The Synthesis of Yoga 23-24 © Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust 1999 Published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department Printed at Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry PRINTED IN INDIA VOLUMES 23 and 24 THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SRI AUROBINDO The Synthesis of Yoga Publisher’s Note The Synthesis of Yoga first appeared serially in the monthly review Arya between August 1914 and January 1921. Each instalment was written immediately before its publication. The work was left incomplete when the Arya was discontinued. Sri Aurobindo never attempted to complete the Synthesis;hedid, however, lightly revise the Introduction, thoroughly revise all of Part I, “The Yoga of Divine Works”, and significantly revise several chapters of Part II, “The Yoga of Integral Knowledge”. More than thirty years elapsed between the first appearance of the Synthesis in the Arya and the final stages of its incomplete revision. As a result, there are some differences of terminology between the revised and unrevised portions of the book. In 1948 the chapters making up “The Yoga of Divine Works” were published as a book by the Sri Aurobindo Library, Madras. No other part of The Synthesis of Yoga appeared in book-form during Sri Aurobindo’s lifetime. In 1955 an edition comprising the Introduction and four Parts was brought out by the Sri Aurobindo International University Centre. The present edition, which has been checked against all manuscripts and printed texts, includes for the first time the author’s revisions to the Introduction and Chapters XV – XVII of Part II, and an incomplete continuation of Part IV entitled “The Supramental Time Consciousness”. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION THE CONDITIONS OF THE SYNTHESIS Chapter I Life and Yoga 5 Chapter II The Three Steps of Nature 9 Chapter III The Threefold Life 20 Chapter IV The Systems of Yoga 31 Chapter V The Synthesis of the Systems 41 PART I THE YOGA OF DIVINE WORKS Chapter I The Four Aids 53 Chapter II Self-Consecration 69 Chapter III Self-Surrender in Works — The Way of the Gita 89 Chapter IV The Sacrifice, the Triune Path and the Lord of the Sacrifice 106 Chapter V The Ascent of the Sacrifice – 1 The Works of Knowledge — The Psychic Being 134 CONTENTS Chapter VI The Ascent of the Sacrifice – 2 The Works of Love — The Works of Life 158 Chapter VII Standards of Conduct and Spiritual Freedom 188 Chapter VIII The Supreme Will 208 Chapter IX Equality and the Annihilation of Ego 221 Chapter X The Three Modes of Nature 232 Chapter XI The Master of the Work 243 Chapter XII The Divine Work 264 Appendix to Part I Chapter XIII The Supermind and the Yoga of Works 279 PART II THE YOGA OF INTEGRAL KNOWLEDGE Chapter I The Object of Knowledge 287 Chapter II The Status of Knowledge 300 Chapter III The Purified Understanding 308 Chapter IV Concentration 317 Chapter V Renunciation 326 CONTENTS Chapter VI The Synthesis of the Disciplines of Knowledge 335 Chapter VII The Release from Subjection to the Body 343 Chapter VIII The Release from the Heart and the Mind 350 Chapter IX The Release from the Ego 356 Chapter X The Realisation of the Cosmic Self 368 Chapter XI The Modes of the Self 374 Chapter XII The Realisation of Sachchidananda 383 Chapter XIII The Difficulties of the Mental Being 391 Chapter XIV The Passive and the Active Brahman 400 Chapter XV The Cosmic Consciousness 409 Chapter XVI Oneness 419 Chapter XVII The Soul and Nature 426 Chapter XVIII The Soul and Its Liberation 436 Chapter XIX The Planes of Our Existence 446 Chapter XX The Lower Triple Purusha 457 Chapter XXI The Ladder of Self-Transcendence 465 CONTENTS Chapter XXII Vijnana or Gnosis 475 Chapter XXIII The Conditions of Attainment to the Gnosis 488 Chapter XXIV Gnosis and Ananda 498 Chapter XXV The Higher and the Lower Knowledge 511 Chapter XXVI Samadhi 519 Chapter XXVII Hathayoga 528 Chapter XXVIII Rajayoga 536 PART III THE YOGA OF DIVINE LOVE Chapter I Love and the Triple Path 545 Chapter II The Motives of Devotion 552 Chapter III The Godward Emotions 561 Chapter IV The Way of Devotion 571 Chapter V The Divine Personality 577 Chapter VI The Delight of the Divine 587 Chapter VII The Ananda Brahman 593 [...]