(Table of Contents)

Logical Outline of Sri Aurobindo's "Synthesis of Yoga"

by David Hutchinson (dbhutchinson@ucdavis.edu)

Part 1, Chapters 1-5, The Conditions of the Synthesis

1.0 Indian yoga is a special formulation of certain powers of nature.
1.1 Yogic methods are based on special psychological processes which develop latent powers.

2.0 All life is consciously or subconsciously a yoga.
2.1 ...of the individual or Nature.
2.2 Special systems are a compression of the larger and looser work of the divine Mother.

3.0 Man has three instruments: body (firmly founded), mind (in process) and supermind (yet to develop).
3.1 Body is the base, an equililbrium of vital and matter; annakosa, pranakosa.
3.2 Mind is triple: physical/vital, intellectual, divine.
3.21 Capacity of intellect is everywhere in man, even if not realized.
3.3 Supermind is the final instrument.
3.31 Supermind is the cause (causal body) of the other two instruments.
3.32 The supermind, once found, should return upon the other two and perfect them.

4.0 Each of the three general kinds of life (physical, mental, spiritual) has its own characteristics.
4.1 Physical: persistence, self-repetition.
4.11 Aim of "material man" is to live comfortably.
4.12 Material men/institutions are conservative, habitual.
4.13 Neither mind nor spirit are sufficient to overcome the resistance of material Nature.
4.2 Mind: change, enlargement.
4.21 Mental man is idealist, intellectual; perfection.
4.22 The thinker often withdraws from life.
4.3 Spirit: immutal infinity, self-existent perfection.
4.31 Spiritual perfection has no dependence on things.
4.32 Spiritual man also tends to withdraw from the world and to reject it.
4.33 Spirit may return on life for the individual but ignore the collective.
4.34 The usefulness of perfection really lies in reproducing and universalizing it in others.

5.0 Each type of yoga is based on using a particular aspect of the human consciousness to contact the divine.
5.1 Common to all yogas are the transcendent (God), the universal (nature) and the individual (soul.).
5.11 It is always through something already formed (e.g. the individual heart or mind) that Nature transcends herself.
5.2 Hathayoga used the body and vital.
5.11 Techniques: asana, pranayama.
5.12 Results: health, youth, longevity; opening of vital to abnormal ranges of experience.
5.13 Drawbacks: long, laborious; withdraws from life; little returned to common life.
5.3 Rajayoga used the mindstuff (citta.).
5.31 Aim: to still the citta.
5.32 Methods: yama, niyama, pratyhara, asana, pranayama, dharana, dhyana, samadhi..
5.33 Drawbacks: reliance on abnormal states of consciousness and trance.
5.4 Triple path of the Gita: karma, jnana, bhakti uses certain parts of the mind: will, intellect, heart.
5.41 Goal: not perfection as with Raja, but realisation of the Divine.
5.42 Drawback: One path is usually practiced exclusively.

6.0 Integral Yoga seeks to put the whole conscious being into contact with the Divine and call Him in to transform us with his Shakti.
6.1 By doing this the yoga becomes the self-fulfillment of the Purusha through his Energy.
6.11 This is a combination of the Vedantic method (emphasis on knowledge and the Purusha) and the Tantric method (emphasis on Energy, Will-in-Power.).
6.2 Application of method is determined by the temperament of the individual, the situation and the obstacles; it is free, gradually intensive.
6.3 All of our nature is used, nothing is rejected.
6.4 The divine power uses all life, all experience.
6.5 Goal: an integral liberation, freedom, perfection.
6.51 Goal includes divinising the physical, vital, mental; the secular; and the collective.

