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This article is about a spiritual leader known by her followers as The Mother. For other uses, seeThe Mother (disambiguation).

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Mirra Alfassa, later Mirra Morisset and MirraRichard (February 21, 1878 - November 17, 1973),also known as The Mother, was the spiritualcollaborator of Sri Aurobindo.

She was born in Paris to Turkish and Egyptian parents and came to Sri Aurobindo's retreat on March29, 1914 in Pondicherry, India to collaborate on editing the journal Arya (see also the generalconcept of Arya). Having to leave Pondicherry during World War I, she spent most of her time inJapan where she met the poet Rabindranath Tagore. Finally she returned to Pondicherry and settledthere in 1920. After November 24, 1926, when Sri Aurobindo retired into seclusion, she founded hisashram (Sri Aurobindo Ashram), with a handful of disciples living around the Master. With SriAurobindo's full approval she became the leader of the community, a position she held until herdeath. The Trust she had registered after Sri Aurobindo's death in 1950 continues to look after theinstitution.

The experiences of the last thirty years of Alfassa's life were captured in the 13-volume work TheAgenda. In those years she attempted the physical transformation of her body in order to becomewhat she felt was the first of a new type of human individual by opening to the Supramental TruthConsciousness, a new power of spirit that Sri Aurobindo had allegedly discovered. Sri Aurobindoconsidered her an incarnation of the Mother Divine, hence her followers calling her "the Mother". TheDivine Mother is believed by some Hindus to be the feminine aspect (Creative Energy) of the Divineconsciousness and spirit.

Contents [hide]

1 Early life2 Meeting Sri Aurobindo3 "The Mother" of the Ashram4 Attempted physical transformation5 Auroville6 Footnotes7 References

Mirra Alfassa (1878-1973)

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Sri Aurobindo and The Mother

Books

Collected Works · Life Divine · Synthesis ofYoga · Savitri · Agenda ·

Teachings

Involution/Involution · Evolution · Integraleducation · Integral psychology · Integral

yoga · Intermediate zone · Supermind

Places

Matrimandir · Pondicherry

Communities

Sri Aurobindo Ashram · Auroville

Disciples

Champaklal · N.K.Gupta · Amal Kiran ·Nirodbaran · Pavitra · M.P.Pandit ·

Pranab · A.B.Purani · D.K.Roy · Satprem ·Indra Sen · Kapali Shastri

Journals and Forums

Arya · Mother India · Collaboration

8 Partial bibliography9 External links

Early lifeMirra (or Mira) Alfassa was born in Paris in 1878, of aTurkish Jewish father (Maurice, a banker), and anEgyptian Jewish mother (Mathilde Ismaloun). She had anelder brother named Matteo. The family had migrated toFrance the year before she was born.[1] For the firsteight years of her life she lived at 62 boulevardHaussmann.

Alfassa describes experiences she had as a child inParis. She says that at age five she realised she did notbelong in this world, and her sadhana (spiritualdiscipline) began then.[2] She claims that she wouldlapse into bliss and go into a trance sometimes whenshe was placed in an easy chair or during a meal, muchto the annoyance of her mother, who regarded thisbehaviour as a social embarrassment.

Between eleven and thirteen, she claims, a series ofpsychic and spiritual experiences revealed to her theexistence of God, and man's possibility of uniting withHim.[3] At age 12 she was practicing occultism andclaimed to be travelling out of her body.[4]

One of the experiences she claims she had, at the ageof 13 for nearly a year every night, was of going out ofher body and rising straight above the city:[5]

“ I used to see myself clad in a magnificent golden robe...and as I rose higher, therobe would stretch...to form a kind of immense roof over the city. Then I would seemen, women, children...coming out from every side; they would gather under theoutspread robe, begging for help, telling their miseries... In reply, the robe... wouldextend towards each one of them individually, and as soon as they had touched itthey were comforted or healed, and went back to their bodies happier andstronger... Nothing seemed more beautiful to me.... and all the activities of the dayseemed dull and colourless... beside this activity of the night... ”

At age 14 Alfassa was sent to a studio to learn art, and a year later she wrote as a school essay amystical treatise named The Path of Later On (Alfassa 1893). In 1893 she travelled to Italy with hermother. While at the Doge's Palace in Venice she claims to have recalled a scene from a past lifewhere she was strangled and thrown out into the canal (The Mother - Some dates). (Later, forinstance in Agenda, she would describe other incarnations, but she alternately describes these pastlives as emanations.) At 16 she joined the Ecole des Beaux Arts where she acquired the nickname"the Sphinx", and later exhibited at the Paris Salon.[6]

In 1897 she married Henri Morisset, a student of Moreau. They lived at Atelier, 15 rue Lemercier,Paris, and Alfassa became a part of the Paris artistic circles, befriending the likes of Auguste Rodinand Monet.[7]

Alfassa claims that between nineteen and twenty she had achieved a conscious and constant unionwith the Divine Presence, without the help of books or teachers. Soon after, she discovered

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Vivekananda's Raja Yoga, which enabled her to make further rapid progress. She says about a yearor two later she met an Indian in Paris who advised her to read the Bhagavad-Gita, taking Krishna asa symbol of the inner or immanent Divine. She obtained a French translation which—she relates—was quite poor but still enabled her to understand the substance of it.[8]

On 1898 she and Morisset had a son, André.

Alfassa claimed that in her meditations she saw several spiritual figures, all of whom offered her helpof one type or another.

Around 1904 she encountered in her dreams a dark Asiatic figure whom she called ‘Krishna’. Shesaid that this figure guided her in her inner journey. She came to have total implicit faith in Krishna,and was hoping to meet him one day in real life (Karmayogi no date).

Around 1905 she met the occultist Max Théon, who explained her psychic experiences to her. Shepaid two extended visits (on the second one she was accompanied by or later joined by Morisset) toThéon's estate at Tlemcen, Algeria, to live with and learn occultism firsthand from Théon and hiswife.[9] Alfassa had a very high regard for Madame Théon, whom she describes as havingexceptional psychokinetic powers. Later, when she had become known as "the Mother", she wouldoften relate some of the extraordinary experiences she had at Tlemcen.

In 1908 Alfassa divorced Morisset, and moved to 49 rue de Lévis, Paris.

Around this time Alfassa had regular meetings with students and seekers who were attracted topsychical phenomena or to mysticism. In 1906, with her brother Matteo, she founded in Paris a groupnamed l'Idée Nouvelle ("The New Idea"), which met at her home on Wednesday evenings, first at rueLemercier and then at rue des Lévis, and later at 9 Rue du Val de Grace. Her book "Words of LongAgo" (vol.2 of the Collected Works) is the account of one of these meetings, along with talks shegave to the L'Union de Pensée Féminine, which was a new study group she had established. In aconversation with Prithwindra Mukherjee, one of the members of this group, Alexandra David-Neel,recalled those meetings and of Alfassa: "We spent marvellous evenings together with friends,believing in a great future. At times we went to the Bois de Boulogne gardens, and watched thegrasshopper-like early aeroplanes take off. I remember her elegance, her accomplishments, herintellect endowed with mystical tendencies. In spite of her great love and sweetness, in spite even ofher inherent ease of making herself forgotten after achieving some noble deed, she couldn't manageto hide very well the tremendous force she bore within herself."[10]

In 1912 Alfassa organised a group of around 20 people named Cosmique, who had the aim ofgaining self-knowledge and self-mastery. Although she had not yet met Sri Aurobindo, some of herideas at the time paralleled his.[11] These were later included at the start of her small book,Conversations.

In 1910 she had what she described as an experience of a reversal of consciousness in which sherealised the Divine Will at the very center of her being, and from that moment onwards was no longermotivated by personal desire, but only wanted to do the Divine Will.[12]

Around this time she married Paul Richard. Richard had travelled to India, seeking election to theFrench Senate from Pondicherry,[13] and while there had met Sri Aurobindo in Pondicherry in mid-April 1910. This seems to have been when Sri Aurobindo first heard about Alfassa and her Ideagroup. Richard informed Alfassa of Sri Aurobindo and Sri Aurobindo remained in "material andspiritual correspondence" with the Richards for the next four years.[14]

Alfassa studied philosophy with Richard, as well as correcting his dictation (The Mother - Somedates). They lived at 9 rue du Val de Grace, in a small house at the back of a garden or courtyard.André, then around twelve, was a regular visitor. This was the house where Alfassa would receiveAlexandra David-Neel almost every evening.[15] During this period, she also met `Abdu'l-Bahá[16]

Inayat Khan and other spiritual teachers (Van Vrekhem, 2001).

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In 1912 she wrote her first Prayers and Meditations (the original entry probably dating to the previousyear). These would later be published as part of the Collected Works (Mother's Birth CentenaryEdition vol. 1).

Meeting Sri AurobindoOn 7 March 1914, Alfassa and Paul embarked for India aboard the steamer Kaga Maru, reachingPondicherry on the 29th. She later said that when she saw Sri Aurobindo for the first time, sherecognized him as the person she saw in her visions of a dark Asiatic figure, whom she had earlierreferred to as "Krishna". The next day she noted in her journal, “It matters not if there are hundreds ofbeings plunged in densest ignorance. He whom we saw yesterday is on earth; his presence isenough to prove that a day will come when darkness shall be transformed into light, when Thy reignshall be indeed established upon earth."

Years before Sri Aurobindo first met Alfassa and Paul, he had given up his revolutionary activities forIndian independence from British rule, and retreated to Pondicherry (where he was safe from arrestby the British) to work on the spiritual transformation of humanity and of life on earth.

After a short period of intense sadhana, Sri Aurobindo would sometimes give evening talks. In 1913he moved to No.41 Rue François Martin, called the Guest House, where he would receive visitors inthe morning (this would have been when Alfassa and Paul Richard met him), and after the groupmeditation (usually about 4. p.m.) he would host informal evening gatherings of his early disciples[17].

Alfassa said that when she first met Sri Aurobindo, she found that her thoughts ceased to run, hermind became quiet, and silence began to gather momentum, until two or three days later there wasonly the silence and the yogic consciousness. In 1958 in the Agenda (vol I pp. 163–4) she told thatthe two experiences, the consciousness in the psychic depths of the being realised in 1910, and thestillness connection with the Divine above the head realised when first meeting Sri Aurobindo, haveremained with her ever since.

On 29 March Paul suggested that Sri Aurobindo publish a journal dealing with a synthesis of thelatter's philosophical ideas. The journal was named Arya, and it became the vehicle for most ofAurobindo's writings, which would later appear in book form (The Mother - Some dates). The firstissue of the monthly journal came out on 15 August 1914, Aurobindo's birthday [18].

Alfassa and Paul stayed at Pondicherry until February 1915, but had to return to Paris because of theFirst World War. They spent a year in France before traveling to Japan where they stayed for fouryears, first in Tokyo (1916 to 1917) and then Kyoto (1917–1920). They were also accompanied byDorothy Hodgson, an Englishwoman who had known Alfassa in France (Das p. 209) and whoregarded Alfassa as her guru [19].

During her stay, Alfassa adopted the Japanese way of life, mannerisms and dress, and visited manyBuddhist places of pilgrimage (Das 1978 p. 173) One Japanese friend recalled much later: "She camehere to learn Japanese and to be one of us. But we had so much to learn from her and her charmingand unpredictable ways" (Madame Kobayashi, in Das 1978 p. 193). In 1919 she met RabindranathTagore, who was staying at the same hotel. A group photograph in the Rabindra Museum collectionat Santiniketan includes the two. Tagore presented Alfassa with the typewriter he was using at thetime; she later gave it to Prithwindra Mukherjee in the mid-50s for "writing good poems"; this stillremains at the Sri Aurobindo ashram (ibid p. 206). Many years later (in 1956) she also recountedmeeting Tolstoy's son while in Japan [20].

On 24 April 1920 Alfassa returned with Paul to Pondicherry from Japan, accompanied by DorothyHodgson. On 24 November, she moved to live near Sri Aurobindo in the Guest House at RueFrançois Martin. Richard did not stay long; he spent a year traveling around North India (Das 1978p. 209; The Mother - Some dates) as a sanyasi. (Some time later he initiated divorce proceedings,

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having already remarried in the meantime).[21] Dorothy Hodgson meanwhile received the nameDatta ("Consecrated") and was one of the earliest western devotees, even before the Ashram wasestablished in 1926.

In 1921, when Sri Aurobindo said that they had brought the Supermind down to the Vital Plane,Alfassa appeared (according to witnesses and her own accounts) to have a body like that of aneighteen- or twenty-year-old, while Sri Aurobindo was also glowing with health [22]. But thesechanges were lost when they took the Supermind down to the work of transformation in the"Subconscient".

In January 1922, Alfassa, already called "the Mother" by Nolini, and some other disciples beganregular evening talks and group meditations. In September or October of that year, Sri Aurobindo andAlfassa moved to no.9 Rue de la Marine, where the same informal routine of Sri Aurobindo's eveninggatherings of his early disciples [23] (and Alfassa's talks and meditations) continued. As the numberof disciples arriving increased, Alfassa organised what would later become the ashram, more from thewish of the sadhaks then her or Sri Aurobindo's own plans [24].

"The Mother" of the AshramOn the 24 November 1926 (Siddhi Day) Sri Aurobindo reported himself to have had an importantexperience in which he realised the Overmental plane and brought down to Earth, in his words, theOvermental Krishna (Das 1978 p. 233).

This was also the official founding of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. At the time there were no more than24 disciples in the Ashram (ibid pp. 233–4).

In December of that year, Sri Aurobindo decided to withdraw from public view. At this point heidentified Alfassa with the Divine Mother, and instructed his followers to do the same. He informedhis disciples that henceforth Alfassa would take full charge of the ashram and he would live inretirement. Alfassa later said that Sri Aurobindo had not consulted her prior to the declaration nor didhe inform her of his intention, but that she had heard the news for the first time along with thedisciples (Karmayogi no date).

Sri Aurobindo considered Alfassa to be an avatar (incarnation) of the Supreme Shakti. In 1927 hewrote:

“ The One whom we adore as the Mother is the divine Conscious Force thatdominates all existence, one and yet many-sided that to follow her movement isimpossible even for the quickest mind and for the freest and most vast intelligence. ”The Mother p.19.

Sri Aurobindo's letters and instructions to his disciples taught the path of spiritual surrender throughdevotion to Alfassa; a form of Bhakti Yoga.

In 1927, Sri Aurobindo and Alfassa moved to Rue François Martin, where they stayed for theremainder of their lives (The Mother - Some dates).

In the early years, Alfassa appeared on the ashram balcony to initiate the day with her blessings.She would also meet the heads of the various departments of the growing ashram every morning,and then the sadhaks individually. Once again, in the evening at 5:30 PM, she conducted meditationand met each sadhak once more.

In 1938 Margaret Woodrow Wilson, the daughter of US President Woodrow Wilson, came to theAshram and chose to remain there for the rest of her life.[25].

Henry Ford had also heard of Alfassa and wanted to meet her. On the eve of his departure, WorldWar II broke out and prevented his coming to India.

During the war, Sri Aurobindo and Alfassa declared their support of the Allies. They said that victory

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of the Nazis would have been a disaster for the spiritual work, and professed to have participated inworld history, changing the course of World War II by working on the subtle levels (e.g. Purani 1982p. 746, Reddy 2000, Van Vrekhem 2001).