... and the power of the strong and the purity of the wise Under the control of the LifeEnergy is all this that is established in the triple heaven.”2 It is therefore no integral Yoga that kills these vital energies, forces them into a nerveless quiescence or roots them out as the source 1 ¯ annakosa and pranakosa 2 Prasna Upanishad II 6 and 13 12 The Conditions of the Synthesis of noxious activities Their... Nature’s other instincts, the reproduction of the individual and the conservation of the type in the family, class or community Self, domesticity, the accustomed order of the society and of the nation are the constituents of the material existence Its immense importance in the economy of Nature is self-evident, and commensurate is the importance of the human type which represents it He assures her of the. .. as if they were the entire aim of existence But the bodily life in man is a base, not the aim, his first condition and not his last determinant In the just idea of the ancients man is essentially the thinker, the Manu, the mental being who leads the life and the body,3 not the animal who is led by them The true human existence, therefore, only begins when the intellectual mentality emerges out of the. .. VIII The Liberation of the Spirit 674 Chapter IX The Liberation of the Nature 682 Chapter X The Elements of Perfection 691 Chapter XI The Perfection of Equality 698 Chapter XII The Way of Equality 709 Chapter XIII The Action of Equality 721 CONTENTS Chapter XIV The Power of the Instruments 729 Chapter XV Soul-Force and the Fourfold Personality 740 Chapter XVI The Divine Shakti 752 Chapter XVII The Action... Appendix to Part IV Chapter XXVI The Supramental Time Consciousness 907 The Synthesis of Yoga “All life is Yoga. ” Sri Aurobindo in 1950 Introduction The Conditions of the Synthesis Chapter I Life and Yoga T HERE are two necessities of Nature’s workings which seem always to intervene in the greater forms of human activity, whether these belong to our ordinary fields of movement or seek those exceptional...CONTENTS Chapter VIII The Mystery of Love 599 PART IV THE YOGA OF SELF-PERFECTION Chapter I The Principle of the Integral Yoga 609 Chapter II The Integral Perfection 616 Chapter III The Psychology of Self-Perfection 623 Chapter IV The Perfection of the Mental Being 632 Chapter V The Instruments of the Spirit 643 Chapter VI Purification — The Lower Mentality 654 Chapter VII Purification... by 22 The Conditions of the Synthesis the imperfections and limitations of the forms and activities in which it dwells, are the glory of the spiritual life In each of these forms Nature acts both individually and collectively; for the Eternal affirms Himself equally in the single form and in the group-existence, whether family, clan and nation or groupings dependent on less physical principles or the. .. manifestation, by which these supreme Powers in their unity and their diversity use, develop and perfect the imperfect substance and activities of Matter, of Life and of Mind so that they, the inferior modes, may express in mutable relativity an increasing harmony of the divine and eternal states from which they are born If this be the truth of the universe, then the goal of evolution is also its cause, it is... steps of ascent And we have consequently as the condition of all our activities these three mutually interdependent possibilities, the bodily life, the mental existence and the veiled spiritual being which is in the involution the cause of the others and in the evolution their result Preserving and perfecting the physical, fulfilling the mental, it is Nature’s aim and it should be ours to unveil in the. .. sustained, but the fullest developments of mentality are rendered possible This equilibrium constitutes the basic status of Nature in man and is termed in the language of Yoga his gross body composed The Three Steps of Nature 11 of the material or food sheath and the nervous system or vital vehicle.1 If, then, this inferior equilibrium is the basis and first means of the higher movements which the universal . Consciousness”. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION THE CONDITIONS OF THE SYNTHESIS Chapter I Life and Yoga 5 Chapter II The Three Steps of Nature 9 Chapter III The Threefold Life 20 Chapter IV The Systems of Yoga 31 Chapter V The Synthesis of. Sacrifice, the Triune Path and the Lord of the Sacrifice 106 Chapter V The Ascent of the Sacrifice – 1 The Works of Knowledge — The Psychic Being 134 CONTENTS Chapter VI The Ascent of the Sacrifice – 2 The. Pondicherry PRINTED IN INDIA VOLUMES 23 and 24 THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SRI AUROBINDO The Synthesis of Yoga Publisher’s Note The Synthesis of Yoga first appeared serially in the monthly review Arya between August