(Table of Contents)

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

by David Hutchinson (dbhutchinson@ucdavis.edu)

Part 4, Chapters 1, 2, 3, The Principle of the Integral Yoga, The Integral Perfection, The Psychology of Self-Perfection

1. Yoga is the turning of one power of our being into a means to reach the Divine.
1.1 For a synthetic yoga, all powers will be used.
1.2 Each yoga has the character of the instrument it uses.

2. But all power is in the end one: soul-power.
2.1 Every path realizes this at the end.

3. Tantra starts from the notion of power, force.
3.1 Awakens shakti in the body centres (chakras), using them as a means to realize the ranges of the spirit.
3.2 Goal is mastery of desire/action, and cosmic enjoyment of the power of the spirit.

4. Integral yoga combines the Tantric and the Vedantic.
4.1 Power is central, but the power of soul/spirit is the secret to the taking up of Shakti.
4.11 Man is primarily a spirit in mind and can begin on that level.
4.111 By opening up to the higher spiritual force through the mind.
4.112 So the initial stress is the triple path.
4.113 Hathayoga and rajayoga are not central.
4.2 Central principle is a surrender to the Divine.
4.21 The Divine then perfects the human.
4.211 In all the forces of man's nature.
4.3 Result is triple.
4.31 First is liberation of the individual into the divine -- goal common to all yogas.
4.32 Second is enjoyment of union with the divine in cosmic satchidananda -- Tantric goal.
4.33 Last is gnostic perfection -- becoming a universal being capable of oneness with all souls.
4.331 Yoga becomes collective at this point.
4.332 Yoga of self-perfection becomes necessary.
4.3321 Because gnostic will/knowledge/love are the direct instrumentation of the spirit.
4.334 First stage is the elevation of the mental into the gnostic (supramental), the divine nature in its proper form.
4.335 Second stage is the return upon the lower nature and the supramentalisation of it.

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.
7.33 Absolutely necessary to recognize, but may be veiled by personal effort.
7.34 Different methods: living teacher, ishta devata, avatar, can be used, but there must be an aspiration to the Divine beyond the specific form.
7.35 Guru's true methods are instruction; example; influence. Each 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 4, Chapter 4, Perfection of the Mental Being

1. In order to be free and master of his being man must draw back from the ego.
1.1 This reveals the true man, the Purusha, which is not limited by the body/vital/mind.
1.11 Mental purusha takes its stand upon the universal mind. 1.12 Mental purusha has three "intuitions" or awarenesses/stances: witness (sakshi); subliminal; supramental/spiritual being.
1.121 These three are the way for the mental being (the characteristic man) to reach perfection.
1.13 Also has intuition of himself as a soul in body, annamaya purusha, and soul in life, pranamaya purusha.

2. Detachment of purusha may be towards a witness/passive purusha (Sankhya) or the controlling and mastering purusha (Isvara). 2.1 Integral yoga aims for the second, mastery of the nature.
2.2 Movement can pass through witness to upholder (bhatr) to sanctioning (anumantr) to master (Isvara) Purusha.
2.21 Sense of free will derives from a consciousness of this last stance of the purusha.
2.211 Control belongs to another poise than the mental: to the supramental.

3. Difficulty in reaching Ishvara is due to the ignorance of nature by the witness purusha.
3.1 This perfection belongs not to the mental being but to the supramental, the vijnanamaya purusha.
3.2 The witness sees but does not know; sakshi, not jnatr.

4. To reach any perfection we must change the law of being of the present nature (body/life/mind).
4.1 The first difficulty of the Purusha is a mixed and confused action of nature.
4.11 So purification of these wrong actions, knots, is essential.
4.111 Ego is the primary knot.
4.2 Purification brings liberation brings mastery brings delight. shuddi, mukti, siddhi, bhukti.

5. Final perfection depends on growing out of the separative individuality into the universal.
5.1 Liberation from ego is not enough: purusha must arrive at a universalized, not separate individuality.
5.2 universe is always trying to impose itself.
5.3 Identification with others is first movement of this.
5.4 But even when universalised, there are still the defects of the nature.
5.41 So one has in the universality to rise to the supermental.

  Part 4, Chapter 5, The Instruments of the Spirit

1. For the supermind to work openly, the lower nature must be purified.
1.1 Purification is of the mind/heart/desire-soul; the spirit is always pure.
1.2 Purification is wider and deeper than morality, which only selects/inhibits certain actions or impulses.

2. The first defect of the nature is separative ignorance rising from evolution out of matter; the second comes from a dependence of the higher on the lower.
2.1 The first creates desire in the vital instead of its (legitimate) function of enjoyment.
2.2 The second entangles this craving with mind and effects the will and judgement.

3. Instruments are: body (sthula sarira); vital (prana); basic mental consciousness (citta); sense-mind (manas); intelligence (buddhi); ego-idea (ahankara); supermind (vijnana).
3.1 This is only a starting framework; further distinctions are necessary.
3.11 For example, citta and manas are intermingled with the prana.
3.111 This vital/physical mentality becomes the desire-soul, the psychic prana; it is the chief obstacle to advancement.

4. Citta, the basic stuff of consciousness.
4.1 Most subconscient; passive and active.
4.2 Receives all contacts, even those of which we are not aware.
4.21 These can be retrieved under abnormal conditions.
4.22 Has a vital and physical memory, below the level of conscious mind.
4.221 This is the realm of vital/physical habits.
4.222 Most of life and body is really the bundle of this memory.
4.3 Emotional mind ("heart") is the reaction of citta to impacts or reflections.
4.31 Also a matter of habit and memory; and can be changed.
4.32 Hard to change because of the insistence of the nervous life-mind, the psychic prana.
4.4 Nervous/sense mentality (psychic prana) affects the inner instrument (citta, manas, buddhi, ahankara) greatly, especially emotions.
4.41 Fear, anger and lust are largely a sensational response translated into terms of emotion.
4.42 Other feelings are more inward (e.g. love) but they
ally themselves to the nervous and physical longings. 4.43 Proper action of sense mind is not emotion but nervous feeling and physical response.

5. Manas, the sense-mind.
5.1 In ordinary consciousness depends on physical organs.
5.2 Essential part is mind, not senses.
5.3 Has also an inner-sight, etc, not dependent on physical organs.
5.4 Mind can alter the sense-impacts; basis of clairvoyance, etc.

6. Buddhi, intelligence.
6.1 Essentially thought-power and will-power of the Spirit turned into the lower form of mentality.
6.2 Three grades: habitual/pragmatic reason/disinterested reason.
6.3 Buddhi is intermediary between physical life and supermind.
6.4 Its will/reason are really reflections of Supermind.
6.5 Normally its action is centered on the ego-idea.

  Part 4, Chapter 6, Purification -- The Mind

1. The mind is the instrument to begin with in the work of purification.
1.1 Intelligence and will (Buddhi) is natural leader of the mind.
1.2 But for it to be opened to a higher action, the lower mentality must be purified first.
1.21 Chief obstacle of lower antahkarana is the compelling claim of the psychic prana, desire soul.

