(Table of Contents)

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

by David Hutchinson (dbhutchinson@ucdavis.edu)

Part 2, Chapter 1, The Object of Knowledge.

1.0 Spiritual seeking aims for knowledge of something infinite, eternal -- beyond the senses.
1.1 Traditional systems believe this Eternal must be purely transcendental of the phenomenal world, or a pure non-existence.
1.11 Therefore a complete annihilation of self is necessary.
1.12 And action, thought and devotion are inherently incompatible with this Other.

2.0 This pure Jnana yoga is a product of the thought, and arises from the experience of the Witness Self.
2.1 Thought is nearest this Self, and more content with quiescence that the heart or will, which are active powers.
2.2 And humans are in essence mental beings, so the thought naturally claims to lead the spiritual journey.

3.0 But the true leader of the being is the Will, the Tapas/Shakti/Shraddha which comes from the spirit.
3.1 The secret Shraddha in us is a sure guide, because more intimately connected with the Supreme than the thought.
3.2 The satisfaction of the thought should not be the highest goal.
3.3 The heart and will are also forms of conscious Being and have powers and goals in the spiritual quest proper to their state.

4.0 Traditional Jnana yoga rejects successively the body, life and mind to reach the Absolute.
4.1 A way of integral knowledge eliminates the falsity associated with each of these, not the aspect itself.
4.2 The intense experience of liberation is the basis of the traditional path of knowledge.
4.21 This experience is in reality the highest spiritualised mind looking beyond itself.

5.0 The Supreme transcends but is yet related to the individual and the universe.
5.1 The first steps of the mind and senses in apprehending the Supreme are imperfect but not illusory; they have a relative truth.

6.0 A true way of knowledge must discover the body as a sensible form of the Infinite; the life as a dynamisation of That; the mind as a light thrown from That.
6.1 None of these (body, life, mind) is the basis of existence.

7.0 The traditional way of knowledge arrives at the pure conscious existence by rushing blindly through the intervening regions between mind and That.
7.1 The highest knowledge is gained by a patient transit, wherein the Self is discovered to be dynamic.

8.0 The Supreme is one in nature with the individual and the universe, but yet transcends them.
8.1 If we cross beyond the mind, we can arrive at a spiritual knowledge which is positive and direct, a living experience of the Brahman which is both formless and all form.
8.2 The object of a spiritual knowledge need not be the extinction of world existence.
8.3 Release can be followed by a dynamic manifestation of the divine.
8.4 The liberated knower then does all actions from a supreme unity; he does not do less, but more.

Part 2, Chapter 2, The Status of Knowledge

1.0 Since the Supreme Reality is the object of yogic knowledge, this is a knowledge different from what we ordinarily understand as such.
1.1 This knowledge is a greater consciousness.
1.2 Greater not in degree but in kind; other than knowledge brought by the mind or senses.
1.21 Hence analysis of sensory information cannot bring this knowledge.

2.0 The intellect cannot bring this knowledge.
2.1 Even though intellect *can* bring knowledge of suprasensuous conceptions, such as "force."
2.2 The true purpose of intellectual discrimination is to remove obstacles to right vision, not arrive at final knowledge.
2.3 Discrimination is preliminary to the operations of vision, experience, realisation.

3.0 These operations are not mere psychological self-analysis, but rather the realisation of, making real to ourself, the Divine.
3.1 Self-analysis is necessary and directs us toward the knowledge, but it only shows the modes of the self, not the Self.

4.0 Vision (drsti) is a power of the soul by which things become directly evident to the soul.
4.1 To the soul, not the intellect.
4.2 This vision may be clouded, but once gained it is never lost irretrievably.

5.0 Inner experience embraces the manifold forms of the Self that vision apprehends.
5.1 This experience can be mental, emotional, aesthetic, sensory, vital, nervous, physical.

6.0 Identity goes beyond experience, to becoming one with that Reality.
6.1 This happens when one enters the supramental, where all experience merges into Unity with the Ineffable.

Part 2, Chapter 3, The Purified Understanding

1.0 The knowledge aimed for requires a preliminary preparation of the soul and its instruments.
1.1 As this preliminary purification occurs, illuminations and realisations increase. 1.2 The first necessary preparation for the path of knowledge is the purification of the understanding (buddhi). 1.21 Accompanied by purification of the other members, since there is an interdependence among the understanding, mind, body, vital.

2.0 By the understanding is meant the true reason: that which at once perceives, judges, and discriminates.
2.1 Not the sense mind, or habitual thought.
2.2 The pure reason observes disinterestedly, and uses comparison, contrast, analogy, deduction, induction and inference, memory, imagination, and judgement.

3.0 The buddhi also includes an "over-standing" aspect beyond the reason.
3.1 This part does not reason from sense information but rather serves as a recipient of intuitions and inspirations from a supramental faculty.
3.2 Normally these intuitions are altered by the lower intellect or heart, and so are distorted.
3.3 If this higher buddhi acts without interference, it gives pure forms of the truth; but this action is beyond present human stature.

4.0 The first cause of impurity in the understanding is the immixture of desire.
4.1 For the understanding to be above the vital and emotions, they must be tranquilised and mastered.
4.2 This is achieved by equality; hence equality is the starting point of the path of knowledge, as it is for works.

5.0 The second cause of impurity is the reliance on the subjection to the senses.
5.1 Thought must be taught to stand back from the sense-mind and its habitual concepts, associations, perceptions.

6.0 The third cause of impurity is an unequal action of the will to know, which produces attachment to certain ideas.
6.1 The remedy is a perfect equality of mind, a mental disinterestedness that isnot attached or repelled by any particular idea.

7.0 Yet since true knowledge is supra-intellectual, the understanding thus purified must cultivate two kinds of passivity.
7.1 One is openness to the intuitive.
7.11 This includes allowing the intuitive to work free from the intellect, just as the intellect must be free from the emotions.
7.12 The understanding must be trained to look upward and refer all to the divine.
7.2 Second is a total stillness, of dismissing all thought.

Part 2, Chapter 4, Concentration

1.0 Concentration and purity are closely connected and arise together, as do their opposites, impurity and an easily distracted mind.

2.1 Concentration in yoga has a specialised meaning: removing all distracting thought and holding the mind on the idea of the one Reality.
2.11 This can bring three results: knowledge of a thing; acquisition of it; becoming the thing.

3.0 Concentration on the One imvolves an ascent into the transcendent in Samadhi.
3.1 This samadhi has many preparatory stages and supports.

