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Sri Aurobindo

Letters on Yoga

2. Integral Yoga and Other Paths

Fragment ID: 103

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Sri Aurobindo — Unknown addressee

August 18, 1932

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The Gita does not speak expressly of the Divine Mother; it speaks always of surrender to the Purushottama – it mentions her only as the Para Prakriti who becomes the Jiva, that is, who manifests the Divine in the multiplicity and through whom all these worlds are created by the Supreme and he himself descends as the Avatar. The Gita follows the Vedantic tradition which leans entirely on the Ishwara aspect of the Divine and speaks little of the Divine Mother because its object is to draw back from world-nature and arrive at the supreme realisation beyond it; the Tantric tradition leans on the Shakti or Ishwari aspect and makes all depend on the Divine Mother because its object is to possess and dominate the world-nature and arrive at the supreme realisation through it. This yoga insists on both the aspects; the surrender to the Divine Mother is essential, for without it there is no fulfilment of the object of the yoga.

In regard to the Purushottama the Divine Mother is the supreme divine Consciousness and Power above the worlds, Adya Shakti; she carries the Supreme in herself and manifests the Divine in the worlds through the Akshara and Kshara. In regard to the Akshara she is the same Para Shakti holding the Purusha immobile in herself and also herself immobile in him at the back of all creation. In regard to the Kshara she is the mobile cosmic Energy manifesting all beings and forces.

 

1 CWSA, volumes 29, 32: i.e.

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2 CWSA, volumes 29, 32: and the Kshara

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Current publication:

Sri Aurobindo. Letters on Yoga // SABCL.- Volume 22. (≈ 28 vol. of CWSA).- Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1971.- 502 p.

Other publications:

Sri Aurobindo. Letters on Yoga. II // CWSA.- Volume 29. (≈ 22-24 vol. of SABCL).- Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 2013.- 522 p.

[Largest or earliest found passage: ] Sri Aurobindo. The Mother with the Letters on the Mother // CWSA.- Volume 32. (≈ 25 vol. of SABCL).- Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 2012.- 662 p.

Sri Aurobindo. Letters of Sri Aurobindo: In 4 Series.- Second Series [On Yoga].- Bombay: Sri Aurobindo Sircle, 1949.- 599 p.

Sri Aurobindo. On Himself and on the Mother // Sri Aurobindo International University Centre Collection.– Volume 1.– First Edition.– Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1953.– 782 p.

Sri Aurobindo. The Mother // SABCL.- Volume 25. (≈ 32 vol. of CWSA) The Mother with Letters on the Mother and Translations of Prayers and Meditations.– Popular Edition.– Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1972.– 496 p.