Also by Kireet Joshi Education/or Character Development Education for Tomorrow Education at Crossroads A National Agenda for Education Sri Aurobindo and Integral Yoga Sri Aurobindo and the Mother Landmarks of Hinduism The Veda and Indian Culture Glimpses of Vedic Literature The Portals of Vedic Knowledge Bhagavadgita and Contemporary Crisis Philosophy and Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and Other Essays A Philosophy of the Role of the Contemporary Teacher A Philosophy of Evolution for the Contemporary Man A Philosophy of Education for the Contemporary Youth Edited by Kireet Joshi The Aim of Life The Good

9 Limitations of the Mind as an Instrument of Yogic Experience In this movement, realization adds itself to realization. In other words, the process of this Yoga is progressive. The reason for this progressive movement is that the instrument which is used for this Yoga is primarily connected with the mind. And the nature of the mind has certain inherent difficulties which prevent direct integral realization of the integral Reality, which is the primary objective of this synthetic yoga. Sri Aurobindo points out that when the mental being seeks to know the Divine, it falls short as an instrument to realize the Object of real

2 Quest of Supra-physical Realities: Four Avenues A crucial problem of Thought as also of Life is centered on the distinction between the physical and the supra-physical, on the possibility of transition from the physical to the supra-physical, and on establishing, if possible, the relation between the physical realities and supra-physical realities. It is, indeed, possible to question the existence of the supra-physical, and several systems of thought and philosophy have been built in the course of human history to convince the human mind that there is no such thing as the supra-physical, and that all that can be considered to be supra-physi

1 The Quest and Denials A pilgrim of our times, earnest in his quest and scrupulous in his methods, burning with a single aspiration to search for truth and to consecrate himself to the tasks that would flow from that search for the fulfilment of himself and for the eventual fulfilment of the human journey, finds himself arrested by various forms of denial and scepticism that pronounce the message that the present organisation of consciousness is the last limit and that the only course of rationality or reasonableness is to limit himself to the boundaries of that organisation and be content with limited certainties and probabilities and ever crumbling ideals of

6 Another Line of Inquiry: Verifiability of Spiritual Experiences One very helpful idea, which has been suggested, is that, in order to determine as to, in which among various religions lies the right way, is not to compare doctrines but to compare spiritual experiences which lie at the roots of religions. In the history of Indian religion, the effort to compare the nature and contents of underlying spiritual experiences has been very prominent. There are, however, religions which, although founded on spiritual experiences consisting of visions, voices, intuitions, revelations or inspirations of the founders or some rare individuals, explicitly or impli

3 Spirituality and Yoga In the history of human quest, the field of direct spiritual experience has come to be cultivated, both intensively and extensively. This cultivation has come to be explored and practiced systematically in various cultures of the world, and in India, this systematic exploration and practice have been recognized as Yoga, and it has come to be clearly distinguished from religion, occultism and philosophy. Yoga18 is a systematic and methodized pursuit of spirituality and direct spiritual experience. Spirituality, in its distinctiveness, aims at the knowledge and possession of the Spirit, as distinguished from Mind, Life and Matter; it