EWS #96 The First Business of a Sadhaka (Part II) + Q&A

11 December, 2021.

Topics:

Alina (0:00:00):
Namaste. We welcome you all to the continuing series, Evenings with Sraddhalu. Us, every Saturday, we are taking up questions received from our viewers. And, because last time we had some technical problems, today we will continue the main theme, the Business of the Sadhaka. Last week we covered one question about the world-soul, but unfortunately we couldn't continue because of some technical problems, but we are happy today to be giving an introductory into this theme, which Sri Aurobindo called it, the first business of the Sadhaka. Namaste Sraddhalu.

[Sraddhalu] Namaste, happy to be here.

We are happy to be back and we invite you to take up this team.

Sraddhalu (0:02:22):
Yes. Over the last few sessions we have been going in some depth on the overall framework of the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo, entering into some of its key principles, processes. We had some discussion on the nature of inner experiences, even some on inward practices and the upward opening. We made a clear distinction between the ascetic path and the affirmative way, which is the way of the Integral yoga, and how it changes everything: It changes your concept of the Divine, therefore your relationship with the Divine, and therefore the way of practice by which you approach the Divine and by which you meet the world, everything changes fundamentally. And so fundamentally that it is literally the opposite of the ascetic path. For those of you who have not seen these sessions, do please go back, beginning from somewhere around number 82 onwards where we have been going through this because all this culminates in what we are presently going to discuss. The direct method was another key point that we discussed - the method by which the Integral yoga is to be practiced. The essential principle by which all techniques and methods operate is what we have discussed as the direct method, which is what we take directly in the practice of the Integral Yoga. We discussed also the nature of the Sunlit path, because this is a path that has been carved out, not only in the Integral Yoga, generally, there is a sunlit path in every way, but in the Integral Yoga, which is a new path that has been carved out, there is a Sunlit path, which is by alignment with the Divine presence and the psychic being within us. And then we came to the seven steps. This is the framework of the Integral yoga. The first of these steps is like a foundation, a purification which leads to a liberation, however partial, but which consists of the triple path woven together but enlarged to make them ready for the larger goal of the integral yoga as a yoga of self-perfection and a yoga of transformation of a Supramental transformation. So the first step was that base and then the next six steps are the six perfections which are aimed at in the Integral yoga of Sri Aurobindo, which we covered in a kind of a summary in the session before last. The last time we had taken up a question on the world soul and my goal was to link from that question into the discussion that we will have now. So the point of link we will discuss as we come to that point later on today.

Let's assume that we have all begun on a broad framework of the preparatory purification. Shuddhi is the term used in Sanskrit, which leads to Mukti, which is liberation, which leads to Siddhi, which are the six perfections or atleast the first 4 perfections and which leads to the Bhukti, which is the delightful participation as co-creators in this Divine world. So these four sub-steps of the first step are like Sri Aurobindo says, the summation of the entire yoga and at the same time the foundation on which everything else takes place. And that's what we have as our base. You may not look at the four sub-steps in their totality, but just the first sub-step of purification which leads us to a partial liberation. Now when we speak of a partial liberation, we have to understand this on a very practical level and the whole goal of this discussion is going to be only on the practice. We won't go too much into theory, only as much as is needed for the practice. So, partial liberation is a part of our consciousness disengaging from our lower animal nature. Because the fact is, from the point we are born, we are largely living as automatons programmed by Nature's habits and instincts with a little bit of a sparkling of awareness that is like a gem at the top which glimmers momentarily at times, giving us the illusion of freedom when in fact even our free choices are pre-programmed by our habitual nature. So a partial liberation is disengaging from this habitual nature and what Sri Aurobindo uses the term lower nature because it is bound in the habit of a completely ignorant and somnambulistic consciousness, half asleep. Awakening partially we become aware aware of our own deeper and higher aspiration or a greater sense of freedom by which we can turn around on these life instincts and choose more freely. Choose to stand back from, for example, an instinctive movement or a desire and say, hmm, do I want this or not? Choose to not only stand back but then turn around on that habit pattern and modify the habit pattern, until you create a new habit pattern which is more refined, more conscious, more awake, more supportive of an evolutionary rise. Or stand back from our thoughts, bring them into some direction, at least first a cohesion and then a direction which is supportive of our deeper or higher aspirations.

Sraddhalu (0:08:55):

Now all of this brings us to a point where we can actually look at our whole life and say what is the primary direction I want to set for my life? And I am using your terms very carefully, direction does not mean you have a fixed form of a goal. You have a direction which is progressive, that you want to grow, you want to awaken to your higher possibilities, you want to become conscious of your deeper and higher powers of consciousness, and manifest, express in life something more true, more noble, more beautiful. And all of these would be a general sense of direction, which every day you take small steps, little nudges, in every activity perhaps, little nudges, pointing. So the whole movement of the Integral yoga, Sri Aurobindo describes, is a vast multifaceted turning of your whole being. All the parts or levels of your consciousness, all of your nature, and it doesn't all happen simultaneously, little pieces turning, turning, turning, turning and more and more there is a cohesive turn and alignment towards this larger goal, direction that is set. And all of this would be part of that purification which leads to this partial liberation, which then leads towards the Siddhi, the realizations. And that's the first step.

I am assuming we have all taken sufficient efforts in these directions, but understanding this more clearly, we can be even more complete in our efforts. And there is no struggle, there is no strain, it has to be a joyous turning in parts, bit by bit. Everything that comes up, even what comes up as if opposing you, remember this is the insight of the affirmative way as against the ascetic, whatever comes up as if opposing you as a problem in your nature or as a problem in your life is a part that says, I too want to participate, I want to be changed and transformed, I want to open to the light. And you say, ‘ah, thank you for joining me. Here and I assist you to open and turn to the Divine’. So this will be our first step. The second step now, from here I won't speak of steps, I'll speak of perfections, the first perfection which we will now take up. Sri Aurobindo has used the Sanskrit term Shanti Chatushtaya. So Shanti is peace and the Chatushtaya is four sub-steps. And the terms in Sanskrit are Samata, first step is equality, second step, second sub step, first sub step is equality, second sub step is Shanti, peace, then Sukham, which is happiness, Hasyam, laughter. So these four sub steps form the first perfection which is the Shanti Chatushtaya, the peace quartet. the Peace Quartet. Now the name itself tells you something special. It's all about or rather related to peace. Later he uses the word equality equally but and it will give you a hint that the easiest way to establish these four sub steps in us is by the opening to the peace above.