4.0 An integral Yoga, however, aims at a Divine realisation which includes the universe as well as transcends it.
4.1 Concentration and samadhi are for us the means by which the soul enters into any manifestation of the Self.
4.2 This concentration proceeds by the Idea as a means of opening the self-aware superconscient planes.
4.3 The end is a settled existence in the One whether waking or withdrawn.

5.0 When this integral result is obtained, concentration is no longer needed.
5.1 The Divine is centred in itself, and its whole self, undivided, is behind each action.

6.0 The first step in concentration is to pursue a single subject unwaveringly.
6.1 This is an inward dwelling of the mind on the essence of an idea, not discursive reasoning.
6.2 A further process occurs when thought ceases and merges into an absorbed contemplation of the object (samadhi).
6.3 Another route is to still the mind; this can be done in various ways.
6.31 When the mind becomes silent a great calm descends, and strenuous concentration is no longer necessary.
6.4 Then a free concentration of will on the lower members takes place, obliging them to remould themselves.

Part 2, Chapter 5, Renunciation

1.0 Renunciation is the indispensable negative practice by which we reject the falsehoods of our nature.
1.1 Traditional teachings say that everything, even life itself, must be renounced. 1.2 The impulse toward renunciation can come from many sources, from a sense of the imperfect nature of life to a selfish indifference.

2.0 For the sadhaka of the Integral Yoga none of the traditional reasons for renunciation are valid.
2.1 Because we are here to harmonise, not leave behind; assist, not escape.
2.2 And because the world and man are manifestations of the Divine, we cannot renounce our unity with either.

3.0 Renunciation in the Integral Yoga is an instrument, not an object.
3.1 It removes obstacles to a positive fulfillment
3.2 It is also primarily inward, a renunciation of attachment to people, work, successes, even joys.

4.0 Self-will in the mind must especially be renounced.
4.1 Including attachment to any idea, system, conclusions, or even truths.

5.0 Renunciation of egoism is difficult and subtle.
5.1 Egoism can hide behind altruism, indifference, and poverty.
5.2 We are drawn to follow custom and the environment in taking on these outward roles (poverty, etc.) but the only important consideration is the eye within.
5.3 The Gita shows that the egoism of weakness may be garbed as external renunciation.
5.4 The soul must be free also from attachment to inaction.

6.0 External renunciation, self-denial is useful, even necessary at some stage.
6.1 Self-denial is no longer needed when we enjoy not the object but the Divine within the object.

7.0 We must be prepared to renounce helpful things once they are attained.
7.1 It can be dangerous to rest in a desirable state of the soul, if it stops us from advancing beyond.

Part 2, Chapter 6, The Synthesis of the Disciplines of Knowledge

1.0 The aim of knowledge is the recovery of the one Self.
1.1 This presupposes that our normal state is ignorant, false.

2.0 Our false understanding arises from the identification of the soul with the body, the life, and the mind.
2.1 The soul thus forgets its true nature.

3.0 Individualisation is a fact, but this identification is false.
3.1 Individual mind, life and body are forms, centres of the One.
3.2 Universal mind, etc. are also forms of the One.

4.0 We have to proceed from the knowledge that all these forms are becomings of the pure Self or Being.
4.1 There are negative and positive methods to gain true knowledge.

5.0 The negative renounces attachment to the body, life, mind.
5.1 The Self gradually becomes perceptible, and a positive identification with That can begin.
5.2 Another positive way is to pass into Samadhi of the Absolute by shutting out all ideas and concentrating on the Brahman.

6.0 Perception of the world.
6.1 The ascetic path concentrates on the idea of all form as illusory, an unreal imposition on the formless ether.
6.2 A further realisation sees the Self as that which upholds the world.
6.3 And a further as the Soul and Nature of all.
6.4 The distinctions between these are practical but not of ultimate value; an integral knowledge will harmonise these seeming exclusions.

7.0 The primary aim in knowledge is to realise our own supreme Self first, rather than in nature or others.
7.1 Because the individual needs to set right the confusions and disorder of the being.
7.2 But this is done not to disappear in the Self, but to find the one Self in all.

Part 2, Chapter 7, The Release from Subjection to the Body

1.0 The first step in this release is separating Purusha from Prakriti.
1.1 So the mind can form its right relation to the body.

2.0 Detachment from the things of the body is needed.
2.1 We must take care of it, but not care *essentially* about its pain/pleasure, health/sickness, etc.
2.2 The working of the mind does not depend on the functioning of the body.
2.3 Even much of our dependence on food is customary and can be changed.

3.0 The mental purusha comes to be seen as the upholder of the body.
3.1 And the body as something external, detachable.
3.2 Detachment can reach a point where sensations come to be felt as occuring to some other (very close) person.
3.3 This is the initial liberation of the mental being from the body.

4.0 Finally the mind knows the Purusha as the giver of sanction to the habits of Nature.
4.1 By withdrawing this "sanction" even physical habits such as thirst, hunger, fatigue, disorder can be changed.
4.2 This is properly the yoga of Self-Perfection.
4.3 This change of relation between the body and mind is an improvement and a willed advance of evolution, not a morbid hallucination.
4.4 Still, perfection of the body is a secondary consideration in the yoga of knowledge; the one thing necessary is to rise out of Nature to the Self.

5.0 When the purusha takes up the attitude of witness, bodily inaction tends to grow.
5.1 This is not a problem so long as it is not inertia, tamas.
5.2 The power to do nothing in immovable calm is a great power, just as is the power to cease from thought.
5.3 Aversion to action is undesirable, however.
5.4 When the body and life are mere instruments of the Purusha, action or inaction are immaterial.
5.5 Until then, moderation is best, though periods of absolute calm and solitude are helpful.

6.0 Detachment from the physical prana comes with detachment from the body itself.
6.1 Then the fear of death, which is a vestige of this vital origin, can be thrown away.

Part 2, Chapter 8, The Release from the Heart and the Mind

1.0 The action of the life-energy in the mind creates the predominance of desire.
1.1 The qualities of the life-energy are action, reaching out, satisfaction and dissatisfaction.
1.2 The sense-mind, emotional-mind, thought-mind are thus thrown into discord by law of desire.

2.0 The various levels of the mind have their own proper functions which they could perform if not under the influence of desire.
2.1 The function of the sense-mind is to lie open passively to the contacts of life and transmit the sensations to the higher facilities.
2.2 The function of the true emotional being, the psychic entity, is a luminous reaching out to fusion with God and other beings.
2.3 The function of the thought-mind is to observe, understand, judge, and be open to illumination.
2.4 The seat of the ego is in the conscious mind but its root is in the subconscious, tied to the desire-mind.

