Different Stages of Sadhana - Aspiration for the Divine
In the mystical process of my search for the Divine within the deep recesses of my soul, I have observed, in various stages of my life, the very same forewarnings of Sri Aurobindo described in ‘Letters on Yoga’ -
“Very often the earlier stage of the sadhana is successful, because there is an opening of the mind to first workings of the Force—afterwards the lower vital consciousness and the physical rise up...”1
Curiously enough in the Buddhism that I study, which is a Bodhisattva practice of the Mahayana school of Buddhism, there is an acknowledgement of the almost immediate good fortune enjoyed by a new entrant or novice. Understandably, the path of divinity through systematic evolution of the human species, as enunciated in the Rishi’s philosophy of Integral Yoga, is long, arduous and difficult with many setbacks. Sri Aurobindo emphasizes:
“Yoga implies a long and difficult work and one must be ready to accept the necessity of years of preparation and purification and increasing consecration ...”2
“What is most important is the change of consciousness ... The going deep in meditation is only a means and it is not always necessary if the great experiences come easily without it.”3
Similar to what is prescribed in the Buddhist teachings, the sadhak has to be determined, doubt-free, unwavering, brimming with resolute conviction and a spirit of never giving-up. The sadhak has first necessarily to prepare for a purification process to welcome, assimilate organically the Self’s true consciousness. Sri Aurobindo in ‘Letters on Yoga’ emphasizes that it is absolutely necessary to aspire for peace and an inner quietude to attain purification and a basis of calm. These are the first necessary steps in the spiritual life.
The Sage has clearly forewarned, mentioned earlier, ‘Yoga implies a long and difficult work and one must be ready to accept the necessity of years of preparation and purification and increasing consecration before the greater results can come .... the change of consciousness.’
What is meant by purity explains the Sage: it is to be free from false ideas, wrong feelings, desires, demands etc.; it is to be pure. Purity in the consciousness and purity in the conductis what is usually meant by the terms “inner and outer purity”.4
Over the years I have realized that the quest for one’s higher Self has to be focussed, unflagging, relentlessly driven by firm, unassailable faith. It is an eventful journey of inner engineering, never smooth or free of trials and tribulations as is to be expected in the realm of a worldly conflict-ridden existence. The Rishi elucidates:
“As the sadhak aspires to be an instrument of the Divine and one with the Divine, sincerity in him means that he is really in earnest in his aspiration and refuses all other will or impulse except the Divine's.”5
Sri Aurobindo goes on to explain:
“It is not one's self, but the band of the spirit's inner enemies that we have to discourage, expel, slay upon the altar of the growth of the spirit; these can be ruthlessly excised, whose names are desire, wrath, inequality, greed, attachment to outward pleasures and pains, the cohort of usurping demons that are the cause of the soul's errors and sufferings.”6
How wonderfully expressed!
It is indeed heartening that these human flaws, vices are to be regarded not an integral part of oneself but as intruders; a perversion, an adulterated, distorted version of one’s self-effacing divine nature that is real, authentic and true. The paramount test, of course, is an unrelenting, universal challenge to surmount, efface the Ego; vanquish rajasic desires for the attainment of complete surrender to the Divine. This persistent purification and joyful surrender bring forth an irreversible inner state of blissful quietitude; from which organically emerges inner calm and sacrosanct beatitude.
- Mira Ramchand Daryanani (India)
1 https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/purity
2 Ibid.
3 https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/32/union-with-the-mother
4 https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/purity
5 https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/sincerity
6 https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-sacrifice-the-triune-path-and-the-lord-of-the-sacrifice
Thanks
ReplyDeleteFirst, thank you for bringing Buddhism into the conversation. As late as the 1960s, the Mother decided it was worth taking considerable time commenting on the Buddhist text, the Dhammapada. And She spoke at another time of the need for a renewed sense of what the Buddha taught. And far from the negative picture so often described in IY literature and videos, on page 29 of The Life Divine Sri Aurobindo speaks of the Buddha as the strongest personality to have ever lived, and lauds his positive teaching of the True, the Good and the Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteOne more thing about the difficulty of sadhana, and this can be helped by some observations from the Mahamudra school of Tibetan Buddhism.
To transform the nature, the mind-life-body composite, as Sri Aurobindo sometimes refers to it, is a lifetime process.
To bring the psychic being forward, to bring about that "reversal of consciousness" the Mother so often spoke of (referred to in the Mahayana Lankavatara Sutra as "a turning about in the deepest seat of consciousness," may occur at the beginning or near the beginning of sadhana. We can see in Letters on Yoga many times Sri Aurobindo urging a new sashay to "bring the psychic being forward."
I was confused about this for some years, and it was only with the teaching of Dzogchen (another area in Tibetan Buddhism) that it became clear. One may be pointed to the ever present Silence (Sri Aurobindo teaches Kapali Sastry that it is very simple, one doesn't "try" to get there but "relaxes into the folds of Silence," a Silence" which is behind every movement in the universe. This is exactly the teaching of Dzogchen for the recognition of Rigpa, "Pristine awareness."
But in the Integral yoga, which goes far beyond traditional yogic practice, there is still, after this awakening (however partial or perhaps even full) a lifetime of integration, and not only psychic integration and transformation, but beyond that, spiritual and supra mental integration and transformation.
As a long time IY friend once said to me, "In the Integral yoga, nobody is an expert, we're all beginners." And this is true even after a significant awakening is established. The integration and transformation possibilities are infinite.