But we will come to the practice a little later, how you can put these into practice in very simple and direct means, which Sri Aurobindo has taught. But first we will understand the full scope of these four sub-steps. There is a sequence, there is a logic. The first of these is Samatha, equality. And the equality itself Sri Aurobindo goes in great detail. In fact, he spends three full chapters in the Synthesis of Yoga, just describing first the overall sense of equality, what does it mean to have complete equality. And so he goes in depth in all the parts of the being. And then what are the methods by which we would approach it? And he discusses all the normal processes by which people tend to approach equality, which include enduring sufferings even, or indifference, which is like a numbing out, or a submission, which is like a helplessness. And all of these could lead to a kind of a pretense of equality, but would not be the true equality that is sought. And yet, these would be natural starting points for us. But as long as we rely on these methods, we will not get to the true equality. When we get to the true equality, we will see these methods are actually distortions of a deeper truth. And so, we will come to that shortly, how we get to it. But first to explain that these three methods are actually the negative aspect of equality. They only help you to gain some kind of a partial freedom from a first instinctive reaction to a situation. But the true equality would be a positive, affirmative state and so the positive side of equality is also triple and it represents an equality of delight, equality of enjoyment and a joy of unity with all things. And these are again, there are Sanskrit words which I don't go into. Those of you who are keen to understand the Sanskrit terms, go ahead, please read in depth. But for the purpose of practice, I'm going to avoid too much of the jargon because that tends to confuse us in our flow of the understanding. So there's a negative aspect which is really becoming free of instinctive reactions and a positive aspect which is turning back upon life with joy, with delight and participating from the poise of equality, equal to circumstances. This would be the overall sense of equality. This will lead to Shanti, which is peace, then Sukham, which is happiness and then Hasyam, which is laughter. We will come to those later. but I want to now dwell on this, all three, of the three negative aspects of equality as well as the positive aspects. And we will look at these in a little greater depth and understand what is the first business of a sadhaka.

Sraddhalu (0:15:27):

So this attempt to reach equality, why is that important? Because as long as you are driven by the instinctive reactions, there is no chance for a higher truth to work itself out in you. So there is a necessary phase of disengaging from the false reactions which are part of our programming and even programming which has dimensions which are not merely biological and social but even cosmic. There are habits in a cosmic evolution. To be free of all these which are false values or distortions of higher truths. And as we become free, we take a first step to approach the nature of the Self. And how do the Self meet the universe? Because everything in the universe is itself, it meets each thing, each object, each situation, entirely with the same interest, with the same full interest. So, when the Divine turns to a grain of sand, it pours all of its love, all of its force, all of its consciousness and delight in forming the grain of sand and playing with the grain of sand. If it turns to an entire galaxy, and a galaxy remember is some 2 trillion suns, each of which has a dozen planets, each of which has billions of living beings, physical or subtle, doesn't matter. An entire gigantic galaxy that takes light, some hundreds or thousands of years, to span from one end to the other. This gigantic thing, the Divine meets with the same intensity, the full pouring of His love and power and consciousness and enjoyment of delight, equal to the grain of sand. Galaxy, grain of sand, equally. That's the nature of the Divine equality, not only playing with the fullness of force but also the delight but also underlying seeing the continuity all is the same one Self. It is the one Self as grain of sand, it is the one Self as the entire cosmos as each individual, each one of us, you and I and the Divine pours fully equally.

Now in the first disengagement from our habitual nature and tendencies, we have taken a step to something of this, which is the truth behind. And from an individual poise with a limited capacity, obviously we can't have the same full experience, not yet, maybe eventually, but something of that can begin to manifest that we turn to each object, each person, each thing, each situation and meet equally as we are with the totality of our consciousness or at least equally, equality. Things go wrong, ah, things go right, ooh, different response perhaps but equal. Not be agitated, not be reactive, not be disturbed. I give an example here which I will perhaps use a few times as we go along. You watch a child playing a video game and it doesn't matter what kind of game it is. A game is not a game unless there are challenges. If it's just following a routine path, it's not a game anymore. A game offers a problem, you overcome the problem, there's a breakthrough. There's a struggle before you have a breakthrough and sometimes it's a long struggle. It's a difficult struggle, but you see the delight in the child's play when the struggle is more intense, ah I have to break through this problem. This is so weird, how did I miss this? what can I do? The full intensity of concentration and the greater the challenge the greater the joy in overcoming. Something of this character now should be our participation in the universe, isn't it?

So we look at these first three steps, the first three methods by which we are going to approach this negative aspect of equality in order to gain the positive benefits also. So endurance, you know what happens, each thing that comes to you, instead of reacting you withhold response. You endure. It's too hot, it's too cold, I hurt myself. You fall and hurt yourself, if you injure yourself, what's the first thing you do? You make a big noise. Well the moment you're conscious you're making a big noise, perhaps you deconstruct the experience. Do I need to make a big noise? Okay, it hurts. So I stop the noise I'm making. Then perhaps there's a strong reaction, agitation, fear. Do I need to fear? Is it going to change the situation? Umm..You can calm the fear, the disturbance. What can I do about it? And then you start doing things. Now all this is possible if you've taken a stance in the mind. That's why the separation, the purification was so important. Being in a poise of consciousness reasonably free from the reactiveness, you are able to then impose a kind of an endurance. But it's not going to be an endurance of suffering. What it has to lead to and the method that we will follow will bring us to that, will be the truth of the endurance principle itself and I quote from Sri Aurobindo, I will read passages as we go along, “Calm and powerful spontaneous possession of the universal energy and capable of determining easily and happily all its reactions in the oneness and the Ananda”. So when this truth of endurance is Okay, you got a knock, there's a calm possession of the energy. The energy is strong enough that it can face whatever impact comes. Okay, we deal with it, move on. So the endurance does not have a negative connotation. It has a positive aspect as the consciousness opens out.