2. Proper action of psychic prana is possession and enjoyment, bhoga.
2.1 A human enjoyment of persons, thought/will/sense, objects, action, life is legitimate and sattwic.
2.211 Principally by emotive/perceptive/aesthetic mind.
2.212 Subject to government by the Buddhi -- a right will, feeling, beauty, use of things.
2.213 Pure taste is rasa; enjoyment of the whole being is bhoga.
2.2 Perfection of it comes when all these are enjoyed for the Ananda of the spirit in them.
2.21 Only possible when reflect the inner spirit in them.

3. Desire is the deformation of psychic Prana.
3.1 Desire an instinct of the limited life for possession.
3.2 Creates a sense of want, vital craving.
3.21 Always is a straining of the being.
3.22 Brings labour, fatigue, disapopointment, ceaseless morbid stimulation, disquiet.
3.3 First comes simple vital wants, hunger, thirst, lust.
3.4 Then psychical cravings -- of the mind.
3.41 More pervasive because the mind is infinite and its wants can be infinite.
3.42 Brings sensational thirsts; lust for control/domination/success (practical mind); love/hate/liking disliking (emotional mind); prejudgement/eager pursuit of opinion (intelligence).

4. To rid the Prana of desire is the first step and one indispensable purification of the psychical Prana.

5. Desire itself is due to the body's limitations on the vital being.
5.1 Creates the sensation of individuality separate from the universe.
5.11 Which creates the sense of want, lack of possession.
5.2 This sense of want becomes insatiable when extended into the psychic Prana.
5.21 And psychic by depending on ("leaning on") the body limits itself by nervous force of the physical, becomes subject to fatigue, disorder, disease.

6. Abolition of desire done by a practical inward psychology which separates the various elements from dependence on each other.
6.1 Mentality becomes free, becomes a channel for the Idea/Will in the Buddhi.
6.2 Prana and physical come under control of mind.

7. Real motive power in human life is a Will to Delight, not desire.
7.1 Essential to be able to distinguish between these practically in the experience of our being.
7.11 Otherwise we either become ascetics or effect a precarious compromise between the two.
7.2 Pure, calm will of delight can transform the Prana into an obedient instrument.

8. Action of the remainder of antahkarana (emotional mind, sensational mind) is strongly knotted together.
8.1 Deformation of emotional mind is attraction/repulsion: like/dislike, raga/dvesa.
8.2 Source of love/hate, hope/fear, grief/joy.
8.21 Can be of nature or a learned habit.
8.3 Once desire is gone, can be easily corrected by Buddhi.
8.31 When desire is gone, passivity may occur, but is a first stage only.
8.311 Followed by a right choice by the reason and the heart (the pure psyche.)
8.312 Government by Buddhi passes to that of the spirit and supermind eventually.
8.4 Receptive sense mind is mental basis of affections: gives mental pleasure/pain which are starting points for emotional liking/ disliking.
8.5 Active dynamic mind of impulse subject to Pranic desire (grief, fear, hatred, lust, craving.)
8.51 Proper function is strength, courage, power; a channel for Buddhi or Purusha.

9. When purified of desire, lower mentality is ready for perfection; but this depends on a purified Buddhi.

Part 4, Chapter 7, Purification -- Intelligence and Will

1. Manas, sense-.mind, is an oraanizer of experience and common to animals and man; it is separate from the Buddhi.

2. Buddhi is the instrument of the soul by which it comes into conscious and ordered possession of itself and nature.
2.1 Possession/mastery is not complete because Buddhi itself is incomplete and an intermediary instrument.
2.2 It shows truths beyond appearances perceived by sense- mind.
2.3 Final object of Buddhi's attempt is the highest and fullest truth of both itself and things; knowledge/greatness/bliss of our free and complete being.
2.31 Gnosis is both of Self (which is other than Nature) but also of Nature.

3. Purification is twofold: from subjection to sense-mind, and from its own limitations.
3.1 First action of the Buddhi is subject to the senses, the life-desires.
3.11 Detachment from this dependence (equality, calm; sama, samata, santi) is surest step toward the goal.
3.11 Already started in evolution: intellectual, thinking man of judgement, memory, volition.

4. First defect (mixture) produces a threefold mixed action of Buddhi.
4.1 First is customary/habitual understanding -- dependent on the senses.
4.11 Stilling of this current, repeating thought-mind is the principal part of the stilling of the mind in yogic disciplines.
4.2 Second is pragmatic/dynamic reason.
4.21 Reason used for action, creation of outer life.
4.22 Dependent on senses and current understanding; lives in changing truth, not eternal; subject to time.
4.23 More a mind of Will than of Knowledge.
4.3 Third is will and reason proper.
4.31 Seeks for Truth for its own sake; tries to live in it.
4.32 Principal problem is disparity between will and knowledge.
4.33 Also distorted by lower mentality.
4.34 Can only reflect Truth, not possess it; and then only partially.

5. Inherent limitations of Buddhi are twofold: realisations are only mental; and mind cannot grasp the infinite.
5.1 Buddhi can make several compromises:
5.11 It can become a pure mirror, reflecting all truth that falls on it, but incapable or chaotic in action.
5.12 It can make a selection and act from it though it knows Truth to be wider.
5.13 It can turn away from life/thought to pass into that which exceeds it: Nirvana.
5.2 Or it can try to lift the soul into the supermental gnosis.
5.21 This done, it can turn and divinise the whole being.
5.22 To do this, must form a link, a bridge between the two: the illumined/intuitive mind which is a derivative power of the Gnosis.
5.221 This is at first a mixed action of mental and supramental forms.
5.222 Making this intuitive mind solely dependent on the Gnosis and freeing it from the mental is the final purification of the Buddhi.

Part 4, Chapters 8 and 9, The Liberation of the Spirit; The Liberation of the Nature

1. Purification of psychic prana and mentality is different from that of the soul; they are of the instruments, and prepare for liberation, mukti.
1.1 Purification is a throwing away of limitations.
1.2 Mukti is an entering into the immortality of the spirit.
1.3 Mukti is always a two-fold process: liberation from bonds, opening into a higher existence.
1.31 It is not merely an extinction in Nirvana.

2. The master-knots of the soul are four: desire, ego, the dualities, the three gunas of nature; the first two come from the soul's separative ignorance, the second from Nature.

3. The knot of desire in the soul arises from the separation of the soul from the universal; makes the spiritual Tapas a thing of striving/effort.
3.1 The support for desire in the Buddhi from above is Tapas, the will of the universal spirit.
3.2 This remains even after instruments are purified.
3.3 Abolition of this seed of desire is passive or active.
3.31 Passive is to be inwardly immobile, silent; no wish to action.
3.32 Active is to be immobile in the mind, but allow the supreme Will to act through the instruments.

4. Ego arises from the same movement of separation; its support is also in the Buddhi.
4.1 Truth is that the individual is a conscious power of being of the Eternal and one with him in the core of its own existence.
4.11 This Eternal is here imanent, all-embracing; also transcendent.
4.2 To live in the spirit is to enjoy this oneness, to know the oneness with the Eternal and all other beings.
4.3 Usual method to do this is to absorb oneself in the idea/realisation of the Divine.
4.31 Which becomes a casting away of the individual.
4.32 Or an absorbed dwelling in the Divine.
4.4 The way for the Integral yoga is a surrender of the whole being to the Divine.
4.41 So that the whole nature is changed into the divine nature.

