SURRENDER AND OPENING The whole principle of this Yoga is to give oneself entirely to the Divine alone and to nobody and nothing else, and to bring down into ourselves by union with the Divine Mother all the transcendent light, power, wideness, peace, purity, Truth-consciousness and Ananda of the Supramental Divine. * Radha is the personification of the absolute love for the Divine, total and integral in all parts of the being from the highest spiritual to the physical, bringing the absolute self-giving and total consecration of all the being and calling down into the body and the most material nature the supreme Ananda. * Purity is to accept no other

PLANES AND PARTS OF THE BEING Men do not know themselves and have not learned to distinguish the different parts of their being; for these are usually lumped together by them as mind, because it is through a mentalised perception and understanding that they know or feel them; therefore they do not understand their own states and actions, or, if at all, then only on the surface. It is part of the foundation of Yoga to become conscious of the great complexity of our nature, see the different forces that move it and get over it a control of directing knowledge. We are composed of many parts each of which contributes something to the total movement of our consciousne

Lights on Yoga   Contents   Pre-Content     The Goal   Planes and Parts of the Being   Surrender and Opening   Work   Appendix   Glossary

APPENDIX* SOME EXPLANATIONS "The difference or contrast between the Personal and Impersonal is a truth of the Overmind _ there is no separate truth of them in the Supermind, they are inseparably one." (P.5) If this refers to the Personal and Impersonal Divine, the question of the difference can hardly arise, because the Personal Divine (i.e. the Avatar) is not always there. It is only very rarely that the Divine becomes the Avatar to come on earth. I do not understand. The Personal Divine does not mean the Avatar. What I said was that the scission between the two aspects of the Divine is a creation of the Overmind which takes various aspects of the Divine and se

  LIGHTS ON YOGA   SRI AUROBINDO       LIGHTS ON YOGA         SRI AUROBINDO ASHRAM PONDICHERRY First edition: 1935 Ninth edition: 1981 Fifth impression: 2000         ISBN 81-7058-057-9 © Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust 1981 Published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department  Printed at Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry   PRINTED IN INDIA   These are extracts from letters written by Sri Aurobindo to his disciples in answer to their queries. They have been put together and arranged so as to be of some help

THE GOAL The way of Yoga followed here has a different purpose from others, - for its aim is not only to rise out of the ordinary ignorant world-consciousness into the divine consciousness, but to bring the supramental power of that divine consciousness down into the ignorance of mind, life and body, to transform them, to manifest the Divine here and create a divine life in Matter. This is an exceedingly difficult aim and difficult Yoga; to many or most it will seem impossible. All the established forces of the ordinary ignorant world-consciousness are opposed to it and deny it and try to prevent it, and the Sadhak will find his own mind, life and body full of the most obstinate impedi

GLOSSARY ādhāra (Adhar): Vessel, receptacle - the system of mind, life and body considered as a receptacle of the spiritual consciousness and force. advaita (Adwaita): Monism, monistic. advaita vedānta (Adwaita Vedanta): The monistic school of Vedanta. ājnā cakra: Will centre - see cakra. anāhata: See cakra. ānanda (Ananda): Bliss, delight - the divine or spiritual bliss. antarātman (Antaratman): Inner self, soul. aparā prakrti (Apara Prakriti): The inferior nature, Nature in the lower manifestation of the Ignorance. atman (Atman): Self. ātmarati: The peace and joy inherent in the self. avatāra (Avatar): The descent of the Divi

LIGHTS ON YOGA SRI AUROBINDO LIGHTS ON YOGA SRI AUROBINDO ASHRAM PONDICHERRY First edition: 1935 Ninth edition: 1981 Fifth impression: 2000 ISBN 81-7058-057-9 © Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust 1981 Published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department Printed at Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry PRINTED IN INDIA These are extracts from letters written by Sri Aurobindo to his disciples in answer to their queries. They have been put together and arranged so as to be of some help to aspirants for the understanding and practice of the Yoga.

WORK To go entirely inside in order to have experiences and to neglect the work, the external consciousness, is to be unbalanced, one-sided in the Sadhana - for our Yoga is integral; so also to throw oneself outward and live in the external being alone is to be unbalanced, one-sided in the Sadhana. One must have the same consciousness in inner experience and outward action and make both full of the Mother. * To keep up work helps to keep up the balance between the internal experience and the external development; otherwise one-sidedness and want of measure and balance may develop. Moreover, it is necessary to keep the Sadhana of work for the Divine because in the end that enab