Vol 3 comprises letters written by Sri Aurobindo on the experiences and realisations that may occur in the practice of the Integral Yoga.
Integral Yoga
Vol 3 comprises letters written by Sri Aurobindo on the experiences and realisations that may occur in the practice of the Integral Yoga. Four volumes of letters on the integral yoga, other spiritual paths, the problems of spiritual life, and related subjects. In these letters, Sri Aurobindo explains the foundations of his integral yoga, its fundamentals, its characteristic experiences and realisations, and its method of practice. He also discusses other spiritual paths and the difficulties of spiritual life. Related subjects include the place of human relationships in yoga; sadhana through meditation, work and devotion; reason, science, religion, morality, idealism and yoga; spiritual and occult knowledge; occult forces, beings and powers; destiny, karma, rebirth and survival. Sri Aurobindo wrote most of these letters in the 1930s to disciples living in his ashram. A considerable number of them are being published for the first time.
THEME/S
Fire, lights, sun, moon are usual symbols and seen by most in sadhana. They indicate movement or action of inner forces. The Sun means the inner truth.
The sun is the symbol of the concentrated light of Truth.
The Sun is the Truth-Light of the One Existence and the flame the dynamic power of action (Yogic) of that Truth-Light.
The Sun is the divine Truth-Light on whatever plane of consciousness. It is, I suppose, the original cosmic Truth that is here indicated.
The Sun is the Truth from above, in the last resort the Supramental Truth.
The sun is the symbol of the Supermind.
The sun in the Yoga is the symbol of the supermind and the supermind is the first power of the Supreme which one meets across the border where the experience of spiritualised mind ceases and the unmodified divine Consciousness begins the domain of the supreme Nature, parā prakṛti. It is that Light of which the Vedic mystics got a glimpse and it is the opposite of the intervening
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darkness of the Christian mystics, for the supermind is all light and no darkness. To the mind the Supreme is avyaktāt param avyaktam but if we follow the line leading to the supermind, it is an increasing affirmation rather than an increasing negation through which we move.
Supermind is not mind at all, it is something different. The Sun indicates Truth directly perceived in whatever plane it may be. It is the symbol of Supermind but the Truth may come down into the other planes and then that is no longer supramental but modified to the substance of the other planes—still it is the direct Light of Truth.
The sun rising on the horizon is the direct light of the Divine Truth rising in the being—the ray upwards opens the being to the Truth as it is above mind, the ray in front opens it to what we call the cosmic consciousness, it becomes released from the personal limitation and opens and becomes aware of the universal mind, universal physical, universal vital. The action on the heart was the pressure of this Sun on it to have this direct opening, so that the consciousness may become free, wide and wholly at peace.
There are different suns in the different planes, each with its own colour. But there are also suns of a similar colour above, only more bright, from which these minor suns derive their light and power.
The golden [Sun] is the Light of the Truth on the higher planes. The white [Sun] is the Sun of the Mother's consciousness (the Divine Consciousness) which manifests on all the planes.
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The white sun indicates the purity and peace of the Divine Consciousness.
The red sun is a symbol of the true, illumined physical consciousness which is to replace the obscure and ignorant physical consciousness in which men now live. Red is the colour of the physical; the red diamond is the Mother's consciousness in the physical.
In the experience the disc of the sun indicates the supramental consciousness with the Divine Being in it (the supramental Divine who can bridge by his light the gulf between the higher and the lower consciousness and unify them). But the smoky appearance, the veil etc. indicated that there was something in the (human) nature that made rapid realisation difficult. This was what was also said by the voice that the time was not yet. Obviously the supramental cannot be achieved except by a long sadhana—the experience should not be taken as meaning anything more than that.
The moon signifies the light of spirituality or of the spiritual consciousness.
The moonlight indicates the light of the spiritual consciousness.
The moonlit maidān is the spiritual consciousness at the doors of which you are standing as it were and feeling its peace and ease.
The moon generally indicates spiritual realisation in the mind.
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The moon indicates different things according to circumstances—most often spiritual consciousness in the mind.
The light above the head is never an imagination in Yoga; if it is felt, it is because it is there. If it is the moon, it means the light of the spiritual consciousness in the mind.
The moon as a symbol in vision signifies usually spirituality in the mind or, simply, the spiritual consciousness. It can also indicate the flow of spiritual Ananda (nectar is in the moon according to the old tradition).
The moon indicates spirituality, sometimes also spiritual Ananda.
It [spiritual mind, symbolised by the moon] is Mind in contact with truths of the spirit and reflecting them. The Sun is the light of the Truth, the Moon only reflects the light of the Truth—that is the difference.
Golden light means the light of the higher Truth—the moon is the symbol of spirituality. A golden moon means a power of spirituality full of the light of the higher Truth.
The moon, as I have already written, indicates spirituality—the crescent form means a commencement of the spiritual light. The position near the knee would indicate an action on the physical consciousness—for all below the Muladhara down to the feet is the physical province.
The moon is sometimes a symbol of the Light in the mind,—if
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it is a full moon. The crescent moon may be a symbol of growing spirituality of the mind centre.
The star signifies a creation or formation or the promise or power of a creation or formation.
The star is always a promise of the Light to come; the star changes into a sun when there is the descent of the Light. It is not possible to fix the actual value of these signs for the future; they indicate a turn or a possibility, but everything depends on herself and the future orientation she gives to her being.
Stars in such visions1 indicate points of light or of higher experience in the consciousness. The earth means the physical consciousness.
Stars indicate points of light in the ignorant mental consciousness.
Moon = spiritual light
Sun = the higher Truth light
They [gold stars in the sky] are simply indications of divine Truth in the mind—the sky is a symbol of mind very often.
The sky is always some mental plane. The stars indicate beginnings or promises of Light—the various lights indicating various powers of the consciousness: gold = Truth, blue = higher
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spiritualised mind, violet = sympathy, unity or universal compassion.
The fire indicates a dynamic action.
The white fire is the fire of aspiration, the red fire is the fire of renunciation and tapasya, the blue fire is the fire of spirituality and spiritual knowledge which purifies and dispels the Ignorance.
The fire is always the fire of purification—it is very red when it is acting on the vital; when the vital no longer covers the psychic, then the rose colour of the psychic comes out more and more.
It is the purification of the physical that is usually indicated in the symbol of burning.
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