Sraddhalu (0:22:00):

Similarly, indifference. Indifference is how we deal with repeated failures. First you have an excitement, you are attracted, then there is a reaction of failure and you are repelled and going back and forth between attraction and repulsion, you become numb. And then you say, now it doesn't bother me. But it's not equality. You are indifferent. You have numbed yourself. And a lot of people with age tend to numb themselves to things and it prevents you from enjoying. And later age they look at a child and enjoy the child's enjoyment with things. Oh, I wish I could be like a child and appreciate. Why can't I? Because I have numbed myself. So the numbing of indifference is not our way. What happens is the word in Sanskrit for indifference is udasina. Ud - asina, Ud is lifted upward, asina is seated, so being established in a higher poise of consciousness that what happens does not bother you. So the indifference is not a good word unfortunately, it's not udasina but it's the closest translation. But Sri Aurobindo's explanation for what happens when you reach the true sense of the higher liberated indifference, he says, “high seated, impartial acceptance of life, strong to transform all experience into the greater values of the equal spirit”. So you look from this poise, whatever circumstances come, okay, how do I lift this? How do I turn this into its own higher values? And we'll come to that, what are these higher values? But changing what the situation is for you. Instead of saying good and bad, you look at progress. Out of this, what is the principle of progress? What is the step of growth that I can draw? And when you think in terms of progress, there is no good and bad. All is there to assist in your awakening and in your progress. And you begin to think differently. Even the worst cataclysmic event, hmm..out of this what's the maximum growth that we can bring about for myself or maybe for those around me as a group, as a collective, as a family. But think in terms of forward movement and you will find that this poise of the truth of indifference is something quite positive when we take it in this way. And the third term which was submission, you have that in a lot of the ascetic religions where you submit to the will of God in a resigned way or submit to the circumstances, to the suffering to the karma to the whatever it is that you feel yourself overwhelmed by, bound in and so you give up effectively.

Sri Aurobindo has some pretty strong comments about these. He says a passive tamasic indifference is one of the most destructive things in any attempt of yoga but equally passive submission can lead to a lot of negative hopelessness. The truth of submission when in this liberated or higher stance of consciousness is “the full surrender of one's personal being to the Divine and through that attaining to the all-possessing Ananda”. This sense of surrender is the truth behind submission. But it can only be done if you are entering in relation to the Divine in the world situation. And so, all three methods, which in the normal way we begin with, are raised to their higher truth when this principle of the Divine comes back into the picture. And all this I am explaining to get to the logic of the actual form of the practice. So stay with me, not to worry too much about how do we practice it. And then Sri Aurobindo says that these three ways, they coincide in spite of their separate starting points.

And what is the benefit first? That the normal reaction of the mind to the touch of circumstances is restrained, inhibited. First benefit. The second benefit is the separation of the Self or the Spirit from the outward action of nature. So a part of your consciousness is forced to stand back from this Nature formed layers of consciousness and reactions and so on. So, a path stands back and begins to be more free, which then can approach a deeper truth. On the other side now, is the positive benefits of the positive approach of equality itself and we'll look at the triple aspect of this also. You see when we have any experience, Sri Aurobindo explains that we tend to put false values to an experience, arbitrary values and even contrary values. There are three kinds of distortion. We won't go into detail on these but you see how you look at a flower, the false value is, hmm, how much did it cost? No. The true value would be what's the love with which it's being offered to you. You have put an arbitrary value and generally false. Or somebody comes and says something and you look at it in terms of what's my benefit, what's their benefit and maybe it's a completely different thing. Or any event that happens, you say, this is bad, this is good. Now, this for those of you who have ever dabbled in astrology is one of the biggest errors made in any of these predictive sciences generally. The people practicing these will say, this is good, that is bad, this combination is good, that combination is bad. No, that's not true. Every combination has a flip side and a positive side. And so the good-bad value system itself has to go and then when you can bring an equality, you are free of the good-bad value system, then he says you can catch the rasa, an underlying delight.

Sraddhalu (0:28:35):

And I come back to the example of the child playing the video game. The child will lose his life. He is doing something very difficult. He falls and dies. He fights, gets killed. He shoots, gets shot, dies and restarts. Again, typically to make the game simpler, they give you three lives. I died once, I continue. I died twice, I continue. I died third time, ok I restart the game. But die, live, they are just different ways of looking at it. I am playing a game. That's the deeper truth. So the rasa or the underlying delight, even a delight of a negative situation or even a delight of disaster and the facing of that is something which we should be able to touch and you can only reach the delight when you have equality. As long as you give false values, you can never touch the delight. Now that you can touch the delight with equality, you are opening yourself to the full ananda, which then you will be able to participate in. So this becomes the first of the positive aspects and mostly it is in the mind that this rasa, the drawing of the delight, essential delight takes place. But there are the life energies which are also participating and there is a term used in Sanskrit, Bhoga. Now none of these have equivalents in English so I have to use the Sanskrit term but with translation. Bhoga is an enjoyment, but literally the term is the same as eating. So it's taking in as if filling a hunger and the idea behind it is, it's the drawing of an enjoyment that nourishes. So in every experience there is the underlying rasa, the juice, and then there is the bhoga, which is the enjoyment, the partaking, the drinking of the juice. So to be able to perceive the rasa and then to be able to drink and enjoy what is behind. Unless you get to the first equality and the rasa behind, you cannot participate in the bhoga. And the enjoyment of course is taken in the vital energy. The life force is what takes in and enjoys, but equally it gives and enjoys. So it's not just eating in that sense of a little piece taken from everything else. It is the bhoga which can be a two-way sharing of the eating, the juice, the taking in of nourishment which essentially is a nourishment for the soul's growth. By that enjoyment you grow. The rasa is the underlying delight behind, the taking in of that enjoyment is what makes you grow, in every experience equally. And that's why equality is essential there but also in the participation in the equal enjoyment is the positive side of the equality.