7.0 The four general forces at work in yoga are shastra, utsaha, guru, kala.
7.1 Sastra is the eternal knowledge latent in the heart.
7.11 May be heard/read from without or within; from the past or the present.
7.12 Written works are always limited; freedom must be allowed for the individual in order, device, succession, form.
7.2 Effort (utsaha) necessary at every stage.
7.21 Three stages: personal; instrumental self; action of the Divine Will. Each must be given its place and recognized for what it is.
7.3 Guru is the inner guide, Jagad-Guru.
7.31 Uses the highest movements of which the individual is capable.
7.32 Absolutely necessary to recognize, but may be veiled by personal effort.
7.33 Different methods (living teacher, ishta devata, avatar) can be used, but there must be an aspiration to the Divine beyond the specific form.
7.34 Guru's true methods are instruction, example, and influence. Each is more powerful than the previous.
7.4 Time is the instrument of the soul, a working out of circumstances and forces.
7.41 When we struggle with adverse forces, time is seen as an obstacle; when the divine starts to work we see it as a medium; to the Divine it is a servant.

Part 1, Chapter 2, Self-Consecration

1. However it comes, there must be a decision of the will (a consecration) for a successful yoga.
1.1 It may come suddenly and decisively, or gradually; but in the end there must be an entire self-giving.

2. First necessity is to exchange the surface orientation for a deeper vision/faith.
2.1 This is a radical shift, and so it is opposed by the self and the world.
2.2 The difficulty leads to the (easy) solution of separation between world and inner life.
2.3 But in an integral yoga we must offer our becomings; life is the field.

3. Yoga also opens up the complexities beneath the surface.
3.1 Especially the discovery that each part is relatively independent.
3.2 And that we are open to other selves, minds, planes, beings.

4. Ordinary yoga deals with this complexity by choosing one inner force and quieting the rest.
4.1 Devotion, knowledge, works can be practiced in isolation from each other.

5. Sadhaka of Integral Yoga must conquer forces of ego, falsehood and disorder in the world as well as in the self.
5.1 And has to harmonize the forces of knowledge, will, and emotion.
5.2 To do this, an inclusive concentration is needed.

6. What is needed is a wide opening, a harmonized concentration of all the parts of the being on the Divine.
6.1 But a lever is often needed at first.
6.2 Nature at its two widest/highest points in him are the best starting points -- the higher mentality and the deeper soul (psychic.)

7. The idea of the Divine will be limited at first; yet the wider the better.
7.1 One-sided sects and philosophies should be avoided.
7.2 Can start with the idea of a conscious, all-embracing, all-exceeding Infinite, personal and impersonal at once.
8. Desire will enter in our endeavor at first.

8.1 But it can be taught to desire the Divine as the one thing needful.
8.2 And to wait upon a greater Will -- which is the Divine ecstasy of the soul's seeking.

9. There are two stages of the consecration.
9.1 First is a preparation for receiving the Divine, a period of personal effort.
9.11 Here we work with the lower instruments, aided from above.
9.12 What is needed is a concentration on the Divine and a rejection of all that is not the Truth.
9.2 Next is the transition between the human and the divine working, with the (progressive) working of the Shakti in us.
9.3 In the last there is no set method or effort or fixed Sadhana; the Divine flowers of its own accord.

Part.1, Chapter 3, Self Surrender In Works

1. Life is the field of our yoga.
1.1 The normal life is a mix of half-ruled, half-conscious acts.
1.2 The development of consciousness is mostly veiled.

2. The aim is to replace desire as the ruling human motive with the Divine.
2.1 The divided ego must give way to the Truth-Consciousness, the will by the Force, our surface emotions by the psychic heart.
2.2 Action must not be either inner or outer, but integrated.

3. For a total conversion, a consecration of our actions must be made.
3.1 This brings the hidden Power to the front.

3.2 This must be done even if we start with knowledge or devotion; otherwise the inner light does not become effectual in the world.

4. The central secret of the Gita is the dynamic identity with the inner Presence, achieved through absolute surrender to the Divine.

5. The key to Karmayoga is the union of the two powers of equality and oneness.
5.1 Renunciation of desire leads to equality; surrender of the ego brings oneness.
5.2 Free will is relative, illusory; it is subject to Nature as much as anything else.
5.3 True freedom is only possible to the conscious soul and its Will, not the mind.
5.4 The clear will of the mind is not independent, but is still a powerful instrument.
5.5 The Divine Will is superconscious, but not separate from us.

