Section Eight         TRANSFORMATION OF THE SUBCONSCIENT AND THE INCONSCIENT               TRANSFORMATION OF THE SUBCONSCIENT AND THE INCONSCIENT       I         So long as there is not the supramental change down to the subconscient, complete and full, the lower nature has always a hold on some part of the being.        *                                                             *         The subconscient is a dark and ignorant region, so that it is natural that the obscurer movements of the Nature should have more power there. It is so indeed with all the lower parts of the nature from the lower vi

   Section Six   TRANSFORMATION OF THE VITAL         TRANSFORMATION OF THE VITAL         I         The two movements whose apparent contradiction confuses your mind, are the two ends of a single consciousness whose motions, now separated from each other, must join if the life-power is to have its more and more perfect action and fulfilment or the transformation for which we hope.         The vital being with the life-force in it is one of these ends; the other is a latent dynamic power of the higher consciousness through which the Divine Truth can act, take hold of the vital and its life-force and used it for a greater purpose here.      

  Section Two   VISIONS AND SYMBOLS     surface or waking consciousness but has a latent capacity (which can be perfected by training and practice) for entering into the experiences of the inner consciousness of which most people are unaware but which opens by the practice of yoga. By this opening one becomes aware of subtle planes of experience and worlds of existence other than the material. For the spiritual life a still further opening is required into an inmost consciousness by which one becomes aware of the Self and Spirit, the Eternal and the Divine.          *                                                             *         Visions do not

        ON YOGA—BOOK TWO   TOME TWO       SRI AUROBINDO INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY CENTRE COLLECTION VOL.  VII     ON YOGA   II   Tome Two   Sri Aurobindo              SRI AUROBINDO ASHRAM PONDICHERRY 1958       Publishers : SRI AUROBINDO INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY CENTRE PONDICHERRY       First University Edition .. Nov. 1958       All rights reserved         Printed at: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press Pondicherry   PRINTED IN INDIA ©  

 Section Three         EXPERIENCES OF THE INNER AND THE COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS         EXPERIENCES OF THE INNER AND THE COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS         I         The piercing of the veil between the outer consciousness and the inner being is one of the crucial movements in yoga. For yoga means union with the Divine, but it also means awaking first to your inner self and then to your higher self,—a movement inward and a movement upward. It is, in fact, only through the awakening and coming to the front of the inner being that you can get into union with the Divine. The outer physical man is only an instrumental personality and by himself he can

Section Seven   TRANSFORMATION OF THE PHYSICAL       TRANSFORMATION OF THE PHYSICAL         I         No need to despise the physical being—it is part of the intended manifestation.       *                                                             *         It is because your consciousness in the course of the sadhana has come into contact with the lower physical nature and sees it as it is in itself when it is not kept down or controlled either by the mind, the psychic or the spiritual force. This nature is in itself full of low and obscure desires, it is the most animal part of the human being. One has to come into contact with it s

      Section Ten   OPPOSITION OF THE HOSTILE FORCES       OPPOSITION OF THE HOSTILE FORCES         I         Normal human defects are one thing—they are the working of the lower nature of the Ignorance. The action of the hostile forces is a special intervention creating violent inner conflicts, abnormal depressions, thoughts and impulses of a kind which can be easily recognised as suggestions e.g. leaving the Ashram, abandoning the yoga, revolt against the Divine, suggestions of calamity and catastrophe apparently irresistible, irrational impulses and so on. It is a different order from the usual human weaknesses.        *                          

  Section Nine   DIFFICULTIES OF THE PATH       DIFFICULTIES OF THE PATH         I       All who enter the spiritual path have to face the difficulties and ordeals of the path, those which rise from their own nature and those which come in from outside. The difficulties in the nature always rise again and again till you overcome them; they must be faced with both strength and patience. But the vital part is prone to depression when ordeals and difficulties rise. This is not peculiar to you, but comes to all sadhaks—it does not imply an unfitness for the sadhana or justify a sense of helplessness. But you must train yourself to overcome this react

      Section Four         THE TRIPLE TRANSFORMATION: PSYCHIC—SPIRITUAL—SUPRAMENTAL       THE TRIPLE TRANSFORMATION: PSYCHIC—SPIRITUAL—SUPRAMENTAL         I         The fundamental realisations of this yoga are:         1. The psychic change so that a complete devotion can be the main motive of the heart and the ruler of thought, life and action in constant union with the Mother and in her Presence.         2. The descent of the Peace, Power, Light, etc. of the Higher Consciousness through the head and heart into the whole being, occupying the very cells of the body.         3. The perception of the One and Divine infinite

 Part Three          Section One    EXPERIENCES AND REALISATIONS         EXPERIENCES AND REALISATIONS         I         Experience is a word that covers almost all' the happenings in yoga; only when something gets settled, then it is no longer an experience but part of the siddhi; e.g. peace when it comes and goes is an experience—when it is settled and goes no more it is a siddhi. Realisation is different—it is when something for which you are aspiring becomes real to you; e.g. you have the idea of the Divine in all, but it is only an idea, a belief; when you feel or see the Divine in all, it becomes a realisation.