Integral Yoga is no uniform potion

When it comes to The Mother & Sri Aurobindo and Integral Yoga, one feels like Condoleezza Rice remarking “The fact of the matter is I've been black all my life. Nobody needs to tell me how to be black.^[125]” Like Socrates’ "examined life,” The Mother’s stress on avoiding the misery of an “aimless life” is perhaps the most basic rule for an aspirant. For a major stretch in life, however, many mistake earning livelihood for the aim although the profession provides the opportunity for flowering of talent, nurturing creativity, and moulding of subjectivity. The resultant individuality, identity, and social mobility, however, do exert a mesmerizing effect whereby the chance of coming face to face with choosing an aim or confronting one’s own real self head on is always deferred. Drawing satisfaction from some substitute as compensation is, of course, forced by subsistence compulsions.

Traditional canons of conduct conveniently contain predominantly direct correspondence between ethical life and action and liberation. But non-linear Integral Yoga Ontology and its spiral evolution paradigm is more prone to post-modernist rapprochement with tentativeness, contingency, and uncertainty of interpretation. This is no logic to condone misconduct (for, the elephant is Brahman and so is the mahut) but the paramountcy of context is never emphasized more elsewhere. The tenet, All life is Yoga, therefore, assumes unprecedented significance against this backdrop. Like the Shatadala or a Sahasra-bahu (called Saas-bahu erroneously in colloquial fashion) temple, the interdependence, interconnection, and economy within a collectivity is thrown into sharp relief. Integral Yoga, thus, is no uniform potion; but rather an arena for experimenting with life along the known tracks and with notions yet unpracticed. [TNM55] 

The challenge of evolutionary crisis is crucial

The Mother & Sri Aurobindo are recognized the world over as enunciators of a distinct system of Yoga and philosophy. They were pioneers of New-Age outlook and have produced substantial literature apart from founding the Ashram through which countless people have been inspired. Besides, a futuristic aesthetic ecosystem of music, art, & poetry has also taken shape as part of their spirituality. All this, however, remains confined to a very small circle of devotees and admirers. Attempts to spread their messages by establishing educational institutions have met with limited success so far.

India today is suffering from the burden of the past and The Mother & Sri Aurobindo advise unlearning. Religions are responsible for a lot of dumbing down among people and, therefore, The Mother & Sri Aurobindo have exhorted emancipation. As indolence and superstition give rise to ignorance and insolence, they prescribe a system of Yoga that is focused on reading their words and ruminating over them. Collective meditation and group discussion, wherever possible, is also encouraged. The overall emphasis is on the individual leading an ethical life while dedicating his day-to-day work to the all-pervading Divinity.

The most important aspect of the teaching of The Mother & Sri Aurobindo is evolution. Since they foresee that the present type of human beings will be replaced by a higher level species, they hasten to prepare us for the same. That, of course, may be a distant possibility but the onus, they remind, is on the number of aspiring individuals to act as catalysts. Many people find fault with the political system or the economy but The Mother & Sri Aurobindo unequivocally characterize it as an evolutionary crisis for which their Integral Yoga is the only enduring solution. This crucial insight, regrettably, has not been duly noticed by the elite in India, however. [TNM55]

Yoga's a life-sentence

Reaching at the shores of The Mother & Sri Aurobindo’s teaching, though a matter of chance is a precious opportunity. Then comes a long and tortuous period of judging and comparing them (and their words) with other similar seeming entities. That over, the inevitable mischief of pitting them against each other occupies some time. Once that is settled, arrives the most crucial period of the transition from treating them as Guru to The Divine. The final victory, however, is when one leaves behind his old religion and all things associated with it.

This whole process of metamorphosis may take three years or prolong for thirty years. For many, the final thing never arrives and they live peacefully with their multiple allegiances. For some others, the fierce faithfulness and loyalty of the initial years peter out over a period of time to be replaced by a royal inclusive-liberalism of embracing all faiths and mystics. Similarly, certain workaholics gradually become so professional and polished that their shyness in displaying their faith in public stretches precariously to the point of appearing as unbelievers. And, there is no dearth of characters that are needlessly rude and authoritarian even though they are serving organizations dedicated to The Mother & Sri Aurobindo, thus lending a bad name to them.

As with life and education, Yoga is also dependent upon one’s heredity and environment and hence no uniform rules exists. Further, there is no means to prove or disprove as to how much the Divine intervention helps but the basic idea is that being a joint collaboration, it's a life-sentence. [TNM55] 

Need for honest critique

The modernist/liberal protest against the Ashram was simmering from the time of Frederic Spielberg. So the outcry in the wake of Heehs imbroglio is not entirely unexpected as disagreements galore and Heehs camp siding with the Establishment may be a tactical move to incite more anger and acrimony. For, most people are now unanimous that the Ashram, in the present form, has no future. There has to be large scale modifications not only in the rules & regulations or management set up but also in its aims & objectives as well as accountability. If that happens, one can hope for a more proactive and direct role for the Ashram in popularizing the teachings of The Mother & Sri Aurobindo, the world over.

But, understandably, this is not as easy as it sounds since Heehs imbroglio has also thrown the fault lines of Integral Yoga into sharp relief. And this, when the original stalwarts and pioneering ideologues are no more. Thus, interpretations and projections run the danger of (questionable) identity based mobilization of (false) consensus. Competitive maneuvering to prove more loyal than the king is another despicable byproduct of the conflict.

There is, of course, a limit to conducting critical interrogation by persons attached to various institutions. Besides, many are not intellectually equipped to undertake such an enterprise or recognize its necessity. There is a further category of people carrying multiple allegiances who quickly switch their attention and for them all this doesn't matter. If influential, they can always throw their weighty opinions around, however. So, the task of honest and impartial critique by informed and sympathetic sources has become scarce. [TNM55]