6. The distinction here between Nature (Prakriti) and the Lord (Purusha) must be grasped.
6.1 Nature as seen is mechanical and inert, though ultimately she is Shakti.
6.2 Purusha sanctions but does not execute the actions.

6.3 Soul may identify with one or the other; to the extent that it identifies with Nature, it is asleep, unconscious.
6.31 It wakens progressively in the physical, plant, animal, man; but always there is a mixed action of each.
6.4 Ego is a sign of the soul's immersion in Nature; equality is the sign of freedom and mastery.

7. The ideal is to live in God, not the ego; to be perfectly equal to happenings and beings, to feel all in oneself and in God; to act in God.

8. Elimination of desire and ego are the two practical steps in karmayoga.
8.1 Desire is rooted in the emotions, ego in the mind.

8.2 The first rule of the Gita is to act without any desire for the result of our actions; because the most powerful form of desire is the craving for that result.
8.3 The test for this achievement is equality.
8.4 There are lesser forms/types of equality, which may be used but must be overpassed: stoicism, equality of pride, hard indifference.
8.5 At first we bear shocks in our most inner being; later this equality is extended to the outer person.

9. Once desire is gone, action is surrendered to the Divine, the felt Will of the Eternal.

10. The three first approaches are: equality, renunciation of desire for the result of action, and action done as a sacrifice to the Lord.

Part 1, Chapter 4, The Sacrifice, the Triune Path and the Lord of the Sacrifice.

1.1 Every being gives and receives.
1.2 Most sacrifice is unconscious.
1.3 Sacrafice is necessary because of the true unity in things.
1.31 This unity is in essence spiritual and inner.
1.4 Spiritual union through sacrifice is the meaning of the Gita's teaching about works.
1.5 True sacrafice is not denial but self-giving with a mutual return from the Divine; it is an interchange between the soul and the eternal Spirit.
1.7 The highest is to offer one's whole self, face-to-face, freely.

2.0 All actions must be performed as consecrated acts.
2.1 Trifling as well as noble acts should be offered to the Divine; we must not stop short at the ideas of family, community, or humanity.
2.2 This kind of practice leads to a settled Bhakti and to an all-embracing Jnana.

3.0 The one indespensable perception involved in an integral knowledge is the Divine in its essence, unaltered by form; the Transcendent.
3.1 This perception may first come in oneself, in others, or as the timeless and spaceless Unknowable.
3.1 There are three lines of approach/experience to the essential Divine; on each of them we find that the initial apparent duality begins to turn into a unity.
3.11 First: one perceives the timeless/changeless/spaceless/unitary (Brahman) versus the changing stream of happenings (Maya).
3.12 Second: one perceives a silent witness consciousness (Purusha) versus the executive force of nature (Prakriti).
3.13 Third: one perceives one perceives an illimitable Person/Existence (Ishwara) versus its effectuating Force (Shakti).
3.131 Shakti/Ishwara are more linked than the others, the biune character more apparent.
3.132 It is clear that Shakti is a conscious power one with the Supreme; hence her power is at once dynamic and liberative.

4.0 The Shakti/Ishwara experience is the key to the secret of the Lord of the Sacrifice.
4.1 It is the solution to the riddle of consciousness in an impersonal universe.

5.0 For the seeker of the Integral Yoga no one Divine aspect can be sufficient; and in time all aspects reveal themselves.

6.0 The goal of the sacrifice -- the union of our being with That omnipresent Reality -- has three characteristics.
6.1 One is union by identity; this brings liberation, the goal of jnana, yoga of knowledge.
6.2 Two is dwelling of the soul with the divine; goal of bhakti, yoga of devotion.
6.3 Three is identity in nature, a union of our instrumental being; goal of yoga of works.