3.0 Therefore the mental Purusha has to separate from identification with the desire-mind.
3.1 This creates a division between the observer and the emotions.
3.2 Followed by a mastery over the emotions when the sanction for them is removed.

4.0 Then the soul emerges and takes the place of the desire-mind.
4.1 Two stages then are possible: an entire calm, and an intense divine love and oneness.
4.2 Equality is the basis, love is the positive fulfillment in action.

5.0 The desire-mind must also be rejected from thought; this is done by the Purusha detaching itself from thought itself.
5.1 The same method and process follow: negation of identification, detachment, withdrawal of sanction, liberation, mastery.

Part 2, Chapter 9, The Release from the Ego

1.0 Thought naturally develops two views toward the ego.
1.1 One view sees the development and fulfilment of the ego as the object of life.
1.2 The other sees the conquest of the ego as the one thing worth doing.

2.0 For spiritual fulfilment, the ego must be exceeded: must either disappear or fuse into a larger entity.
2.1 It is by nature a smallness of being.
2.2 And therefore brings weakness, disharmony, failure of sympathy, love and understanding, and pain.

3.0 The larger cosmic self into which the ego can fuse is a spiritual entity.
3.1 Not the consciousness of collective humanity.
3.2 It is founded on a sense of the Divine in all, and works not for the sake of the race but rather for the sake of the Divine.

4.0 The fulfilment of the individual has a real place.
4.1 Yet this only happens when the individual knows and possesses the larger whole of which it is a part.

5.0 The fundamental support of the ego is in the mental Purusha.
5.1 This is particularly subtle because it is not tied to the mind, life or body.
5.11 Rather it feels itself behind the action of Prakriti.
5.2 So one must do more than eliminate the ego-sense of identification with the body, mind, and life.

6.0 To eliminate that support one must go back to the Purusha itself, the Jiva or soul-form of the universal Spirit.
6.1 For an Integral knowledge, the jiva must attain to the very Transcendent, as well as one with the Divine in its widest being.
6.2 "The self of the man must be made one with the Self of all..."

7.0 The stages of release from the ego.
7.1 First an effort to deny the ego or fix thought on the One.
7.2 Then experiences of the One (peace, silence, joy, existence).
7.3 A sudden liberation is possible.
7.31 The sense of cosmic consciousness may occur.

8.0 A veil may return, a ghost of the old ego.
8.1 This reflects an impurity in the system that must be worked out.
8.2 When the being is sufficiently clear, there is a firm station in the higher consciousness.
8.3 Then the soul takes possession of the lower as well as the higher being.

9.0 The first result of the path of knowledge must be an absolute quietude.
9.1 This annuls the link between action and actor (ego).
9.2 The soul may then rise to the realisation of Brahman.

10.0 This new poise of the Jiva (in Brahman) is seen by the mentality as a denial of the universe.
10.1 Which experience is the foundation of Illusionism.
10.2 In reality relations between individuals are still possible without the ego -- the One at play with itself.
10.3 Wherein the Jiva remains one with the Self, even in full action.

Part 2, Chapter 10, The Realisation of the Cosmic Self

1.0 A secondary aim in the path of knowledge, after realisation of the Eternal, is to establish a true relation between the Eternal and the world.

2.0 Once gained, the eternal seems the sole reality and all else an illusion.
2.1 But self and world are both real and have a true connection.
2.2 This relation entails becoming one with all existences.

3.0 This is the cosmic consciousness, seeing the self in all existences and all existences in the self (Gita 6:29, 30)
3.1 Since the Self is behind all beings, the cosmic consciousness is natural to it when it looks out on the world.
3.2 The mind resists this awareness.
3.21 But can be accustomed to it by concentration/meditation on the One everywhere.

4.0 The realisation of cosmic consciousness has three successive stages or aspects.
4.1 First is the Self in whom all beings exist; image of the ether.
4.2 Second is the immanent, indwelling Self in all.
4.3 Third is identity with all existences, in name and form, mind and life and body.

Part 2, Chapter 11, The Modes of the Self

1.0 Knowledge of the Self includes its fundamental relations with the universe and its modes.
1.1 Yet the Self must be known first in its pure Existence; then the soul can realise these different modes.

2.0 The Self is both One and Many.
2.1 The true understanding of this is supramental, beyond the mind.
2.2 This is known only when each individual or collectivity is seen as the Divine, not as it sees itself inwardly or appears to others.

3.0 Yet one mode of the Self is as separate, individual entities.
3.1 This is a stable, perpetual soul or soul-experience which presides over each person.

4.0 There is a mode of relation between the individual and the Divine other than Unity.
4.1 This is also real, and underlies the sense of the devotee who cherishes that duality between the sadhaka and the Beloved.

5.0 Individual experience is the starting point for all, so it is from there that we arrive at the One.
5.1 The Knowledge of essential oneness comes by identity and is necessary for action, will and knowledge.
5.2 Yet the sadhaka of an Integral yoga does not cling to a pure state of abstract being; all these modes are part of the Self.

6.0 The Gita describes the Divine Being in terms of the three Purushas: Mutable, Immutable, and Highest (kshara, akshara, purushottama; Gita 15:16, 17)
6.1 This is related to the Qualitied and Qualityl-less Brahman, or the Personal and Impersonal God, or the Silent and Active Brahman.
6.2 All these have two oppoosite poles, and a transcendent third Reality.
6.3 Indian and Western traditions, however, have different connotations and conceptions of these and are not always compatible.
6.4 The truest conception is of a Personal God who is the source of personality, of infinite qualities.

Part 2, Chapter 12, The Realisation of Sachchidananda

1.0 The realisation of the basic truths of existence is not just philosophical speculation.
1.1 Those truths must become guiding principles.
1.2 And by yoga become realised concretely.

2.0 Knowledge of the essential principles of Being is essential.
2.1 Because limitation, struggle, ignorance and pain come from bondage to the play of qualities and mutable personality.

3.0 Realisation of the One and Eternal is the first, characteristic, and the essential goal of the Yoga of Knowledge.
3.1 But knowledge must then give the key to multiplicity and interaction.
3.2 And must show the essential oneness between impersonality and the source of personality.
3.21 This oneness must embrace as well as exceed the totality of things.
3.3 And it must be so in experience and self-fulfillment also; an intimate unity between our own self and the self of the cosmos.

