Sri Aurobindo

Letters on Yoga

5. Planes and Parts of the Being

Fragment ID: 268

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Men do not know themselves and have not learned to distinguish the different parts of their being; for these are usually lumped together by them as mind, because it is through a mentalised perception and understanding that they know or feel them; therefore they do not understand their own states and actions, or, if at all, then only on the surface. It is part of the foundation of yoga to become conscious of the great complexity of our nature, see the different forces that move it and get over it a control of directing knowledge. We are composed of many parts each of which contributes something to the total movement of our consciousness, our thought, will, sensation, feeling, action, but we do not see the origination or the course of these impulsions; we are aware only of their confused and pell-mell results on the surface upon which we can at best impose nothing better than a precarious shifting order.

The remedy can only come from the parts of the being that are already turned towards the Light. To call in the light of the Divine Consciousness from above, to bring the psychic being to the front and kindle a flame of aspiration which will awaken spiritually the outer mind and set on fire the vital being, is the way out.

¹ CWSA, volume 29: these

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² CWSA, volume 29: the

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³ CWSA, volume 29: which

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⁴ CWSA, volume 29: as

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⁵ CWSA, volume 29: they do not understand

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⁶ CWSA, volume 29: complexity

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⁷ CWSA, volume 29: the

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⁸ The last part of this paragraph is absent in CWSA, volume 29

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⁹ CWSA, volume 28: pell-mell

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¹⁰ CWSA, volume 29: consciousness

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¹¹ CWSA, volume 29: bring

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¹² There is another sentence in CWSA, volume 29 after this one: It is usually a psychic awakening or a series of strong experiences by which the sadhak comes out of this intermediary no man’s land of the quiescent vital (few can avoid altogether this passage through a neutral vital indifference) into the full dynamic course of the spiritual movement.

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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:

1. 9854.
Sri Aurobindo. Letters on Yoga. I // CWSA.- Volume 28. (≈ 22 vol. of SABCL).- Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 2012.- 590 p.

2. 22150.
Sri Aurobindo. Letters on Yoga. II // CWSA.- Volume 29. (≈ 22-24 vol. of SABCL).- Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 2013.- 522 p.

3. 22957.
Sri Aurobindo. Lights on Yoga [: Extracts from letters] / Reprint April 1977; First Edition: 1935.– Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1977.– 104 p.