7.0 This result comes about only if there is a total reversal/conversion of our nature.
7.1 Individual spirit/mind/body must ascend to their higher aspects; the higher must descend with its Power.

Part 1, Chapter 5, The Ascent of the Sacrifice 1 -- The Works of Knowledge -- The Psychic Being

1.0 How is one to handle outer activities?
1.1 Abandonment can only be provisional and transitional.
1.2 Ethical rule also; it is a mental control and cannot transform.
1.3 Before a supramental consciousness is reached, one must open to the Divine or to the light of the soul.
1.31 These are the only safe guidance while still in the ignorance.

2.0 The works of knowledge considered.
2.1 Philosophy tends to stray far from tangible realities; it is seldom a power for life.
2.2 Religion has often been in the service of the ego, and produced the worst of dogma, fanaticism, oppression, lifeless ritual.
2.3 Science and art, by eschewing a higher knowledge, have led to a baffling incertitude and disillusion.

3.0 The true vision is to see all activities of knowledge as a means of divine formation.
3.1 In the sciences to discover the ways of the divine in physical processes.
3.2 In the arts to express that One.
3.3 The yogin pursues these as the Divine within wills, not for other motives; he need not abandon them.
3.31 Nor should the yogin draw men away from works, for that can lead to a worse ignorance of inaction.

4.0 The inner transition of the works of knowledge out of the ignorance can follow no rule, but depends on the individual nature.

5.0 The general stages of the transition considered.
5.1 first, a large turning in which all activities are referred by the psychic being to the divine.
5.2 Next, an ascent of the being and a bringing down of the light of the higher consciousness.
5.3 The former and outward mental activities may diminish, or new capacities may emerge.

6.0 The first signs of the spiritualisation of the mental nature:
6.1 A growing preoccupation with the divine.
6.2 The Divine within becomes the Knower.
6.3 A transmutation into something beyond the mind: a supramental Intuition, Overmind, Supermind.
6.31 Then the distinction of sacred/profane disappears: the way of liberation becomes a transformation of them all.

7.0 The works of love considered.
7.1 Love is the key to the deepest mysteries.
7.2 The true heart is the divine spark of which few are aware; around it grows the psychic being.
7.3 Same distinction often made between religious and mundane emotions; not useful for spiritual life or yoga.
7.4 Ethical "emotions" (altruism) widen but do not abolish the ego.

8.0 The soul (psychic) is the true guide.
8.1 In the beginning the soul must accept the nature as it is, and thus its will, though unerring, may yet submit to mistakes of action.
8.2 It is one-pointed yet plastic, and automatically distinguishes the right from the wrong.
8.3 Its inmost character is a pressure toward the Divine through a sacred love, joy and oneness.

Part 1, Chapter 6, The Ascent of the Sacrifice 2 -- The Works of Love -- The Works of Life

1.0 The sacrifice of love -- continued.
1.1 Love must be restored to its fundamental psychic essence, away from mental/vital/physical preference.
1.11 Still, individual love and relations are possible.
1.2 Adoration is at once an aspiration and a preparation, and carries a spiritual force.
1.21 Idolatries should not be shattered hastily; they always have something in them greater then their forms; indeed all forms carry the presence of the Eternal.
1.22 Adoration is indeed only complete when it includes the Godhead in man and object and creature: the Immanent Divine incarnate in the material universe.
1.3 Universal love has also to be taken up into a love for the universal Divine.
1.31 This brings a universal delight in manifestation, an all-embracing ecstasy.

2.0 This transformation of love is more than limiting emotion or act to devotion, and more than beneficence: all acts must be done in the spirit of a sacrifice of the soul's love to the Divine.
2.1 Three aspects to a complete act of divine love: the act, a symbol (the form of the act), and the inner seeking for oneness.
2.2 Inner worship alone, without the act, is incompletely effective for life; symbols are legitimate as far as they are sincere, beautiful and delightful.
2.3 Divine Love is creative and rejoices in external expression.
2.4 Adoration in the act is itself powerful, and brings joy into the way of works.
2.41 Surrender is only perfect when a surrender of love.