4.0 The one substantial mode of the Self is termed Sachchidananda -- Existence, Consciousness, Bliss.
4.1 These are inseparable, though the mind and experience can separate them.
4.2 All is, and all is conscious and blissful; unconsciousness and pain are only mental surfaces, falsifications of the Self that is Sachchidananda.

5.0 Consciousness (chit) takes different forms in different levels of physical nature (atom, plant, animal).
5.1 In ourselves also there are lower (limited) forms of chit.
5.2 Yet these seemingly different forms are the conscious-stuff of one indivisible existence.
5.3 We are not normally aware of most of these lower forms (physical, vital), and the conflict between them creates a struggle in our being.

6.0 Above the level of mind are a Truth-Plane, and then the very Chit itself; these too are manifestations of the one Consciousness.
6.1 In its essence, Chit is also pure Ananda, self-bliss.
6.2 This self-bliss is there whether the Divine manifests in Personality or Impersonality, Many or Multiplicity.

7.0 The individual soul does not realise this bliss because it identifies with the separate form, the vehicle of mind, body, life.
7.1 This creates the ego, and separation from unity, hence separation from Sachchidananda.

Part 2, Chapter 13, The Difficulties of the Mental Being

1.0 Realisation of the pure quiescent Self is the necessary basis for the path of knowledge, but a more positive realisation is also needed.
1.1 This other is the Transcendent which includes both pure existence and the infinite play of action and personality.
1.2 This outpouring of consciousness in Time and Space is also Sacchidananda.

2.0 The character of man as primarily a mental being imposes certain limitations and difficulties in the search for knowledge.
2.1 Between the human and the Divine there is an apparent veil, a lid which prevents us from knowing the Divine.
2.2 The human and the Divine occupy two apparently opposed planes of existence.
2.21 The human a limited sphere of mind, life and body; all start from limitation, ignorance, separation.
2.22 The divine a unity of four principles: infinite being, infinite consciousness and will, infinite bliss, and self-effective supermind.
2.3 Because of the apparent duality, the mental being sees the divine as something other than itself, superior or distant.

3.0 The first difficulty is then this perceived chasm.
3.1 Our consciousness seems always unable to participate in the immeasurable bliss, force, being.

4.0 The first solution is to rise out of the mental nature into the Supreme.
4.1 This is the trance of Samadhi, when the mind leaves its own consciousness and disappears into another.
4.2 But when one returns, the mental consciousness remains the same.
4.3 The waking consciousness must be spiritualised, which Samadhi does not do.

5.0 The other solution is to call down the divine into the mental, so that the lower can be spiritualised.
5.1 The is done by the mind's power of reflecting that which it contemplates.
5.2 Normally this is done through an absolute outer and inner quietism, a pure passivity allowing the divine to possess the nature.

6.0 Yet a positive transformation is possible because there are higher levels of mind which reporduce the conditions of the divine plane, though still being in the realm of mind.
6.1 These higher mind planes can be reached in the waking state.
6.2 However, even here the character of the mind to dwell on one thing to the exclusion of another limits the realisation.
6.3 The last difficulty of mind is then apparent: its inability to hold unity and multiplicity at once -- to be simultaneously aware of the divine immanent in each object and individual in the universe, and of the Sachchidananda containing and enveloping the universe.

Part 2, Chapter 14, The Passive and Active Brahman

1.0 Two solutions to the difficulty of the mental being.

2.0 Can dynamically follow the purusha/prakriti duality to it farthest self-enlargement, thereby evolving the material into the spiritual man.
2.1 Or can ascend to the highest transcendent state and from there realise the supramental.

3.0 Latter method outlined in this chapter.

4.0 Once identification with body/mind/life overcome, sadhaka aware of aloof Witness state.
4.1 No connection between this and world; proceding further on this line one loses connection with the world and mind.

5.0 Method of integral yoga is here to realise the Self as All, sarvam brahma.
5.1 The things of the world felt as only form, not substantial.
5.2 Active consciousness of world not present here.
5.3 Thought being stilled, all movement seems mechanical.
5.4 Basis of state is consciousness at rest, not active.
5.5 A gulf has been created between the passive and active Brahman.
5.6 State the basis of Sankhya purusha/prakriti and Vedantic illusionist philosophies.

6.0 Possible to rest here and progress no further.
6.1 Entire inner passivity, silence, absence of will.
6.2 Action is initiated by universal Nature itself, acting from superconscious and subconscious centers.
6.3 Outwardly can appear normal, thoughtful, even when inwardly the man is only witness.
6.4 Active Brahman works through natural instruments.
6.5 This is state of entire spiritual freedom.
6.6 Action incurs no consequences for the individual soul, no karma.
6.7 State not integral; active Brahman not included.

7.0 Solution is to embrace the plane of active consciousness.
7.1 Difficulty is that mind is liable to be precipitated into this plane, rather than possess it.
7.2 Resulting in the normal state: loss of unity, of self-knowledge.
7.3 Sadhaka must hold fast to the truth of Sachchidananda and extend the realisation into the multiplicity.

Part 2, Chapter 15, The Cosmic Consciousness

1.0 To realise the active Brahman (see last chapter) means exchanging the individual for the cosmic consciousness.
1.1 This consciousness is middle term between individual and transcendent.
1.2 Can be arrived at most easily from the silent, immanent Witness self. (See last chapter.)

2.0 First the Divine as the immanent source of all, then as the creator and doer of all.
2.1 Action and inaction, knowledge and ignorance, perfection and imperfection, etc -- not just pure existence.
2.2 Things and beings are not part of the Divine; rather the Infinite is present in its entirety in each -- even when the thing appears to the mind as partial and limited.

3.0 Individual jiva may have a relation to the cosmic consciousness, or may merge into it (laya).
3.1 Dissolution in the cosmic is the goal of Yoga of Knowledge: essence of liberation.
3.2 That into which jiva merges is Sachchidananda, eternal existence expressing itself in infinite working.

4.0 All things change for the soul in this state.
4.1 Limitation, suffering, ignorance etc. of the individual are are seen as degrees of the Supreme.
4.2 All these are secondary perceptions to the perception of the Divine everywhere; hence we arrive at perfect equality and liberation.

5.0 But typically the mental being, once it has achieved Oneness, breaks existence into higher and lower.
5.1 Mental being takes its station in mental planes of Sat, Chit, Ananda.