And the third form of it is the joy that is felt, the ananda, now he uses the word ananda, but ananda remember, is a delight which is undivided, not bound in duality. So in a consciousness that sees unity and engages with all things as facets of a unity, you have the experience of this joy of unity in and with everything. That's how Sri Aurobindo describes it. And so you have there the experience of the Ananda. Because in a sense everything and everyone is yourself in a different form. And when you begin to experience that, even a collision is only your hand clapping with your own hand. So a blow received from another in my face is felt as my own hand hitting my own face in the consciousness of oneness. And ah! what an interesting experience. And there is a delight as you see in the ocean, if you have ever seen two waves colliding, they hit and explode into high peak and fall back in the laughter of that burst of joy, delight. And I'm taking these extreme examples so that you get a sense of how it works, because for the equality, whether extreme blow or tender caress would have different facets of delight, because it's still myself, meeting myself, where nothing can truly be destroyed because all is me. Of course, we are not yet in that consciousness, but you have to recognize the underlying principle behind is the sense of this unity. And as a result, we are now able to participate because of equality, in the underlying sense of unity, but also with the delight and the true enjoyment of the delight in its completeness. Not yet perfect, but increasing. So, equally in the training of the intelligence, our mind tends to reduce everything in terms of I don't know or I know but wrongly or partially or I think I know but I'm not too sure. That's all. There is nothing else. There is no true knowledge. There is no complete knowledge. And mostly it's wrong. Even when you say I know and you are right now, later that same statement can in a different changed situation will be proved to be wrong or only partially true. So the idea here is the mind itself cannot have true knowledge unless it learns to be equal to everything, including error, including ignorance. And if it's not equal to it, it cannot see what is behind the hidden truth behind the appearances, which then allows you to see the underlying totality of the truth, which then is the completeness of the knowledge, which is indivisible.

Sraddhalu (0:34:40):

So equality is the means by which your mind will grow in or prepare itself to have true knowledge and for that the training Sri Aurobindo says, “he must accept everything but cling to nothing, be repelled by nothing, however imperfect or however subversive of fixed notions, but also allow nothing to lay hold on him to the detriment of the free working of the truth spirit”. And the result he says, “this equality of the intelligence is an essential condition for rising to the higher Supramental and Spiritual knowledge”. You see how important equality becomes. And the base for that equality will be the perception of oneness and the peace which will be the foundation in which spontaneously it will happen. But I am anticipating. We find equally that in the emotions, in the will to action, we will be looking at things differently. For the will, for example, we look at all forces, all actions, all efforts. Let's say the conflict between two groups. Each group represents a partial truth and therefore can collide with another partial truth. And so in this vision of an underlying oneness, we see the Divine will working and because the mirrors here are reflected, peace is reflecting, flashing briefly, momentarily true and then as they lose the alignment, false again. And if you look at all of life, all of events, all of forces, all of conflicts, you see flashing lights, all attempting to reflect the one underlying Divine will which is always united, never in conflict with itself. But in order to be able to perceive this and align to it and become an instrument for it, you must first develop equality even in the will to action.

You can see how important this is now. It's like the base on which everything else becomes possible. Even he says, other things you may have experiences of but they will not be stable unless you have equality. And I will read now from some of the quotations from Sri Aurobindo. And he explains this equality which he is speaking of here “is not quiescence or indifference or withdrawal from experience but superiority to present reactions of the mind and life. It is the spiritual way of replying to life”. So life is speaking, you reply, not react, you can only have reactions which only bind you further in the confusion. “So it is a spiritual way of replying to life or rather of embracing it and compelling it to become a perfect form of action of the self and spirit”. So not only you reply, but rather he says you embrace. The true nature of the engagement in the integral yoga, remember, is not withdrawal as in the aesthetic, but the embracing, accepting, affirming life in order to transform. But how can you transform if you are bound in its own distortions? “And therefore equality is the foundation on which you can embrace and compel it to become a perfect form of action of the Self and Spirit”. Now comes something profound, he says, powerful. “It is the first secret of the soul's mastery of existence”. Wow! What a statement! Our souls are meant to master, master this universe, this reality, this existence. We are not meant to be vulnerable victims of circumstances. And if you really want to master your circumstances, master life, master the whole play of the cosmos, become in the video games the master of all challenges, including unseen challenges, unimaginable challenges, but to be master of circumstances, well, it is the first secret of the soul's mastery of existence. Yes, there are other secrets, but if you have this, the others become accessible. If you don't have this, the others will forever remain hidden. And therefore this is the foundation or the first of the perfections.

And then he says, I'll re-read this, “It is the first secret of the soul's mastery of existence. When we have it in perfection, we are admitted to the very ground of the Divine Spiritual nature”. It's your gateway. Once this is perfected, divine spiritual nature is there for you, is yours. Therefore, now comes the conclusion, which is also the first exhortation. Sri Aurobindo says, “The first business of the sadhaka is to see whether he has the perfect equality.” So thats our first business, but for all to see whether you have the perfect equality. What does that mean and what do you do about it? Well, I read further. “How far he has gone in this direction or else where is the flaw? Because of course we have made steps but we don't have the perfect equality. So where's the flaw? And to exercise steadily his will on his nature or invite the will of the Purusha to get rid of the defect and its causes”. All this is part of first business. I read the full sentence because it's so important. “The first business of the Sadhaka is to see whether he has the perfect equality, how far he has gone in this direction or else where is the flaw? And to exercise steadily his will on his nature or invite the will of the Purusha to get rid of the defect and its causes. All this is the first business”. It's not just getting equality. It's about exercising, correcting, taking the steps to remove the flaws.

Sraddhalu (41:09):

And what are the means to remove the flaws of equality? Exercise your will. You just lost equality. Something happened which was an extreme provocation. I lost my cool. Take a deep breath, step back, disengage, take a poise, bring back the equality. In essence, equality is to remain unmoved centrally within. There may be external reactions. If something hits you hard, it stings, it hurts, the pain may last 20 minutes. That's a lack of equality in the physical consciousness. But in your emotional and mental consciousness, you are able to be unaffected, unmoved, and later infuse that equality into the body. And the body itself will develop a kind of a resilience, which is quite remarkable when you see people demonstrating that. Literally there is this practice in some of the martial arts which is demonstrated where even a blow or a sword hitting will not injure because in the body consciousness something has been modified. And it's not even a spiritual attainment, it's a vital attainment, but an equality infused through the vital consciousness into the physical body. It seems miraculous, but it's just the basic application of this equality in the physical, infused by the vital but trained by the mind or guided by the mind. So you get equality in one part, from there it will spread into other parts.

