamentals of physical education, with the disciplines and attitudes helpful to developing a strong, healthy, and conscious body capable of the spiritual endeavor required for the transformation.
In the second part of this book the final stages of the Mother’s Yoga of physical transformation is taken up. Traditionally yoga implies union of the soul with the Divine. The ground of experiences are therefore in the inner being and the spiritual realms. These inner experiences, though enriching and liberating for the soul, leave the body unchanged and subject to all the age old habits of Nature. For the first time we see, in the Mother’s experiences, a supreme heroic effort to liberate and divinise the body itself. Though the Mother’s main Mission of Supramental Manifestation was completed an 29th February 1956, She continued further, in Her immense Love and Compassion for Earth and humanity to make the journey to the Future still shorter and easier. From April 1962, the yoga took a crucial and decisive turn, whence the Mother completely withdrew into Her room to dive deep into the body’s nether mysteries. Only the eye of faith or an inner revelation received as a gift of Grace can tell us how far she went blazing into the Inconscient Night. Success and failure have no meaning there since each inch forward is a great Victory.
"In a sense spirituality is the highest art, the art of life; for it aims at creating a life of beauty pure in line, faultless in rhythm, replete with strength, illumined with light and vibrant with delight." (Sri Aurobindo)
"True art is the expression of beauty in the material world; and in a world entirely changed spiritually, that is to say, one expressing completely the divine reality, art must act as a revealer and teacher of this divine beauty in life; that is to say, an artist should be capable of entering into communion with the Divine and of receiving inspiration about what form or forms ought to be used to express the divine beauty in matter. And thus, if it does that, art can be a means of realisation of beauty, and at the same time a teacher of what beauty ought to be, that is, art should be an element in the education of men’s taste, of young and old, and it is the teaching of true beauty, that is, the essential beauty which expresses the divine truth. This is the raison d’etre of art. Now, between this and what is done there is a great difference, but this is the true raison d’etre of art." (The Mother)
Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on surrender and the divine grace. “Self-surrender to a supreme transmuting Power is the key-word of the Yoga.” – Sri Aurobindo
The Mother said, «You can become conscious of your nights and your sleep just as you are conscious of your days. It is a matter of inner development and discipline of consciousness.» This book contains guidance for making sleep more conscious, thereby replacing subconscient dreams with conscious experiences. The ultimate goal is to transform sleep into a state of yogic repose, a state in which one can enter into the inner worlds and act there as in the physical world. So if curiosity has begun to take over and you want to know why you sleep, or what happens when you sleep, where you go, whom you meet, why you behave in a manner so different, what the symbolism of all those fantastic voyages really is … this is the book for you. Sleep and dreams are not just an ordinary by-product of a hard day's work, but an opportunity for growth and progress. Sri Aurobindo's integral Yoga cannot be suspended when the hour strikes midnight … no, it must go on and so it does. The question then is, how do we become aware of this «night school of sadhana»? Read and find out.
Selections from the works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.
"…the individuals who will most help the future of humanity in the new age will be those who will recognise a spiritual evolution as the destiny and therefore the great need of the human being. Even as the animal man has been largely converted into a mentalised and at the top a highly mentalised humanity, so too now or in the future an evolution or conversion – it does not greatly matter which figure we use or what theory we adopt to support it – of the present type of humanity into a spiritualised humanity is the need of the race and surely the intention of Nature; that evolution or conversion will be their ideal and endeavour. They will be comparatively indifferent to particular belief and form and leave men to resort to the beliefs and forms to which they are naturally drawn. They will only hold as essential the faith in this spiritual conversion, the attempt to live it out and whatever knowledge – the form of opinion into which it is thrown does not so much matter – can be converted into this living. They will especially not make the mistake of thinking that this change can be effected by machinery and outward institutions; they will know and never forget that it has to be lived out by each man inwardly or it can never be made a reality for the kind. They will adopt in its heart of meaning the inward view of the East which bids man seek the secret of his destiny and salvation within; but also they will accept, though with a different turn given to it, the importance which the West rightly attaches to life and to the making the best we know and can attain the general rule of all life." – Sri Aurobindo
Selections from the works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.
"The Yoga-siddhi, the perfection that comes from the practice of Yoga, can be best attained by the combined working of four great instruments. There is, first, the knowledge of the truths, principles, powers and processes that govern the realisation – śāstra. Next comes a patient and persistent action on the lines laid down by this knowledge, the force of our personal effort – utsāha. There intervenes, third, uplifting our knowledge and effort into the domain of spiritual experience, the direct suggestion, example and influence of the Teacher – guru. Last comes the instrumentality of Time – kāla; for in all things there is a cycle of their action and a period of the divine movement." – Sri Aurobindo