Being intimidated by the sheer size of The Mother & Sri Aurobindo's writings is not uncommon. So, devising capsules out of them that can be swallowed easily has its benefits. Further, the young generation is impatient with mumbo jumbo; hence, finding things of relevance in digestible form should be a constant effort. At the outset of such an exercise, one word stands as a stumbling block. That is Yoga. But, howsoever one is repulsed by it, there is no escape from Yoga, if one is interested in establishing any familiarity with Sri Aurobindo.
The next hurdle is one's prior conceptions of Yoga as it's very difficult to come out of all that and understand what Sri Aurobindo, actually, means by it. This, of course, needs some effort but can be overcome through sincerity. The most important description that Sri Aurobindo provides is All life is Yoga. It is a composite statement and needs to be understood accordingly.
On the face of it, it resembles sarvam khalvidam Brahma or, All that is is Brahman. So, the lesson is there is no escape; whether one likes or not, just accept that the whole of life is Yoga. Once that is drilled into the head, fresh implications raise their heads.
First is, tasmat yogi bhavarjuna or, you become a Yogi, oh! Arjuna. Thus, this is a command or order and can be understood as Sri Aurobindo suggesting to take up Yoga as the aim of life even without being conversant with its intricacies.
Next, another phrase from the Gita comes handy: Yogah karmasu kaushalam or, Yoga is skill in works. Though slightly confusing, the basic lesson is analogous to what The Mother says elsewhere:
Be simple,
Be happy,
Remain quiet,
Do your work as well as you can,
Keep yourself always open towards me –
This is all that is asked from you.
The final point is also from the Gita: samatvam yoga uchyate, or, Yoga is equivalent to equality or equanimity which finds echo in the other statement: yogasthah kuru karmani, or, do all your work in a state of Yoga. So, all these aspects can be perceived from the single statement: All life is Yoga. [TNM55]
P.S. While writing stumbling, the name of Ned, an aspirant who is no more, came to mind. She ran a site called The Stumbling Mystic. [TNM55]
P.S. While writing stumbling, the name of Ned, an aspirant who is no more, came to mind. She ran a site called The Stumbling Mystic. [TNM55]
Misc. References:
www.iiyp.net › lifedivinechapters
A Psychological Approach to Sri Aurobindo's The Life Divine. Chapter by Chapter Understanding. - By Dr. Soumitra Basu
[PDF] Indian PM's International Yoga Day 2016 Advocacy: Trends, Advances and Future Perspectives
A Anand, S Telles, V Pannu - Integrative Medicine International, 2016 ... Neo-Vedanta: Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo Asha Maudgil Department of Philosophy, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India E-Mail ashamaudgil@gmail.com ... Purpose: It is to highlight the importance of Sri Aurobindo's integrated approach to Yoga and Vedanta. ...
[PDF] ACADEMICIA
A Khan, U Malik, R Kant, P Muralidhar, V Srihari ... http://www. saarj. com REFERENCES: 1. Arthur Lovejoy, Eco-criticism: The nature of Nature in Literary theory and Practice. 2. Aurobindo. Sri. Collected Poems, Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Publications. 2010. Print. 3. Barry ...
[HTML] WikiVisually–English
P Venkayya ... The symbols that were in vogue included the Ganesha, advocated by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and Kali, advocated by Aurobindo Ghosh and Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. Another symbol was the cow, or Gau Mata (cow mother). ...
[HTML] William Thompson (philosopher)
W Thompson ... theory ) than to philosophica. Sri Aurobindo. topic. Sri Aurobindo ( Bengali: ) (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian nationalist, philosopher, yogi , guru and poet. He joined the Indian ...
[in his book, "The End of Work," published in 1996... Mr. Rifkin argued prophetically that society was entering a new phase, one in which fewer and fewer workers would be needed to produce all the goods and services consumed.]
Tiny Mix Tapes- ... Rumi & Aurobindo” as lyrical and thematic influences) about nothing less than mankind's ultimate place in the cosmos! (Whew, I'm tired out just writing all that... Haynes is premiering the psychedelic new video for the album’s titular track, “All Are One”, an otherworldly gospel tune
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(Pics TNM 2016: Haldia and near Digha, Bengal)
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