5. Liberation from desire and ego are the central spiritual freedom. 5.1 These are the root of all suffering/ignorance/evil.
5.11 Because they falsify the truth of things.
5.12 And limit the consciousness/power of being/bliss of being.
5.121 Which produces a wrong way of these.
5.1211 Conflict arises between the individual and the universe.
5.12111 Which produces unease, fear, pain.
5.2 Ego cannot possess unity by its very nature.
5.3 Because it is limited in force, the ego-prisoned soul has many incapacities.
5.31 Wrong knowledge/will/impulses; sense of sin.
5.4 Because it is limited in delight, it is incapable of laying hold of the Ananda of existence.
5.41 Which gives rise to the duality of pleasure/pain.

6. Constant effect of the dualities and the gunas is a discordant experience, full of strife.
6.1 In the inferior Nature, the play of infinite quality is a system of opposites.
6.2 This works through three quantitative modes: tamas (inertia); Rajas (kinesis, struggle); sattva (equilibrium, harmony.).
6.3 These effect every part of our natural being.
6.31 Their relative effect is different in different parts.
6.32 Tamas strongest in body; rajas in vital; sattva in mind.
6.321 But they mingle everywhere in our psychology, producing the various types.

7. Gunas must be transcended to arrive at spiritual perfection.
7.1 Even sattva must rely on raias, energy to govern, and so is subject to its limited egoism.
7.2 Usually sought by withdrawal from lower nature.
7.21 Produces a tendency to inaction. (Sattwa calls in tamas to rule rajas.)
7.211 This is reason why highly sattwic men tend to live inwardly but not outwardly; or to be ineffective in action.
7.222 Body becomes still through the stress of meditation.
7.223 This produces a liberation that is dependent upon inaction and not self-existent.
7.224 Soul is liberated from nature but not in nature.

8. The truth is that the action of the gunas has a divine form; their lower strife is not eternally necessary.
8.1 They are a representation in the lower nature of powers of the divine.
8.2 Tamas becomes a divine calm, a power (shakti), a capacity to control even stupendous activity.
8.3 Rajas becomes a self-effecting sheer Will, shakti.
8.4 Sattwa becomes the self-existent light of the divine, jyoti

9. This integral liberation into the divine nature comes when the passion for release is transcended.
9.1 Soul is liberated from repugnance to the cosmic action of the Divine.
9.2 Complete when the Gnosis can act; it discovers the spiritual sense in Nature, God in things.
9.3 Spiritual perfection -- a growing into the nature of the Divine being -- then become possible.

Part 4, Chapter 10, The Elements of Perfection

1. Spiritual perfection becomes possible when purification and freedom have been gained.
1.1 Spiritual perfection is a growing into likeness with the divine being.
1.11 Therefore our conception of the divine will determine our aim, effort and method.
1.111 E.g. Mayavadin aims for impersonal Absolute self-awareness.
1.112 For integral yoga, perfection admits of a divine relation and action in the world.
1.1121 Therefore no part of being or field of action is rejected; only knots of wrong being or action.

2. First element/requisite of perfection/siddhi is equality, samata. (samata, shanti, sukha, hasya)
2.1 Equality is the sign of unity with the Brahman; of the peace of liberation; of transcendence of the opposites.
2.2 Equality is the basis of a perfectly divine action.
2.3 Has passive side of calm and active side of bliss.

3. Second is a raising of all active parts of human nature to their highest power and capacity, shakti. (shakti, virya, daivi prakrti, sraddha)
3.1 Buddhi, heart/manas, prana, body are the four powers to be raised.
3.2 Dynamical force (virya) of temperament/character/ soul- nature (svabhava) must be enlarged and rounded.
3.3 Divine shakti has to be called in to fill our limited energy with the infinite bhagavati shakti.
3.4 Perfection of shakti grows in proportion as we can surrender ourselves to the guidance, then direct action of the Master of our being.
3.41 Faith is the essential for this surrender: faith in God and the Shakti.

4. Third is the evolution of the supermind, the Gnostic being. (jnana, trikaladrishti, ashtasiddhi, samadhi)
4.1 Effected by a breaking beyond the present limits of mind.
4.2 Gnosis has several gradations.
4.3 Gnosis progressively takes up all the lower terms and translates them into a unity of working.
4.4 Can overcome physical limitations.

5. Fourth is divinising of the body. (arogya, utthapana, saundarya, vividhananda)
5.1 Effected by a bringing in of the law of the the supermind (vijnana purusha) and the ananda purusha into the physical consciousness.
5.2 Brings in a divine law of the body: physical siddhis.

6. Fifth is perfect action, karma, on the karmic basis. (krishna, kali, karma, kama)
6.1 Individual soul still remains as channel for this action, and enjoys oneness with the Ishwara and with Prakriti and all relations with Infinite and finite.

7. Sixth is brahmic consciousness. (sarvam, anantam, jnanam, anandam brahma)
7.1 Sarvam: experiencing all the universe as the manifestation of the One.
7.2 Anantam: experiencing all action and quality as a play of the infinite quality.
7.3 Jnanam: living in union with the Brahman as self-existent and universal knowledge.
7.4 Anandam: living in union with Brahman as self-existent bliss and universal delight of being.

(8.) Seventh is siddhi, perfection. (shuddhi, mukti, bhukti, siddhi)
8.1 Purification, liberation, enjoyment, perfection.

  Part 4, Chapter 11 and 12, The Perfection of Equality; The Way of Equality

1. Equality is the first necessity for a spiritual perfection.
1.1 (Yogic perfection being a growth into a higher divine nature, it follows that) The supreme divine nature is founded on equality.
1.2 Pure Self unmoved either in passivity or action.
1.21 Equality must be both in spirit and in the motive forces of our nature.

2. Equality in action is especially important for integral yoga.
2.1 One must acquire a equal assent and understanding which can respond to the law of the divine action without a violent personal claim.
2.2 This acquiescence must be followed by the action of a divine will in the nature.

3. Eguality of the nature is also a condition of self-perfection.
3.1 Conquest of emotional and vital come from purification and freedom. (Equality is the sign of liberation.)
3.2 A content life-soul is free from desire, the impurity of the Prana.
3.3 A free heart is not touched by the passions.
3.31 The calm and equal strength and delight is reached by the subliminal psychic soul.
3.311 This transfoms outward touches; puts the true divine value on our emotional response to things.
3.4 Emotional being is not killed, but transformed.
3.41 Love becomes large, universal, capable of various relations.
3.42 Grief becomes a universal sympathy strong to sustain and help.
3.43 Wrath becomes the Rudra energy.

4. Equality of the will also must come.
4.1 Normal motives are a tangled skein of unequal impulses.
4.11 Will always remain as long as ego is present, itself subject to emotional, vital preferences and personal judgement.
4.2 An equal will waits for the impulsion from above, waits for the enlightenment from above. ("Abandon all dharmas and take refuge in Me alone..")