This is then the first business of the sadhaka. ‘Exercise steadily his will on his nature’ or the second method to correct it, invite the will of the purusha to get rid of the defect and its causes. This is the greater, more powerful method. You are aware of this difficulty, this reactionary part, this unstable, distressing thing. Become quite open to the Divine Presence. Infuse it. Open this to the Divine Mother's Shakti. Invoke Her Consciousness, which practically again translates to opening what is your first access to the true Purusha. Well, you can take a mind poise of Purusha, stand back and bring that calm and stillness simply by staying in that stillness or open the mind to the true Purusha, which is the Self. And when you open to the Self, your first experience is of the peace of the self. And the first part where it settles in you inevitably is in the mind, which is the most receptive and plastic, the most open. From there into the vital, from there even into the physical. And so, even the method for correcting the equality or the failure of equality will be that which will be your method also for gaining gaining equality, which we will come to shortly. And now he describes the four sub-steps of this whole perfection. “There are four things that he must have. First, equality in the most concrete, practical sense of the word, Samatha. Freedom from mental, vital, physical preferences and even acceptance of all gods working within and around him”. This is first. “Secondly, a firm peace and absence of all disturbance and trouble”. And as will be obvious, it is the descent of the peace which should be the easiest way to attain to this, but it would be the natural result also of the practice of the equality and the two will blend into each other. The descent of the peace providing the foundation in which the practice of equality becomes almost effortless and natural and yet you exercise because you have to put your mental will to modify tendencies and habits but with that backing it becomes easy. Equally the equality developing the peace gets a foundation which is more firm. “Thirdly, a positive inner spiritual happiness and spiritual ease of the natural being which nothing can lessen”. And this becomes the consequence of the peace. The moment you have the peace, you have this inner happiness and spiritual peace, a spiritual ease which nothing can lessen.

Now notice this description is also natural to the psychic presence. So an influence of the psychic awakening and coming to the front will tend to build this poise of Sukham also. But if the bays of equality and peace are already there but unstable because of lack of peace and equality, then this allows you to attain to the equality and peace more easily. You see how they are complementary and there is no fixed starting point according to your nature even according to the day, whichever of these is stronger, you begin with that and the other things assist and coalesce around. “Fourthly, a clear joy and laughter of the soul embracing life and existence”. This can only happen when the base of this joy is already set. Now, joy and laughter of soul embracing life and existence. This is a child playing the video game, but now your video game is the whole cosmos and eternity and infinity and all possibility, infinite potential. So he says to be equal is to be infinite and universal, not to limit oneself, not to bind oneself down to this or that form of the mind and life and its partial preferences and desires. Think about the implication, again profound implication. The moment you find yourself bound to something, it's because of littleness. Widening the consciousness automatically brings an equality. The descent of the peace and wideness from above spontaneously therefore lays a base in which equality either spontaneously comes or becomes easily attained.

Sraddhalu (0:47:42):

But he says that's not our starting point. We are starting with all these limited capacities, preferences, desires, attachments and so on. “To accept them is at first inevitable, all our limitations. To get beyond them exceedingly difficult and not perhaps altogether possible, so long as we are compelled to use the mind as the chief instrument of our action”. Now this is one of those sentences where people read and misapply to say the yoga is difficult. Because an untrained mind does not go all the way to the end of the sentence and put the ending in context with the beginning, because the mind is unable to hold the full length of the idea. So it stops with a piece and then sees the other piece and does not see they are related. So I re-read, you see how it works. To accept them is at first inevitable, all your limitations you accept. To get beyond them exceedingly difficult and not perhaps altogether possible, exceedingly difficult perhaps not even possible to get beyond your limitations. Wow, you see how difficult it is? But what you didn't catch is so long as we are compelled to use the mind as the chief instrument of our action. You see, the ascetic way primarily is driven by the mental and vital will. If you take that as your primary means to get beyond your limitations is exceedingly difficult and perhaps not altogether possible. But opening to the Divine action, allowing a higher power to work in you, all this ceases to be true. Not only it's not exceedingly difficult, even it becomes relatively easy and altogether possible, because we are not relying on the mind as chief instrument. This is the most important thing we are coming to in the practice of the Integral Yoga. So in the development of the equality and the peace itself, there will be two aspects. There will be the effort you make, but then there will be the opening to the higher action which will finally achieve what your effort is attempting. But if your effort is not there, you feel the peace, but you don't make the effort to now bring equality in your emotional parts, for example, or your mechanical habits, well, those parts will remain unconnected to what you have received, and there will always be a division. So that active interaction, active effort will be needed, but on the basis of something which is more powerful than your mind, which will make your little effort produce great results.

Lines of Sri Aurobindo, by the way. “Now, the first necessity, therefore, is to take at least the sting out of them, to deprive them, even if they persist, your limitations. Even if they persist, to deprive them of their greater insistence, their present egoism, their more violent claim on our nature. And how do you know you have made progress in this field? The test that we have done this is the presence of an undisturbed calm in the mind and spirit. The sadhaka must be on the watch as the witnessing and willing Purusha behind or better as soon as he can manage it above the mind”. So you take the poise behind or better still above and you see again this opening to the above is going to be a critical, the most important way. And repel even the least indices or incidents of trouble, anxiety, grief, revolt, disturbance in his mind. So I would suggest that we are not just going to read this and study and discuss the application in the practice. Let us make all of us, this our effort in the coming few weeks, even as we study the other perfections. By making this our effort, we are going to lay a foundation which will be so solid that even as we begin to practice the other perfections, you will have ready ground on which those things can come smoothly, freely and even rapidly. So I continue to read, I am skipping lines, but I am going to highlight a few passages only. So when he gets these defects, there is egoistic claim, vital desire and some fixed ideas which come in the way you realize, oh this is a loss of my equality. “On no account must he admit any excuse for them”. Never rush to justify a loss of equality. Don't say, ‘ah yes but he deserved it’, ‘oh yes but I was tired’, ‘oh but’, no buts. Oka,y loss of equality, set it right. “On no account must he admit any excuse for them, however natural, righteous in seeming or plausible or any inner or outer justification”. We want perfect equality. Whatever the excuses, discard, make effort, set it right.

