The practice of the integral Yoga does not rely on prowess of physical postures (asanas) or breathing techniques (pranayama) or external rituals or practices. It is focused on creating the right internal ‘landscape’ in the psychology in order to achieve specific psychological asanas, so to speak. The individual egoistic standpoint has to be shifted to the Divine standpoint, which takes place through the discovery and accentuation of the soul or psychic being and having it guide the body, life and mind to a focused, one-pointed and clear aspiration toward the Divine, a rejection of the movements of the ego and the habits of the lower nature which hinder the kindling and rising of this flame of aspiration, and a surrender of the outer nature to the direction and needs of that higher divine force as it responds to teh aspiration. While doing this, the individual must ensure that the ego does not once again step forward through avoidance of any assertion of pride, arrogance or superiority. Once this preliminary phase is completed, further steps can then be undertaken, based on the new foundation developed through the psychicisation of the nature.
These steps are not either easy nor fast generally. There is a considerable amount of inner development required to achieve and stabilise the advent and predominance of the psychic being, not to speak of the later stages that follow. The manifestation of the supramental consciousness in the earth-atmosphere and the creation of the changes to the mental, vital and physical expressions of the world that result, are processes that may take hundreds of years to complete. Each individual who aspires to this work needs to develop the patience and perseverance to continue along the path steadily without specific indication of the length of time actually needed and without any specific or detailed map of the progress already made, and the steps still remaining for the seeker to reach the goal set by this yogic endeavour.
Sri Aurobindo notes: “Get the psychic being in front and keep it there, putting its power on the mind, vital and physical, so that it shall communicate to them its force of single-minded aspiration, trust, faith, surrender, direct and immediate detection of whatever is wrong in the nature and turned towards ego and error, away from Light and Truth.”
“Eliminate egoism in all its forms; eliminate it from every movement of your consciousness.”
“Develop the cosmic consciousness — let the ego-centric outlook disappear in wideness, impersonality, the sense of the Cosmic Divine, the perception of universal forces, the realisation and understanding of the cosmic manifestation, the play.”
“Find in place of ego the true being — a portion of the Divine, issued from the World-Mother and an instrument of the manifestation. This sense of being a portion of the Divine and an instrument should be free from all pride, sense or claim of ego or assertion of superiority, demand or desire. For if these elements are there, then it is not the true thing.”
Sri Aurobindo, Integral Yoga: Sri Aurobindo’s Teaching and Method of Practice, Chapter 8, The Triple Transformation: Psychic, Spiritual and Supramental, The Supramental Transformation, pp. 229-237
Santosh has been studying Sri Aurobindo's writings since 1971 and has a daily blog at http://sriaurobindostudies.wordpress.com and podcast at https://anchor.fm/santosh-krinsky He is author of 16 books and editor-in-chief at Lotus Press. He is president of Institute for Wholistic Education, a non-profit focused on integrating spirituality into daily life.