About the Author
Sri Aurobindo was born in Calcutta on 15 August 1872. At the age of seven he was taken to England for his education. He studied at St. Paul's School, London, and at King's College, Cambridge. Returning to India in 1893, he worked for the next thirteen years in the Princely State of Baroda in the service of the Maharaja and as a professor in the state's college.
In 1906 Sri Aurobindo quit his post in Baroda and went to Calcutta, where he became one of the leaders of the Indian nationalist movement. As editor of the newspaper Bande Mataram, he put forward the idea of complete independence from Britain. Arrested three times for sedition or treason, he was released each time for lack of evidence.
Sri Aurobindo began the practice of Yoga in 1905. Within a few years he achieved several fundamental spiritual realisations. In 1910 he withdrew from politics and went to Pondicherry in French India in order to concentrate on his inner life and work. Over the next forty years, he developed a new spiritual path, the Integral Yoga, whose ultimate aim is the transformation of life by the power of a supramental consciousness. In 1926, with the help of his spiritual collaborator the Mother, he founded the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. His vision of life is presented in numerous works of prose and poetry, among the best known of which are The Life Divine, The Synthesis of Yoga, Essays on the Gita and Savitri. Sri Aurobindo passed away on 5 December 1950.
Publisher's Note
The Synthesis of Yoga first appeared serially in the monthly review Arya between August 1914 and January 1921. Each instalment was written immediately before its publication. The work was left incomplete when the Arya was discontinued. Sri Aurobindo never attempted to complete the Synthesis; he did, however, lightly revise the Introduction, thoroughly revise all of Part I, "The Yoga of Divine Works", and significantly revise several chapters of Part II, "The Yoga of Integral Knowledge". More than thirty years elapsed between the first appearance of the Synthesis in the Arya and the final stages of its incomplete revision. As a result, there are some differences of terminology between the revised and unrevised portions of the book.
In 1948 the chapters making up "The Yoga of Divine Works" were published as a book by the Sri Aurobindo Library, Madras. No other part of The Synthesis of Yoga appeared in book-form during Sri Aurobindo's lifetime. In 1955 an edition comprising the Introduction and four Parts was brought out by the Sri Aurobindo International University Centre. The present edition, which has been checked against all manuscripts and printed texts, includes for the first time the author's revisions to the Introduction and Chapters XV -XVII of Part II, and an incomplete continuation of Part IV entitled "The Supramental Time Consciousness".
Contents
INTRODUCTION
THE CONDITIONS OF THE SYNTHESIS
I.
LIFE AND YOGA
5
II.
THE THREE STEPS OF NATURE
9
III.
THE THREEFOLD LIFE
20
IV.
THE SYSTEMS OF YOGA
31
V.
THE SYNTHESIS OF THE SYSTEMS.
41
PART I
THE YOGA OF DIVINE WORKS
THE FOUR AIDS
53
SELF-CONSECRATION
69
SELF-SURRENDER IN WORKS - THE WAY OF THE GITA
89
THE SACRIFICE, THE TRIUNE PATH AND THE LORD OF THE SACRIFICE
106
THE ASCENT OF THE SACRIFICE - 1
THE WORKS OF KNOWLEDGE -
THE PSYCHIC BEING .
134
VI
THE ASCENT OF THE SACRIFICE - 2
THE WORKS OF LOVE - THE WORKS OF LIFE
158
VII
STANDARDS OF CONDUCT A D SPIRITUAL FREEDOM
188
VIII
THE SUPREME WILL
208
IX
EQUALITY AND THE ANNIHILATION OF EGO
221
X
THE THREE MODES OF NATURE
231
XI.
THE MASTER OF THE WORK
243
XII.
THE DIVINE WORK
264
APPENDIX TO PART I
XIII
THE SUPERMIND AND THE YOGA OF WORKS.
279
PART II
THE YOGA OF INTEGRAL KNOWLEDGE
THE OBJECT OF KNOWLEDGE
287
II
THE STATUS OF KNOWLEDGE
300
THE PURIFIED UNDERSTANDING
308
CONCENTRATION
317
RENUNCIATION
326
VI.
THE SYNTHESIS OF THE DISCIPLINES OF KNOWLEDGE
335
VII.
THE RELEASE FROM SUBJECTION TO THE BODY
343
VIII.
THE RELEASE FROM THE HEART AND THE MIND
350
IX.
THE RELEASE FROM THE EGO
356
X.
THE REALISATION OF THE COSMIC SELF
368
THE MODES OF THE SELF
374
THE REALISATION OF SACHCHIDANANDA
383
XIII.
THE DIFFICULTIES OF THE MENTAL BEING
391
XIV.
THE PASSIVE AND THE ACTIVE BRAHMAN
400
XV.
THE COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS
409
XVI.
ONENESS
419
XVII.
THE SOUL AND NATURE
426
XVIII.
THE SOUL AND ITS LIBERATION
436
XIX.
THE PLANES OF OUR EXISTENCE
446
XX.
THE LOWER TRIPLE PURUSHA
457
XXI.
THE LADDER OF SELF-TRANSCENDENCE
465
XXII.
VIJNANA OR GNOSIS
475
XXIII
THE CONDITIONS OF ATTAINMENT TO THE GNOSIS
488
XXIV
GNOSIS AND ANANDA
498
XXV
THE HIGHER AND THE LOWER KNOWLEDGE
511
XXVI
SAMADHI
519
XXVII
HATHAYOGA
528
XXVIII
RAJAYOGA
536
PART III
THE YOGA OF DIVINE LOVE
LOVE AND THE TRIPLE PATH
545
11
THE MOTIVES OF DEVOTION
552
THE GODWARD EMOTIONS
561
THE WAY OF DEVOTION
571
THE DIVINE PERSONALITY
577
THE DELIGHT OF THE DIVINE
587
THE ANANDA BRAHMAN
593
THE MYSTERY OF LOVE
599
PART IV
THE YOGA OF SELF-PERFECTION
THE PRINCIPLE OF THE INTEGRAL YOGA
609
THE INTEGRAL PERFECTION
616
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SELF-PERFECTION
623
THE PERFECTION OF THE MENTAL BEING
632
THE INSTRUMENTS OF THE SPIRIT
643
PURIFICATION - THE LOWER MENTALITY
654
PURIFICATION - INTELLIGENCE AND WILL
663
THE LIBERATION OF THE SPIRIT
674
THE LIBERATION OF THE NATURE
682
THE ELEMENTS OF PERFECTION
691
THE PERFECTION OF EQUALITY
698
THE WAY OF EQUALITY
709
THE ACTION OF EQUALITY
721
THE POWER OF THE INSTRUMENTS
729
xv.
SOUL-FORCE AND THE FOURFOLD PERSONALITY
740
THE DIVINE SHAKTI
752
THE ACTION OF THE DIVINE SHAKTI
762
FAITH AND SHAKTI
771
THE NATURE OF THE SUPERMIND
783
THE INTUITIVE MIND
799
THE GRADATIONS OF THE SUPERMIND
811
THE SUPRAMENTAL THOUGHT AND KNOWLEDGE
825
XXIII.
THE SUPRAMENTAL INSTRUMENTS - THOUGHT-PROCESS
841
XXIV.
THE SUPRAMENTAL SENSE
862
XXV.
TOWARDS THE SUPRAMENTAL TIME VISION
885
APPENDIX TO PART IV
XXVI.
THE SUPRAMENTAL TIME CONSCIOUSNESS
907
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