3.0 The emergence of the psychic can alone bring the full power of the spirit in the act, for it is the most pure.
3.1 Even when open to the Transcendent Love, the seeker's mind/life/physical degrade and misuse the power, light and joy; they falsify it and cover the realisation.
3.2 But the leading of the psychic is not complete until it rises to the full spiritual consciousness above.
3.3 The culmination of adoration is in the supramental Gnosis; here is an active ecstasy that can sublimate all living relations.

4.0 Sacrifice of the works of life considered -- Yoga of works proper.
4.1 Necessary for the Integral seeker to understand why this way is shunned so often.
4.2 Compared with love and knowledge, action is impure, ambiguous, dark, full of inertia.
4.21 We meet at its centre a stronger but blinded Will of life: the soul of desire -- incessant, agitated, obstinate.
4.3 All labor to straighten it seems futile; flight the only wisdom.

5.0 Solution to the Life-Force must be found; without it, the spirit's action only partial.
5.1 Works of life cannot be postponed for success with knowledge or love; impossible to reach the supramental without the regenerated Will-In-Life.
5.2 Power, however corrupt, is divine in origin: Shakti drives the worlds.

6.0 Difficulty is result of the substitution of desire-soul for psychic.
6.1 True vital being behind the desire-soul can be led by the inmost soul -- then the objects of the life-force can be fulfilled: growth, possession, enjoyment, battle and conquest, mastery over inner and outer nature.

7.0 Three conditions for this change: abolition of desire, leading of the psychic, replacement of ego by true spiritual person.

8.0 Abolition of desire best formulated by Gita: the wide equality of the Witness spirit.
8.1 Only then does the true vital emerge -- for it is a projection of the equal Purusha into life.

9.0 Leading of psychic necessary for progressive guidance from ignorance to knowledge.
9.1 A psychic tact, instinct, and will are developed gradually.
9.2 Above all it imposes the law of sacrifice on all works.

10.0 Emergence of the true Person brings some of its Love, Light, Power, Bliss; but is gradual, with alternations.
10.1 Process much facilitated by equality and psychic light.

11.0 The Divine Force working in us progressively reveals the subconscious, subliminal and super-conscient ranges -- which are the original determinants, and thus allow the complete transformation of our being.
11.1 Divine Shakti frees us from confinement to the body: workings of universal forces, mind, life can be felt and acted upon.
11.2 All depends on completeness of psychic awakening.
11.3 Full transformation however only possible with ascent to the Gnosis, where all forces are raised to original unity and harmony.

Part 1, Chapter 7, Standards of Conduct and Spiritual Freedom

1.0 Our works arise out of an indivisible universality, and it is hard for the individual to reconcile this with the claims of personal will.
1.1 The universal action is not subject to strength of (personal) will, but rather is the free action of a cosmic Being.
1.2 The correct viewpoint of the worker still in individual consciousness is as a centre of the one total movement.
1.21 Because each person *is* a centre of the Divine Will, each has a drive toward perfectibility, which in the mind becomes the construction of standards/rules/laws of conduct.

2.0 Because mental laws are not binding on the supreme Truth, these laws must be forever temporary and progressive; but this makes good and evil relative qualities.
2.1 By recognizing the necessity for a standard *and* its status as temporary, we gain a power of continual moral progression, charity, and a capacity to help others.

3.0 The four standards of conduct are personal need/desire; the collective good; a mental ideal; and the divine law.
3.1 A standard born of personal need/desire is the result of our physical and vital nature.
3.2 The law of the collective arises because of the interdependence of the individual and the group; it is the genesis of the ethical impulse.
3.21 The law of the group is actually subordinate to that of the individual; the group law is useful for the crude man, but a hindrance to the adult spirit.

4.0 The individual or society can be uppermost in a morality or culture.
4.1 In primitive societies the individual submits to rigid group custom; but individualism is necessary to final perfection.
4.2 The individual may react with the negation of the criminal or the withdrawal of the ascetic; or a higher law may be called in.

