Preface It is extremely significant that the earliest records, in which we find statements of the awakened thought of ancient humanity, speak of five greatest ideals for which humanity has constantly aspired for throughout its long historical pilgrimage, namely, God, Light, Freedom, Bliss and Immortality. But even more significant is the fact that these earliest records, namely the texts of the Vedas, present to us a systematic account of the methods that were developed in ancient times by which these five great ideals were sought to be realised, even though the language of these texts is symbolic and needs to be interpreted meticulously by the contemporary humanity. Fortunately, Sri

Pre-Content This book is addressed to all young people who, I urge, will study and respond to the following message of Sri Aurobindo: "It is the young who must be the builders of the new world, —not those who accept the competitive individualism, the capitalism or the materialistic communism of the West as India ^future ideal, nor those who are enslaved to old religious formulas and cannot believe in the acceptance and transformation of life by the spirit, but all those who are free in mind and heart to accept a completer truth and labour for a greater ideal. They must be men who will dedicate themselves not to the past or the present but to the fu

Select Bibliography Anirvan Shrimat, Vedic Exegesis, in Cultural Heritage of India, Ramakrishana Mission Institute of Culture, 1958, Calcutta, second revised edition, Vol. I. Apte, V.M., The Vedangas, in Cultural Heritage of India, R M Institute of Culture, 1958, Calcutta, second revised edition, Vol. I. Balasubramanian, R., Primal Spirituality of the Vedas, Delhi, 1996. Balasubramanian, R. (ed.), The Enworlded Subjectivity: Its Three Worlds and Beyond, PHISPC, Centre For Studies in Civilizations, New Delhi, 2006. Bhave, Shrikrishna Sakharam, The Soma hymns of the Rig Veda: A fresh interpretation. Oriental Institute, 1957-62, Baroda, 3 Vols, Bloom

PART TWO Process and Methods of the Vedic Yoga Is it possible to arrive at some precision in regard to the actual processes and methods of yoga, particularly when the Vedic texts are voluminous and also because ritualism of Vedic religion and esoteric knowledge of the psychological principles and methods of yogic realizations are intertwined in the language in which the Vedic texts are composed? Fortunately, Sri Aurobindo has written two great books, 'The Secret of the Veda’ and 'Hymns to the Mystic Fire’, which have developed the psychological theory based on the data available in the Vedic texts themselves, and a study of these works can help us

PART THREE Role of the Higher Faculties Faculties of Vastness of Light, Revelation, Inspiration, Intuition and Discrimination The attainment of Surya Savitri, the supramental consciousness which is creative of the worlds, and which is the power of the manifestations of the highest triple world is a culminating victory of the Angirasa Rishis and of the Vedic system of yoga. The supermind is the highest creative faculty of the One, who unites multiplicity of manifestation with the original oneness. The development of this supramental faculty is prepared by the working of the seven rivers, the mighty ones of the heaven, which are also de

Notes and References 1 These are general statements, and they can be regarded as tentative conclusions arrived at by the study of a number of books on history of India and of the world. The Vedas speak of the Rishis of the past and of the New Age (pūrvebhih nūtanaih, Rig Veda (RV), 1.1.2). 2 There are four Vedas, — Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda. Among the Vedas the Rig Veda occupies a prominent place. It consists of ten books or Mandalas and one thousand seventeen hymns or suktas. The total number of verses in Rig Veda is ten thousand five hundred eighty. Yajur Veda is classified broadly into Shukia Yajur Veda and Krishna Yajur Veda. Shu

Introduction There is no ascertainable history of the ancient beginnings of yoga. We are aware of traditions of esoteric practices in ancient Egypt, Chaldea, Greece, Persia, India and of other similar traditions. There was no doubt an age of Mysteries; there was, undoubtedly, even a pre-Vedic age and a pre-Chaldean age, during which there seemed to have developed experiences and explorations leading to discoveries which were important to the developments of yoga. The results of these discoveries seem, however, to have been lost in some developments of the past, or they seem to have been assimilated - probably very much diminished in the content and import - in some traditio

11 Supermind in the Veda and the Aim of Immortality In the building up of the path for this consummation, Sri Aurobindo and the Mother undertook a colossal task of yogic research, and in the course of this task, the earlier religious and spiritual traditions of the world have been fully taken into account. As a part of this great effort of yogic research, Sri Aurobindo discovered, in the texts of Vedic Samhitas, a synthesis of yoga which he has put forward through his books, "The Secret of the Veda"59 and "Hymns to the Mystic Fire".60 In that synthesis of yoga, Sri Aurobindo found a glorious account, even an epical account, of

5 Problem of Conflicting claims of Religions and Spiritual Experiences The question of determination of true knowledge, certainty of knowledge and even comprehensive knowledge still needs to be explored in a greater detail, particularly with reference to the data of the claims of each major spiritual experience, that it delivers the most comprehensive know- ledge of the ultimate reality and the universe as also with reference to the data of plurality of religions and the claims of each religion that the spiritual experience which is the foundation and which is also the culminating point of its practices deliver

8 Ethics, Religion and Yoga As we ponder over these difficult problems, we are led to discover that the moral nature of the human being is not the last and the highest component. Neither religious doctrines nor formulations of ethical ideals correspond to the highest demands that human beings are capable of. There is, it will be found, a divine being in us that can be directly contacted by the pursuit of spirituality and by the methods that are neither religious nor ethical, but yogic, — methods which demand rigorous practices of purification, of renunciation and austerity. At the highest borders, there is a demand for further transcendence where the divin