6.0 Cosmic consciousness can be arrived at laterally, from the lower planes themselves.
6.1 Then the light of higher existence can be called down into the cosmic consciousness.
6.2 Movements of universal sympathy, love, oneness point this way; the path of compassion.
6.3 Can be done with body, life, or mind -- to unite with all, identify with all.

7.0 Gradations of this realisation.
7.1 At first the soul suffers with others, even in the physical body; the lower being is subject to the reactions of (universal) Prakriti.
7.2 Then soul sympathises without being overcome; freedom of sachchidananda.
7.3 Finally mind/life/body grow into spirit's freedom from lower reactions; subjection to duality ceases, even while participating in it.

8.0 Link between the lower and higher planes of mental being is vijnana, supermind, Truth-plane.
8.1 True sense of "sacrifice": for all mental, vital, physical existence to be offered up and converted by the Truth-mind into their divine forms.

Part 2, Chapter 16, Oneness

1.0 Review. The goal of knowledge is the pure Brahman; the second movement (of a yoga of integral knowledge) is to resume possession of the active (cosmic) consciousness while retaining the freedom of the silent, inactive Brahman.

2.0 The nature of Unity, of Oneness explained.
2.1 Sachchidananda is one in Himself in whatever plane; oneness in difference.
2.11 The seven principles or planes: Sat-Chit-Ananda-Vijnana-Mind-Vital-Physical [existence - consciousness/force -- delight -- mind -- life -- substance]

3.0 Manifestation splits into an apparent higher and lower.
3.1 The lower must be remoulded by the higher.
3.2 This transformation, transfiguration only possible by awakening of the Truth-Mind (Supermind).
3.21 The Supermind is the intermediary power between Sachchidananda and the lower creation.
3.3 Otherwise realisations are imperfect and apt to be obscured.

4.0 The supermind reveals the Sachchidananda (Truth, Will, Delight) behind our mentality, will, sensations.
4.1 Reveals the universal action from which each movement arises.
4.2 Thus harmonises all with the One.

5.0 This arrives at the culmination of the paths of Works and Devotion also.
5.1 By that knowledge our will is united with the universal Will; works proceed with Divine equality; goal of works.
5.2 Perception of Him in all beings, the joy of universal love is achieved; goal of Devotion.

Part 2, Chapter 17, The Soul and Nature

1.0 A Divine vision can see the Absolute everywhere, in each finite thing; this is the secret of complete delight in the world.

2.0 This experience is possible in all the principles into which the Divine resolves itself on different planes.
2.1 The first important principle of the Divine is its division into soul and nature.
2.2 This duality goes by different names: conscious-being and conscious-force, Ishwara and Shakti, Self and Maya, Prakriti and Purusha.
2.3 This duality is an original psychological experience of human beings: a free subjective self, and an Other, nature, the world.

3.0 Religion affirms that the soul can have two poises: the normal, troubled one, enmeshed in struggle, and a higher one, tranquil in the Spirit.
3.1 In its lower state the soul is subject to nature; the free will of the individual is an illusion; thought and will are determined by nature.
3.2 When the soul is uplifted into the Spirit, it can be detached from nature, or even master it.
3.3 This because the Spirit has a knowledge and a will of its own.
3.4 This mastery can only come by the soul universalizing itself, accepting the world-forces as its own.
3.5 It then submits to the divine knowledge and will.

4.0 The soul can take different stances in its movement toward mastery.
4.1 The first is that of pure witness, a withdrawal from all action.
4.2 Or the upholder of nature, bharta; the giver of the sanction to the spectacle of the cosmos.
4.3 The sanction can become active, selecting and determining what is offered to it: jnata isvarah.
4.4 Finally, the soul becomes the lord and enjoyer of nature, bhokta.
4.5 Here the soul has the absolute joy of itself in knowledge, will, and action; Ananda is the eternal truth of this union of Purusha and Prakriti whether absorbed in One or separate into duality.

Part 2, Chapter 18, The Soul and Its Liberation

1.0 Accepting the eternal relation between soul and nature laid out in the last chapter commits us to live in the world, but with the divine knowledge, power, and freedom.
1.1 The essential act of self-knowledge is always to attain to Oneness; other realizations follow.

2.0 The duality present to us as limited beings (self and world) is also present to the soul.
2.1 But to the soul, behind the variety of cosmos is an equal unity.

3.0 It is the individual who rises into immortality and transcendence; the individual being is an eternal and necessary part of the manifestation: God, Nature, and the Individual.
3.1 When the ego falls away, the self sees all beings and the world in its own infinity; the sense of separate existence is abolished, not the existences themselves.
3.2 To live in this consciousness is to attain liberation.

4.0 Physical death seems to be an immutable law in the world; immortality only possible after death or on an immaterial plane.
4.1 Thus arises the thought, desire, philosophy or goal of immersion in the impersonal and infinite.
4.2 The culmination of this movement is a casting away of all distinctions, including God and other beings; all that is left is absolute existence.
4.3 The first movement of knowledge, withdrawal from identification with the body/life/mind, assists this tendency toward absolute existence.
4.4 Because other beings come to be seen as form only, and no longer real.
4.5 A sense of delight in the intermediate truths of being is shared; they seem a degradation of the Eternal unity.

5.0 In an integral yoga, however, we return upon the world with our realised Self and become conscious of the inner being of others.
5.1 Material life is seen as a poise of the Purusha, not an illusion.
5.2 A mutual inclusiveness becomes the law of our being; the true value of God, the world, and ourselves is seen.
5.3 This is a poise of the Purusha in relation to Prakriti: possession in knowledge.
5.4 This is true liberation, which harmonises all things in the divine nature; here the self naturally helps mankind by turning all towards its own freedom; the liberation of others is the natural divine self-interest.

Part 2, Chapter 19, The Planes of Our Existence

1.0 Union of the Purusha with the highest self is not possible by staying on the present material plane, because there the divine is hidden by the workings of Prakriti.
1.1 The ordinary yoga of knowledge recognizes multiple planes of existence, but disregards them as nonessential to liberation.
1.2 But if we accept all existence, then all planes must be possessed for the Divine in order for self-knowledge to be complete.

2.0 The principles of these realms differ in detail and arrangement from system to system, but are generally known as occultism.
2.1 The system here used is Vedic/Vedantic.
2.11 It posits a seven-fold poise of the being, or planes:
2.111 A lower three, body - life - mind.
2.112 A link, vijnana or supermind.
2.113 A higher three, sat - chit - ananda.