5. Equality of thinking mind.
5.1 Looks on knowledge and ignorance, partial knowledge and reason -- and waits for luminous transcendence.
5.2 This equality is indispensable because objective is the greater light.
5.3 This equality is the most delicate/difficult, and least practiced.
5.4 This equality is not indifference or skepticism.
5.5 Silence may be used as a method, but transformation of the mental substance by the supramental is the aim.

6. Perfect equality has passive and active ways; integral yoga will use both as needed.
6.1 Passive/receptive may start from three attitudes: endurance, indifference, submission.
6.11 Endurance comes from the strength of the spirit; relies on will.
6.12 Indifference relies on knowledge; cultivates a luminous passivity.
6.13 Submission is based on bhakti; a way of temperament.
6.14 All develop three things: 1) power over the normal touches, 2) a division in the mind between the lower self still subject and a higher will/reason/psychical mind, and 3) a wide power of peace and bliss.

7. Active yoga of equality starts from the knowledge of unity: all things as oneself, all things in God and God in all things.
7.1 Three powers/results: equal acceptance in the higher reason and will; division; and power to change contacts.
7.2 This way is more difficult because the mind feels the joys/griefs of others as its own.

8. Method can be explained in terms of knowledge, will or feeling.
8.1 First comes the varied reactions of the mind/will/feeling to things.
8.2 But the greater soul within takes delight/knowledge in all things.
8.3 The outer desire-soul/mind gradually comes to feel the essential delight/knowledge/guidance.

Part 4, Chapter 13, The Action of Equality

1. There are four aspects to equality that the sadhaka must have: samata, santi, sukham, joy (hasya).
1.1 Samata is an undisturbed calm in the mind/spirit.
1.11 From witness stance or from above the mind.
1.12 Disturbances in it must be overcome by will or by surrender to the Master of the being.
1.2 Santi is a firm peace.
1.21 Achieved by surrender.
1.21 Trouble/grief will continue to come until the supramental light guides the Buddhi.
1.3 Sukham is positive happiness.
1.31 The joy of the spirit in itself, dependent on nothing external.
1.4 Hasya is joy, Ananda.
1.41 Even, tranquil; the laughter of the Shakti.

2. The calm established in the nature must remain in all situations, physical/emotiona./mental.
2.1 Easier if we see unity everywhere and feel that all is undivided from our self.
2.2 We must insist on a receptive and an active equality.
2.3 Its completeness is assurance of progress in all other parts of perfection.

3. Preference becomes a mere formal habit of the mind/vital once this is attained.
3.1 And eventually disappears.
3.2 Individual movements come to be seen as given by the Shakti, though still personalized.

4. Eguality transforms the qualities of all things based on the divine Anandamaya power.
4.1 Outward actions may stay the same or may change.
4.2 Success and failure lose their meaning.
4.3 Same with persons
4.31 Charity and tolerance come first; then universal sympathy; then equal universal love.
4.311 But individual relations remain possible.

Part 4, Chapter 14 The Power of the Instruments

1. The second member of the yoga of self-perfection is shakti.
1.1 Cultivation of shakti does not need to wait for the completion of equality, but can only be perfect based on equality.
1.2 Object of this cultivation is to make the nature a fit instrument.

2. First element is right Shakti in the body, vital, heart.- intelligence.
2.1 Complete discussion of shakti in body is done elsewhere (not in Synthesis, unfortunately.)

3. Most important part of work with body is to impose on it a habit of passivity to the higher instruments.
3.1 First in the hands of the instruments, later to the spirit.
3.2 It must develop a higher scale of responses.
3.3 Control of the body by the mind and will is first step.
3.4 Finally body must develop a power to hold, dharanashakti, whatever force is brought into it. This is the most important siddhi of the body.
3.5 Then body can perform work without becoming fatigued.
3.6 It will have a presence of a full sustaining force.

4. This sustaining force is first a pranic one, and upholding it a superior will-power.
4.1 Normal man tries physical means to heighten this prana (exercise); hatha yogin uses mechanical means also (asana, pranayama).
4.2 Should be commanded first by a will in the mind opening to the universal pranic Shakti.
4.3 Second by a will in the mind opening to the spirit and its supramental pranic energy.
4.4 Third and last by the supermind entering in and taking up the task directly.

5. For all this, faith, shraddha, is necessary.
5.1 Until we are conscious of it, a working/experimental faith in the power of the mind/will over the body.
5.2 Power should be sought as a legitimate power of the inner and greater over the outer and lesser instrument.
5.3 This faith is opposed by the shraddha of the body itself and by our past habits of mind.

6. Prana supports the mental and spiritual action also.
6.1 So free and full working is necessary for operation of mind and supermind.
6.2 Mastery must not be dependent on physical exercises, for this means subjection to Prakriti.
6.3 Prana is the steed/chariot of the mind.

7. The psychic prana, desire-soul, also must be perfected.
7.1 First necessity is a fullness of the vital capacity in the mind.
7.2 Courage, will-power, force of character depend on the psychic prana.
7.3 Along with these there must be a gladness, clearness and purity in the psychic life-being.
7.4 And it must be poised in a complete equality.
7.5 Its natural law is possession and enjoyment.
7.6 Fullness (purnata); clear purity and gladness (prasannata); equality (samata); and capacity for possession and enjoyment (bhoga- samarthya) are its fourfold perfection.

8. Citta is next instrument, and includes the emotional and pure psychic being.
8.1 Its two elements of perfection are a high/large sweetness, openness, gentleness, calm, clarity; and a strong, ardent force and intensity.
8.2 Both are necessary.
8.3 Also necessary is an equal will to universal good -- a sense of the divine power making for good behind all appearances. 8.4 And an open capacity for love.
8.5 These are the four: gentle calm; force (raudra); faith in the universal good (kalyana-shraddha); and capacity for love (prema-samarthya).

9. Last instrument is the Buddhi.
9.1 First is clarity and purity.
9.11 Free from both the vital emotions and its own defect of narrowness, preference.
9.2 Purity (vishuddhi), clear radiance (prakasha), flexible variety (vicitra-bodha), integral capacity (sarvajnana-samarthya) are its fourfold perfection.

10. The principle conditions for the perfection of the instruments are will, self-watching, self-knowledge, constant practice, and self-modification.
10.1 Mental being starts, but completed by the Purusha, which has the capacity to transform the being.

Part 4, Chapter 15, Soul-Force and the Four-Fold Personality

1. After the perfecting of the instruments, the question arises of the force to be poured into them.
1.1 The One behind all force is always the Ishvara; and the force the Shakti.
1.2 All actions are due to soul-force, though modified by the mould of the nature into a certain temperament.
1.3 Certain people have more, a vibhuti; strong or great personalities.
1.4 When developed this reveals itself as impersonal and beyond type/guna: the spirit.

