No yoga sans The Mother & Sri Aurobindo

It is well known that Sri Aurobindo concentrated more on the future of India after its independence. And it can safely be concluded that the present shape of the country is not what he wanted to see. So, what are the parameters of the shortfall? Whether the deficit is only in magnitude or also in direction? These are surely inconvenient questions and are difficult to answer too.

Sri Aurobindo was emphatic that India will show the path to the rest of humanity. India, here, should be construed less as a nation or political entity and more as representing the Vedic wisdom. The core of these ancient utterances posits the hypothesis that the world we see is only the tip of the iceberg, the significant causal segments of which are hidden. So the imperative was to stay awake to the occult/spiritual/unseen realities.

This lesson as carried through countless streams of religion over vast stretches of time has a pan-Indian presence. The message has permeated the hearts of succeeding generations and is being perpetuated through popular culture. A continuous civilization has survived for more than 5000 years on the strength of such a cognitive consensus.   

The soft power that India possesses even today is something unparalleled. Family values and the wide diversity are aspects which the people of India would feel proud for. Religiosity pervades the community life even in the metropolitan cities. But what is missing is a willed pursuit of self-transformation which The Mother & Sri Aurobindo termed as yoga.    

Yoga as practical psychology is basically a self-management tool. Its efficacy or benefits are varied depending upon at what age one adopts its regimen. Therefore, the experiences of no two persons can be equal. Further, the personal relationship one refines with The Mother & Sri Aurobindo is purely unique, which is an essential aspect of yoga for receiving their evolutionary assistance.

In this sense, recommending some new age practices gleaned from the traditional systems cannot stand as yoga unless it is tethered to the name of The Mother & Sri Aurobindo. Besides, the volitional and behavioral modifications that we label as yoga hold true within a matrix of specific ontological assumptions. And sundry strands of perennial philosophy fail to aid here.

These two lynchpins being indispensable for the chariot of yoga to proceed, there can’t be any compromise or beating about the bush. The people of India, who are perennially in love with various religious rituals and lately with yoga postures, must be exposed to the words of The Mother & Sri Aurobindo. Call it activism or call it religion; there is no other way. If we want to see a new India ready to lead the world, then The Mother & Sri Aurobindo must preside everywhere and people voluntarily hand over their business of life to them. [TNM]