3.0 A plane of consciousness is simply a settle poise of relation between Purusha and Prakriti.
3.1 The nature of each plane is determined by the way Prakriti deals with existence, conscious-force, and delight (sat-chit-ananda) on that level.
3.2 In each plane these are more or less developed or veiled.

4.0 The material universe.
4.1 Consciousness and delight are virtually oblivious, inconscient.
4.2 The aim of material becoming is then the waking of consciousness.
4.3 The material has many limitations and obstacles to this waking: beings are separated, bodies are limited, vitality is restricted, consciousness falls back toward the inconscient.

5.0 The normal relation of Purusha to Prakriti in the material universe is one of complete self-oblivion, absorption, subjection to nature.
5.1 The emergence of the conscious soul does not change these conditions; even the universal soul labors under these conditions.

6.0 The life plane.
6.1 Life determines form, which is much more fluid and variable.
6.2 Desire is the first law here; it can be called the desire-world.
6.3 Intense enjoyments and intense sufferings are possible here.
6.4 Life on earth is due to pressure from this plane on the material.
6.5 Beings and influences from this plane constantly act on the life-part in us.
6.6 Relation with these beings occupies much of magic, occultism, and superstition.

7.0 We are not aware of this plane because we live in the physical body, the physical vitality, and the physical mind.
7.1 Influences from other planes act on the specific plane in us to which they correspond, termed sheaths or bodies.
7.2 Each of these sheaths possesses senses and capacities of their own.

8.0 The mind plane.
8.1 Purusha is a pure mental being here.
8.2 Mentality in the life world is a projection out of this.

9.0 The highest worlds are "supra-mental", above the mental.
9.1 They belong to Supermind or Sat-Chit-Ananda.
9.2 They also affect us through the respective sheaths in our being -- the causal body.
9.3 Contact with this body is usually through the trance of samadhi.
9.4 But can also be done consciously, though evolution of new capacities.

Part 2, Chapter 20, The Lower Triple Purusha

1.0 To the ordinary material consciousness, the world is a fixed system of physical laws, and the person a minor, inconsequential movement.
1.1 But the soul in us always rejects this first view; we are not satisfied with superficial knowledge of ourselves.
1.2 Religion is the fist attempt to get beyond this limited knowledge, but it is not a knowledge, only a faith and inspiration.

2.0 Behind religion there is an esoteric Yoga of Knowledge which shows the details of the hidden planes and possibilities of our nature.
2.1 This for a comprehensive yoga of knowledge, which goes beyond the first seeking for the Absolute.

3.0 The Upanishads teach of a five-fold soul in man.
3.1 First the physical soul, which yet is influenced by the vital and mental being.
3.2 It dominates our mental and vital parts, especially in the undeveloped person.
3.3 Normally we are only aware of the life-plane and mind-plane as they operate on the physical being, not in their own proper spheres.
3.4 But by yoga a greater mastery of the will and mind over the life and body can be obtained.

4.0 This control can be achieved by drawing back from the physical self, into the vital and then mental self.
4.1 This brings remoteness, detachment from the body, and an awareness of new powers on the vital plane.
4.2 The same can be done on the mental plane, by withdrawing into the mental self.
4.3 Again, remoteness and detachment from the life and body are followed by new knowledge and powers, this time in the mental plane.
4.4 This reveals mind-power, close to soul-force.
4.5 We also gain awareness of others, of the cosmos, of thought-forces behind all happenings.

5.0 These experiences and powers are yet confined to the lower realm, where Prakriti still rules over Purusha.

Part 2, Chapter 21, The Ladder of Self-Transcendence

1.0 There is a hard separation in practice between the lower hemisphere of mind-life-body and the upper hemisphere of the spirit.
1.1 In the lower hemisphere the Self is veiled and consciousness, will, delight are divided.
1.2 To understand how to transcend, we must know the practical relations between the two hemispheres.

2.0 The spirit poised in matter is absorbed in the experience of matter; the individual soul here is the physical soul, annamaya purusa.
2.1 This is the natural experience of man.
2.2 But since life and mind have developed also, man sees himself as a mental being or a vague soul which will return to matter upon death.

3.0 The self poised in the principle of life becomes a life-soul, pranamaya purusa.
3.1 The vital substance is much subtler than matter, more plastic, more full of conscious energy.
3.2 As this soul manifests more in a man, he becomes charged with strong emotions and desire; larger powers are available, but also a larger and stronger ego.

4.0 The vital soul can rise to a spiritual realisation which is less quietistic, more dynamic.
4.11 But to develop the spirit fully it must turn away from life towards the Silence or the Beyond.

5.0 The spirit poised in mind becomes a mental soul.
5.1 Here it has an inherent clarity and happiness.
5.2 The more this soul influences a man, the closer he is to the characteristic of humanity.
5.3 Man can live in this soul and on this plane, where he is united with other beings in sympathy, with purer senses and the reflection of a higher knowledge and joy.
5.4 But spiritual realisation here is limited by mind.
5.41 Mind by its nature divides or sums, even when intuitive.
5.5 For the mental being to perfect itself it must rise into the pure spirit.

6.0 Beyond the mental soul is the knowledge-soul or gnosis.
6.1 Only here can man draw down the full spiritual consciousness.
6.2 But this causal body is not naturally developed in man.
6.3 This supramental nature is lodged in all existence, but obscured, distorted or minimised by the lower hemisphere.

7.0 Beyond the gnosis is a soul of bliss.
7.1 This is the last poise of the soul; rising here completes the soul's ascension.

Part 2, Chapter 22, Vijnana or Gnosis

1.0 The transition to the vijnana (the knowledge-self, gnosis) is the decisive one in yoga.
1.1 This is the first poise that actively partakes of divine perfection.
1.2 In other poises of the soul the lower Prakriti is still active; here the divine Nature acts for the first time.

2.0 Vijnana is not synonymous with higher reason or buddhi.
2.1 Mind is born from vijnana, there is a relation between them, but their actions are the reverse of each other.
2.2 The highest form of mind (buddhi, intuition) is still not vijnana.

3.0 True intuition is different from swift reason or rapid insight.
3.1 Reason always depends on sense-information and analysis; intuition does not.
3.2 Reason is fallible; pure intuition is not.

4.0 Intuitive mind is different from gnosis.
4.1 It acts by separate flashes, limited ranges of knowledge.
4.2 Its actions are limited to a specific mental purpose.
4.3 Its illuminations can be mixed with mental ideas to produce half-truth or falsehood.

