Section One PREFACE To start with, it is important to know what we as human beings are and what our life is. Under the Divine Wisdom, the earth has evolved from matter to plant life and then to animal life. Evolution from animal to man is not the final stage. Humanity is under the sway of dark and ignorant forces and that is the reason for human sufferings, disease and death—all the signs of imperfection. It is clear that man has to progress towards a Light which brings knowledge, power, happiness, love, beauty and even physical immortality. The Divine is the essence of the whole universe and to realise and possess Him should be the supreme aim of

APPENDIX I THE PASSING OF SRI AUROBINDO AND HIS RETURN The Mother : To Thee who hast been the material envelop of our Master, to Thee our infinite gratitude. Before Thee who hast done so much for us, who hast worked, struggled, suffered, hoped, endured so much, before Thee who hast willed all, attempted all, prepared, achieved all for us, before Thee we bow down and implore that we may never forget, even for a moment, all we owe to Thee. 9-12-1950 The lack of receptivity of the earth and men is mostly responsible for the decision Sri Aurobindo has taken regarding his body. But one thing is certain; what has happened on the physical plane affects in no way the

its lower members and raise to divinity in itself and others—this human existence. HUMAN SERVICE All work done in an egoistic spirit, however good for people in the world of the Ignorance, is of no avail to the seeker of the Yoga. The idea of usefulness to humanity is the old confusion due to secondhand ideas imported from the West. Obviously, to be 'useful' to humanity there is no need of Yoga; everyone who leads the human life is useful to humanity in one way or another. Yoga is directed towards God, not towards man. If a divine supramental consciousness and power can be brought down and established in the materia

A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO INTEGRAL YOGA A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO INTEGRAL YOGA (Extracts compiled from the writings of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother) SRI AUROBINDO ASHRAM. PONDICHERRY 1959 Publishers: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Pondicherry All Rights Reserved First Published... June, 1955 Second Edition... June, 1958 Third Edition... June, 1959 © Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press Pondicherry PRINTED IN INDIA 389/59/1500 THIS WORK I DEDICATE TO THE LOTUS FEET OF THE DIVINE MOTHER, THE SOLE MASTER OF MY BEIN

A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO INTEGRAL YOGA Contents Pre-Content Section One Preface Introductory Humanity Divine Lila (Play) Aim and Object of Yoga Past Yogas and the Integral Yoga Avatarhood (Manifestation) Sri Aurobindo on Himself Sri Aurobindo on the Mother Process of Sadhana Sadhak's Attitude Aids in Sadhana :- Aspiration Equanimity

  A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO INTEGRAL YOGA Contents Pre-Content Section One   Preface   Introductory   Humanity   Divine Lila (Play)   Aim and Object of Yoga   Past Yogas and the Integral Yoga   Avatarhood (Manifestation)   Sri Aurobindo on Himself   Sri Aurobindo on the Mother   Process of Sadhana   Sadhak's Attitude         Aid

Section Three PRAYERS AND MEDITATIONS OF THE MOTHER Our artificial and exterior way of seeing and understanding is, if it may be so said, foreign to Thee, opposed to Thy nature. All my thoughts go towards Thee, all my acts are consecrated to Thee; Thy Presence is for me an absolute, immutable, invariable fact, and Thy Peace dwells constantly in my heart. Yet I know that this state of union is poor and precarious compared with that which it will become possible for me to realise tomorrow, and I am as yet far, no doubt very far, from that identification in which I shall totally lose the notion of the "I". The daily activity is the anvil on w

for desire itself arises from an unillumined vital being and its ignorance. You can break moral rules only when you observe the divine Law. MOTHER'S WORKING The Mother deals with each one in a different way, according to their need and their nature, not according to any fixed mental rule. It would be absurd for her to do the same thing with everybody as if all were machines which had to be touched and handled in the same way. It does not at all mean that she has more affection for one than for another, or those she touches in a particular way are better sadhaks or less so. The sadhaks think in that way because they are full

  A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO INTEGRAL YOGA A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO INTEGRAL YOGA   (Extracts compiled from the writings of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother)   SRI AUROBINDO ASHRAM. PONDICHERRY 1959 Publishers: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Pondicherry   All Rights Reserved   First Published... June, 1955 Second Edition... June, 1958 Third Edition... June, 1959     ©     Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press Pondicherry PRINTED IN INDIA 389/59/1500 THIS WORK I DEDICATE TO THE LOTUS FEET OF THE DIVINE MOTHER, THE SOLE MASTE

Section Two Section Two ART If Art's service is but to imitate Nature, then burn all the picture galleries and let us have instead photographic studios. It is because Art reveals what Nature hides that a small picture is worth more than all the jewels of the millionaires and the treasures of the princes. If you only imitate visible Nature, you will perpetrate either a corpse, a dead sketch or a monstrosity; Truth lives in that which goes behind and beyond the visible and sensible. It is wrong to measure the greatness of any art like that. Each of the great arts has its own appeal and its own way of appeal and ea