Through letters, Alfassa had remained in contact with her son Andre Morisset ever since leaving forJapan. In this way she kept him apprised of the development of the ashram and her and SriAurobindo's sadhana. He became increasingly interested, but was prevented from visiting by theoutbreak of the World War II. In 1949 he finally arrived at Pondicherry [26].

The first issue of the Bulletin of Physical Education was published in 1949. In 1951, as a tribute to SriAurobindo's conception of pedagogy, she founded the Sri Aurobindo International Centre ofEducation: for children who had come to the ashram with their parents during World War II seekingshelter. Then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru did all he could to concretise his appreciation ofAlfassa's efforts in this field. [citation needed]

Alfassa was encouraged by Sri Aurobindo to wear saris and she acquired a collection of about 500.When she was offered 100,000 rupees for one, she called all the sadhikas and distributed or soldthem (along with her ornaments) to raise funds for the ashram during the financially difficult yearsfollowing the Master's death.[27]

She considered flowers of spiritual significance, and gave names to 800 different types, according tothe spiritual quality they convey (Flowers and Their Messages, Flowers and Their SpiritualSignificance). These would be presented to disciples, as a vehicle for conveying her blessings andgrace. Satprem records being presented with various flowers during his visits, each describedaccording to its spiritual quality.

Attempted physical transformationSri Aurobindo said that in Alfassa he found surrender to theDivine down to physical body itself, the cells of the body(not merely the mind and emotions), the likes of whichcould not be found in any human being.

In 1950 Sri Aurobindo died. Alfassa related that, upon hisdeath, she came to stand beside the bed on which he lay,"and -- in a way altogether concrete -- concrete with sucha strong sensation as to make one think that it could beseen -- all this supramental force which was in him passedfrom his body into mine".[28]

After Sri Aurobindo's passing, Alfassa fully took up herpromise to Sri Aurobindo to attempt the physicaltransformation. On 29 February 1956 ("Golden Day") sheannounced an experience in which she had a vast cosmicgolden form and broke open the golden door thatseparated the Universe from the Divine, allowing theSupramental force to stream down to Earth in an uninterrupted flow.[29] She later (24 April)announced "The manifestation of the Supramental upon earth is no more a promise but a livingfact".[30]

From 1960 till her death in 1973, Alfassa had a number of near-weekly meetings with one of herclosest disciples, Satprem. There she discussed her progress in her physical transformation, worldevents and her effect on world events, the new workings of the supramental consciousness in theworld, her earlier life's experiences including her spiritual experiences, the changes andspiritualisation in the functioning of her physical body, her visions of the new race, and many othertopics. These conversations were kept and were published in French and English in the 13-volume

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set known as The Agenda.

In 1961 a friend of John F. Kennedy took interest in Alfassa and examined in depth the philosophyand yoga of Sri Aurobindo. He met Alfassa and asked her what were the external signs by which onecould discern the attainment of the Supramental consciousness in a person. Alfassa explained to himthe conditions that would reveal the attainment of the Supramental consciousness and told him that ofthe three, equality, was the most significant [31]. The visitor arranged for Kennedy to visit Alfassa,but it could not take place.

In 1962, at the age of 84, she was forced by an illness to withdraw from close physical contact withdisciples (Agenda vol.3), although she continued to give public Darshans four times a year, at whicha few thousand devotees gathered and received her Grace. But she continued her inner work,concerning the transformation of the physical and cellular consciousness [32].

In her discussions, she is alleged to have had a number of formidable spiritual experiences in the1950s through the 1970s. Her experiences are supposed to have intensified through the later 1960sand 70s.

In later years she met with other renowned individuals, including the king of Nepal. She had asignificant meeting with the Dalai Lama who had recently escaped from Chinese occupation of Tibet.She found him to be a man of great compassion. He asked Alfassa if Tibet would one day be freed ofChinese rule. She affirmed it would one day happen (Karmayogi no date).

Concurrent with her work on the inner transformation, she worked on the outer as well. In 1956 sheestablished the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Delhi Branch, together with Surendranath Jauhar andAlfassa's International School. In 1967 plans for were made and some land acquired to found auniversal city of spiritual seekers in Gujarat, which she named Ompuri. This project, like earlier plansof 1957, did not go any further. But in 1968, Alfassa, working with architect Roger Anger, beganAuroville as a 'more external extension' of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram (Mirapuri - Biography).

Alfassa died on 17 November 1973; three days later her body was placed in the Samadhi, the vaultin the courtyard of the Ashram where Sri Aurobindo's body was placed in 1950 [33].

AurovilleIn the 1960s, it was Alfassa's dream to create a place where humanity could seek the Divine withouthaving to dredge for food and shelter. Alfassa wanted a place where "normal people" from all overthe world could live together in harmony, a place where people can seek spirituality and bring it intothe world. She named this place Auroville or City of Dawn. It now has a population of around 2,000people.

The city has several zones. The "Soul of Auroville" is the Matrimandir (literally, "Mother's temple"). Itis constructed as a futuristic-looking sphere that houses in its center a Chamber, all white with atransculent globe at the centre lit by single ray of sunlight. this signifies "future realisation". In 1968,Alfassa formally inaugurated the new city, and the soil of 124 nations (all the independent countriesin the world at that time) was placed in a lotus-shape urn at the centre of the future city.

Footnotes1. ^ Mother's Chronicles Bk I; Mother on Herself - Chronology p.83.2. ^ Mother India Feb, 1975, p.95, in Das 1978 p.14 and Mother on Herself pp.1, 3-4.3. ^ Bulletin of the Sri Aurobindo Center of Education, 1976 p.14, Mother on Herself pp.17-18.4. ^ Bulletin 1974 p.63.5. ^ On Herself pp.18-19; Das 1978 pp.24-5.6. ^ Das 1978 pp.27, 30, 253.7. ^ Nahar 1986.

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Sri Aurobindo

Sri Aurobindo

Sri Aurobindo (Aurobindo Ghosh) in 1916.

DateofBirth

15 August 1872

Placeofbirth

Kolkata (Calcutta), India

Birth Aurobindo Akroyd Ghosh

Dateofdeath

5 December 1950 (aged 78)

Placeofdeath

Puducherry (Pondicherry), FrenchIndia

Quote The spirit shall look out throughMatter's gaze. And matter shallreveal the spirit's face.

v • d • e

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sri Aurobindo (Aurobindo Ghose) (Bengali: ( )Sri Ôrobindo) (15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950)was an Indian nationalist and freedom fighter, majorIndian English poet, philosopher, and yogi.[1][2] Hejoined the movement for India's freedom from British ruleand for a duration (1905–10), became one of its mostimportant leaders,[3] before turning to developing his ownvision and philosophy of human progress and spiritualevolution.

The central theme of Sri Aurobindo's vision[4] is theevolution of life into a "life divine". In his own words:"Man is a transitional being. He is not final. The stepfrom man to superman is the next approachingachievement in the earth evolution. It is inevitablebecause it is at once the intention of the inner spirit andthe logic of Nature's process".

The principal writings of Sri Aurobindo include, in prose,The Life Divine, considered his single great work ofmetaphysics,The Synthesis of Yoga, Secrets of theVedas, Essays on the Gita, The Human Cycle, The Idealof Human Unity, Renaissance in India and other essays',Supramental Manifestation upon Earth, The FuturePoetry, Thoughts and Aphorisms and severalvolumes of letters. In poetry, his principal workis "Savitri - a Legend and a Symbol" in blankverse.[5]

Contents [hide]

1 Biography1.1 Early life1.2 England1.3 Baroda1.4 Kolkata1.5 Conversion from politics to spirituality1.6 Puducherry

2 Freedom struggles and politics2.1 Beginnings2.2 Anushilan Samiti and Jugantar Party2.3 Bande Mataram2.4 National education

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[edit]

2.5 Alipore bomb case3 The Mother4 Philosophy and spiritual vision

4.1 Evolutionary philosophy4.1.1 Process of creation and evolution4.1.2 Involution4.1.3 Evolution4.1.4 Omnipresent reality (Brahman)4.1.5 Triple transformation of the individual4.1.6 Evolving soul (psychic being)4.1.7 Supramental existence4.1.8 Philosophy of social evolution

4.2 Integral Yoga4.3 Analysis of Indian culture4.4 Interpretation of the Vedas

5 Poetry5.1 Savitri5.2 The Future Poetry

6 Followers of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother6.1 Organisations and institutes6.2 Journals

7 Influence8 Quotes9 Partial bibliography10 See also11 References12 Further reading13 External links

Biography

Early lifeSri Aurobindo was born Aravinda Akroyd Ghose in Kolkata (Calcutta), India, on 15 August 1872to Dr. Krishna Dhan Ghose, District Surgeon of Rangapur, Bengal and Swarnalata Devi, the daughterof Brahmo religious and social reformer, Rajnarayan Basu.[6] Dr. Ghose chose the middle nameAkroyd to honour his friend Annette Akroyd.[7]

Aurobindo spent his first five years at Rangapur, where his father had been posted since October1871. Dr. Ghose, who had previously lived in Britain and studied medicine at King's College,Aberdeen, was determined that his children should have an English education and upbringing free ofany Indian influences. In 1877, he therefore sent the young Aurobindo and two elder siblings -Manmohan and Benoybhusan - to the Loreto Convent school in Darjeeling.

EnglandAurobindo spent two years at Loreto convent. In 1879, Aurobindo and his two elder brothers weretaken to Manchester, England for a European education. The brothers were placed in the care of aRev. and Mrs. Drewett. Rev. Drewett was an Anglican clergyman whom Dr. Ghose knew through hisBritish friends at Rangapur. The Drewetts tutored the Ghose brothers privately. The Drewitts hadbeen asked to keep the tuitions completely secular and to make no mention of India or its culture.

In 1884,Aurobindo joined St Paul's School. Here he learned Greek and Latin, spending the last threeyears reading literature, especially English poetry. Dr.K. D. Ghose had aspired that his sons should

SuomiSvenska

TürkçeTiếng Việt中

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pass the prestigious ICS, but in 1889 it appeared that of the three brothers, only young Aurobindohad the chance of fulfilling his father's aspirations, his brothers having already decided their futurecareers. To become an ICS official, students were required to pass the difficult competitiveexamination, as well as study at an English university for two years under probation. With his limitedfinancial resources, the only option Aurobindo had was to secure a scholarship at an Englishuniversity, which he did by passing the scholarship examinations of King's College, CambridgeUniversity. He stood first at the examination.[8]. He also passed the written examination of ICS aftera few months, where he was ranked 11th out of 250 competitors[9]. He spent the next two years atthe King's College.[10]

By the end of two years of probation, Aurobindo became convinced that he did not want to serve theBritish, he therefore failed to present himself at the horse riding examination for ICS, and wasdisqualified for the Service. At this time, the Maharaja of Baroda, Sayajirao Gaekwad III wastravelling England. James Cotton, brother of Sir Henry Cotton, for some time Lt. Governor of Bengaland Secretary of the South Kensington Liberal Club, who knew Sri Aurobindo and his father securedfor him a service in Baroda State Service and arranged a meeting between him and the prince. Heleft England for India, arriving there in February, 1893.[2] . In India Aurobindo's father who waswaiting to receive his son was misinformed by his agents from Mumbai (Bombay) that the ship onwhich Aurobindo had been travelling had sunk off the coast of Portugal. Dr. Ghose who was by thistime frail due to ill-health could not bear this shock and died.[11]

BarodaIn Baroda, Aurobindo joined the state service, working first in the Survey and Settlementsdepartment, later moving to the Department of Revenue and then to the Secretariat, writing speechesfor the Gaekwad.[12] At Baroda, Aurobindo engaged in a deep study of Indian culture, teachinghimself Sanskrit, Hindi and Bengali, all things that his education in England had withheld from him.Because of the lack of punctuality at work resulting from his preoccupation with these other pursuits,Aurobindo was transferred to the Baroda College as a teacher of French, where he became popularbecause of his unconventional teaching style. He was later promoted to the post of Vice-Principal.[12]

He published the first of his collections of poetry, The Rishi from Baroda.[13] He also started takingactive interest in the politics of India's freedom struggle against British rule, working behind thescenes as his position at the state of Baroda barred him from overt political activity. He linked up withresistance groups in Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, while travelling to these states. He establishedcontact with Lokmanya Tilak and Sister Nivedita. He also arranged for the military training of JatindraNath Banerjee (Niralamba Swami) in the Baroda army and then dispatched him to organise theresistance groups in Bengal. He was invited by K.G. Deshpande who was in charge of the weeklyInduprakash and a friend from his days in Cambridge to write about the political situation. Aurobindostarted writing a series of impassioned articles under the title New Lamps for the Old pouring vitriolon the Congress for its moderate policy[14]. He wrote:

"Our actual enemy is not any force exterior to ourselves, but our own cryingweaknesses, our cowardice, our selfishness, our hypocrisy, our purblind sentimentalism"

further adding:

"I say, of the Congress, then, this, - that its aims are mistaken, that the spirit in which itproceeds towards their accomplishment is not a spirit of sincerity and whole-heartedness, and that the methods it has chosen are not the right methods, and theleaders in whom it trusts, not the right sort of men to be leaders; - in brief, that we areat present the blind led, if not by the blind, at any rate by the one-eyed."

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Sri Aurobindo and The Mother

Books

Collected Works · Life Divine · Synthesis ofYoga · Savitri · Agenda ·

Teachings

Involution/Involution · Evolution · Integraleducation · Integral psychology · Integral

yoga · Intermediate zone · Supermind

The Congress which practised more mild and moderate criticism itself, reacted in a way whichfrightened the editors of the paper who asked Aurobindo to write about cultural themes instead ofPolitics. Aurobindo lost interest in these writings and the series was discontinued.[12] Aurobindo'sactivities in Baroda also included a regimen of yogic exercises and meditation, but these were minorin comparison to the work he would take up in his later life. By 1904 he was doing yogic practices forfive-six hours everyday [11]

KolkataAurobindo used to take many excursions to Bengal, at first in a bid to re-establish links with hisparents' families and his other Bengali relatives, including his cousin Sarojini and brother Barin, andlater increasingly in a bid to establish resistance groups across Bengal. But he formally shifted toKolkata (Calcutta) only in 1906 after the announcement of Partition of Bengal. During his visit toCalcutta in 1901 he married Mrinalini, daughter of Bhupal Chandra Bose, a senior official inGovernment service. Sri Aurobindo was then 28; the bride Mrinalini, 14. Marrying off daughters at avery young age was very common in 19th century Bengali families.[15]

In Bengal with Barin's help he established contacts with revolutionaries, inspiring radicals like BaghaJatin, Jatin Banerjee, Surendranath Tagore. He helped establish a series of youth clubs with the aimof imparting a martial and spiritual training to the youth of Bengal. He helped found the AnushilanSamiti of Calcutta in 1902. When the Partition of Bengal was announced, there was a publicoutpouring against the British rule in India. Aurobindo attended the Benares session of Congress inDecember 1905 as an observer, and witnessing the intensity of people's feelings decided to throwhimself into the thick of politics.[11] He joined the National Council of Education and met SubodhChandra Mullick who quickly became a supporter of Aurobindo's views. Mullick donated a large sumto found a National College and stipulated that Aurobindo should become its first principal. Aurobindoalso started writing for Bande Mataram, as a consequence of which, his popularity as a leading voiceof the hardline group soared. His arrest and acquittal for printing seditious material in BandeMataram consolidated his position as the leader of aggressive nationalists. His call for completepolitical independence was considered extremely radical at the time and frequently caused friction inCongress. In 1907 at Surat session of Congress where moderates and hardliners had a majorshowdown, he led the hardliners along with Bal Gangadhar Tilak. The Congress split after thissession.[16] In 1907–1908 Aurobindo travelled extensively to Pune, Mumbai and Baroda to firm upsupport for the nationalist cause, giving speeches and meeting various groups. He was arrestedagain in May 1908 in connection with the Alipore Bomb Case. He was acquitted in the ensuing trialand released after a year of isolated incarceration. Once out of the prison he started two newpublications, Karmayogin in English and Dharma in Bengali. He also delivered the Uttarpara Speechs:Uttarpara Speech hinting at the transformation of his focus to spiritual matters . The Britishpersecution continued because of his writings in his new journals and in April 1910 Aurobindosignalling his retirement from politics, moved to Puducherry (Pondicherry).