5.0 Above the vital demand of the person or the group is the mental ideal.
5.1 This is always an individual standard, not a creation of the mass mind.
5.2 The thinker imposes it on all his thought can reach.
5.3 But society turns it into custom, because society is external in method.
5.4 The ideal is absolute, and thus potential rather than practical; no society actually accomplishes it.
5.5 Even in practice, the absolutes of justice, love or reason conflict with each other; in action we compromise.

6.0 The true absolute towards which the ideal points is acheivable only in a divine consciousness and being where these absolutes are at one in the light of a divine knowledge.
6.1 This truth must at once determine our collective relations, and reveal the individual expression.
6.2 This supreme law is neither a principle gained from moral reflection or a religious law from the mouth of the Avatar.
6.21 The shastra of a religion must either be progressively changed, or become a barrier to self- development.
6.3 The supreme law is discovered by the individual and extended to others through a *spiritual* influence.
6.4 Unlike a moral law or ethical ideal, the higher law cannot be imposed or mechanised; it must be felt in the consciousness to be active.

7.0 The spiritual law transforms desire into Ananda; mental aspiration into Truth; straining into the calm of the central being.
7.1 The supramental action will not follow any single principle; its aim is the progress of the world; it proceeds by a total will and knowledge.
7.2 If generalized in humanity, we would have the golden age of a conscious spontaneous law in each individual, where unity, love, equality, reason, automatic perception acted.
7.3 In the current state of the world, the (divine) actions of an individual may be different than those done in a collective humanity liberated from ignorance.

Part 1, Chapter 8, The Supreme Will

1.0 "Abandon all Dharmas (rules) and take refuge in me" is the final demand on the sadhak regarding morality.
1.1 Desire; the social law; and the ideal must all be surrendered.
1.2 Desire: to act and enjoy is natural; but to choose by desire is ignorant.
1.3 Social law: we may act according to it or break it, but as the Divine within wills, not by personal association.
1.4 Ideal moral law: even this "golden chain" must be transcended.
1.5 The higher truth may well manifest according to the temperament of the individual; but in the summit these boundaries vanish.

2.0 The Divine Will -- how is it to be recognised?
2.1 The individual "ego" is really Nature, Prakriti, acting.
2.2 Purusha behind is the silent witness, upholder, receiver; the "I" a false reflection of this.
2.3 The soul, Jivatman, is a reflection of the Purusha in the individual.
2.31 But the Jiva is not the "doer" either; that is the Shakti.

3.0 The first thing is to get rid of the sense of an "I" who acts.
3.1 By being inwardly quiescent, calm, detached, not absorbed in the active personality.
3.11 Thus the sadhak comes to realise that he is the soul who observes.
3.2 Gradually an inner spiritual control over the Nature-forces arises.
3.3 Finally he becomes aware of the highest dynamic Self, the Ishwara-Shakti.

4.0 In the beginning the Divine Will can manifest as an imperative impulsion, or an inspiration or intuition, or a total perception of what is to be done.
4.1 Three stages of its emergence: dominance of personal will; emergence of the Divine; supramental guidance.
4.2 The character of the liberated action, however, is the same: a spontaneous working of Prakriti for the Purusha.
4.3 Necessary at every step: faith; true aspiration; sincere practice.

Part 1, Chapter 9, Equality and the Annihilation of Ego

1.0 The first principle is an entire self-consecration in works.
1.1 The work itself is chosen by the best light we have at any stage.
1.2 The spirit must be to abandon desire for the results of any work.

2.0 Equality is the sign of renunciation of attachment. 2.1 The Lord is in all; we must have no essential distinction between others.
2.2 We must learn to see the one Divine in all things, not be attracted or repulsed.
2.21 All can be changed, but from a spiritual knowledge.
2.3 Difference can still be seen and appreciated when equality is attained.
2.4 Equality too towards all events, even failure.

