by Ashesh Joshi
“The Spirit shall look out through Matter’s gaze
And Matter shall reveal the Spirit’s face. ”
– Sri Aurobindo
The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother aims at manifestation of the Divine Life upon Earth. The One Truth, variously experienced is within us all. Evolution, according to Sri Aurobindo is possible because there has been an involution of THAT in the first place. Progressively self-manifesting, grades of consciousness emerge, matter, life, mind etc.
In Man, Nature finally becomes capable of individually realising the creative power of the Divine and manifesting it, of accelerating the evolution and taking it to the next level. We are looking at a life which is ready to step beyond mind, to give birth to the next principle of consciousness, what Sri Aurobindo terms, the principle of Supermind.
The goal is to realise the One Self, equal in all things; Individual, Universal and at the same time Transcendent and to realise it not somewhere else but here, on this very earth. To put our human instrumental consciousness in contact with the higher consciousness, so that by the power of the higher, ours can be transformed. In other words, to realise the Self and its power and then to manifest it in our mind, life and body, realising an integral perfection in ourselves and a life divine upon earth.
Not to withdraw from the fields of consciousness but to embrace and elevate life becomes our prime challenge then. And this we can achieve by opening to the workings of the Supreme Truth-Consciousness and involving Her action and power in our efforts for perfection. According to Veda – the most ancient Indian spiritual text, the Creative principle of the Divine, the Divine as the Mother or simply, the Divine Mother, is the Mother of all. Sri Aurobindo emphasises the importance of an all-inclusive concentration on the Divine Mother, of making Her the leader of our spiritual journey, establishing her as the priestess of our spiritual discipline and above all, realising Her as the Mother of our whole being, individual and collective.
The journey begins by realizing the psychic or the soul seated deep in our mystic heart, the flame of love within, the evolving divinity which is our secret guide and is meant to lead us towards a higher life. And the method is simply to love the Mother at all times, offer her one’s all life, thoughts, feelings, movements and actions and call her peace, wideness, light and knowledge from above to descend in oneself. The soul within coming forward and leading our life towards a spiritual change is the second step. Psychicisation, spiritualisaion and finally supramentalisation are the three steps leading to the transformation of our nature.
“The psychic [evolving soul of the individual] will be the vehicle of true and pure love, the mind that of infallible knowledge, the vital will manifest an invincible power and strength and the body will be the expression of a perfect beauty and a perfect harmony.”
– The Mother