Conversion from politics to spiritualityAurobindo's conversion from political action to spiritualityoccurred gradually. Aurobindo had been influenced byBankim's Anandamath. In this novel, the story follows amonk who fights the soldiers of the British East IndiaCompany. When in Baroda, Aurobindo and Barin hadconsidered the plan of a national uprising of nationalistsannyasis against the empire [17]. Later when Aurobindogot involved with Congress and Bande Mataram, Barinhad continued to meet spiritualists for recruitment forsuch a plan. In 1907, Barin introduced Aurobindo to

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Places

Matrimandir · Pondicherry

Communities

Sri Aurobindo Ashram · Auroville

Disciples

Champaklal · N.K.Gupta · Amal Kiran ·Nirodbaran · Pavitra · M.P.Pandit ·

Pranab · A.B.Purani · D.K.Roy · Satprem ·Indra Sen · Kapali Shastri

Journals and Forums

Arya · Mother India · Collaboration

Vishnu Bhaskar Lele, a Maharashtrian yogi.Aurobindo had been engaged in yogic discipline foryears, but disturbances to his progress following therecent events surrounding the Congress had put him inthe need of consulting a yogi. After attending the Suratsession of the Congress in 1907, Aurobindo met Lele inBaroda. This meeting led him to retire for three days inseclusion where, following Lele's instruction, Aurobindohad his first major experience, called nirvana - a state ofcomplete mental silence free of any thought or mentalactivity.[18] Later, while awaiting trial as a prisoner inAlipore Central Jail in Kolkata Aurobindo had a numberof mystical experiences. In his letters, Sri Aurobindomentions that while in jail as under-trial, spirit of SwamiVivekananda visited him for two weeks and spoke about the higher planes of consciousness leadingto supermind. Sri Aurobindo later said that while imprisoned he saw the convicts, jailers, policemen,the prison bars, the trees, the judge, the lawyers as different forms of one godhead, Krishna.

The trial ("Alipore Bomb Case, 1908") lasted for one full year, but eventually Sri Aurobindo wasacquitted. After his acquittal, he made the famous Uttarpara Speech s:Uttarpara Speech. AfterwardsAurobindo started two new weekly papers: the Karmayogin in English and the Dharma in Bengali.However, it appeared that the British government would not tolerate his nationalist program as LordMinto wrote about him: "I can only repeat that he is the most dangerous man we have to reckonwith." The British considered the possibilities of a retrial or deportation, but objections from LordMinto, or the Bengal government at different instances prevented immediate execution of such plans.

When informed that he was sought again by the Indian police, he was guided to the French territoryChandernagore where he halted for a few days. On April 4, 1910 he finally landed in the Frenchcolony of Pondicherry. At Pondicherry he dedicated himself completely to his spiritual endeavors.

PuducherryIn Puducherry (Pondicherry), Sri Aurobindo completely dedicated himself to his spiritual andphilosophical pursuits. In 1914, after four years of concentrated yoga, Sri Aurobindo launched Arya, a64 page monthly review. For the next six and a half years this became the vehicle for most of hismost important writings, which appeared in serialised form. These included The Life Divine, TheSynthesis of Yoga, Essays on The Gita, The Secret of The Veda, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, TheUpanishads, The Renaissance in India, War and Self-determination, The Human Cycle, The Ideal ofHuman Unity, and The Future Poetry. Many years later, Sri Aurobindo revised some of these worksbefore they were published in book form.

For some time afterwards, Sri Aurobindo's main literary output was his voluminous correspondencewith his disciples. His letters, most of which were written in the 1930s, numbered in the severalthousands. Many were brief comments made in the margins of his disciple's notebooks in answer totheir questions and reports of their spiritual practice—others extended to several pages of carefullycomposed explanations of practical aspects of his teachings. These were later collected andpublished in book form in three volumes of Letters on Yoga. In the late 1930s, Sri Aurobindoresumed work on a poem he had started earlier—he continued to expand and revise this poem forthe rest of his life. It became perhaps his greatest literary achievement, Savitri, an epic spiritual poemin blank verse of approximately 24,000 lines. During the World War II, he supported the allies, evendonating money to the British Government, describing Hitler as a dark and oppressive force.

On August 15, 1947, on his 75th birthday, when India achieved political independence, a messagewas asked from Sri Aurobindo. In his message, which was read out on the All India Radio, SriAurobindo dwelt briefly on the 5 dreams he has cherished all his life and which, he noted, were on

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the way to being fulfilled. Sri Aurobindo died on December 5, 1950 after a short illness.

Freedom struggles and politicsAurobindo's observable political career lasted only four years, from 1906 to 1910. Though he hadbeen active behind the scene surveying, organizing and supporting the nationalist cause, ever sincehis return to India, especially during his excursions to Bengal. This period of his activity from 1906-1910 saw a complete transformation of India's political scene. Before Aurobindo began publishing hisviews, the Congress was an annual debating society whose rare victories had been instances of theempire taking a favourable view to its petitions. By the time Aurobindo left the field, the ideal ofpolitical independence had been firmly ingrained into the minds of people, and nineteen years later, itbecame the official raison d'etre of the Congress.[19]

This change was affected by the advent of the aggressive nationalist thought of Lokmanya Tilak whodeclared that swaraj was his birthright and Bipin Chandra Pal who demanded "complete autonomy"from Britain. However none went as far as Aurobindo in articulating the legitimacy and necessity ofcomplete independence. He "based his claim for freedom for India on the inherent right to freedom,not on any charge of misgovernment or oppression". He wrote :

"Political freedom is the life-breath of a nation. To attempt social reform, educationalreform, industrial expansion, the moral improvement of the race without aiming first andforemost at political freedom, is the very height of ignorance and futility. The primaryrequisite for national progress, national reform, is the habit of free and healthy nationalthought and action which is impossible in a state of servitude."[19]

BeginningsAurobindo had become contemptuous of the British rule in India since his days as a student inEngland. While at the beginning of Aurobindo's educational career, his father had been a believer inthe superiority of the British People, by the time Aurobindo was nearing the end of his education inEngland, Dr. Ghose started mailing Aurobindo newspaper clips of atrocities unleashed by the Britishon the Indian people. While at King's college, Aurobindo was drawn to Irish nationalists such asCharles Stewart Parnell. He wrote, in praise of Parnell :

"Patriots, behold your guerdon! This man found

Erin, his Mother, beaten, chastised, bound,Naked to imputation poor, denied,While alien masters held her house of pride"

This personification of the subjugated nation as the Mother in chains, was a recurring theme inAurobindo's writings and would later come to galvanize a generation of Indian revolutionaries. Fromhis observations of the British Politics, Aurobindo became convinced that India had little hope fromthe British Parliament. While in London he joined up with a society of revolutionaries called "Lotusand Dagger" who were committed to overthrowing the British. His activities in England though, wereinconsequential. After his return to India, he started working to bring about a revolutionary change inthe political situation in India.

He came to believe that the only way to free India from the British yoke was that the common peopleand not just the elite that composed the erstwhile Congress, should embark upon a total revolution.Aurobindo espoused a threefold approach to this end :

1. To conduct secret revolutionary propaganda and develop organizations to prepare for anarmed revolution.

2. To spread the idea of revolution and prepare the entire nation for independence.3. To organise the people for non-cooperation and passive resistance against foreign rule.[20]

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Anushilan Samiti and Jugantar PartyMain article: Anushilan Samiti

Main article: Jugantar

At the beginning of 20th century Bengal had become the central hub for voices against the BritishRule and during his vacations to meet his family in Bengal, Aurobindo came in contact with manywho shared his views. Aurobindo became inspired by the story of Bankim's novel Anandamath.Aurobindo frequently shared with his younger brother Barin his ideas of imparting martial andintellectual training to the youth of Bengal for the coming revolution; loosely like the sannyais ofAnandamath who stir a rebellion agains the British. This concept is rooted in Shakta philosophy.

Anushilan Samiti was founded as an attempt to organize Bengali youth through a program of physicalfitness and spiritual training for a nationalist program. By 1902, Calcutta had three societies workingunder the umbrella of Anushilan Samity, a society earlier founded by a Calcutta barrister by the nameof Pramatha Mitra. These included Mitra's own group, another led by a Bengali lady by the name ofSarala Devi, and a third one led by Aurobindo Ghosh. The Anushilan Samiti had Aurobindo andDeshabandhu Chittaranjan Das as the vice-presidents, Suren Tagore the treasurer. Jatindra NathBanerjee (Niralamba Swami), Bagha Jatin, Bhupendra Nath Datta (Swami Vivekananda's brother),Barindra Ghosh were among other initial leaders. By 1905, the work of Aurobindo and his brotherBarin Ghosh allowed Anushilan Samity to spread through Bengal.[21]

When the first Partition of Bengal was announced in 1905, Aurobindo took an extended leave fromthe college in Baroda and dedicated himself to participate in anti-British activities in Bengal.

Barin who was an aggressive revolutionary in his own right prodded Aurobindo to write about a planfor a Monks' rebellion. In August 1905 Aurobindo published a blueprint for such a training facilitycalled "Bhawani Mandir" (or Bhawani's temple) [3] . This plan and its logistics were later taken overby Barin when Aurobindo devoted himself to the mainstream of Politics.

Aurobindo provided the ideological foundation to the ultra-radical Jugantar party, as an offshoot ofthe Anushilan Samiti. The party was founded by Barin and Bhupendra Nath Dutta. Among theoperational aims of this society was to sensitize and stimulate the disaffected youth of Bengal to thenationalist cause.[22]

Bande MataramMain article: Bande Mataram (publication)

The views of Tilak, Aurobindo and other aggressive nationalists, being radically different from those ofthe moderates, created fissures in the Congress and the debate for its future direction and controlspilled into the public domain. To take the extremists' view to the public, Bipin Chandra Pal hadfounded the nationalist Bengali newspaper Bande Mataram (spelt and pronounced as BôndeMatôrom in the Bengali language). Pal invited Aurobindo to become its editor along with Pal. Palafter a few issues discontinued contributing to the paper. The paper rapidly became a majorsuccess.[23] and the radical views finally found a popular voice. But as a result of its popularity andopen espousal of aggressive methods, the paper came into frequent confrontation with the Raj.In 1907 the British Government decided to prosecute the group behind Bande Mataram, for itsconstant propaganda against British rule. Notices were served for using language which was a"direct incentive to violence and lawlessness." [24]

On August 16, Aurobindo was sought for arrested by the Police. Aurobindo courted arrest and wasreleased on monetary sureties. The sensational act and the events surrounding the arrest were seenas an episode of defiance against the empire and turned him into a national celebrity. Provincial andNational press showered lavish praise on Aurobindo.Tagore wrote: "Rabindranath, O Aurobindo,bows to thee! O friend, my country's friend, O Voice incarnate, free, Of India's soul....The fiery

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messenger that with the lamp of God hath come...Rabindranath, O Aurobindo, bows to thee".[25]

The prosecution was unable to establish that Sri Aurobindo was the editor of the paper and he wasacquitted. Pal was sentenced to six months in prison for declining to depose. After the BandeMataram Case, Sri Aurobindo became the recognised leader of aggressive nationalism in Bengal.[26]

National educationAurobindo was a strong proponent of an indigenous system of national education. His experiences atBaroda university had convinced him about the shortcomings of the education system of the time. Hisviews on national education frequently brought him in conflict with the moderates of Congress. Whenthe Risley Circular banned the study or mention of politics from government aided educationalinstitutes, Aurobindo along with others saw this as a direct challenge to his program of youthnationalism. He campaigned extensively to gain self-reliance on the front of education, writing articlesabout the circular and its implications. He, along with Rabindranath Tagore, Raja Subodh ChandraMullick and Brajendra Kishore Roychowdhury decided that they would protest the partition of Bengalby setting up an institution that would challenge British rule by offering education to the masses "onnational lines and under national control". The Bengal National College was set up with Aurobindo asits first principal.

Later, when he founded the newspaper Karmayogin, he expounded in detail his philosophy oneducation in the series titled A System of National Education.

Alipore bomb caseMain article: Alipore bomb case

The British had been keeping tabs on activities of Barin and Aurobindo since the Bande Mataramepisode. On 30 April 1908, Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki, members of Barin's group, attemptedto bomb Magistrate Kingsford's carriage in Alipore. They failed to discern between the identicalcarriages of the party and the bombs instead landed in the wrong carriage, killing two British women,the wife and daughter of another barrister. The British reaction was swift, with 33 suspects beingrounded up within the next two days. Barin and Aurobindo were also arrested and put into prison.The ensuing trial lasted for a year. Aurobindo was acquitted. Khudiram Bose was found guilty andlater hanged. Barin was sentenced to death, but this sentence was later commuted to lifeimprisonment (He was released in 1920).[citation needed] Aurobindo came out of prison and deliveredthe famous Uttarpara Speech . A few months after the end of his incarceration, and few other anti-British activities, Aurobindo retired from active politics and sailed to Pondicherry, where he wouldspend the rest of his life.

The MotherMain article: Mirra Alfassa

Sri Aurobindo's close spiritual collaborator, Mirra Richard (b. Alfassa), came to be known as TheMother simply because Sri Aurobindo started to call her by this name. On being inquired by why hecalled her the Mother, Sri Aurobindo wrote an essay "The Mother" by way of shedding light on theperson of Mirra.

Mirra was born in Paris on February 21, 1878, to Turkish and Egyptian parents. Involved in thecultural and spiritual life of Paris, she counted among her friends Alexandra David-Neel. She went toPondicherry on March 29, 1914, finally settling there in 1920. Sri Aurobindo considered her hisspiritual equal and collaborator. After November 24, 1926, when Sri Aurobindo retired into seclusion,he left it to her to plan, run and build the growing Sri Aurobindo Ashram, the community of disciplesthat had gathered around them. Some time later when families with children joined the ashram, sheestablished and supervised the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education (which, with its pilot

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experiments in the field of education, impressed observers like Jawaharlal Nehru). When SriAurobindo died in 1950, the Mother continued their spiritual work and directed the Ashram andguided their disciples. In the mid 1960s she personally guided the founding of Auroville, aninternational township endorsed by UNESCO to further human unity near the town of Pondicherry,which was to be a place "where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace andprogressive harmony above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities." It was inaugurated in 1968 ina ceremony in which representatives of 121 nations and all the states of India placed a handful oftheir soil in an urn near the center of the city. Auroville continues to develop and currently hasapproximately 2100 members from 43 countries, though the majority consists of Indians, French, andGermans. The Mother also played an active role in the merger of the French pockets in India and,according to Sri Aurobindo's wish, helped to make Pondicherry a seat of cultural exchange betweenIndia and France. The Mother stayed in Pondicherry until her death on November 17, 1973. Her lateryears, including her myriad of metaphysical and occult experiences, and her attempt at thetransformation at the cellular level of her body, are captured in her 13 volume personal log known asMother's Agenda.