3.0 Equality comes only after self-discipline, and in stages.
3.1 First endurance; but with a sense of submission to the Divine will.
3.2 Then indifference, a calm superiority to things.
3.3 Then the divine equality embracing all things, capable of spiritual ardour, intensity and wideness.
3.31 Here peace becomes bliss, calm becomes capable of movement.
3.32 Submission and surrender necessary for this last.

4.0 For equality to reach perfection, the abolition of ego is necessary.
4.1 Also occurs in stages.
4.2 Sadhaka has to feel/see the Force, Presence, Will working in him.
4.3 Great sincerity necessary to impose on the subliminal parts.

5.0 Sadhaka must take the position of witness, to understand the hidden parts.
5.1 The quality of light/good (sattva) should become prominent in our Nature.
5.2 Then all of Nature-Force in us can be transformed into divine equivalents (tamas into calm, rajas into tapas, sattva into illumination).

Part 1, Chapter 10, The Three Modes of Nature

1.0 The natural action of the lower Prakriti must be transcended by the soul.

2.0 The three modes (gunas): sattva (force for equilibrium, light, harmony); rajas (force for kinesis, struggle, passion); tamas (force of inertia and inconscience).
2.1 These valid in physical nature as well as for psychological analysis.
2.2 An individual's response to things is a result of the mixture of the three modes in him/her.
2.3 Everyone is a mixture; each person has tamasic, rajasic and sattvic states, moments, elements; a person may be predominately one but no one is entirely one.

3.0 The modes are a mechanism of nature, Prakriti, and include the mind and ego; yet the soul can dictate a harmony for Nature to execute.
3.1 Sattva must predominate over tamas and rajas if one is to become an instrument of the Divine.
3.11 Yet the other two will remain.

4.0 The solution is for all three to be transcended by the Witness consciousness.
4.1 This frees one from a sattvic egoism as well as a tamasic or rajasic kind.
4.2 The first step is for the soul to stand detached, above Nature.

5.0 Then begins a dynamic transformation of the Nature.
5.1 Each part opens to a greater light, power, illumination -- another kind of action becomes possible, with a higher force acting.

6.0 Next comes the working of a triple mode of Divine Nature.
6.1 Tamas is replaced by a divine calm; rajas by a self-possessed power; sattva by a spiritual bliss and illumination.
6.2 This is the state of dynamic freedom or transcendence; the gunas not just transcended but transformed into their divine equivalents.

Part 1, Chapter 11, The Master of the Work.

1.0 The Master and Mover of our works is at once the One and Absolute, the Immanent within us, and the Cosmic Energy all around.

2.0 The Master reveals himself gradually, so there are stages in our approach to the realisation.
2.1 Thus, faith and patience are essential, especially for the novice.

3.0 The Master works through our existing nature.
3.1 Failures and mistakes are His methods, as well as success.
3.2 The three steps are consecration of works, renunciation of the fruit of works, and renunciation of the sense of being a worker.

4.0 The renunciation of the sense of ego, of being a worker, has stages; at first we have to see ourselves as an instrument.
4.1 However, normal egoism can be replaced by an egoism attached to being an instrument of God.
4.12 This can be engrossing, enormous, dangerous, and more intense than normal egoism.
4.13 The perception of a higher force working may be correct, but the most such persons see is a cosmic Force.
4.2 Every person is an instrument of a higher force; there is no essential difference between one kind of instrument and another.

5.0 After the surrender of ego, the perfection of the nature.
5.1 Even with the Master guiding our steps, the work may be illumined but not transformed.
5.2 Perfection of the nature means rising beyond even spiritualised mind, into the divine Truth-Force of the Supreme Mother.
5.3 Even before this, there can be a union with the Cosmic, the Universal Divine.

