YOGIC SADHAN
A U M
I
The proper course of the Sadhan is just the opposite of the
thing most people do and you have also done. People begin with
the body and the prana, go on to the chitta and the manas, and
finish up with the buddhi and the will. The real course is to start
with the will and finish with the body. There is no need of Asana,
Pranayama, Kumbhaka, Chittasuddhi, or anything else preparatory
or preliminary if one starts with the will. That was what Sri Ramakrishna
came to show so far as Yoga is concerned. “Do the Shakti
Upasana first,” he said, “get Shakti and she will give you Sat.”Will
and Shakti are the first means necessary to the Yogin. That was
why he said always, “Remember you are Brahman,” and he gave
that as a central message to Swami Vivekananda. You are Ishwara.
If you choose, you can be shuddha, siddha and everything else, or,
if you choose, you can be just the opposite. The first necessity is
to believe in yourself, the second in God and the third to believe
in Kali; for these things make up the world. Educate the Will first,
through the Will educate the Jnanam, through the Jnanam purify
the Chitta, control the Prana and calm the Manas. Through all
these instruments immortalise the body. That is the real yoga, the
Mahapantha, that is the true and only Tantra. The Vedanta starts
with Buddhi, the Tantra with Shakti.
What the Will is you have heard. It is Shakti, it is not Vasana,
it is not Cheshta. Vasana and Cheshta are the negation of will. If
you have desire, that means you doubt the power of your Will.
Brahman has no desire. He wills and all things happen according
to his Will. If you have Cheshta, that means you doubt your Will.
Only those who feel or think they are not strong, struggle and

Right guidance from within

Always, when the soul is in front, one gets the right guidance from within as to what is to be done, what avoided, what is the wrong thing or the true thing in thought, feeling, action. But this inner intimation emerges in proportion as the consciousness grows more and more pure.

[SABCL] (Letters on Yoga), Page: 903
-- Sri Aurobindo

Expressing without knowning and Knowing and yet unable to express

Volume 10
June 28, 1969

Oh, I’ve received this from little S.U., again in relation to your book:

(Mother holds out a letter)

Sweet Mother,

What is the idea behind this sentence from the “Adventure”: “Unfortunately, the West has too much intelligence to have much clear vision to translate outwardly, while India, too full within, is not demanding enough to match what she lives with what she sees”?

(Mother smiles and dictates straight off)

It means that in the West (especially in France), the intellectual development has prevailed over the spiritual development and the contact with higher regions, while in India, the inner knowledge has remained more developed than the intellectual field.

We could put the sentence thus:

The West expresses more than it really knows.

India knows more than it really can express.

Enough!

***