Philosophy and spiritual visionMain article: Philosophy and Spirituality of Sri Aurobindo

One of Sri Aurobindo's main philosophical achievements was to introduce the concept of evolutioninto Vedantic thought. Samkhya philosophy had already proposed such a notion centuries earlier, butAurobindo rejected the materialistic tendencies of both Darwinism and Samkhya, and proposed anevolution of spirit along with that of matter, and that the evolution of matter was a result of theformer.

He describes the limitation of the Mayavada of Advaita Vedanta, and solves the problem of thelinkage between the ineffable Brahman or Absolute and the world of multiplicity by positing a hithertounknown and unexplored level of consciousness, which he called The Supermind. The supermind isthe active principle present in the transcendent Satchidananda as well in the roots of evolution: aunitary level of which our individual minds and bodies are minuscule subdivisions.

Sri Aurobindo rejected a major conception of Indian philosophy that says that the World is a Maya(illusion) and that living as a renunciate was the only way out. He says that it is possible, not only totranscend human nature but also to transform it and to live in the world as a free and evolved humanbeing with a new consciousness and a new nature which could spontaneously perceive truth ofthings, and proceed in all matters on the basis of inner oneness, love and light.

Evolutionary philosophySri Aurobindo argues that humankind is not the last rung in the evolutionary scale, but can evolvespiritually beyond its current limitations to a state of spiritual and supramental existence. Thisevolutionary existence he called a "Divine life on Earth", characterized by a spiritualized,supramental, truth-consciousness-oriented humanity.[27]

Process of creation and evolutionHe speaks of two central movements in the process of creation: an involution of consciousness froman original omnipresent Reality, manifesting a universe of forms, including matter; and an evolution ofthose material forms in creation upward toward life, mind, and spirit, reconnecting to their spiritualsource. It is also a process of evolution.

InvolutionThe process by which the Energy of creation emerged from a timeless, spaceless, ineffable,immutable Reality, Sri Aurobindo refers to as the Involution. In that process the Reality extended itself

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to Being/Existence (Sat), Consciousness, that generated a Force - (Chit); and Bliss (Ananda)-- selfenjoyment in existing and being conscious. Through the action of a fourth dimension, Supermind (i.e.Truth Consciousness), the Force (Chit) of Sat-Chit-Ananda was divided into Knowledge and Will,eventually formulating as an invisible Energy that would become the source of creation. Through itsown willful self-absorption of consciousness, the universe would begin as Inconscient materialexistence from out of that Energy.

EvolutionThe process of existence emerging out of the Inconscient is referred as evolution. Initially, it emergesgradually in the stages of matter, life, and mind. First matter evolves from simple to complex forms,then life emerges in matter and evolves from simple to complex forms, finally mind emerges in lifeand evolves from rudimentary to higher forms of thought and reason. As each new principle emerges,the previous stages remain but are integrated into the higher principle. Humanity represents thestage of development of mind in complex material forms of life.The higher development of mind in the mass of humanity is not yet a secure possession. Reasonand intellect still do not dominate the life of most human beings; rather, mind tends to be turned tothe purposes of the life principle, which is focused on self-preservation, self-assertion, andsatisfaction of personal need and desire. But evolution does not cease with the establishment ofreason and intellect; beyond mind are higher levels of a spiritual and supramental consciousnesswhich in the nature of things must also emerge. This higher evolution is described as a dualmovement; inward, away from the surface consciousness and into the depths, culminating in therealization of the Psychic Being (the personal evolving soul); and then upward to higher levels ofspiritual mind Higher Mind, Illumined Mind, Intuitive Mind, and Overmind), culminating in the finalstage of supramentalisation. Whereas these higher levels of consciousness have been attained inparticular individuals, they must eventually emerge more universally as general stages in theevolution. When they do emerge, there will come the embodiment of a new species on earth that willbe once again united in consciousness with Sachchidananda.

Omnipresent reality (Brahman)A central tenet of Sri Aurobindo's philosophy is that the Truth of existence is an omnipresent Realitythat both transcends the manifested universe and is inherent in it. This Reality, referred to asBrahman, is an Absolute: it is not limited by any mental conception or duality, whether personal orimpersonal, existent or nonexistent, formless or manifested in form, timeless or extended in time,spaceless or extended in space. It is simultaneously all of these but is bound by none of them. It is atonce the universe, each individual being and thing in the universe, and the Transcendent beyond theuniverse. In its highest manifested poise, its nature may be described as Sachchidananda—infiniteexistence, infinite consciousness, and infinite delight or bliss; a triune principle in which the three areunited in a single Reality. In other words, it is a fully conscious and blissful infinite existence. Theimportance of this concept for humanity lies in its implication that Brahman is the deepest and secretReality of humans, it is their true Self, and it is possible to recover this Reality of their being byremoving the veil of ignorance that hides it from them and imprisons them in a false identification withan apparently divided and limited egoistic movement on the surface of the being. This is themetaphysical basis for Sri Aurobindo's yoga, the discipline given to consciously unite humans' lifewith their essential Reality.

Triple transformation of the individualSri Aurobindo's argues that Man is born an ignorant, divided, conflicted being; a product of theoriginal inconscience (i.e. unconsciousness,) inherent in Matter that he evolved out of. As a result, hedoes not know the nature of Reality, including its source and purpose; his own nature, including theparts and integration of his being; what purpose he serves, and what his individual and spiritualpotential is, amongst others. In addition, man experiences life through division and conflict, including

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his relationship with others, and his divided view of spirit and life.

To overcome these limitations, Man must embark on a process of self-discovery in which heuncovers his Divine nature. To that end, he undertakes a three-step process, which he calls theTriple Transformation.[28].

(1) Psychic Transformation -- The first of the three stages is a movement within, away from thesurface of life, to the depths, culminating in the discovery of his psychic being (the evolving soul).From that experience, he sees the oneness and unity of creation, and the harmony of all oppositesexperienced in life.

(2) Spiritual Transformation -- As a result of making the psychic change, his mind expands and heexperiences knowledge not through the hard churning of thought, but through light, intuition, andrevelation of knowledge, culminating in supramental perception. Light enters from the heights andbegins to transmute various parts of his being.

(3) Supramental transformation -- After making the psychic and spiritual change, he makes thesupramental and most radical change. It is basically a complete transformation of the mind, the heart,the emotions, and the physical body.

Evolving soul (psychic being)Sri Aurobindo laid utmost stress on finding and living in the psychic being (i.e. an evolving soul)within which is the essence of our individual being. If we forge our way into the deepest parts of ourbeing, we will come upon a personal evolving soul. From this psychic being we can overcome thelimits of consciousness of the individual human. From there we perceive our true nature andessence; we become more aware of our surroundings; we become one with others and life; weexperience an inner Guide that influences us to move in the right direction and catches our negativepropensities as they arise on the surface; we come in touch with our universal nature; we come intouch with the transcendent reality and spiritual Force; we overcome the limits of time, bringingtimelessness into time; and evoke the powers of the Infinite into this finite existence, to name several.Also when we plunge within and touch the evolving soul, it becomes easy to move up inconsciousness above mind to spiritual mind of illumination, intuition, revelation, and (supramental)truth consciousness. It should also be noted that this psychic entity is itself evolving, as it enters theperson's whose experience it believes it can benefit from, extracts the essence of that person'sexperience, and then moves on to the next birth until it is fulfilled in its journey through space andtime. The connection to the evolving soul is thus the key to the evolution from this the human side,as from there we overcome the inherent Ignorance, division, dualities, and suffering of Man, enablinghim to fulfill his human aspiration of God, freedom, joy, and immortality. (From the spiritual side, it isthe descending Supramental Force that enables the progress of life to its ultimate capacity. The twotogether, the connection to the psychic being and the surrender to the descending (supramental)Force are the keys to the evolution and transformation of the individual, humanity, and life in theuniverse.)

Supramental existenceMain article: Supermind

Sri Aurobindo's vision of the future includes the appearance of what may be called a new species,the supramental being, a divine being which would be as different and superior to present humanityas humanity is to the animal. It would have a consciousness different in kind than the mind of thehuman, a different status and quality and functioning. Even the physical form of this being would bedifferent, more luminous and flexible and adaptable, entirely conscious and harmonious. Between thissupramental being and humanity, there would be transitional beings, who would be human in birthand form, but whose consciousness would approach that of the supramental being. These transitionalbeings would appear prior to that of the full supramental being, and would constitute an intermediate

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stage in the Earth's evolution, through which the soul would pass in its growth towards its divinemanifestation as the supramental being in the earth nature.

Philosophy of social evolutionSri Aurobindo's spiritual vision extended beyond the perfection and transformation of the individual; itincluded within its scope the evolution and transformation of human society. In both the individualand in society, the soul and spirit is at first hidden and occult. This, he argues, influences thedirection and course of development from behind, but allowing nature to follow its gradual, zigzagging,and conflict-ridden course. Afterwards, as mind develops and becomes more dominant over obscureimpulses, the ego-centered drives of vital nature. This results in a more objective, enlightenedperception and approach towards human existence and the potential developments that becomepossible. At the highest stage of mental development he argues that a greater possibility andprinciple becomes apparent, which is spiritual and supramental in nature. At this point a true solutionto humanity's problems becomes visible in the context of a radical transformation of human life, into aform of divine existence.

Integral YogaMain article: Integral Yoga

In The Synthesis of Yoga, and in his voluminous correspondence with his disciples collected underthe title Letters on Yoga, Sri Aurobindo laid out the psychological principles and practices of theIntegral Yoga or Poorna Yoga. The aim of Integral yoga is to enable the individual who undertakes itthe attainment of a conscious identity with the Divine, the true Self, and to transform the mind, life,and body so they would become fit instruments for a divine life on earth[29].

Analysis of Indian cultureIn Renaissance in India (earlier called The Foundations of Indian Culture),[citation needed] SriAurobindo examines the nature of Indian civilization and culture. He looked at its central motivatingtendencies and how these are expressed in its religion, spirituality, art, literature, and politics. The firstsection of the book provides a general defense of Indian culture from disparaging criticism due to themisunderstanding of a foreign perspective, and its possible destruction due to the aggressiveexpansion and infiltration of Western culture. This section is interesting in the light it sheds on thenature of both Eastern and Western civilizations, how they have developed over the centuries, howthey have influenced each other throughout the ages, and the nature and significance of theseexchanges in the recent period. The principle tenet of the exposition is that India has been and is oneof the greatest civilizations of the world, one that stands apart from all others in its central emphasis,or rather its whole foundation, based on spirituality, and that on its survival depends the future of thehuman race—whether it shall be a spiritual outflowering of the divine in man, or a rational,economically-driven, and mechanized association of peoples.

Interpretation of the VedasOne of the most significant contributions of Sri Aurobindo was his setting forth an esoteric meaning ofthe Vedas. The Vedas were considered by some to be composed by a barbaric culture worshipingviolent Gods. Sri Aurobindo felt that this was due to non-grasping of vedic symbolism, both byOccidental and Oriental scholars.

Sri Aurobindo believed there was a hidden spiritual meaning in the Vedas. He viewed the Rig Vedaas a spiritual text written in a symbolic language in which the outer meaning was concerned withritualistic sacrifices to the gods, and the inner meaning, which was revealed only to initiates, wasconcerned with an inner spiritual knowledge and practice, the aim of which was to unite inconsciousness with the Divine.

In this conception, Indra is the God of Mind lording over the Indriyas, that is, the senses (sight,

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touch, hearing, taste etc.). Vayu represents air, but in its esoteric sense means Prana, or the lifeforce. So when the Rig Veda says "Call Indra and Vayu to drink Soma Rasa" the inner meaning is touse mind through the senses and life force to receive divine bliss (Soma means wine of Gods, but inseveral texts also means divine bliss, as in Right-handed Tantra). Agni, the God of the sacrificial firein the outer sense, is the flame of the spiritual will to overcome the obstacles to unite with the Divine.So the sacrifice of the Vedas could mean sacrificing ones ego to the internal Agni, the spiritual fire.

Sri Aurobindo's theory of the inner spiritual significance of the Vedas originally appeared serially inthe journal Arya between 1914 and 1920, but was later published in book form as "The Secret of theVeda." Another book, "Hymns to the Mystic Fire", is Sri Aurobindo's translation of the spiritual senseof many of the verses of the Rig Veda.

PoetrySri Aurobindo, not only expressed his spiritual thought and vision in intricate metaphysical reasoningand in phenomenological terms, but also in poetry. He started writing poetry as a young student, andcontinued until late in his life. The theme of his poetry changed with the projects that he undertook. Itranged from revolutionary homages to mystic philosophy. Sri Aurobindo wrote in classical style.

Savitri'Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol' is Sri Aurobindo's epic poem of 12 books, 24000 lines about anindividual who overcomes the Ignorance, suffering, and death in the world through Her spiritualquest, setting the stage for the emergence of a new, Divine life on earth. It is loosely based on theancient Indian tale of 'Savitri and Satyavan' from the Mahabharata.

"Savitri" is the longest poem of English Literature written outside English speaking countries ofEurope & America.

The Mother said of Savitri:

“ ... everything is there: mysticism, occultism, philosophy, the history of evolution, thehistory of man, of the gods, of creation, of Nature. How the universe was created,why, for what purpose, what destiny - all is there. You can find all the answers to allyour questions there. Everything is explained, even the future of man and of theevolution, all that nobody yet knows. He has described it all in beautiful and clearwords so that spiritual adventurers who wish to solve the mysteries of the world mayunderstand it more easily. ”

The Future PoetryIn Sri Aurobindo's theory of poetry, written under the title The Future Poetry, he writes about thesignificance that art and culture have for the spiritual evolution of mankind. He believed that a new,deep, and intuitive poetry could be a powerful aid to the change of consciousness and the liferequired to achieve the spiritual destiny of mankind which he envisioned. Unlike philosophy orpsychology, poetry could make the reality of the Spirit living to the imagination and reveal its beautyand delight and captivate the deeper soul of humanity to its acceptance. It is perhaps in SriAurobindo's own poetry, particularly in his epic poem Savitri, that we find the fullest and mostpowerful statement of his spiritual thought and vision.

Followers of Sri Aurobindo and The MotherThe following authors/ organizations (listed in chronological order?) trace their intellectual heritageback to, or have in some measure been influenced by, The Mother and Sri Aurobindo.

Sisir Kumar Maitra (1887-1963) was an academic philosopher who wrote widely on SriAurobindo and Western philosophy. Wrote an essay, "Sri Aurobindo and Spengler:

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Comparison between the Integral and the Pluralistic philosophy of History" in the 1958symposium compendium, 'The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo.'

