The psychology of an integral Yoga

We see, then, what from the psychological point of view, -and Yoga is nothing but practical psychology,- is the conception of Natura from which we have start. It is the self-fulfilment of the Purusha through his Energy. But the movement of nature is twofold, higher and lower, or as we may choose to term it, divine and undivine. The distinction exists indeed for practical purposes only; for there is nothing that is not divine, and in a larger view it is meaningless, verbally, as the distinction between natural and supernatural, for all things that are natural. All things are in Nature and all things are in God. But, for practical purposes, there is a real distinction. The lower nature, that which we know and are must remain so long as faith in us in not changed, acts through limitation and division, is of the nature of Ignorance and culminates in the life of the ego; but the higher the nature, that to which we aspire, acts by unification and transcendence of limitation, is of the nature of Knowledge transcendence of limitation, is of the nature of Knowledge and culminates in the life divine. The passage from the lower to the higher is the aim of Yoga; and this passage may effect itself by rejection of the lower and escape into the higher, -the ordinary viewpoint, - or by the transformation of the lower and its elevation to the higher nature. It is this, rather, that must be the aim of an integral Yoga. But in either case it is always through something in the lower that must rise into the higher existence, and the schools of Yoga each select their own point of departure or their own gate of escape. They specialize certain activities of the lower Prakriti and turn them towards the Divine. But the normal action of Nature in us is an integral movement in which the full complexity of all our elements is affected by and affects all the environments. The whole of life is Yoga of Nature, and whole difference between the Yogin and natural man will be this, that the Yogin seeks to substitute in himself for the integral action of the lower Nature working in and by ego and division the integral action of the higher Nature working in and by God and unity. If indeed our aim be only an escape from the world to God, synthesis in unnecessary and waste of time; for then our whole sole practical aim must be to find out one path out of the thousand that lead to God, one shortest possible short cuts, and not to linger exploring different paths that end in the same goal. But if our aim be transformation of our integral being into the terms of God existence, it is then that a synthesis becomes necessary.

The principal in view

In the method of synthesis which we have been following, another view of the possibilities of Yoga. This starts from another view of possibilities of Yoga. This starts from the method of Vedanta to arrive at the aim of the Tranta. In the Trantric method Shakti is all important, becomes the key to the finding of spirit, soul is all important, becomes the secret of the taking up Shakti. The Tantric method starts from the bottom and grades the ladder of ascent upwards to the summit; therefore its initial stress is upon the action of the awakened Shakti in the nervous system of the body and its centres; the opening of the six lotuses is the opening up of ranges of the power of Spirit. Our synthesis takes man as a sprit in mind much more than a sprit in body and assumes in him the capacity to begin on that level, to spiritualise his being by the power of the soul in mind opening itself directly to a higher spiritual force and being and to perfect by that higher force so possessed and brought into action the whole of his nature. For that reason our initial stress has fallen upon the utilization of the powers of soul in mind and the turning of the triple key of knowledge, works and love in the locks of the sprit; the Hathayogic methods can be dispensed with, - though there is no objection to their partial use,- the Rajayogic will only enter in as an informal element. To arrive by the shortest way at the largest development of spiritual power and being and divinize by it a liberated nature in the whole range of human living is our inspiring motive.

The principle in view is a self-surrender, a giving up of the human being into the being, consciousness, power, delight of the Divine, a union or communion at all the points of meeting in the soul of man, the mental being, by which the Divine himself, directly and without veil master and possessor of the instrument, shall by the light of his presence and guidance perfect the human being in all the forces of the natural ignorance and limitation, its release into spiritual being, its union with highest self and Divinity. But ordinarily this is made not only the initial but the whole and final object; enjoyment of the spiritual power, light and joy in the human existence, and even it has a glimpse of a supreme experience in which liberation and cosmic action and enjoyment are unified in a final overcoming of all oppositions and dissonances. It is this wider view of our spiritual potentialities from which we begin, but we add another stress which brings in a completer significance. We regard the sprit in man not as solely an individual being travelling to a transecendent unity with the Divine, but as a universal being capable of oneness with the Divine in all souls and all Nature and we give this extended view its entire practical consequence. The human soul’s individual liberation and enjoyment of union with the Divine in spiritual being, consciousness and delight must always be the first object of the Yoga; its free enjoyment of the cosmic unity of the Divine becomes a second object; but out of the cosmic unity of the Divine becomes a second object; but out of that a third appears, the effectuation of the meaning of the divine unity with all being by a sympathy and participation in the spiritual purpose of the Divine in humanity. The individual Yoga then turns from its separateness and becomes a part of the collective Yoga of the Divine in self and sprit, becomes in his natural being a self-perfecting instrument for the prefect outflowering of the Divine in humanity.

The way of Yoga

The way of yoga followed here has a different purpose from others, - or its aim is not only to rise out of the ordinary ignorant world-consciousness into the divine consciousness, but to bring the supramental power of that divine consciousness down into the ignorance of mind, life and body, to transform them, to manifest the Divine here and create a divine life in Matter. This is an exceedingly difficult aim and difficult yoga; to many or most it will seem impossible. All the established forces of the ordinary ignorant world-consciousness are opposed to it and deny it and try to prevent it, and the sadhak will find his own mind, life and body full of the most obstinate impediments to its realisation. If you can accept the ideal whole-heartedly, face all the difficulties, leave the past and its ties behind you and are ready to give up everything and risk everything for this divine possibility, then only can hope to discover by experience the Truth behind it. The sadhana of this yoga does not proced through any set mental teaching or prescribed forms of meditation, Mantras or others, but by aspiration, by a self-concentration inwards or upwards, by self-opening to an Influence, to the Divine Power above us and its working, to the Divine Presence in the heart and y rejection of all that is foreign to these things. It is only by faith, aspiration and surrender that this self-opening can come.

The method we have to pursue, then, is to put our whole consciousness being into relation and contact with the Divine and to call him in to transform our entire being into His. Thus 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 as the centre of a divine transfiguration and the instrumentof its own perfection. In effect, the pressure of the Tapas, the force of consciousness in us dewelling in the Idea of the divine Nature upon that which we are in our entirety, produces its own realisation. The divine and all-knowing and all –effecting descends upon the limited and obscure, progressively illumines and energises the whole lower nature and substituesits own action for all the terms of the inferior hiuman light and mortal activity.

In psychological fact this method translates itself into the progressive surrender of the ego with its vast and incalculable but always inevitable workings. Certainly, this is no short cut or easy sadhana. It requires a colossal faith, an absolute courage and above all an unflinching patience. For it implies three stages of which only the last can be wholly blissful or rapid, - the attempt of the ego to entre into contact with the Divine, the wide, full and therefore laborious preparation of the whole lower Nature by the divine working to receive and become the higher Nature by the divine working to receive and become the higher nature, and the eventual transformation. In fact, however, the divine Strength, often unobserved and behind the veil, substitutes itself for our weakness and supports us through all our failing of faith, courage and patience. It “makes the blind to see and the lame to stride over the hills.” The intellect becomes aware of a Law that beneficently insists and a succor that upholds ; the heart speaks of a Master of all things and Friend of man or a universal Mother who uphold through all stumbling. Through this path is all once the most difficult imaginable and yet, in comparison with the magnitude of its effort and object, the most easy and sure of all.

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