2. The soul-force in man represents itself as a fourfold Power, chaturvyuha: Power for knowledge, strength, productive mutual interchange, and labor/service.
2.1 Basis for ancient types of Brahmana, Ksatriya, Vaishya, Shudra.
2.11 Should not be taken in such external and fixed system as the castes.
2.12 Rather should be considered as 1) personality/character, 2) soul-force wearing these forms, lastly 3) the play of the free spiritual Shakti.
2.2 All are present in all men, though dominant one gives form of personality.

3. Type of the Brahmana.
3.1 Produces progressively the active thinker; intellectual; sage.
3.2 Force produces an open mind of light; passion for knowledge and reason; a life subject to reason; a patient, calm, meditative personality.
3.2 Imperfection of type may produce the mere intellectual; ineffective idealist; or others.

4. Type of the Kshatriya.
4.1 Capacities for courage, energy, leadership.
4.2 A will to impose the will on men or the environment.
4.3 Produces progressively the man of action, man of self- imposing will, the ruler.
4.4 Soul-power produces high fearlessness; daring; love of honour; ideal of chivalry and sacrifice; self-control.
4.4 Imperfections produce man of brute will; selfish dominant personality; violent aggressive man; grandiose Titan, Rakshasha.

5. Type of the Vaishya.
5.1 Force to produce, possess, put things in order and balance, exchange.
5.2 The skillful devising intelligence; the utilitarian mind.
5.3 Ethical and orderly but normally without fine distinctions; marked by capacity, adaptation, measure, equal mutuality.
5.4 Skill in means.

6. Type of the Shudra.
6.1 Instinct more than knowledge of toil.
6.2 Works for the maintenance of existence and gratification of wants.
6.3 Indolent; prone to an inert ignorance, a servility, unreflective obedience.
6.4 Yet when developed, holds key to highest spiritual development.
6.41 Will to service, to usefulness, to obey and follow discipline, complete self-surrender.

7. Each type is incomplete without something of the others.
7.1 Life is at once a search for knowledge, a battle with surrounding forces, a constant adaptation and use of skill, and a sacrifice and service.

8. Nearer to the inner self one finds these forces in their independent, self-sufficient, indeterminable forms.
8.1 Knowledge rises to a power of light, steadiness, illimitable calm.
8.2 Strength rises to an illimitable dynamic courage, high nobiity of soul.
8.3 Mutuality rises to a free self-spending.
8.4 Service rises to a universal love, abnegation, a free servitude/surrender to the Master of our being.

9. Behind these forces is the infinite Shakti.

Part 4, Chapter 16, The Divine Shakti

1. Nature presents itself as both mechanical (outward) and conscious (subjective).
1.1 First appears to act by fixed laws, second by an ego, a will.
1.2 Two need to be reconciled.
1.3 Two similar views: Sankhya (inert nature/passive soul) and dualistic (animal/material vs. spiritual).
1.4 Highest is that of the Purushottama, supreme soul that manifests as the universe.
1.41 Mechanism is only its outward appearance.
1.42 Soul vs. nature is also an appearance: universal energy acts, but is limited by the ego-sense.

2. To arrive at freedom we have to get to the soul within by replacing our separate will/energy by the universal will and energy.
2.1 Opening to the universal Shakti is always possible, because it is always around and within us.
2.2 As we open, we become aware of it in its various forms of power.

3. Pranic shakti.
3.1 Supplies the body and vital; and from below, the mental action.
3.2 Can be felt around us as well as within, and can be drawn into us for use -- as much as we can hold.
3.3 Can be used to heal the body, abolish fatigue, liberate mental energy.
3.4 Can be directed upon others.
3.5 Is still a lower, instrumental force; its consciousness is preoccupied with the urge to action.
3.51 By itself it acts still according to our imperfect nature.

4. Mental energy is next highest formulation of Shakti.
4.1 We become aware of a universal mind consciousness associated with this energy.
4.2 This force can act on the pranic energy from above, can impose its own shape on the pranic.
4.3 Ordinary life does not distinguish these two.
4.4 Separating the two becomes easier if we take our station above the physical mind.

5. Highest is supramental.

6. Mental purusha can detach itself from Prakriti.
6.1 What we do with this freedom depends on our aspiration, which depends on our idea of the highest relation
6.2 Can establish a high sattvic nature, a mentalised perfection or spiritualised existence.
6.3 Or can stand back entirely, allow silence to be imposed on the mental energy.
6.4 Or can use the silence as a means to discovery of a higher supramental energy.

7. The discovery of the supramental shakti can take place without a complete silence of the mind.
7.1 Through a tranformation of the powers of the mind into their correspending supramental powers/capabilities.
7.2 But neither this nor the silent method can be complete successful by the power of the mental Purusha alone; they need the divine Self, the Purushottama.

8. As mind progress in capacity of stillness/freedom, it reflects greater ranges of the Self/universal Spirit.
8.1 Infinite of being, ocean of consciousness, of power of consciousness, of ocean of Ananda.
8.2 May be aware of one of these or some, not necessarily all.
8.3 May become aware on the side of either Purusha or Prakriti.
8.31 On the side of Purusha, as Spirit, Being.
8.32 On the side of Prakriti, the Power, Mahashakti.

9. Ulitimate goal of integral yoga is to possess this universal Shakti not only in vast universal but also in the individual.
9.1 Have to call it into ourselves.
9.2 Shakti takes over the activities of life/mind/etc.

  Part 4, Chapter 17, The Action of the Divine Shakti

1. Two things are necessary to pass beyond the stage of universal (but inferior) shakti: to see the one Purusha behind all, and see/feel the higher shakti in all.

2. At first, there is a gulf between the higher shakti and the lower nature.
2.1 It sends down its light, but is mixed/diminished here.
2.2 Or the being is temporarily raised, then lowered again to current (lower) level.
2.3 This stage cannot be surpassed until the link between the two levels is complete: that link is the gnostic being, the supermind.
2.4 The first necessity is to lose the sense of being an agent, a doer; the ego.
2.5 The Shakti may manifest in the lower (physical/vital/mental) at first, or it may show itself in its own higher reality.
2.6 One must hold onto it until it has transformed the lower.
2.61 This is easier if one has samata.

3. Shakti when first felt may be appropriated by the ego for wrong purposes.
3.1 This is natural, because the ego is a necessary element in evolution.
3.11 To forestall it, one must always keep in mind the right form of the relation between the three: God/Individual/Nature.
3.2 This is very dangerous: leads to the titan, the asura.
3.3 Even seeing oneself as a instrument of the Divine may not be a remedy for this error.
3.4 Only remedy is to let the Shakti use oneself, rather than the other way around.
3.41 Can only be completely safe in this when it is the higher Shakti using us, not a lower form.

4. There must be a movement of the Jiva to become Ishvara, master of the Prakriti.
4.1 This is done by using and then surpassing the witness-stance of the Purusha, and raising the purified (lower) nature into the higher spiritual being.
4.2 Jiva as master is compatible on spiritual plane with the ideal of self-surrender to the Divine Shakti.
4.21 Because Divine is Supreme Self of Jiva, and in that Self directs all the operations of Nature.
4.22 Even in individual action, Jiva is a conscious instrument, not just mechanical.
4.3 Jiva is the meeting point between the Purusha and Prakriti; in the higher spiritual consciousness he becomes one with both.