5.0 We can extend the use of the intuition by purifying the buddhi.
5.1 By reducing the elements of material, vital, and intellectual thought in the mind.
5.2 But still the intuition is a reflection of truth on the level of mind, not the body of Truth itself.

6.0 The nature of the gnosis.
6.1 Its essential character is knowledge by identity with the thing known; there is no doubt.
6.2 Reason, on the other hand, starts from ignorance of things and proceeds by indirect sense-appearances; there is always an element of doubt.
6.3 Gnosis possesses and reveals; evidence and conclusion are seen at once in a comprehensive figure; it is direct and immediate.
6.4 Reason uses observation, analysis, logical processes, memory; it is slow and stumbling.
6.5 Gnosis starts from totality; parts and details are the self-expression of the whole.
6.6 Reason uses synthesis, and can never really know Oneness or the Infinite.

7.0 The best way for the mind to conceive of the gnosis is through symbols.
7.1 Gnostic level is NOT the highest; it is intermediate between Satchidananda and the lower triple being.
7.2 Gnosis formulates the infinite light and pours it out upon existence.
7.3 Gnosis is light, force, and will at once.
7.4 Gnosis is radiating light-stuff of the eternal.

8.0 Vijnana has three powers to the envisaging mind.
8.1 It is the absolute knowledge and power of Satchidananda.
8.2 It is a dense luminous consciousness, cidghana.
8.3 It is effective ideation, Real-Idea, movement of the divine harmony, rhythm of divine powers.
8.4 The mental purusha must ascend into these three powers; must convert its movements into these.

Part 2, Chapter 23, The Conditions of Attainment to the Gnosis

1.0 The gnosis is founded upon a truth-consciousness, but it contains all the other powers of existence.
1.1 Man is in principle a mental being, but our mind is encased in matter.
1.2 For anything to be real to the mind it must be translated, offered to the mind -- including cosmic forces, god, or the Infinite.

2.0 The basis of gnosis being oneness with all existence, the first step toward it is deliverance from the ego.
2.1 Even a small reversion to ego-consciousness brings awareness out of the gnosis and back to mind-nature.

3.0 To achieve universality, the conscious center of our being must rise above the body and the mind.
3.1 The brain must simply respond to the will-force from above.
3.2 This change can and must occur before attainment to the gnosis.
3.3 The individual center becomes differential, not separative; it is a convenience for individual action.

4.0 In the gnosis the infinite becomes our primal and sensible reality.
4.1 There are two infinites: that in which everything is formed, and a spaceless inner infinite.
4.2 This sense of the infinite will take increasing possession of us, releasing us from ego.

5.0 When this sense of the infinite is achieved, the normal, dynamic action of the gnosis becomes possible.
5.1 All our present means of knowledge are immensely extended.
5.2 Physical and mental sense are altered, so we have a direct perception of the truth of things, thoughts, sensations.
5.3 It also includes the subtle knowledge of other planes.

6.0 Conscious force and will are harmonized in the gnosis.
6.1 The will is first harmonized with the supramental knowledge, then put into Oneness with it.
6.2 Gnosis takes up lower desires also, which cease to be personal, and finally are transformed into an action of the Truth-Will.

7.0 Suffering is also taken up and transformed into Ananda.
7.1 This also for our hatreds and repulsions, and lower impulses.
7.2 All are lifted into the natural intensity and continual ecstasy of the divine Ananda.

8.0 The powers of the vijnana are what are often called siddhis.
8.1 There the siddhis are natural, not occult; they do not cause problems as they do if sought after for an egoistic satisfaction.

9.0 The sadhaka who is centered in the gnosis, the awareness is seated in the higher being, not the mental consciousness.
9.1 Purusha and Prakriti are unified; there is no longer the veil of Maya; God himself acts and knows.

Part 2, Chapter 24, Gnosis and Ananda

1.0 Gnosis itself is not the end, but rather a step towards absolute infinities.
1.1  The last (conceivable) step is into the Bliss-Self: Ananda.
1.2  Ananda can be felt on any of the other six planes, but not complete and perfect in itself.

2.0  The physical consciousness can enter into Sachchidananda, but this is by reflection or a sleep or an inert passivity.
2.1  The life consciousness can also reflect Sachidananda, or lose itself in a God-possessed vital frenzy or unbound vital being.
2.2  The mind-consciousness can do the same, resulting in an immobile cessation, an unbound action watched by the Witness.
2.3  In none of these is there mastery of the Nature by the soul, but rather a possession by the infinite within and the Nature without.
 

3.0  The gnostic soul is the first to possess the infinite of Nature, by reaching a true identity.
3.1  The dualism of prakriti-purusha becomes a biune entity.
3.2  Here is perfect control for the first time, because the soul is subject only to supreme Nature.
3.3  The Witness becomes the Ishwara.

4.0  In the gnosis, our manifested nature is fulfilled, not annihilated.
4.1  Inertia becomes a happy passivity bearing the action of Shakti.
4.2  Its acts by a divine madness of Ananda, supra-rational, infinite
complexity in a fundamental simplicity.
4.3  It seems abnormal but obeys the law of a self-possessed Knowledge, Love, Delight.

5.0  In the Ananda the soul no longer looks up to another plane, but rather looks down on all planes.
5.1  On all other planes, Ananda is reached by a sort of dissolution into it.
5.2  The gnosis, on the other hand, can contain the intense fullness of Ananda, and is not annulled when dissolved into Ananda.
5.3  In the Ananda, the harmonies of the gnosis dissolve into pure self-consciousness and delight.

6.0  The centre of awareness, present still in the gnosis, disappears in the Ananda.
6.1  The bliss-soul feels itself everywhere, the joy of absolute identity in innumerable onness.
6.2  The soul is not abolished here, though it may fall asleep in trance.
6.3  The divine here can also enter the world play, in an absolute freedom without limit, without subjection to principles.
6.4  The true dissolution is releasing the characteristics of the lower into the higher being, the possession by the Real.
6.5  Here the passion for release is lost, because we are close to that which is free.
6.6  All lures of reward -- physical, mental, heavenly -- are trancended in the Ananda; they are the way the Divine atracts the soul.

7.0  The Bliss-soul can descend into the manifestation without being clouded by ignorance.
7.1  Then the soul will have a dynamic, intense bliss-consciousness.
7.2  All darkness, sorrow, evil are changed into light, bliss, good.
7.3  This is the play of the Divine Child, the highest secret.

