INTEGRAL YOGA & TRADITIONAL YOGAS

Sri Aurobindo makes an essential distinction between the goal of the traditional yogas and the goal of Integral Yoga. The goal of the traditional yogas is to escape to the unmanifest, the Non-Being. The traditional yogas say we should liberate our soul from bondage to mind, life and matter. Sri Aurobindo says the real goal of yoga is to transform mind, life and matter, to divinize them.

There is another important difference between this yoga and the others. The individual who escapes into Nirvana escapes all by himself. The individual soul that realizes the Parabrahman realizes it only for himself. But the Integral Yoga is a yoga that no one can do for himself. It is a collective yoga that transforms life universally. It is a yoga in which the individual who calls Mother calls Her for all humanity. It is like praying for rain. You cannot pray for rain just for yourself. The rain falls for everyone. When you call Mother, she does not just come for you alone, She comes for everyone. And that is the yoga they were doing, bringing down the Supramental Force for everybody. When we make a progress, that progress is not just for us individually. We are representatives of humanity. Everyone who shares a similar trait or attitude or difficulty, also receives a benefit. When you seek a privilege or protection because of your friendship with a minister, you obtain an individual boon. When you obtain the same boon by a change in the law, you achieve something for everyone in similar circumstances. The law applies to all. Progress in Integral Yoga is like changing the laws for humanity. Our progress is a progress for everyone.

The traditional yogas that seek to know the Absolute through the instrumentation of mind lead to the discovery of the Parabrahman. The Gita, which seeks to relate to the Divine through the heart, enables the devotee to reach the Purushottama through Bhakti. Through the Integral Yoga, through the psychic, we rise to the Parameshwara, to the Supermind. This explains why different yogas lead to different results. The motive of our actions determines the result we achieve. The motive of this yoga is perfection in life, not escape from life. Therefore we reach the Divine power which is lord and master of life and has the power for perfection in life.

In the book he explains the process by which we can overcome division to achieve this goal. The first step to get out of the limited situation we are in is to go within and bring the psychic forward. We should go from the surface mind to the depths, reach the psychic and bring it to the surface. Once we have realized the psychic and it comes forward, we can experience the eternal Self behind, without ever losing our hold on the world. But in aspiring for perfection in life, we must not limit ourselves to the evolution, any more than the yogi seeking liberation should be limited to his liberation. We have to have the full realization. We must also know the Transcendent. We must not only know the soul, the Jivatma, but also the Transcendent behind the creation. Finally, we must call down the power from the Supermind, the creative power of the Supramental Mother, into our mind, vital and body to transform them. This is how the Integral Yoga differs from the yogas that seek just liberation for the individual soul.

Four Steps to Overcome Division