5. Other method (next to the passivity of the mental purusha outlined in #4) is the kinetic method.
5.1 Three stages in this.
5.2 First the Jiva receives the Shakti and feels himself to be a subordinate actor, partially responsible.
5.21 One feels three things at work: oneself, the Shakti, and the Ishwara behind.
5.3 In the second stage the sense of individual doer disappears.
5.31 But there is no passivity.
5.32 Thought/will/feeling/action happen in the person, but are felt as done by the Shakti.
5.33 One is still aware of the personal, but as the Purusha supporting the action.
5.34 Three things present to the consciousness: Shakti, the Ishwara, and ourself as the soul/Purusha.
5.4 In third stage all consciousness is that of the Ishwara.
5.41 The distinction between Shakti and Ishwara begin to disappear.
5.42 This is the highest form of the active oneness; beyond it lies only the Avatara: the Ishwara assuming human form.

Part 4, Chapter 18, Faith and Shakti

1. Three steps outlined so far in Yoga of Perfection (perfection of lower instruments, perfection of soul powers, perfection of surrender to divine Shakti) depend on a fourth power: faith.
1.1 Perfect faith is an assent of the being: "yo yacchraddhah sa eva sah."
1.2 Its perfect working is a faith of the soul in its own will to be/attain/become its idea of things.
1.21 Belief/desire are reflections of this.
1.3 The one indispensable faith in the Integral yoga is faith in God and the Shakti, in their presence/power in us and the world.

2. Doubt is a necessary element to the mind and useful in yoga at various stages.
2.1 The mind has many wrong intellectual ideas, and new (false) ones will arise during the yoga demanding assent.
2.2 Doubt is necessary at the stage when all mental activities are held in questioning suspension while waiting for the light of the supramental knowledge/light.
2.3 Same attitude of temporary agreement must be held regarding impulsions of life-mind, emotional beliefs.
2.4 Doubt can be used because complete/permanent faith can only be placed in the highest spiritual power/truth/ananda.

3. Yet at the same time faith must be present at every stagg-.
3.1 First in the principles of the yoga.
3.11 Even a blind faith at this stage is good, if it helps to continue on the path.
3.12 For a long time the Yoga will appear an impossibility to the intellectual mind and contradicted by experience.
3.121 And denied by others.
3.122 So there will be plenty of ground for an ignorant but persistent critical reason.
3.13 Yet a blind faith is later an obstacle; attachment to forms of faith has to be overcome.

4. True faith -- shraddha -- is an influence from the supreme Spirit.
4.1 It touches the inner soul more than the mind/life.
4.11 Hence the outward circumstances of our beginning on the path (ideas, feelings) are not the index of what is at work in us.
4.2 This faith cannot be extinguished by circumstance or the mind's doubts or the vital's disappointed desire.

5. Along with faith in the principles of the yoga, a faith in the day-today workings, our experiences, intuitions, achievements, aspirations, circumstances, stimuli.
5.1 But this faith must be free from attachment to the forms of our endeavor, if we are to move on from stage to stage.
5.11 Valuable/powerful states will be experienced that have to be accepted only to be surpassed later.
5.12 The seeker of the integral yoga must not be content with resting-places on the road.
5.2 That which supports through changes is faith in the Shakti at work, and the master of the Yoga.

6. We should not be discouraged when these day-today workings are left behind/seen to be in error.
6.1 Do not believe that because our intellectual beliefs were wrong, that our faith in the soul was invalid.
6.2 Errors are necessary movements for the mind.
6.3 The seeking intelligence has to be trained to a large questioning, always ready to move forward.

7. Same process (as #5,6) is true of a faith in the heart/life-mind.

8. Faith is essentially a secret shraddha of the soul.

9. This process (#5,6) is especially necessary in the middle (psychical) domains.
9.1 Since greater error is possible, more skepticism and intellectual rectitude necessary.
9.2 Occult experience should be subordinated to and wait upon spiritual truth/illumination.
9.21 But even spiritual experiences which are valid, even absolute, cannot be held onto as the only ones.
9.211 Faith must be a wide openness.

10. The faith we need is in the end a full assent to the presence/guidance of God and the Shakti.
10.1 In the beginning the faith in the Shakti is in effect a faith in our own spiritual will/power to move toward perfection.
10.11 Paralysing self-doubt has to be discouraged, for it is a denial of the omnipotence of the spirit.
10.111 Yielding to sense of impotence is a non-sense for integral yogi, for our goal is a development of a perfection latent in the being.
10.2 We must keep in the front of the mind that our strength is not our own egoistic energy, but that of the divine universal Shakti.
10.3 To the Shakti nothing is impossible: she is Maheshwari, Mahakali, Mahalakshmi, Mahasaraswati.

11. Faith in the Ishwara is the central truth of the Integral Yoga.
11.1 A faith that all things are his workings, that nothing is in vain.
11.2 This faith more and more justified as experience opens.
11.3 Highest state is feeling the Ishwara in all our action.

  Part 4, Chapter 19, The Nature of the Supermind

1. Review
1.1 Object of yoga is to raise the consciousness of the human from the ordinary to that of the spirit.
1.2 Normally we only get hints of the greater consciousness. 1.3 Yoga of perfection so far outlined:
1.31 Purification of mental/vital/physical nature.
1.32 Liberation from knots of prakriti.
1.33 Attainment of a static equality replacing the ego and the desire-soul's demands.
1.34 Substitution of the action of the divine Shakti for that of the lower prakriti.

2. Mind in itself cannot be the instrument for the divine knowledge and action, because it starts from division.

3. Fundamental nature of the supermind is a knowledge by identity and oneness.
3.1 Knows all things as itself and in itseld, even when apprehending them as objects of knowledge.
3.11 Knows them from the inside-out, hence their essence as well as their surface.

4. Knowledge is real because total.
4.1 Sees the individual and the universal in relation to the supreme, the transcendental.
4.1 Sees the individual in relation to the universal; sees it in its correct relations with everything else.
4.2 Knows each individual in terms of its essence of which all else is the resultant.

5. Supermind is directly truth-consciousness.
5.1 It does not rely upon reason or inference or the other steps that the mind uses.
5.2 Contains all knowledge in itself; if hidden, it is still latent.

6. It is alwo a direct and spontaneous truth-will.
6.1 It is the infallible action of things acting according to their own nature.
6.2 Will and knowledge are fused, a single jet of the being; there are no contradictions, no clashes.
6.3 Supermind lives in the trikaladrshti, not just the present moment.

7. On the highest planes the supermind acts in its own full power, but below it has gradations.
7.1 As it descends it narrows but retains its character.
7.11 This is why it is comprehensible: because the character of the mind is a reflection of the supermind.
7.2 Grades:
highest intuitive mind
intellectual mind
mind of the senses
vital mind
submental life and matter

8. Since the spirit is everywhere, and the supermind is it organising principle, it must be evident even here in the lower creation.
8.1 It shows itself as law of nature, as automatic action on the different levels.
8.2 In mind, as intuition.
8.3 In life, as instinct.
8.4 In matter, as physical law.
8.5 All these are spiritual/supramental in origin, though seemingly "irrational" in operation.
8.51 They are governed by the supramental though their overt process is physical/vital/mental.
8.52 Outward matter/life/mind do not possess these functions though the supramental is imposed on their workings.