Sri Chinmoy (1931-2007) was an Indian spiritual teacher and philosopher who emigrated tothe U.S. in 1964. An author, composer, artist and athlete, he was perhaps best known forholding public events on the theme of inner peace and world harmony (such as concerts,meditations, and races). In 1944, he joined his brothers and sisters in Sri Aurobindo's ashram.He has written many books about Sri Aurobindo.

Nolini Kanta Gupta (1889 - 1983) was one of Sri Aurobindo's senior disciples, and wroteextensively on philosophy, mysticism, and spiritual evolution in the light of Sri Aurobindo andThe Mother's teachings.

Indra Sen (1903-1994), another disciple of Sri Aurobindo who, although little-known in theWest, was the first to articulate integral psychology and integral philosophy, in the 1940s and1950s. A compilation of his papers came out under the title, Integral Psychology in 1986.

Ram Shankar Misra (dates?) was a scholar of Indian religious and philosophical thought andauthor of The Integral Advaitism of Sri Aurobindo (publ. 1957), a philosophical commentary onSri Aurobindo's work.

Sri Anirvan (1896-1978), the famous erudite scholar saint, translated "The Life Divine" inBengali and "Savitri" into incomparably beautiful poetic Bengali in "Divya Jeevan Prasanga",published by Sri Aurobindo Pathamandir, in 1948-51, now in 2000 (fourth edition). .

Satprem (1923 - 2007) was a French author and an important disciple of The Mother.Mother's Agenda (ed.1982), Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness (2000), On theWay to Supermanhood (2002) and more.

Pavitra (1894 - 1969) was one of the very early disciples of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother.Born as Philippe Barbier Saint-Hilaire in Paris. Pavitra left some very interesting memoirs ofhis conversations with Sri Aurobindo and Mother in 1925 and 1926 published asConversations avec Pavitra.

Organisations and institutesSri Aurobindo Centre for Advanced Research , located in Pondicherry, India, provides onlineadvanced degree programmes (e.g., MA, M.Phil., and Ph.D.) in Sri Aurobindo Studies. Itworks in collaboration with Indira Gandhi National Open University which grants the degrees.It also publishes books related to the thought and vision of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother,holds conferences, and sells CDs of talks by Ananda Reddy, its Director, on Sri Aurobindo'svarious major works.

World Union - A non-profit, non-political organisation founded on 26 November 1958 inPondicherry, fired by the Third Dream of Sri Aurobindo; also publishes a quarterly journal withthe same title. A.B. Patel was the driving force and for many years, M.P. Pandit was theleading light.

The Integral Life Foundation P.O.Box 239 Waterford CT. 06385 USA has published severalbooks by Amal Kiran.

JournalsMother India is the Sri Aurobindo Ashram's originally fortnightly, now monthly, cultural review.It was started in 1949, the founding editor being K. D. Sethna (Amal Kiran), who continues aseditor for over fifty years.

Collaboration is a journal dedicated to the spiritual and evolutionary vision of Sri Aurobindoand The Mother. Content includes articles, essays, poetry, and art. Topics range across thetheory and practice of Integral Yoga, Sri Aurobindo's philosophy and metaphysics,

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Wikiquote has a collection ofquotations related to: SriAurobindo

developments in the international township of Auroville, activities of various centers andannouncements and reports about various conferences related to the Integral Yoga.

InfluenceSri Aurobindo's influence has been wide-ranging.

In India, S. K. Maitra, Anilbaran Roy, and D. P. Chattopadhyaya commented on Sri Aurobindo's work.

Writers on esotericism and traditional wisdom, such as Mircea Eliade, Paul Brunton, and ReneGuenon, all saw him as an authentic representative of the Indian spiritual tradition[30].

Haridas Chaudhuri and Frederic Spiegelberg[31] were among those who were inspired by SriAurobindo, who worked on the newly formed American Academy of Asian Studies in San Francisco.Soon after, Chaudhuri and his wife Bina established the Cultural Integration Fellowship, from whichlater emerged the California Institute of Integral Studies.

Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928–2007) became heavily inspired by the writings of Satprem about SriAurobindo during a week in May 1968, a time of which the composer was undergoing a personalcrisis and had found Aurobindos philosophies were relevant to his feelings at the time. After thisexperience, Stockhausen's music took a completely different turn, focusing on mysticism, that was tocontinue right up until the end of his career.

Sri Aurobindo's ideas about the further evolution of human capabilities influenced the thinking ofMichael Murphy [32] – and indirectly, the human potential movement, through Murphy's writings. TheAmerican philosopher Ken Wilber, has been strongly influenced by Sri Aurobindo's thought, but hasintegrated some of its key ideas with other spiritual traditions and modern intellectual trends[33]

(Wilber's interpretation has been criticised by Rod Hemsell[34] and others). New Age writer AndrewHarvey also looks to Sri Aurobindo as a major inspiration. Cultural historian William Irwin Thompsonis also heavily influenced by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.

The Sri Aurobindo Ashram, the spiritual community that grew up around him and was organized anddirected by the Mother, continues to operate with slightly more than 2000 members and a similarnumber of nonmembers who live nearby and are associated with the Ashram's activities. Theexperimental international city of Auroville, founded by the Mother and based on Sri Aurobindo'sideals, is located about 10 km from the Ashram; it has approximately 2000 members from around theworld, and an international base of support groups called Auroville International.

Based on the teaching of Sri Aurobindo and his Divine Mother, the school based in Bangalore calledSri Aurobindo Memorial School was set up. The student life begins with prayer, medidation and yoga.The children are also served Ladoo on their birthday and poems of Sri Aurobindo are recited in classeveryday.

Quotes

“ The one aim of [my] yoga is an inner self-development by which each one whofollows it can in time discover the OneSelf in all and evolve a higherconsciousness than the mental, a spiritualand supramental consciousness whichwill transform and divinize human nature ”

—Sri Aurobindo On Himself

Partial bibliography

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Supermind (Integral thought)

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Sri Aurobindo and The Mother

Books

Collected Works · Life Divine · Synthesis ofYoga · Savitri · Agenda ·

Teachings

Involution/Involution · Evolution · Integraleducation · Integral psychology · Integralyoga · Intermediate zone · Supermind

Places

Matrimandir · Pondicherry

Communities

Sri Aurobindo Ashram · Auroville

Disciples

Champaklal · N.K.Gupta · Amal Kiran ·Nirodbaran · Pavitra · M.P.Pandit ·

Pranab · A.B.Purani · D.K.Roy · Satprem ·Indra Sen · Kapali Shastri

Journals and Forums

Arya · Mother India · Collaboration

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Supermind (Sri Aurobindo))

Supermind in Sri Aurobindo's philosophy refers to theinfinite unitary truth-consciousness or truth-ideasimultaneously transcendent and immanent to planes ofmatter, life, and mind. Supermind is the dynamic form ofsatcitananda (being-consciousness-bliss), and thenecessary conduit, mediator or linkage betweensatcitananda and the manifest creation. (Life DivineBook I, ch.14-16)

Contents [hide]

1 Introduction2 Supramental Perception3 Supramentalisation4 The supramental transformation5 The Supramental Descent6 Time in the Context of Supramental consciousness7 The Gnostic Being8 Supermind and Omega Point9 Quote10 See also11 Notes12 References13 External links

IntroductionBy 'Supermind,' Sri Aurobindo means several things. For one, it a plane that resides between the'upper hemisphere' of pure being and consciousness, and the 'lower hemisphere; of life in theuniverse (mind, life, and matter). This plane is what enables the Real Ideas of the Supreme tomanifest as forms of that force in creation. So in that sense, Supermind is the power that enablescreation; that divides the Force into the forms, forces, and powers, seen and unseen experienced inthe universe.

Another way of looking at Supermind is a plane of perfect knowledge that has the full, integral truth ofanything. It is a plane that Man can rise to above his current limited mentality so he too can haveperfect understanding of a matter that enters his mind seemingly out of nowhere through revelationsof that truth.

A third way of looking at Supermind is not only the means of creation, but a force and power that isleaning down on the earth's consciousness, and which we can open to in order to transform thevarious aspects of our being, as well as instantly or very rapidly set right the conditions of life,creating sudden good fortune ("instantaneous miraculousness") for the person opening to it.

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Ultimately Sri Aurobindo envisions a new race of humans who through an opening to thesupramental power and knowledge have been transformed in all planes of their being, mental, vital,and spiritual, ushering in what he calls the Gnostic, supramental individual who will be the basis of anew divine life on earth.

Supramental PerceptionWhen one rises above mind, even illumination, intuition, and revelation of understanding, one has theexperience of supramental perception. In supermind one has the experience of the totalrealization/ideation of an object of knowledge without thought, as it simply is there in the mind anew.Supramental perception involves a totality of knowing, as opposed to the very partial, limitedperception of mind that knows but one side of a matter. In supramental perception, one understandsany issues from its many sides; as well as its essence, totality, and wholeness. Any thing know isperceived in harmony and relation to other things; almost the opposite of mind which guards its ownlimited opinion, not seeing its thought in relation to others concerning an object of knowledge

In supermind, one perceives the object of knowledge directly, which Sri Aurobindo calls 'knowledgeby identity.' Supramental perception also implies a supramental Will for its effectuation in life; i.e. thepower for it to become real as a manifest, living reality. E.g. if you know a thing directly throughsupramental perception, there is also a power for it to manifest quickly and suddenly from seeminglyout of nowhere. Sri Aurobindo refers to this power of sudden manifestation through supramentalperception an opening "instantaneous miraculousness."

Finally, through Supramental perception, one perceives the true nature of existence. One sees whatSri Aurobindo calls (in his opus 'The Life Divine' and elsewhere] the ‘omnipresent Reality,’ which is inessence the Divine Origin extended to all planes of life. When one has supramental perception onesees that all things – physical matter, vital life, and mental thought are various forms of the divineReality. One also perceive how each and every individual thing in life – large or small, positive ornegative, liked or dislike – plays a role in the unfolding of existence. This is what Sri Aurobindo saysis 'to see the Wonder,’ which one can only perceive when one has risen beyond limited mentality tosupramental perception.

SupramentalisationThe objective and final stage of integral yoga is to actualise the Supermind within one's being("Supramentalisation"). This would constitute a divinisation of matter itself or a realisation of itsinherent primordial propensity, and usher in a completely new, 'divine' way of existing. (Life DivineBook II, ch.26-28). This involves bringing down the Supramental consciousness to transform theentire being, and ultimately to the divinisation of the material world. Supramentalisation requires botha spiritual and a psychic transformation.

Sri Aurobindo believed that most yogas and religions were concerned with 'ascent', a striving toascend beyond the body and beyond time into a formless and timeless absolute or transcendent self.He wrote that the 'old systems' arrived at an 'infinite empty Negation or an infinite equally vacantAffirmation'.[1] He introduced the imperative for and the process by which the supramental (beyondor other than mental) consciousness would 'descend', to firmly establish itself in Earthly life.

The supramental transformationThe supramental transformation means the birth of a new individual fully formed by the supramentalpower, the same power that enabled the universe to be created in the first place from out of a DivineSource. Such individuals would be the forerunners of a new truth-consciousness based supra-humanity. Among their capacities are: a total oneness and identity with the environment and with

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others; total integral knowledge replacing our essential ignorance, i.e. knowledge by identity; aunification of knowledge and will (what one knows is automatically created, what is willed is fullyknown in its truth); the Force of creation reunited with the Consciousness; and a complete unity ofthe Individual, Universal, and Transcendent purpose expressed through the person. Also, all aspectsof 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 anddivinised. A new supramental species would then emerge, living a supramental, gnostic, divine life onearth. (The Life Divine book II ch.27-28)

This then must be the nature of the third and final transformation which finishes thepassage of the soul through the Ignorance and bases its consciousness, its life, its powerand form of manifestation on a complete and completely effective self-knowledge. TheTruth-Consciousness, finding evolutionary Nature ready, has to descend into her andenable her to liberate the supramental principle within her; so must be created thesupramental and spiritual being as the first unveiled manifestation of the truth of the Selfand Spirit in the material universe.

– Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, 918, 10th ed.

The Supramental DescentOn February 29, 1956, Sri Aurobindo's co-worker the Mother, announced, "The manifestation of theSupramental upon earth is no more a promise but a living fact, a reality. It is at work here, and oneday will come when the most blind, the most unconscious, even the most unwilling shall be obligedto recognize it."[2]

On January 1, 1969, the Mother (at age 90) announced the 'arrival' of the 'superman consciousness'– 'the intermediary between man and the supramental being'.[3]

Time in the Context of Supramental consciousnessSri Aurobindo wrote that whereas the mind is unable to establish a "truth relation between thetimeless and things in time", supramental consciousness is "founded upon the supremeconsciousness of the timeless Infinite, but has too the secret of the deployment of the infinite Energyin time."[1] The last chapter of his book The Synthesis of Yoga, called 'Towards a SupramentalVision of Time', discusses the matter of time in terms of the evolution of a trikaladristi or 'knowledgeof the three times'. "This unified and infinite time consciousness and this vision and knowledge arethe possession of the supramental being..."

The Gnostic BeingThe Gnostic Being in Sri Aurobindo's philosophy refers to the supramental state of divinisedhumanity, which (as described in the final chapters of The Life Divine) will emerge as a spirit-oriented future existence.

In this highest form of social or collective life, the domination of the ordinary mind — of surfacepreoccupation, of partial knowledge, as well as the lower physical and vital life is replaced with amind and life dominated by the spirit.

The divinised or gnostic being is described as living a spiritual existence in an integral way; integral inhis own being, and integral and one with the world around him. He has integrated and elevated thephysical, vital/emotional, and mental planes of his existence to its greatest heights and fulfillment by

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finding the spirit within himself and applying and elevating these planes of life with the spiritual. Healso discovers that the spirit is everywhere in the world and in every other person, eliminating theseparation between himself and life and himself and others around him. In other words he is wholeand integrated individually and universally.

"To be in the being of all and to include all in one's being, to be conscious of the consciousnessof all, to be integrated in force with the universal force, to carry all action and experience inoneself and feel it as one's own action and experience, to feel all selves as one's own self, to feelall delight of being as one's own delight of being is a necessary condition of the integral divineliving."

— Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine

In addition to integrating the planes and sublevels of one's being (individualization), and becomingone with others and the world (universalization), the individuals who will be the harbingers of thisdivine life will also be united with the transcendent Divine. These individuals will have found thetranscendent spirit within, the spiritual force, God, the Divine in the cosmos, and feel, know, act withcomplete reference to its divine force, power, knowledge, and bliss.

In this context a number of individuals, integrated individually, universally, and transcendently, canwork together, near or apart, aware or unaware of one another, to create a new common life,superior to the present individual and common existence. A critical mass of such "gnostic individuals"could create the foundation of a new social life and order; a divine life on earth.

The purpose of this divine life would be a greater unity, mutuality, and harmony.

"...a greater identity of being and consciousness between individual and individual unified in theirspiritual substance, feeling themselves to be self and self of one self-existence, acting in agreater unitarian force of knowledge, a greater power of being. There must be an inner and directmutual knowledge, based upon a consciousness of oneness and identity, a consciousness ofeach other's being, thought, feeling, inner and outer movements...."

---Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine

In this state the current vital and mental constructions of life would be replaced by gnostic individualswho live beyond the vicissitudes of human thought and the push and pull of the forces of Nature.Humanity in the current age does not have the depth of inner knowledge to understand the infiniteforces that are involved in the emerging world. His limiting mind-sense and the limiting mind-sense ofthe collective hasn't the integral vision and knowledge and force of action to deal with the evolvingsociety. We have created a civilization which has become too big for our limited mental capacitiesand understanding and our limiting ego, which narrows the truth to our own needs and desires. Thecurrent unfolding and limited blossoming of life on earth is bound by the limiting vital animal andpassion nature, and the narrow opening to the full truth which is the human mind.

A life of unity, mutuality, and harmony alone, emerging from individuals who are in integralrelationship with themselves, others, and the transcendent spirit, can deal with the overwhelmingneeds of the collective life. The gnostic beings would help establish this integral, unifying gnosticconsciousness on earth, which would provide a far greater power and knowledge than man now hasfor understanding and acting on the needs of the emerging collective. The one rule of this divine lifewould be the self expression of the spirit, of the divine, in all aspects of life.

"..an existence without the reactions of success and frustration, vital joy and grief, peril andpassion, pleasure and pain, the vicissitudes and uncertainties of fate and struggle and battle andendeavor, a joy of novelty and surprise and creation projecting itself into the unknown... Thegnostic manifestation of life would be more full and fruitful and its interest more vivid than thecreative interest of the Ignorance; it would be a greater and happier constant miracle."

— Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine

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Supermind and Omega PointBeginning with the Catholic theologian R.C. Zaehner, a number of scholars have pointed out parallelsbetween the respective spiritual evolutionary philosophies of Sri Aurobindo and Pierre Teilhard deChardin (see e.g. Zaehner 1971, Feys 1973, Sethna 1973, 1981, Bruteau 1974, Chetany 1978,Brookman 1988). Both describe a progression from inanimate matter through life and mind to a futureconsummation and Divinisation of humanity and the Earth as Supermind at Omega Point/God-Omega. Neither seems to have been aware of the other's work. A scientific basis for Pierre Teilhardde Chardin's and Sri Aurobindo's panentheistic Omega point philosophies was provided in 1994 bythe physicist Frank J. Tipler's promulgation of his Omega Point Theory.

Quote‘The aim of supramental Yoga is to change into this supreme Truth-consciousness, but this truthis something beyond mind and this consciousness is far above the highest mind-consciousness.For truth of mind is always relative, uncertain and partial, but this greater Truth is preemptoryand whole. Truth of mind is a representation, always an inadequate, most often a misleadingrepresentation, and even when most accurate, only a reflection, Truth's shadow and not its body.Mind does not live in the Truth or possess but only seeks after it and grasps at best somethreads from its robe; the supermind lives in Truth and [is] its native substance, form andexpression; it has not to seek after it, but possesses it always automatically and is what itpossesses. This is the very heart of the difference.

'The change that is effected by the transition from mind to supermind is not only a revolution inknowledge or in our power for knowledge. If it is [to] be complete and stable, it must be a divinetransmutation of our will too, our emotions, our sensations, all our power of life and its forces, inthe end even of the very substance and functioning of our body. Then only can it be said that thesupermind is there upon earth, rooted in its very earth-substance and embodied in a new race ofdivinised creatures.

'Supermind at its highest reach is the divine Gnosis, the Wisdom-Power-Light-Bliss of God bywhich the Divine knows and upholds and governs and enjoys the universe.'

-– Sri Aurobindo [4]

See alsoOmega PointEvolution (metaphysics)

Notes

1. ^ a b Sri Aurobindo, Synthesis of Yoga, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, 1948.2. ^ The Mother's Agenda, 1956, Volume 1. see link3. ^ The Mother's Agenda, 1969, Volume 10: from January 1, 1969.4. ^ ‘Seven drafts on Supramental Yoga [for "The Path"] from 1928-1929 to late 1930's as found

on ‘Bernard's Site for Sri Aurobindo and the Mother'

ReferencesSri Aurobindo (1977) The Life Divine, (Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust), ISBN 0-941524-62-0(hardcover), ISBN 0-941524-61-2 (paperback)Beatrice Bruteau (1974), Evolution towards Divinity (Theosophical Publishing House, Wheaton, Ill)David M. Brookman, Teilhard and Aurobindo: A Study in Religious Complementarity, MayurPublications, 1988

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Integral psychology (Sri Aurobindo)

[edit]

Sri Aurobindo and The Mother

Books

Collected Works · Life Divine · Synthesis ofYoga · Savitri · Agenda ·

Teachings

Involution/Involution · Evolution · Integraleducation · Integral psychology ·

Integral yoga · Intermediate zone ·Supermind

Places

Matrimandir · Pondicherry

Communities

Sri Aurobindo Ashram · Auroville

Disciples

Champaklal · N.K.Gupta · Amal Kiran ·Nirodbaran · Pavitra · M.P.Pandit ·

Pranab · A.B.Purani · D.K.Roy · Satprem ·Indra Sen · Kapali Shastri

Journals and Forums

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Vital (Sri Aurobindo))

Integral psychology, in the adaptation of SriAurobindo's spiritual teachings, refers to anunderstanding of the various planes and parts of being,which is essential to the practice of integral yoga.

Contents [hide]

1 History of Integral psychology2 Aspects of being according to integral psychology

2.1 Faculties ("vertical" divisions)2.1.1 Subconscient2.1.2 Physical2.1.3 Subtle physical2.1.4 Vital2.1.5 Mental2.1.6 Higher levels of Mind2.1.7 Overmind2.1.8 Supermind

2.2 Types of being ("concentric" divisions)2.2.1 The Outer Being2.2.2 The Inner Being2.2.3 Psychic Being2.2.4 Central being

3 See also4 References5 External links

History of Integral psychologySri Aurobindo never used the term "Integral Psychology"; the term was coined in the 1940s by IndraSen, a devotee of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, who established the field of Integral Psychology,based on Sri Aurobindo's teachings, although his book of the same name only appeared in 1986.

A further interpretation of Integral psychology was developed, although not in detail, in the 1970s byHaridas Chaudhuri, a student of Sri Aurobindo, who postulated a triadic principle of uniqueness,relatedness and transcendence, corresponding to the personal, interpersonal and transpersonaldomains of human existence.

According to Brant Cortright, of the California Institute of Integral Studies, Integral Psychology is bornthrough the synthesis of Sri Aurobindo's teachings with the findings of depth psychology. He presentsIntegral Psychology as a synthesis of the two major streams of depth psychology – the humanistic-existential and contemporary psychoanalytic – within an integrating east-west framework.

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Integral (spirituality)Historical integral thinkers:

Aurobindo GhoseJean GebserHaridas ChaudhuriRamchandra GandhiIndra Sen

Contemporary integral thinkers:

Don BeckAllan CombsSean Esbjörn-HargensAshok GangadeanJennifer GidleyFranklin JonesErvin LászlóGeorge LeonardSteve McIntoshDonella MeadowsMichael MurphyJoe PerezMichel Saloff CosteCharlene SpretnakBrian SwimmeWilliam Irwin ThompsonKen WilberYasuhiko KimuraMichael E. Zimmerman

Integral themes:

Evolution, InvolutionIntegral art, Integral ecologyIntegral educationIntegral psychologyIntegral TheoryIntegral yogaIntegral humanismTransdisciplinarity

Integral organizations:

Cal. Inst. of Integral StudiesIntegral InstituteJohn F. Kennedy UniversityInstitute of Transpersonal Psych.Fielding Graduate University

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Aspects of being according to integral psychologySri Aurobindo conceives of human psychology, indeed, of theentire cosmos, as having two major types of distinctions ordimensions. The faculties ascend in a "vertical" fashion, from thesubconscient to the higher, transpersonal realms. At the sametime, he distinguishes between the Outer being, the Inner being,and other, similarly "concentric" dimensions. The terms verticaland concentric are metaphors for the purpose of visualizationand are not meant to be taken literally.

Faculties ("vertical" divisions)

Subconscient

This section requires expansion.

PhysicalThe Physical faculty or part of the being, refers not just to thephysical body, but the body's consciousness as well. The bodyis just as conscious as the vital and mental parts of the being,only it is a different type of consciousness. As with the otherfaculties or principles of the being, in Sri Aurobindo'spsychology, the Physical can be subdivided into finer sub-grades, such as the mental physical, the vital physical, and soon. One does not find the distinction of non-conscious body andconscious mind that characterises Western thought.

In Sri Aurobindo's reading of the Taittiriya Upanishad, thephysical being (or perhaps just the Physical Purusha) is theanna-maya-atma - the self made of food.

the Inner physical - the physical component of the innerbeing, which is wider and more plastic than the outerphysical body. This is also called the subtle physicalthe True physical being - is the Purusha of the physical level,which is like the Inner Physical larger than the surface bodyconsciousness and in touch with the a larger spiritualconsciousness.the Mental Physical (similar to the Physical Mind - see"Mental")the Vital Physical or Nervous Being (which seems to beequivalent to the Etheric body of western esotericism, andhence pertains to one of the subtle bodies)the Physical Proper or pure body consciousness, whichrepresents the consciousness of the external physical bodyitself.

Like the other principles of man, the Physical not only shadesupwards to higher ontological levels, but also downwards intothe Subconscient, which equates to the Subconscious or Lower Unconscious, although Sri Aurobindoasserts that the Subconscient includes much more than the unconscious of (Freudian) psychology.

And like all the faculties of the being, the Physical in all its aspects has to be transformed and

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spiritualised through the practice of Integral Yoga.

Subtle physicalThe Subtle physical is Sri Aurobindo's term for a subtler aspect of the physical nature. This hasmany qualities not found in the gross physical nature. In The Agenda, The Mother often refers to it. Itmight be compared to the etheric body and plane, or even the astral body and plane. The term"subtle physical" to distinguish from gross (sthula) or outer material physical.

By the gross physical is meant the earthly and bodily physical - as experienced by theoutward sense-mind and senses. But that is not the whole of Matter. There is a subtlephysical also with a subtler consciousness in it which can, for instance, go to a distancefrom the body and yet feel and be aware of things in a not merely mental or vital way.

...the subtle physical has a freedom, plasticity, intensity, power, colour, wide and manifoldplay (there are thousands of things there that are not here) of which, as yet, we have nopossibility on earth.

– Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga, part 1, section v

VitalThe Vital or Life faculty or part of the being, refers not simply to the life force as to the variouspassions, desires, feelings, emotions, affects, compulsions, and likes and dislikes that stronglydetermine human motivation and action through desire and enthusiasm.

Unlike Western psychology, in which mind, emotions, instincts, and consciousness are all lumpedtogether, Sri Aurobindo strongly distinguishes between the "Vital" and the "Mental" faculties.

In addition to the individual Vital faculty, Sri Aurobindo refers to a Vital Plane or Vital world, whichwould seem to be partly equivalent to the Astral Plane of popular occultism and New Age thought.

MentalThe Mental faculty or part of the being, is the conceptual and cognitive mind. Unlike Westernpsychology, in which mind and consciousness are considered the same, Sri Aurobindo stronglydistinguishes between the "Mental" and the "Vital" (emotional) faculties, as well as between Mind andpure Consciousness. Sri Aurobindo in part bases his concept of the Mental on his reading of theTaittiriya Upanishad, the mental being (or perhaps just the Mental Purusha) is the mano-maya-atma- the self made of mind (manas).

For Sri Aurobindo, Mind or the Mental being is not simple and uniform, but consists itself of variousstrata and subdivisions, the whole contributing to an elaborate integral theory of psychology. Thesevarious faculties are described or variously referred to, usually in obliquely or in passing, in some ofhis books, including Savitri, which has poetic references to many types of Mind (Jyoti and PremSobel 1984 pp. 152–62). In his letters answering questions from disciples, Sri Aurobindo summarisesthe characteristics of the various levels of Mind (see Letters on Yoga vol. I pp. 324–5).

These various Minds and Mental principles of being include:

Higher Mind - the first and lowest of the spiritual mental grades, lying above the normal mentallevel.

Spiritual Mind - either the spiritualised mind, or a general term for levels of mind above the normalmental level (the "Mind Proper").

Inner mind - the mental component of the Inner Being, which lies behind the surface mind orordinary consciousness and can only be directly experienced by sadhana

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True mental being - is the Purusha of the mental level freed from the error and ignorance of thelower Prakriti and open to the knowledge and guidance above.

Psychic Mind - a movement of the mind in which the Psychic Being predominates; the mindturned towards the Divine

Mind Proper - is free-fold, consisting of Thinking Mind, dynamic Mind, externalising Mind. Itconstitutes the sum of one's thoughts, opinions, ideas, and values, which guide consciousthinking, conceptualizing and decision-making processes, and is transformed, widened, andspiritualised through the practice of Integral Yoga.

Thinking Mind - the highest aspect of the mind proper, concerned with ideas and knowledge intheir own right. It is equated with the Ajna Chakra

Dynamic Mind - that aspect of the ordinary mind that puts out of mental forces for realisation,acting by the idea and by reason. It is also equated with the Ajna or Brow center.

Externalising Mind - the most "external" part of the mind proper, concerned with the expression ofideas in speech, in life, or in any form it can give. It is equated with the Vishuddha or ThroatChakra

Vital Mind - a mediator between the vital emotions, desires, and so on the mental proper. It islimited by the vital view and feeling of things, and expresses the desires, feelings, ambitions,andother active tendencies of the vital in mental forms, such as daydreams and imaginations ofgreatness, happiness, and so on. As with the Externalising Mind, Sri Aurobindo associates it withthe Vishuddha or Throat Chakra

Physical Mind - refers to either or both the Externalising Mind and the Mental in the Physical; it islimited to a physical or materialistic perspective, and cannot go beyond that, unless enlightenedfrom above.

Mind in the physical or mental physical mentalises the experiences of outward life and things,sometimes very cleverly, but it does not go beyond that, unlike the externalising mind which dealswith these things from the perspective of reason and its own higher intelligence.

The Mechanical Mind is a much lower action of the mental physical which when left to itself canonly repeat the same ideas and record the reflexes of the physical consciousness in its contactwith outward life and things.

Mind of Light - according to The Mother this is the Physical Mind receiving the supramental lightand thus being able to act directly in the Physical (The Mother, 1980, pp. 63–64)

A small but popular book by Jyoti and Prem Sobel, The Hierarchy of Minds, comes closest to asystematic coverage of an Aurobindonian noetology by gathering all of Sri Aurobindo's referencesand quotes on the subject of "Mind" and arranging these according to the type of Mind.

Higher levels of MindIncludes Higher Mind, Illumined Mind, and Intuitive Mind.

OvermindOvermind is the plane of Gods. Overmental plane is the highest consciousness one can achievewithout transcending the mental system. Beyond overmind are the planes of Supermind or unity-consciousness.

A detailed description of the Overmind is provided in Book I ch.28, and Book II ch.26, of SriAurobindo's philosophical opus The Life Divine.

SupermindMain article: Supermind

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Supermind refers to the infinite unitary Truth Consciousness or Truth-Idea beyond the three lowerplanes of Matter, Life, and Mind. Supermind is the dynamic form of Sachchidananda (Being-Consciousness-Bliss), and the necessary mediator or link between the transcendent Sacchidanandaand the creation. (Life Divine Book I, ch.14-16)

Types of being ("concentric" divisions)

The Outer BeingThe Outer Being refers to the superficial and limited surface existence which characterises oureveryday consciousness and experience. It includes a physical, vital, and mental aspect, and is alsothe location of the desire soul.