6.0 Proceeding from the Absolute Transcendent is a divine Truth-Consciousness, a Supermind, a Gnosis.
6.1 The Gnosis is active here but veiled by the Yoga-Maya.
6.2 The Divine appears from below as a dual being, a Witness Spirit and a Cosmic Energy.
6.3 The third aspect is a personal Immanent divine which brings the ecstasy of divine Love.
6.31 This relationship may be intense, but must also open out to the Universal and upward to the Transcendent.

7.0 Each of these three -- the Immanent, the Transcendent, the Universal -- can stand out as separate realisations.
7.1 But in an Integral yoga they must be unified, and for that one must rise out of mind into a supramental gnosis.

8.0 The Master of the work appears through symbol signs and forces while the seeker is still on the level of mind.
8.1 These can be godheads, ideals, abstract powers; or a Voice, and Will, a Knowledge, a Beatitude; or intimate personal relations.
8.2 These are real but partial; not symbols but truths; they are the working out of self-expressive realities by a supreme Reality.
8.3 Because the lower is a reflection of the Supramental, not a thing totally divorced from it.

Part 1, Chapter 12, The Divine Work

1.0 What work is left for the soul after liberation and to what purpose?

2.0 Traditional Indian answer: no work at all, just quiescence.
2.1 This from the idea that all action comes from necessity, instinct, or desire.
2.2 One can be quiescent and still be bound to the ignorance.
2.3 Desire is not the only, or even the main, source of action.

3.0 Does the kind of work a person does change when one is advanced?
3.1 Not true that the liberated man must accept his previous role.
3.2 Externals of work may change or stay the same.

4.0 What does salvation or liberation for the individual have to do with works and the liberated person?
4.1 The desire for salvation and liberation arise from the ego.
4.2 Yet in reality, the pursuit of liberation is really the Divine Will in us.
4.3 True freedom includes being free from the wish for escape from rebirth or the desire for personal salvation.

5.0 By what rule can one judge the actions of a liberated soul?
5.1 No fixed, mind-made, or external rule can apply.
5.11 The action can be large or small, religious or secular; the person may be renowned or unknown, revered or despised, a creator or destroyer, externally successful or a failure.
5.2 The only rule his action obeys is that it arised from within, from the Divine will.
5.3 To love, have compassion, follow the command of the Divine are not rules or duties; they are the outflowing of our inner nature, the soul's communion with the Divine.

6.0 How is one to know the inner law of our nature?
6.1 This nature is not our character or superficial heart and mind, but the true Being within.

7.0 The true reason for seeking liberation is that this is the Divine Will in us.
7.1 The divine Nature must be manifest in the individual so it can manifest in the world.
7.2 Way of knowledge can give transcendence, way of devotion can give union; works gives a divine living, a union with the Will and Power of the divine Nature.

Part 1, Chapter 13, The Supermind and the Yoga of Works

1.0  Integral includes a conversion of the whole being into a divine existence.
1.1  Human nature makes most start yoga with one or the other of works, devotion, knowledge, or some part of the being.
1.11 But even so it must widen to include a totality of all and a perfection of all parts.
1.2  On the level of the supermind this perfection is self-existent.

2.0  The purpose of yoga is union with the Divine, not attainment of the supermind.
2.1  This latter is a false and dangerous idea which can raise ambition in the vital and lead to a downfall.
2.2  Even perfection of the nature is second to union with the Divine, a necessary development, not a goal in itself.

3.0  Yoga may accelerate development, but it still occurs in necessary stages.
3.1  The attainment of supermind cannot therefore be a first goal.
3.2  First come the psychic opening and transformation, the spiritual, the cosmic.
3.3  Making the supermind an immediate aim can bring imbalance, a hunt for supernormal powers, self-inflation, a morbid abnormality.
3.4  One goes to supernature through a heightening of reason, a "sublimated commonsense," not by becoming irrational.

4.0  Another error is to take an intermediate (higher) consciousness for the supermind.
4.1  Many supernormal experiences are possible that are not supramental, for example the inner or higher mind.
4.2  To imagine we have reached the supermind when in an intermediate state can lead to an arrest of evolution: we remain content with something lesser.