9. Man has suppressed his intuitions because his dharma is to seek for a greater self-awareness, and his first instrument is the reason and will of the rational intelligence.
9.1 Still, they are capable of a greater scope in him than in the lower creation.
9.2 Yet reason is only partial and a temporary instrument for this purpose.

10. Supermind in the lower creation is present most strongly as intuition, and it is through development of intuitive mind that the first step is made to supermind.
10.1 Intuition is in fact the true origin and native substance of our thinking.
10.2 In the greatest minds the veil between mind and intuition is thinnest.
10.3 Intuition does not act fully because it is mixed with mind.
10.4 Intuition can be trained and developed; best done by making it a transitional means for bringing forth the supermind above it.

Part 5, Chapter 20 The Intuitive Mind

1. In man the emergence of the supermind is gradual and intermittent.
1.1 Man has no organs in his present system for its use.
1.2 Must evolve or adapt existing ones.
1.3 Task is not just to uncover a preexisting spirit, because man is an evolutionary being and has only the instruments of mind/life/body to use to attain/manifest the supermind.

2. Transition to supermind means a reversal of the mind's normal methods.
2.1 This change, abandonment of our current way of thought/sense/feeling, is only possible if preceded by a spiritual development on the current level of consciousness.
2.11 Mind becomes aware of the greater self within.

3. Problem becomes one of a passage through a mediary status: the intuitive mind.
3.1 Intuition is a faculty we can already feel and appreciate.
3.2 Intuition at present is fragmentary, intermittent.
3.3 Its lights are also laid hold of by the mind and colored, interpreted, used by the lower faculty.

4. Method is to gradually enlarge the working of the intuition and then replace the working of the mind by it, or transform the mind by the pressure of the intuition.
4.1 Several methods can be used simultaneously.
4.2 First apparent discipline, and a great/powerful one, is to silence the mind and allow the Self/Spirit/Divine to disclose himself in the silence.
4.21 In the silent mind, intuition can be wider, and is less apt to be seized on by the mind.
4.22 But this process does not transform the mind; when it works again, it works as before, impelled from within or without.

5. Method suited to Bhakti is to reject intellect and wait for the voice from within.
5.1 Based on the truth that our secret self is based in every center of our nature and can be found in the several places.
5.2 The emotional center of the desire-mind is the strongest in the ordinary man, the capital of the system.
5.3 But this movement cannot be complete because the heart is not the highest center of our being or directly moved by supramental sources.
5.4 Limitation is that the intuitive light from here is intense but narrow, and prone to mixing with the emotional imbalance.

6. Highest center is the sahasradala, the thousand-petaled lotus above the head.
6.1 This communicates directly with the supramental.
6.2 So most direct method is to refer all thought and action to the veiled truth of the Divinity seated above the mind.
6.21 Siddhi of this is when we can lift the center of conscious thought above the mind.
6.211 This is a sign of the release from the limitations of the body.
6.3 The method of raising the mind to this level and tranforming the consciousness from there is the one used naturally by the Divine Shakti.

7. Fourth method suitable for the thinking person is to develop the intellect until it borders on what transcends it.
7.1 This is the sense of the development of the instruments talked about before.
7.2 Buddhi is the most capable of this development and of aiding in the developent of the others.
7.3 The greater the development of the ordinary instruments, the richer the preparation for the supramental action.
7.4 However the supramind is necessary to remove the essential defects of the mind, no matter how wide and deep.
7.5 And it is not necessary to develop the mind fully in it separateness before calling down the supermind.
7.51 Intuition can come into the undeveloped mind and turn it into the higher form and substance.

8. First result of these will be the organisation of a predominately intuitive mentalit .
8.1 The most prominent change is the character of the thought.
8.2 The thought is heightened, full of concentrated light, power, accuracy.
8.3 Intuition gives the connecting elements also, not just first suggestions or conclusions.
8.4 Will and feelings are also intuitivised.
8.5 Even the pranic and senses and the body consciousness are affected.

9. The intuitive mind, though a status, is still mixed with mind proper, and not the action of the supermind by itself.
9.1 So is always mixed with some error, relapse.
9.2 And is subject to invasions from the outside, the minds of others still in the ignorance.
9.3 So the intuitive mind has to be constantly on guard, and always widening itself.
9.4 So it has limits, and is liable to a return to the old working.

  Part 4, Chapter 21, The Gradations of the Supermind

1. As the intuitive mind grows, it takes the same relation to the supermind that the intellect took with it.
1.1 That is, it looks upward for its light while purifying itself by means of that light.

2. Higher ranges are first known as an indeterminite infinite; then only as they are translated into mental forms by the intuition.

3. Gradation is roughly three: intuition; divine reason; supermind proper.
3.1 Distinctions are only important when one reaches these levels.

4. Intuitive mind.
4.1 Four movements: intuition that suggests the idea; one that discriminates; one that brings in the word/substance; and one that brings in the vision/face/body.
4.2 True way of understanding these is that they are the originals from which the mental correlates are derived.
4.21 Differ from mental in substance and operation.
4.3 Not dependent on sense information, though may use it as starting point.
4.31 Knowledge is self-existent, suggestive of its source in the supermind's knowledge by identity.
4.4 Suggestive intuition gives a living representation, a bright memory, an inner idea of the truth.
4.5 Intuitive discrimination sets it in its right relation.
4.51 In beginning, acts to keep it separate from mental ideas that might mix in.
4.6 Inspiration, revelation are of the nature of truth-hearing and truth-seeing; the voice, the vision of the thing itself.

6. The two lower -- suggestion and discrimination -- come out first, and form a lower intuitive mind or gnosis.
6.1 Both are necessary to each other.
6.2 Suggestion without discrimination leads to incoherent or inharmonious bundle of intuitive and mental ideas.
6.3 Discrimination without suggestion leads to a mind deficient in fresh knowledge, or an illumined judgement acting on mental material alone.

7. Two higher powers -- inspiration and revelation -- together make for a higher intuitive mind or gnosis.
7.1 Again, must act together.
7.2 And must act with the lower two for the full intuitive gnosis.

8. Natural process is for the lower two to form, then to be taken up by the inspiration, then for this whole to be taken up into the revelation.
8.1 In fact the process is mixed and confused because the mind is still being purified.

9. At this point the intuitive mind can be raised into the divine reason.
9.1 Here is where the total reversal takes place.
9.2 Purusha now looks down on mind/life/matter, and becomes entirely free and true.
9.3 Thought is now formed above the mind, and therefore an entirely effective will and knowledge result.