Sraddhalu (0:53:10):

Now how are we going to do this? The method of the practice, the foundation on which this practice can become even possible. I am going to read now another passage from Sri Aurobindo. A few of them maybe. So, first he says, “therefore there must be a constant insistence on one main idea”. What is that main idea? And this is something which we are going to consciously bring about every day, every chance we get or at least at the beginning of the day. “A constant insistence on one main idea, the self surrender to the Master of our being, God within us and in the world, the Supreme Self, Universal Spirit”. God within you, Master of your being above you, God in the world. This idea constantly has to be brought in. That you are doing things but behind is the presence of the Divine. You are engaging with things in the world but behind the appearances there is the Divine presence. Perhaps working secretly through them, through their distortions, maybe they are distortions and yet behind it is His nudge, His push, even if the form in which it appears is distorted. Within you is the Divine, out there is the Divine, above is the Divine. And here you are playing your video game. First discovering yourself, developing your poise of equality in order for the Divine to be able to act through you. But also engaging with the world in each engagement, behind is also the Divine. However much you may have to act, sometimes decisively and forcefully, or compassionately and affectionately, there is a Divine behind. Just this one idea. And the result is, the buddhi dwelling always in this master idea must discourage all its own lesser insistences and preferences and teach the whole being that the ego, whether it puts forth its claim through the reason, the personal will, the heart or the desire soul in the prana has no just claim of any kind. The ego has no just claim of any kind. And all grief, revolt, impatience, trouble is a violence against the master of the being. It is an extraordinarily powerful discipline that you accept accept your ego has zero claims. There are things happening which are beyond your knowledge and capacity. You still do your best, you have no claim over anything. This should have been like this, that should have been, oh yes maybe perhaps, but this is how it is, let me do what I have to do. So this complete self-surrender must be the chief mainstay of the sadhaka because it is the only way by which the absolute calm and peace can come.

To make it absolute, you have to thin out this ego claim. Whatever happens, behind there is a greater wisdom working, I have to do my part to the best of my capacity. And you see, automatically there is an equality that comes. Even when there is a great victory, you do not exult, you say, ah yes, there is a greater power which has worked and succeeded perhaps. Even if there is a great defeat, oh there is a greater power at work and it is going to overcome and do what is right eventually, but right now I have to do my best. You are not agitated by either positive or negative because of this great idea. And with this the absolute calm and peace can come. And this rule of this practice of doing this, this rule persists so long as the mental buddhi is the chief instrument. But when the Supramental light takes possession of mind and heart, then there can be no trouble, grief or disturbance. For that brings with it a Spiritual nature of illumined strength in which these things can have no place. And of course it opens you to the delight of the Ananda. So, now, do not worry about the word Supramental. The Supramental is the culmination, the highest poise of the ascent in the oneness. But any step towards it is a greater power which begins to act already. The Intuitive presence or just the influence of the Peace and Silence of the Self which is within you and above you, just that is already a great first step.

So we are coming now closer to the nature of the practice. The opening above to that higher influence brings with it spontaneously this spiritual nature of illumined strength. And then you establish this calm, whatever happens. I am tempted to read because it will help to fix the scope of this idea even if it takes a little time. “The calm established in the whole being must remain the same whatever happens, in health and disease, in pleasure and in pain, even in the strongest physical pain, in good fortune and misfortune, our own or that of those we love, in success and failure, honor and insult, praise and blame, justice done to us or injustice, everything that ordinarily affects the mind”. That's the scope of the calm that has to be established. And how would we do that? “If we see unity everywhere, if we recognize that all comes by the divine will, see God in all, in our enemies, or rather our opponents in the game of life”. You see enemies, now you translate, change that whole idea. Opponents in the game of life as well as our friends, also friends in the game of life. “In the powers that oppose and resist us as well as the powers that favor and assist. In all energies and forces and happenings”. What do we do? We see God in all. We recognize that all comes by the divine will. “And if besides we can feel that all is undivided from ourself, all the world one with us, with our universal being, then this attitude becomes much easier to the heart and mind”.

Sraddhalu (1:00:26):

So there are two stages of this. The first is recognition, even first as idea, that there is a divine will operating through everything, including those who seem to oppose the divine will. This is the divine will working through them indirectly perhaps. And all our opponents in the game of life, friends in the game of life, forces for and against, and in all happenings, there is God in all that we see. And recognize that there is the working of the Divine will, even if fragmented. And then the second layer, second stage to that we can add, we feel that all is this undivided Self. I am part of this this whole, this all. All the world, one with us, within our universal being. And then it becomes very easy to see things in this way. And the equality is automatic almost when you begin to look at things like this, isn't it? So the actual practice of the equality does not need to go through all those stages of endurance, indifference, and then the, what was the third effort, submission. You don't have to go through those and yes, the training for that is extremely useful and they are especially useful for the most exterior parts of our being. But the greatest means we will have is this perception of unity everywhere. Now it can take two forms. First in a more objective form, you begin to perceive the Divine Mother in all things. And your heart opens in love, in gratitude, in closeness to Her, not to people, not to the forms before you, but to Her who fills them. So even if you have to take a sword and fight the opponent in the game of life, it's still her in them, her in the sword, her in you and the game is being played So it can take this form of the Divine Mother in all things and of course within you. You therefore as a child in relation to her trying to live up to the demand of the situation in your let's say, commitment in service, in consecration to her. Or you can take the perception of the Divine Presence, God in all things, all beings, the Divine Will working. It's two sides, front and back of the same coin. For some of us, the opening to the Divine Mother is easier, for some the sense of the Divine Presence is more universal, more abstract, less personal is more easy. Begin with whichever is easier and perhaps the two blur into each other for you, doesn't matter. But we don't get to this immediately. We make small steps.