Part 2, Chapter 25, The Higher and Lower Knowledge  
 
1.0 The path of knowledge leads to a possession of God in all ways: oneness, infinite diversity, all levels of being, universal, absolute.  
1.1 It also leads to a taking on of the divine nature, which shall transform all our nature.

2.0 Two kinds of knowledge: that of phenomena (the lower) and that of God (higher.)
2.1 Seem to be different, but in reality are two sides to one movement.
 

3.0 All knowledge of phenomena are means that ultimately lead to God-knowledge.
3.1 But yoga takes over where the intellect leaves off.
3.2 External knowledge uses the intellect; yoga seeks God through direct realisation.
 

4.0 Method of yoga is to turn the eye inward, using three movement.
4.1 Purification aims to make the mental being a clear vessel to reflect the Divine being.
4.2 Concentration turns the whole mind and will to the goal.
4.3 Identity is the intense result; breaks down the veil between the normal and the divine reality.
4.4 All pursuit of knowledge tends to prepare, by subtilising the being and refining it.
4.5 Lower knowledge can also train the mind and will.
 

5.0 An integral yoga does not discard the forms of the lower knowledge.
5.1 Ethics, philosophy, aesthetic forms, history, and especially  psychology are starting points and useful as auxiliaries along the way.
5.2 But the preoccupation with phenomena is replaced in Yoga by the  preoccupation with God.

Part 2, Chapter 26, Samadhi

1.0 In an Integral Yoga, trance (samadhi), in which action of awareness is abolished, can only be a means, not an aim.
1.1 Yet trance is important because waking consciousness is only a small part of our being.

2.0 Indian psychology divided consciousness into four states: waking, dream, dreamless sleep, and the beyond (fourth, Turiya).
2.1 These correspond to the physical, subtle life/mind, supramental (gnostic), and pure existence.
2.2 To have an experience of higher planes, trance becomes desirable.

3.0 In samadhi one draws progressively away from the physical (waking) consciousness.
3.1 There are states in which the soul cannot return, or from which the yogin can end the life by an act of will.

4.0 The dream state has an infinite series of depths.
4.1 Normal dream is a phenomenon of the physical mind, a jumble of lower mind movements.
4.2 In the dream state of yoga, on the contrary, the mind works coherently.
4.3 It is cut off from the physical world, but retains its own powers of thought, reason, etc.
4.4 To attain this, one must be able through inward concentration to exclude the pressure of the senses.
4.5 One must also do away with the habit of the mind to fall into physical sleep when it is withdrawn.

5.0 Experiences in the yogic dream state.
5.1 The mind has access to all the worlds.
5.2 And can grasp things past or distant -- what are commonly called clairvoyance, etc.
5.3 The mind can also travel to other places and bring back experiences.
5.4 But the real value of yogic trance lies in the ability to open the mind to higher ranges, through which it can prepare itself for the truth and powers of the Divine.

6.0 The normal disadvantage of trance -- that the thread is broken when the mind returns to waking -- can be overcome in an Integral Yoga.
6.1 As the psychic being develops, the experiences there can be retained.
6.2 And the subliminal being becomes accessible in the waking state.

7.0 The name of "sleep state" describes the sleep of the waking consciousness, not that consciousness itself is asleep.
7.1 Consciousness here is rather wider and more awake.
7.2 Yet there is always a beyond in which the image of "sleep" seem appropriate.

8.0 Most of what samadhi can give can be acquired by other means, without trance.
8.1 And the planes of which it is aware have to eventually be integrated with the waking awareness.

Part 2, Chapter 27, Hathayoga

1.0 Samadhi assumes a great importance in a yoga of knowledge, as a means for rising to a higher level of consciousness.
1.1 Samadhi is the final justification for hathayoga and rajayoga.

2.0 Hathayoga
2.1 Takes the body as the bridge to the spiritual being.
2.2 Tries to give the body the characteristics of the soul: power, light, purity, etc.
2.3 Hathayoga is a psycho-physical system that slowly and with difficulty arrives at spiritual results.

3.0 All yoga proceeds by purification, concentration, liberation.

4.0 Asana
4.1 Control and power through immobility.
4.2 This still the restlessness of the body and forces it to hold the prana, the life-energy.
4.3 Which may initially result in trembling, as more energy is held.
4.4 An increased health and longevity is attained.
4.5 The relation of the physical energy in the body to the energy of the earth is also altered.
4.6 Leading to the classical yogic siddhis.

5.0 Pranayama
5.1 Deals with the more subtle vital parts, the nervous energy.
5.2 Through regulation of the breathing.
5.3 This purifies the flow of energy, cures disorders of it, and enables the yogin to direct the energy to different parts of the body.

6.0 After the basis of asana and pranayama comes rajayoga.

Part 2, Chapter 28, Rajayoga

1.0 Rajayoga takes the mind as the key to its processes.
1.1 Yet it admits the effect of the body and life on the mind, so it includes (minor) practice of asana and pranayama.

2.0 The subtle energy body.
2.1 Prana circulates through a system of channels, called nadis.
2.2 Which gather into seven centers, called chakras.
2.3 The supreme energy, shakti, is normally asleep in the base chakra, the muladhara.
2.4 Through pranayama this can rise to a deep samadhi of union in the superconscient, at the brahmarandhra chakra.
2.5 This awakening opens the planes and psychic powers of the subliminal being to us
2.6 This result, though roundabout, is the same as that obtained through other yogas.

3.0 The science of Mantra, Chakra and Kundalini is a central truth of this psycho-physical practice, and at the core of Tantra.

4.0 Rajayoga starts with moral purification, not asana or pranayama.
4.1 The rules of yama cure rajasic egoism; niyama create a sattvic calm and purity.
4.2 Then asana and pranayama can allow the higher psychic being to manifest and bring into the body the power of the awakened Shakti.

5.0 Concentration in Rajayoga.
5.1 Four stages: withdrawal of the senses, holding the mind on an object, absorption in the object, absorption in oneness.
5.2 The object of concentration is a name or form of the Divine.
5.3 The goal of mental stillness (cittavritti) is not all; rajayoga includes the practice and use of occult powers.
5.4 These powers are natural to the vital and mental planes and the soul there; and other, higher ones belong to the supramental planes.

6.0 For the Integral Yoga the methods of Rajayoga and Hathyoga are useful but not indispensable.
6.1 The methods of the Integral Yoga are mainly spiritual, not physical or psycho-physical.