In Integral Yoga it is necessary to go beyond the surface consciousness to the larger life of the InnerBeing, which is more open to spiritual realisation. Outer, Inner, and Innermost Being form a"concentric" sequence or hierarchy, which is a counterpart to the "vertical" hierarchy of Physical,Vital, and Mental.

The Inner BeingThe Inner Being is the wider and more plastic subliminal faculty of one's being, that lies behind thenarrow surface consciousness.

As with many esotericists and Jungian and Transpersonal psychologists, Sri Aurobindo speaks oflarger and deeper potentials of human nature which can be contacted through spiritual discipline andhigher states of consciousness. This Inner Being includes the inner realms or aspects of the physical,vital, and mental being, which here have a larger, subtler, freer consciousness than in the small outermental, vital, and physical nature of everyday consciousness and experience, and its realisation isessential for any higher spiritual realisation. The Inner Being is also transitional between the surfaceor Outer Being and the Psychic Being, which is also for this reason known as the "Innmost Being".Outer, Inner, and Innermost Being form a "concentric" sequence or hierarchy, which is a counterpartto the "vertical" hierarchy of Physical, Vital, and Mental.

There are always two different consciousnesses in the human being, one outward in whichhe ordinarily lives, the other inward and concealed of which he knows nothing. When onedoes sadhana, the inner consciousness begins to open and one is able to go inside andhave all kinds of experiences there. As the sadhana progresses, one begins to live moreand more in this inner being and the outer becomes more and more superficial. At first theinner consciousness seems to be the dream and the outer the waking reality. Afterwardsthe inner consciousness becomes the reality and the outer is felt by many as a dream ordelusion, or else as something superficial and external. The inner consciousness begins tobe a place of deep peace, light, happiness, love, closeness to the Divine or the presenceof the Divine, the Mother. One is then aware of two consciousnesses, the inner one andthe outer which has to be changed into its counterpart and instrument-that also mustbecome full of peace, light, union with the Divine. At present you are moving between thetwo and in this period all the feelings you have are quite natural. You must not be at allanxious about that, but wait for the full development of the inner consciousness in whichyou will be able to live.

– Sri Aurobindo, 'Letters on Yoga', 307

Psychic BeingThe Psychic Being is Sri Aurobindo's term for the Personal Evolving Soul, the principle of Divinespirit in every individual.

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The Psychic is the "Innermost Being" (Amal Kiran, quoted by Craig Hamilton The Miraculous Powerof the Soul - A meeting with Amal Kiran, Pondicherry ) is the permanent being in us that standsbehind and supports the physical, vital and mental principles. It takes the essence of experience inthe Ignorance to form a nucleus of growth in the nature; it "puts forth and uses mind, life and body asits instruments, undergoes the envelopment of their conditions, but it is other and greater than itsmembers." (The Life Divine p. 891)

The term "Psychic" or Psychic Being in this context derives originally from the occult kabbalisticteachings of Max Théon, as conveyed by The Mother. Sri Aurobindo is careful to distinguish betweenthe Psychic Being as defined in the Yoga and the ordinary meaning of "psychic" which refers more tothe desire soul, or to psychological or paranormal phenomena which are connected with the innermind, inner vital, or subtle physical subliminal nature rather than the true Soul (The Life Divine p. 227note).

The Psychic begins its evolution completely veiled and hidden, but as it grows through successivelifetimes it gradually exerts a greater influence, organising the elements of the being, and taking onthe role of spiritual Guide (The Life Divine pp. 891–4).

In Integral Yoga the goal is to move inward and discover the Psychic Being, which then can bringabout a transformation of the outer nature. This transformation of the outer being or ego by thePsychic is called Psychicisation; it is one of the three necessary stages in the realisation of theSupramental consciousness. This Psychic transformation is the decisive movement that enables anever-ending progress in life through the power of connecting to one's inner spirit or Divine Essence.

Sri Aurobindo asserts that both Psychicisation and Spiritualisation are equally necessary, andcomplementary prerequistes in the drawing down of the Supermind.

...the psychic entity in us persists and is fundamentally the same always: it contains allessential possibilities of our manifestation but is not constituted by them; it is not limited bywhat it manifests, not contained by the incomplete forms of the manifestation, not tarnishedby the imperfections and impurities, the defects and depravations of the surface being. It isan ever-pure flame of the divinity in things and nothing that comes to it, nothing thatenters into our experience can pollute its purity or extinguish the flame.

– Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, 891

Everything is dangerous in the sadhana or can be, except the psychic change.

– Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga, vol.3

Central beingCentral Being is a technical term used by Sri Aurobindo to designate the transcendent and eternalspirit, as opposed to the incarnate and evolving Soul, which he calls the Psychic Being, althoughsometimes it refers to both of them together as the essential spiritual core of the being. Thesedefinitions are found in Letters on Yoga vol.I under "Planes and Parts of Being" (pp. 265ff in the 3rded.)

The Central Being "presides over the different births one after the other but is itself unborm" (ibidp. 269). This transcendent Central Being or Spirit is also designated the Jiva or Jivatman, althoughthe meaning of these terms in Sri Aurobindo's philosophy differs greatly from that of much ofconventional Vedanta (especially Advaita Vedanta)

See also

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Integral yoga

Integral yoga

Religiousorigins:

Hinduism, Vedanta

Regionalorigins:

Sri Aurobindo Ashram,India

FoundingGuru:

Sri Aurobindo, The Mother

Mainstreampopularity:

millions, both in India and

abroad

Practiceemphases:

Integral transformation of the

whole being, physical

immortality.

Derivativeforms:

none

Related schools

incorporates Karma, Jnana, Raja and Bhakti yoga

Other topics

Integral thought - The Synthesis of Yoga - Triple

transformation - Psychicisation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Integral yoga (disambiguation).

In the teachings of Sri Aurobindo, Integral yoga (orpurna yoga, Sanskrit for full or complete yoga,sometimes also called supramental yoga) refers to theprocess of the union of all the parts of one's being withthe Divine, and the transmutation of all of their jarringelements into a harmonious state of higher divineconsciousness and existence.

Sri Aurobindo's Integral Yoga should not be confused witha trademark "Integral Yoga" of Swami Satchidananda.

Sri Aurobindo defined integral yoga in the early 1900s as"a path of integral seeking of the Divine by which all thatwe are is in the end liberated out of the Ignorance and itsundivine formations into a truth beyond the Mind, a truthnot only of highest spiritual status but of a dynamicspiritual self-manifestation in the universe."[citation needed]

He describes the nature and practice of integral yoga inhis opus The Synthesis of Yoga. As the title of that workindicates, his integral yoga is a yoga of synthesis,intended to harmonize the paths of karma, jnana, andbhakti yoga as described in the Bhagavad Gita. It canalso be considered a synthesis between Vedanta andTantra, and even between Eastern and Westernapproaches to spirituality.

Contents [hide]

1 Textual sources2 No definitive method3 The aim of integral yoga

3.1 Integral development3.2 The Realisation of Supermind

4 Dangers on the Path4.1 The Intermediate zone4.2 Other dangers

5 Components of the integral yoga5.1 Faculties ("vertical" divisions)

5.1.1 Physical5.1.2 Vital5.1.3 Mental

5.2 Types of being ("concentric" divisions)

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Sri Aurobindo and The Mother

Books

Collected Works · Life Divine · Synthesis ofYoga · Savitri · Agenda ·

Teachings

Involution/Involution · Evolution · Integraleducation · Integral psychology · Integral

yoga · Intermediate zone · Supermind

Places

Matrimandir · Pondicherry

Communities

Sri Aurobindo Ashram · Auroville

Disciples

Champaklal · N.K.Gupta · Amal Kiran ·Nirodbaran · Pavitra · M.P.Pandit ·

Pranab · A.B.Purani · D.K.Roy · Satprem ·Indra Sen · Kapali Shastri

Journals and Forums

Arya · Mother India · Collaboration

5.2.1 The Outer Being5.2.2 The Inner Being5.2.3 Psychic Being

6 Triple Transformation6.1 Introduction6.2 Psychicisation6.3 Spiritualisation6.4 Supramentalisation

7 The goal of Integral Yoga8 Notes9 Quotes10 See also11 References12 External links

Textual sourcesThe theory and practice of Integral Yoga is described inseveral works by Sri Aurobindo. His book The Synthesisof Yoga, the first version of which appeared in the Arya,was written as a practical guide, and covers all aspectsof Integral Yoga. Additional and revised material is foundin several of the later chapters of The Life Divine and inother works. Later, his replies to letters and queries bydisciples (mostly written during the early 1930s) werecollected into a series of volumes, the Letters on Yoga.There is also Sri Aurobindo's personal diary of his yogicexperiences, written during the period from 1909 to1927, and only published under the title Record of Yoga.

No definitive methodSri Aurobindo and the Mother taught that surrendering tothe ‘higher' consciousness was one of the mostimportant processes of the supramental yoga. There isno definitive method for every practitioner of the yoga,else it would not be an adventure. supramentalconsciousness would act and establish itself in Earthlylife. Both Sri Aurobindo and the mother always explainedthat how this will happen is for the divine to decide andevolve with time . The Mother decided to take this workdown to the matter at the cellular level in the late 1960's .

The aim of integral yoga

Integral developmentMost yogas, except such paths as Natya Yoga, only develop a single aspect of the being, and haveas their aim a state of liberation or transcendence. But the aim of integral yoga is the transformationof 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 SriAurobindo, who in this way formulates an entire integral psychology. The goal is then the

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transformation of the entire nature of one's being. Nothing is left behind.

The process...accepts our nature...and compels all to undergo a divine change...In thatever progressive experience, we begin to perceive how this lower manifestation isconstituted and that everything in it, however seemingly deformed or petty or vile, is theimperfect figure of some element in the divine nature.

– Sri Aurobindo, Synthesis of Yoga, p.47)

Also distinguishing Sri Aurobindo's teaching from most other mystical paths is the need fortransformation of the personal and relative nature. So the integral yoga is twofold; both a spiritualrealisation of God or Transcendence or Enlightenment, and, through this, a complete change andtransformation of both the inner and the outer nature. Through this double action, one is thus madeable and fit to manifest a divine consciousness, and in this way becomes part of a divine work.

The Realisation of SupermindSri Aurobindo considered man's present mental consciousness to be a transitional stage in terrestrialevolution, and that our civilization is at the brink of an evolutionary leap or shift towards a greater or‘supramental' experience and capacity.

With regard to supermind and mind Sri Aurobindo wrote,

‘There is an eternal dynamic Truth-consciousness beyond mind; this is what we callsupermind or gnosis. For mind is or can be a truth seeker, but not truth-conscious in itsinherent nature; its original stuff is made not of knowledge, but of ignorance.' [2]

Sri Aurobindo considered the supermind to be an all-organizing and all-coordinating principle of truth-consciousness secretly involved in the material creation and he saw its emergence as the nextlogical and inevitable step in terrestrial evolution.

Dangers on the PathSri Aurobindo also details various dangers that the sadhak may encounter on the spiritual path.

The Intermediate zoneMain article: Intermediate zone

The Intermediate zone refers to a dangerous and misleading transitional spiritual and pseudospiritualregion between the ordinary consciousness of the outer being and true spiritual realisation.

Other dangers

Components of the integral yogaIn Sri Aurobindo's integral psychology, and for that matter his metaphysic as a whole, the cosmos isdescribed in terms of two major types of distinctions or dimensions. On the one hand there is anascending dimension of physical, vital, mental, and higher, transpersonal realms. At the same time,there is the series of Outer being, the Inner being, and the inmost Psychic being. Outer, Inner, andInnermost Being form a "concentric" sequence or hierarchy, which is a counterpart to the "vertical"hierarchy of Physical, Vital, and Mental. All these faculties and levels have to be transformed throughIntegral yoga.

Faculties ("vertical" divisions)

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PhysicalLike all the faculties of the being, and in contrast to the ascetic yogas, the Physical in all its aspectsis not rejected, but has to be transformed and spiritualised through the practice of Integral Yoga. Thismeans it is necessary not only to change Physical habits and consciousness, but also to descendinto the Subconscient or Lower Unconscious, where the root of many problems lie.

VitalThe Vital refers not only to the life force but even more so to the various desires, emotions,compulsions, and likes and dislikes that strongly determine human motivation and action. In Integralyoga it is necessary to change the vital's striving away from self-centered desires and revolts, tomake it an instrument for the yoga.

MentalThe Mental faculty or part of the being, is the conceptual and cognitive mind. Through right attitude,understanding, and aspiration, the mind can be turned to the Divine

Types of being ("concentric" divisions)

The Outer BeingThe Outer Being refers to the superficial and limited physical, vital and mental surface existencewhich characterises our everyday consciousness and experience. Integral Yoga involves goingbeyond this surface consciousness to the larger life of the Inner Being, which is more open tospiritual realisation.

The Inner BeingThe Inner Being includes the inner realms or aspects of the physical, vital and mental being, whichhere have a larger, subtler, freer consciousness than that of the everyday consciousness, and itsrealisation is essential for any higher spiritual realisation.

Psychic BeingIn Integral Yoga the goal is to move inward and discover the Psychic Being, which then can bringabout a transformation of the outer nature. This transformation of the outer being or ego by thePsychic is called Psychicisation; it is one of the three necessary stages, called the Tripletransformation, in the realisation of the Supramental consciousness. This Psychic transformation isthe decisive movement that enables a never-ending progress in life through the power of connectingto one's inner spirit or Divine Essence.

Triple Transformation

IntroductionThe other major topic in Sri Aurobindo's integral yoga is the Triple transformation. This refers to theprocess through which reality is transformed into the divine. This is described in The Life Divine part2, ch.25, and Letters on Yoga part 4, section 1.

The Triple Transformation refers to the two-fold movement of spiritual transformation - the inwardpychicisation by which the sadhak gets in contact with the inner divine principle or Psychic Being, andthe spiritual transformation or spiritualisation.

The former represents the Inner Guide which is realised through the Heart, the latter can becompared to the traditional concept of Vedantic, Buddhist and popular guru Enlightenment and thedescriptions of the Causal and Ultimate stages of spiritual development in the evolutionary philosophy

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of the integral thinker Ken Wilber.

For Sri Aurobindo, both these stages are equally necessary and important, as both serve asnecessary prerequisites for the third and by far the most difficult element of change in the tripletransformation, the Supramentalisation of the entire being.

...One must first acquire an inner Yogic consciousness and replace by it our ordinary viewof things, natural movements, motives of life; one must revolutionise the whole presentbuild of our being. Next, we have to go still deeper, discover our veiled psychic entity andin 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 andmovements into a conscious instrumentation of the soul. Afterwards or concurrently wehave 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 thepersonal mind, life and physicality, dissolve the ego, enter into the cosmic consciousness,realise the self, acquire a spiritualised and universalised mind and heart, life-force,physical consciousness. Then only the passage into the supramental consciousnessbegins to become possible, and even then there is a difficult ascent to make each stage ofwhich is a separate arduous achievement.

– Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis of Yoga, 281-2

PsychicisationPsychicisation is one of the most essential stages of the integral yoga. As described in The LifeDivine (book II - chapter 25) it refers to a spiritual movement inward, so that one realises the psychicbeing - the psychic personality or Divine Soul - in the core of one's being, and enable this totransform 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), andSurrender. 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 (Synthesis of YogaPart I ch. II-III; Letters on Yoga vol. II pp.585ff (3rd ed.)) In connecting with the evolving divine soulwithin, 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 theydo not have to follow any sort of order. However, both the psychic and the spiritual transformation areequally necessary for the final stage of Supramental transformation.

SpiritualisationAs a result of the Psychic transformation, light, peace, power is drawn into and descends into thebody, transforming all of its parts — physical, vital, and mental. This is the Spiritual transformation, orSpiritualisation, which refers to the bringing down of the larger spiritual consciousness or spiritualtransformation.

The spiritual transformation in itself however is not sufficient to avoid pitfalls of the spiritual path, orbring about Supramentalisation. For that, the psychic transformation is needed as well.

SupramentalisationSupramentalisation is the ultimate stage in the integral yoga. It refers to the bringing down of theSupramental consciousness, and the resulting transformation of the entire being.

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The supramental transformation is the final stage in the integral yoga, enabling the birth of a newindividual fully formed by the supramental power. Such individuals would be the forerunners of a newtruth-consciousness based supra-humanity. All aspects of division and ignorance of consciousness atthe vital and mental levels would be overcome, replaced with a unity of consciousness at everyplane, and even the physical body transformed and divinised. A new supramental species would thenemerge, living a supramental, gnostic, divine life on earth. (The Life Divine book II ch.27-28)

The goal of Integral YogaIn Integral Yoga, the goal is not only a transcendent liberation, nirvana, or moksha as in otherspiritual 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 method and an integral result. First, an integral realisation of Divine Being; notonly a realisation of the One in its indistinguishable unity, but also in its multitude ofaspects which are also necessary to the complete knowledge of it by the relativeconsciousness; not only realisation of unity in the Self, but of unity in the infinite diversityof activities, worlds and creatures. Therefore, also, an integral liberation. Not only thefreedom 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 onlythe salokyalmukti by which the whole conscious existence dwells in the same status ofbeing as the Divine, in the state of Sachchidananda; but also the acquisition of the divinenature 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 theconsciousness 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 worldand beyond all universe.

– Sri Aurobindo, Synthesis of Yoga, pp.47-48)

God Descends to the Mundane

Swami Ramakrishnananda, in his book “Yoga Union with Reality”, writes about the goal of integralyoga according to Sri Aurobindo’s teaching:

In his description of integral yoga, Sri Aurobindo refers to “having God descend to themundane”. In Hassidism, it is said “make Him a dwelling in the lower worlds”. However, ifwe go deeper, we will discover that the descent of heaven to earth is the revelation thatthe division of the material from the spiritual, or above from below, only exists in our egoicperspective, and that nothing needs to come down, because heaven is much closer thanwe believe and God dwells within us.

– Swami Ramakrishnananda, Yoga Union with Reality - Chapter 1:Purna Yoga [1]

Notes1. ^ Swami Ramakrishnananda, Yoga Union with Reality, Chapter 1: Purna Yoga, Section:What is Purna

Yoga

Quotes

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"The movement of nature is twofold: divine and undivine. The distinction is only for practicalpurposes since there is nothing that is not divine. The undivine nature, that which we are andmust remain so long as the faith in us is not changed, acts through limitation and ignorance andculminates in the life of the ego; but the divine nature acts by unification and knowledge, andculminates in life divine. The passage from the lower to the higher may effect itself by thetransformation of the lower and its elevation to the higher nature. It is this that must be the aimof an integral yoga."

-- The Synthesis of Yoga

What is the integral yoga?

It is a way of complete God-realisation, a complete Self-realisation, a complete fulfillment of ourbeing and consciousness, a complete transformation of our nature - and this implies a completeperfection of life here and not only a return to an eternal perfection elsewhere

-- Sri Aurobindo Archives and Research, Dec 1982, p.197

"The method we have to pursue, then, is to put our whole conscious being into contact with thedivine and to call him in to transform our entire being into his, so that in a sense god himself, thereal person in us, becomes the sadhaka of the sadhana as well as the master of the yoga bywhom the lower personality is used. "

-- The Synthesis of Yoga

All life is a Yoga of Nature seeking to manifest God within itself. Yoga marks the stage at whichthis effort becomes capable of self-awareness and therefore of right completion in the individual.It is a gathering up and concentration of the movements dispersed and loosely combined in thelower evolution."

-- The Synthesis of Yoga p.47

The first word of the supramental Yoga is surrender; its last word also is surrender. It is by a willto give oneself to the eternal Divine, for lifting into the divine consciousness, for perfection, fortransformation, that the Yoga begins; it is in the entire giving that it culminates; for it is only whenthe self-giving is complete that there comes the finality of the Yoga, the entire taking up into thesupramental Divine, the perfection of the being, the transformation of the nature."

- Sri Aurobindo ‘Seven drafts on Supramental Yoga [for "The Path"] from 1928-1929 to late1930's as found on ‘Bernard's Site for Sri Aurobindo and the Mother'

... to do the integral yoga one must first resolve to surrender entirely to the Divine, there is noother way, this is the way. But after that one must have the five psychological virtues, fivepsychological perfections and we say that the perfections are

1.Sincerity or Transparency2.Faith or Trust (Trust in the Divine)3.Devotion or Gratitude4.Courage or Inspiration5.Endurance or Perseverance

The Mother, Collected Works of the Mother Vol.8 p.42

See alsoIntegral thoughtInvolution (Sri Aurobindo)

ReferencesSri Aurobindo, The Synthesis of Yoga, fifth edition, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust 1999

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Spirituality

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not to be confused with Spiritualism.

Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or immaterialreality;[1] an inner path enabling a person to discover theessence of their being; or the “deepest values andmeanings by which people live.”[2] Spiritual practices,including meditation, prayer and contemplation, areintended to develop an individual's inner life; such practicesoften lead to an experience of connectedness with a largerreality, yielding a more comprehensive self; with otherindividuals or the human community; with nature or thecosmos; or with the divine realm.[3] Spirituality is oftenexperienced as a source of inspiration or orientation inlife.[4] It can encompass belief in immaterial realities orexperiences of the immanent or transcendent nature of theworld.

Contents [hide]

1 Definition2 Spiritual path3 Religion4 Science5 Personal well-being6 Near-death experience (NDE)7 Opposition8 Positive psychology9 Origin10 History11 Study12 See also13 Notes and references14 Further reading15 External links

Definition

This section requires expansion with:more about how the different religionsdefine spirituality.

Traditionally, religions have regarded spirituality as an integral aspect of religious experience. Manydo still equate spirituality with religion, but declining membership of organized religions and thegrowth of secularism in the western world has given rise to a broader view of spirituality.

The Helix Nebula, sometimes called the"Eye of God"

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Secular spirituality carries connotations of an individual having a spiritual outlook which is morepersonalized, less structured, more open to new ideas/influences, and more pluralistic than that of thedoctrinal faiths of organized religions. At one end of the spectrum, even some atheists are spiritual.While atheism tends to lean towards skepticism regarding supernatural claims and the existence of anactual "spirit", some atheists define "spiritual" as nurturing thoughts, emotions, words and actions thatare in harmony with a belief that the entire universe is, in some way, connected; even if only by themysterious flow of cause and effect at every scale.[5]

In contrast, those of a more 'New-Age' disposition see spirituality as the active connection to someforce/power/energy/spirit, facilitating a sense of a deep self.

For some, spirituality includes introspection, and the development of an individual's inner life throughpractices such as meditation, prayer and contemplation. Some modern religions also see spirituality ineverything: see pantheism and neo-Pantheism. In a similar vein, Religious Naturalism has a spiritualattitude towards the awe, majesty and mystery it sees in the natural world.

For a Christian, to refer to him or herself as "more spiritual than religious"[citation needed] may (but notalways) imply relative deprecation of rules, rituals, and tradition while preferring an intimaterelationship with God. The basis for this belief is that Jesus Christ came to free humankind fromthose rules, rituals, and traditions, giving humankind the ability to "walk in the spirit" thus maintaininga "Christian" lifestyle through that one-to-one relationship with God.

Spiritual pathSpirituality, in a wide variety of cultural and religious concepts, is itself often seen as incorporating aspiritual path, along which one advances to achieve a given objective, such as a higher state ofawareness, outreach wisdom or communion with God or with creation. Plato's Allegory of the Cave,which appears in book VII of The Republic, is a description of such a journey, as are the writings ofTeresa of Avila. The spiritual journey is a path that has a dimension primarily subjective andindividual. For a spiritual path may be considered a path of short duration, directed at a specifictarget, or a lifetime. Every event of life is part of this journey, but in particular one can introduce somesignificant moments or milestones, such as the practice of various spiritual disciplines (includingmeditation, prayer, fasting), the comparison with a person believed with deep spiritual experience(called a teacher, assistant or spiritual preceptor, guru or otherwise, depending on the culturalcontext), the personal approach to sacred texts, etc. If the spiritual path is the same in whole or inpart, with an initiatory path, there may be real evidence to overcome. Such tests usually before asocial significance, are a "test" for the individual of his reaching a certain level. Spirituality is alsodescribed as a process in two phases: the first on inner growth, and the second on the manifestationof this result daily in the world. [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17]

ReligionWhilst the terms spirituality and religion can both refer to the search for the Absolute or God, anincreasing number of people have come to see the two as separate entities, religion being just oneway in which humans can experience spirituality. Cultural historian and yogi William Irwin Thompsonstates, "Religion is not identical with spirituality; rather religion is the form spirituality takes incivilization."[citation needed]

Those who speak of spirituality outside of religion often define themselves as "spiritual but notreligious" and generally believe in the existence of many different "spiritual paths" - emphasizing theimportance of finding one's own individual path to spirituality. According to one poll, some 24±4% ofthe United States population identifies itself as spiritual but not religious.[18] One might say then, thata key difference is that religion is a type of formal external search, while spirituality is defined as asearch within oneself.

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The experience of 'spirituality'; the human emotions of awe, wonder and reverence, are also theprovince of the secular/scientific, in response to their highest values,[vague] or when observing orstudying nature, or the universe.[19]

ScienceSee also: Relationship between religion and science and Quantum mysticism

A number of authors have suggested that there are spiritual consequences of quantum physics.Examples are physicist-philosopher Fritjof Capra;[20] Ken Wilber, who proposes an "Integral Theoryof Consciousness"; theoretical nuclear physicist Amit Goswami, who views a universalconsciousness, not matter, as the ground of all existence (monistic idealism); Ervin László, whoposits the "quantum vacuum" as the fundamental energy- and information-carrying field ("Akashicfield") that informs not just the current universe, but all universes past and present (collectively, the"Metaverse").[21]

Personal well-beingIn keeping with a general increase in interest in spirituality and complementary and alternativetreatments, prayer has garnered attention among some behavioral scientists. Masters andSpielmans[22] have conducted a meta-analysis of the effects of distant intercessory prayer, butdetected no discernible effects.

Spirituality has played a central role in self-help movements such as Alcoholics Anonymous: "...if analcoholic failed to perfect and enlarge his spiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, hecould not survive the certain trials and low spots ahead...."[23]

If spirituality is understood as the search for or the development of inner peace or the foundations ofhappiness, then spiritual practice of some kind is essential for personal well being. This activity mayor may not include belief in supernatural beings. If one has such a belief and feels that relationship tosuch beings is the foundation of happiness then spiritual practice will be pursued on that basis: if onehas no such belief spiritual practice is still essential for the management and understanding ofthoughts and emotions which otherwise prevent happiness. Many techniques and practices developedand explored in religious contexts, such as meditation, are immensely valuable in themselves asskills for managing aspects of the inner life.[24][25]

Near-death experience (NDE)Main article: Near death experience

If consciousness exists apart from the body, which includes the brain, one is attached not only to thematerial world, but to a non-temporal (spiritual) world as well. This thesis is considered to beanalyzed by testing the reports from people who have experienced death. However, someresearchers consider that NDEs are actually REM intrusions triggered in the brain by traumaticevents like cardiac arrest[26].

OppositionThe scientific method takes as its basis empirical, repeatable observations of the natural world.Critics such as William F. Williams have labeled spirituality as pseudoscientific and opposed ideasand beliefs that include supernatural forces yet are presented as having a scientific character, citingthe imprecision of spiritual concepts and the subjectivity of spiritual experience.[citation needed]

Positive psychology

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Spirituality has been studied in positive psychology and defined as the search for "the sacred," where"the sacred" is broadly defined as that which is set apart from the ordinary and worthy of veneration.Spirituality can be sought not only through traditional organized religions, but also throughmovements such as the feminist theology and ecological spirituality (see Green politics). Spirituality isassociated with mental health, managing substance abuse, marital functioning, parenting, andcoping. It has been suggested that spirituality also leads to finding purpose and meaning in life.[27]

OriginSee Timeline of religion and Evolutionary origin of religions

HistorySee also: History of religion

Spiritual innovators who operated within the context of a religious tradition became marginalized orsuppressed as heretics or separated out as schismatics. In these circumstances, anthropologistsgenerally treat so-called "spiritual" practices such as shamanism in the sphere of the religious, andclass even non-traditional activities such as those of Robespierre's Cult of the Supreme Being in theprovince of religion.[28]

Eighteenth-century Enlightenment thinkers, often opposed to clericalism and skeptical of religion,sometimes came to express their more emotional responses to the world under the rubric of "theSublime" rather than discussing "spirituality". The spread of the ideas of modernity began to diminishthe role of religion in society and in popular thought.

Schmidt sees Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) as a pioneer of the idea of spirituality as a distinctfield.[29] In the wake of the Nietzschean concept of the "death of God" in 1882, people notpersuaded by scientific rationalism turned increasingly to the idea of spirituality as an alternative bothto materialism and to traditional religious dogma.

Important early 20th century writers who studied the phenomenon of spirituality include William James(The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902)) and Rudolph Otto (especially The Idea of the Holy(1917)).

The distinction between the spiritual and the religious became more common in the popular mindduring the late 20th century with the rise of secularism and the advent of the New Age movement.Authors such as Chris Griscom and Shirley MacLaine explored it in numerous ways in their books.Paul Heelas noted the development within New Age circles of what he called "seminarspirituality":[30] structured offerings complementing consumer choice with spiritual options.

StudyThe scholarly field of spirituality remains ill-defined. It overlaps with disciplines such as theology,religious studies, kabbalah, anthropology, sociology, psychology, parapsychology, pneumatology,monadology, logic (if involving a spiritual Logos) and esotericism.

In the late 19th century a Pakistani scholar Khwaja Shamsuddin Azeemi wrote of and taught aboutthe science of Islamic spirituality, of which the best known form remains the Sufi tradition (famousthrough Rumi and Hafez) in which a spiritual master or pir transmits spiritual discipline tostudents.[31]

Building on both the Western esoteric tradition and theosophy,[32] Rudolf Steiner and others in theanthroposophic tradition have attempted to apply systematic methodology to the study of spiritualphenomena,[33] building upon ontological and epistemological questions that arose out oftranscendental philosophy.[34] This enterprise does not attempt to redefine natural science, but toexplore inner experience — especially our thinking — with the same rigor that we apply to outer