So one method you will do: Before  you start your day, you sit quietly, centre yourself in your aspiration. If you have the time, open to the presence above, invoke the peace to settle in you, to fill you as completely as possible. Remain immersed in the peace and in the wideness of the peace for as long as you like. And this is the presence of the Self, presence of the Divine, presence of the Divine Mother's energy. And then you turn to perceive that everywhere in the universe - it is the same presence, the same peace, the same love of the Mother holding everything equally. And from this poise now, a general sense of equality will be almost effortless. It won't be perfect, it won't be very stable, but don't worry about that. From this, now you look at the work you will do in the whole day. With that poise of equality, ah yes, all these things have to be done. And it is Her energy, Her wisdom in my head, in my mind, Her energy within me, which will work, even though I think that I'll be doing it. I'm conscious, I've fixed this idea. Behind circumstances, in spite of my failings, there will be a greater power of the Divine will, Divine Mother, working through those circumstances. And irrespective of how much time it takes, what needs to be done, will be done. With or without me. Just this awareness. And then you consecrate all your efforts. Divine Mother, help me, fill me with your wisdom, fill me with your strength, fill me with your love that I may be able to act as best as you choose to work through me. That's it. Engage with the day. If you make the effort to continue this poise into your activity, it will be more effective but even if you have to then change gear, get off and start running into your rat race of the day, don't worry. Just the intensity of the concentration will begin to create a shift and a massive shift in a very short time. If during the day you have moments you can pause, remember that attitude of the morning, invoke her help, re-engage. A few times, maybe once, maybe twice, maybe three times, or if you are fortunate, ten times, doesn't matter. And then at the end of the day, step back again, step back into the poise of calm, wide equality. Look back at the whole day, all this was done, all this was not done, this happened, this went contrary, just look at it all. Video game, remember, of the Divine Mother, the divine game, you are a player, they are all players…hmm what's next? With equality, strategize plan structure your next day whatever you need to do but from the poise of equality not disturbed. If you find places where you got disturbed will go through the process of correcting with will or by opening to the Purusha, that's it. If you take this up as a primary practice short effort in the morning short effort in the evening, brief points of contact during the day.

Sraddhalu (1:06:55):

What does Sri Aurobindo say about this? “But even before we can attain or are firmly seated in this universal vision, we have by all the means in our power to insist on this receptive and active equality and calm. Even something of it is a great step towards perfection”. He quotes from the Bhagavad Gita in Sanskrit, “Sv-alpam apy asya dharmasya”. It's a phrase but the full sentence in the Bhagavad Gita is, even a little bit of this saves you from great danger. But he doesn't give the full sentence. Even a little bit of this is a great step towards perfection. And then he says something extraordinary. “A first firmness in it is the beginning of liberated perfection”. So don't even aim at perfection. First firmness, a little bit stability that you can get, and it may not take you too much time because of the help. And we will discuss a little more of the form of practice later. “Its completeness is the perfect assurance of a rapid progress in all the other members of perfection”. That's why this first one is so important. You have this, even a little bit, other things will be easy. “You have this reasonably perfect, other things will be rapidly acquired. For without it, we can have no solid basis. You can have a basis but it won't be solid. Things happen, they crumble because the base is not strong. The equality is your base. And by the pronounced lack of it, we shall be constantly falling back to the lower status of desire, ego, duality, ignorance”. This is the reason why in many systems there is a great struggle. You reach one step, you fall back, go again, fall back and then they say, ah it's difficult because the true foundation was not established.

Now the method by which even the sense of this underlying unity will come. He says, the key to this practice, the method of attaining to perfect equality is that in this yoga, the equality will be both of the negative and positive aspects. This requires, he says, “first a new knowledge which is the knowledge of unity” and I'm going to read a different piece of text. “To see all things as oneself and to see all things in God and God in all, in all things”. This is, you will see the formula repeatedly that the self in all things, all things in the self and self manifesting as all things. But in this case, because we're starting from a very limited poise of who we are now, I'm not Self, I know I'm this little ego person. So how do I do this? But the same principle, the same idea, to see all things as oneself, each thing, each person is actually myself in a different form. Look at how you relate to your family, your children for example, they are yourself, isn't it? That's why you are willing to sacrifice for them. In a sense it's your own extended ego. So when you begin to see and it starts with the mind's understanding that all this is finally the same one Self, I, which feels here is only a little piece in awareness but actually it's the same myself in all things. First this idea and see all things in God. Everything is like this foam floating in the one Divine consciousness and that Divine consciousness is inside all things. Dwell on this, meditate on this, eyes open, walking. If you are going for a long walk, if you are going for an evening walk as an exercise, you walking on your terrace or on the road as an exercise, just dwell on this idea, everything you are looking at is infused with the Divine Presence. You too equally, the same presence in you is in them and all of you are floating in the same one and even that is myself in a different form that I only have the illusion of being separate. Dwell on this. Even as it settles in the mind, in the mental awareness, your thinking will change, your relationships will change, and it will percolate into your emotions and change your emotional responses also. There is then a will of equal acceptance of all phenomena, all events, all happenings, all persons and forces as masks of the Self. So now the equality becomes easier because all is masks of the Self. Movements of the one energy, results of the one power in action, ruled by the one divine wisdom. And you see how equality becomes natural, effortless. And on the foundation of this will of greater knowledge, there grows a strength to meet everything with an untroubled soul and mind. Remember in the beginning there will be challenges which will always exceed your capacity, don't worry about that. But in the basic things which is 70, 80, sometimes 90% of your life, they are not extreme provocations, something of this has to begin to come. Untroubled soul and mind, you meet everything and there is a deeper strength now because of this wider vision.

Sraddhalu (1:12:36):

Now comes a deeper part of the practice and you will see how it deepens from here easily. There must be an identification of myself with the Self of the universe. You know there is a Self of the universe, the Self of all things. And then there is self of you, including your surface self-awareness. Okay? Lean back to the idea of the Self of the universe, I, lean back into that, I am in a sense one with that and I lean back into that to merge, to lean, to rest, to turn to, aspire for, join with, lose myself in that one. The direct method immediately opens you to something. “There must be an identification of myself with the Self of the universe, a vision and feeling of oneself with all creatures. Now you open your eyes and perceive that same oneself in all things. That animal suffering there, that person who is, it's all the same oneself that I, of which I am a special frontal projection, but which is me truly in completeness. Then a perception of all forces and energies and results as the movement of this energy of my self and therefore intimately my own. Whatever happens is intimately my own. So the sense of intimacy comes because of the sense of identification and it may be a rarefied part of your mind in the beginning which feels this, sees this, knows this. Stay with it and let it deepen. Not obviously of my ego self, which must be silenced, eliminated, cast away, otherwise this perfection cannot come, but of a greater impersonal or universal self with which I am now one. At least in leaning back, you turn towards that oneness. For my personality is now only one centre of action of that universal Self, but the centre intimately in relation and unison with all other personalities and also with all those other things which are to us only impersonal objects and forces. In fact, they also are powers of the one impersonal Person, God, Self, Spirit”.

This was the passage in fact that I wanted to link with our discussion last time when we were discussing the world soul and I spoke of how our liberation is not in through several stages of larger and larger clusters but directly in the oneness of the one Self. And this passage describes perfectly not only that relationship but also the direct practice. And I want to complete these few lines: “My individuality is his and is no longer a thing incompatible with or separate from universal Being. It is itself universalized. A knower of the universal ananda and one with and a lover of all that it knows, acts on and enjoys”. You see now he is taking you deeper and deeper into the experience. You may not touch all this, but just the idea of it is your beginning. “For, to the equal knowledge of the universe, an equal will of acceptance of the universe will be added, an equal delight in all the cosmic manifestation of the Divine”. So this completes the passage, this is the actual method or form in which we are going to turn to that sense of oneness. But in the form of practice, you notice something fascinating. These, this first perfection and four fold facets are in the first two, the natural result of the descent of peace, and in the second two, the natural emergence of the psychic influence. The descent of the peace automatically opens you to this wide sense of an underlying oneness, wide consciousness, but also an equality, which comes with the peace and is fulfilled with the establishment of the peace itself in which you live. So the peace is the shanti established, opens you to living in the peace of the oneness of the Brahman.

Sraddhalu (1:17:33):

The third sub-step, which is the happiness, sukham, lives not just in the peace but brings a positive aspect, it lives in the Divine delight and imposes, I am quoting from Sri Aurobindo, “imposes on the life of the soul in nature and the signs of the divine knowledge, power and bliss of being”. So this is the positive aspect. The first to in a sense free you, the second to affirm and engage you with the whole of life. And hasyam, laughter, is the positive joy and cheerfulness which takes life and the world as play of the divine. Again a poise natural to the psychic being. So now we come back to three essential realisations of the Integral Yoga. And you see how it naturally comes from these three, whatever we have discussed emerges naturally. The first realisation is the opening above to the presence of the Self and the descent of its influence as peace, we will say first. The second is the opening inward to the presence of the Divine and the psychic being within you. And the third is the perception of the divine in all things. Recall these three that Sri Aurobindo has described as the three fundamental realisations of the integral yoga. Well, any step you take in direction of these three, with this intention would lead to this particular outcome of the first perfection of equality and its positive, negative and fourfold aspects. But you must do it with that intention. The effort to engage with equality must be there. It's not enough I will open then I will come out and be my usual normal mechanical habitual self. No. These efforts must be done with the intention of establishing increasing equality. But as we have seen, the descent of the peace will make the effort enormously easy. The emergence of the psychic influence will bring that delight and joy in the equality fulfilling the positive aspect.

So in terms of practice, you see what it boils down to. The opening above, descent of all that She pours down, beginning with the peace, that should be our first priority, and increasingly a wider descent of peace. The more wide, the more stable, the more lasting, the more deeply impacting, opening to the presence within, the aspiration, the devotion, the love for the Divine Mother and Her presence that glows out from that love, and the joy or glow of the psychic presence, actively turning now to perceive this presence in all things, and then working now to fix the flaws of any defect in equality. And as we saw earlier, no excuses. Any breakdown of equality, well, you make the effort. Do not worry about difficult situations, start with the easy things and even with the difficult ones you'll make the correction but you may fail more often, don't worry about that. Count the progress in terms of small changes. Let that be your starting point and the difficult things will become easy of their own because the base would have been set. You see when your nature is all agitated you can have sharp peaks. When your nature is largely stabilised in equality, the peaks automatically weaken. And you'll find what was difficult two months ago now becomes easy because you worked on the easy part. Now the difficult has reduced and become easy also. And in particular because you are not relying on your will and effort, but on that which descends from above as peace and the conscious opening and self-giving to the Divine Shakti, the Divine Mother and Her action in you.

So each time we will look at these perfections, we will tend to come back to these basic practices. But now you see how these basic practices are directed to a certain purpose. Yes, you may do them without that purpose also. But if you work on this purpose to establish this peace, this equality as the foundation, everything else will become rapid and easy. Even if you didn't make that effort and just worked to establish the peace within you, the equality will come. But spending that extra effort would make it happen faster especially in your more superficial parts where the peace and influence of the higher force are unable to reach currently precisely because those parts are too superficial and dull and not consciously open. So your effort is going to bridge that gap but your effort remember does not rely on your strength, it's only a link through which Her energy pours through and your effort is the link point through which She achieves more than you could. You do not rely on your effort but you make your effort relying on Her force working through your effort. That's what brings the success. Otherwise the task would be impossible.

Think about these things, review this discussion if you like, a few times if it helps you, and then begin to put into practice. Even a little bit, a tiny bit as he says, is enough to make a huge difference. And let's all make this the conscious intention for the next few weeks at least, or for the rest of your life to set this as your foundation for all the rest that will inevitably happen, knowing that your Spiritual destiny is inevitable, set by the Divine Mother and the choice and aspiration of your soul. Nothing can prevent that, because it is her choice and the choice of the self, nothing can prevent it but your participation can accelerate it enormously - to achieve in a single lifetime what would take thousands of lives, millions of years. But nothing can prevent it. Your participation can accelerate it. That's what we have to do now.

Sraddhalu (1:24:40):

We can take a moment to concentrate on all that we have dwelt upon in an assimilation and in a quiet resolution to put it fully into practice with Her help, asking for Her help to guide us and lead us. And you have this rich, detailed, precise guidance from Sri Aurobindo, an assurance that this will be fulfilled, showing you the easiest way in which to realise this perfection of the Integral Yoga.

Sraddhalu (1:26:20):
Thank you. Namaste.

[Alina] Thank you very much.