10. Will/knowledge are entirely true but not complete, because they still use the mind as a transmitting channel.
10.1 Although the individual lives in the supramental consciousness, he has to use the mind/life/body to make that will/knowledge effective.
10.11 Hence the limitation, unless he limits his work to the spiritual plane.
10.2 This is remedied by supramentalising the mental, vital, physical instruments.
10.21 This is much easier is the instruments have been purified and prepared as outlined in previous chapters.
10.22 The supramental reason can start this, but not complete it.

11. Supramental reason is of the nature of a direct, self-luminous, self-actina will and intelligence. with a similar four powers as outlined in the intuition.
11.1 But the powers are here active in an initial fullness.
11.2 And they act not to illumine the mind, but for their own purposes.
11.3 Discrimination is hardly separate: the reason divides itself into three levels: intuition, inspiration, revelation.
11.4 Truths are not abstract to it, but a natural background and reality.
11.5 Formulates and arranges the relations of thought with thought, action with action, force with force.
11.6 Sees the data of sense as outermost indications, sees their inner truth, and uses the mind sense (sixth) as well as the symbols and illuminations of the psychic sense.
11.7 Starts from a direct spiritual experience and relates all other experiences to that.
11.71 Such as emotions, psychic sensations, vital movements, and the physical consciousness itself.
11.8 Acts mainly by the representative idea/will in the spirit, which is a power of light of the Ishwara, though not the very self- power of his immediate being.
11.9 Thought, will, sense are here but experienced as real powers and substances of the Self; they are Sat-Chit-Ananda.
11.10 The divine reason acts in the development of the nature to organise itself in the individual so as to be conscious.
11.11 Here again, there is a roughly triple division in function and development.
11.12 Living in the supermind like this does not in itself cut us off from others who are in the lower nature; we can identify with them and their reactions even while not limited by them.

Part 4, Chapter 22, The Supramental Thought and Knowledge

(general character and main powers and action -- particular instrumentation covered in next chapter)

1. The essential relation between the mind and supermind is that all the action of the mind is a derivation from the secret supermind.
1.1 Even false and perverted thoughts/etc. are from that source, only deformed.

2. The suoermind can do all the mind does, but on a different basis and in a different way; first, its knowledge though partial has the essential behind it.
2.1 Its representations are the body/substance/light of the truth, not mere vehicles.

3. It has a spontaneous harmony, unity, coherence.
3.1 Mind is always in some sort of conflict, confusion, discord.
3.2 The only natural harmonies are those of the (largely subconscient) animal life, and that of the spirit.
3.3 This may be masked at first, if the pressure of the supermind falls on a mind unprepared for it.
3.31 A disturbance or derangement can result.
3.32 And this is why a tranquil and open mind are a great help in this yoga.
3.4 The mind may develop itself along one special line, and this one-sided power produce the disorder seen in the man of genius, artist, saint or mystic.
3.41 Paradoxically this type has less harmony than the largely developed intellectual.
3.42 This is why an integral development/intuivitisation of the mind is necessary.

4. The supramental knowledge is not primarily a thought, but a knowledge by identity.
4.1 A pure awareness of the self-truth of things in the self and by the self.
4.2 At its highest there is no distinction between the knower, knowledge and the thing known.
4.3 Thing seen is part of my (universal) self.
4.4 In the highest ranges thought is not necessary at all; all is experienced spiritually in an absolute directness.

5. Supramental thought carries within it a vision.
5.1 Needs no image; the spiritual analogue to sight.
5.2 Can make concrete what is to the mind abstract, for example invisible truths.
5.3 This may precede the knowledge by identity, or act detached from it.
5.4 Unlike sense, the spiritual sight/sense does not need the aid of thought to fill in and inform the image.
5.41 It may use thought as a means of representation and expression, however.
5.5 Mental intuitive vision, psychic vision, emotional vision of the heart are mental forms and beginnings of this.

6. The supramental thought is a further development of the knowledge by identity and the vision.
6.1 It may not add anything, but reproduces, articulates, moves round the body of the knowledge.
6.2 Or it may recall/reveal/interpret to the soul's memory what the others left unveiled.
6.3 May also help to fix the truth on one's own lower mind or that of others.
6.4 As supramental thought rises, instead of becoming more abstract as mental thought does, it becomes more concrete.
6.41 Becomes more a luminous substance, the body of reality, the real-idea.
6.5 Supramental thought has the same three broad divisions as the intuitive and supramental reason: vision, interpretive vision, revelatory idea-sight.
6.51 Each has its own character; each draws the other up into it as before.

7. There is also a supramental speech, word.
7.1 Has different levels and experiences.
7.2 May be a word from above; inner speech; speech self-born without perception.
7.3 May use the forms of intellectual speech but in a different way, with an intuitive or revelatory significance.
7.4 May be heard but at first unable to express itself in speech or writing; not until the instruments are ready.

8. Range of thought is equal to/greater than that of the individual, but acts inversely.
8.1 Center is not the ego/individual, but the universal mind.
8.2 Uses the individual as a vessel of radiation and communication rather than a center.
8.3 Includes other planes of existence.
8.4 Not limited to the actualities of the present, as the mind.
8.41 Can see in the continuities of time or above time in the indivisibilities of the Spirit.
8.5 Sees in the order: essence: potentialities: actualities, rather than the reverse way the mind works.

9. Ordinarily the supramental thought organises itself first in pure thought and knowledge, jnana, and second in applied.

10. Last will be the knowledge of the three times, trikaladrsti.

Part 4, Chapter 23, The Supramental Instruments - Thought Process

1. Because the lower instrumentation is a derivation of the supermind, when we rise to it the supermind uplifts/enlarges transfigures them rather than rejecting them.
1.1 This includes the operations of the psychic and subliminal which are now abnormal and occult.

2. Mental activity most readily organised is pure knowledge, jnana.
2.1 Essential action of this described in last chapter.
2.2 Works on the activity of the mind starting from the top.
2.3 Lower activities of the mind made subordinate.

3. Three levels of mind (described before) are habitual, pragmatic, ideative.
3.1 Most men live in first, move with difficulty in second or third.
3.2 Pragmatic and ideative not easily reconciled with the other two.

4. To the supermind, what are abstractions in the ideative mind are the substance of the truth.

5. Supermind not bound by any representation/system of the truth; can arrange particulars for pragmatic purposes while living in the wholeness.
5.1 So there is no division between its free essential ideation and its creative pragmatic ideation.
5.2 Supermind does not takes the particular pragmatic creation that it makes as the sole or whole truth, but sees it as a constant realisation of that which is eternally true.
5.21 Hence it is open to the truth of other harmonies even while it puts forth a different or even contrary one.
5.211 It knows the truth of that which it is struggling to replace even as it works to overthrow it.

6. The thing that the creative mentality makes corresponds to the habitual mentality, but the thing created is the self-determination of a harmony.
6.1 All harmony has pulsations, rhythms.
6.2 Founds it on eternal principles.
6.3 There is an order to the thought, a cycle of the will, a stability in the motion; but it is free from mechanism or habit.
6.31 This stability is always alive with the spirit.
6.32 It does not refer new experience to a fixed groove, but instead refers it above.

7. The normal reason of man.
7.1 Dependent on the higher (veiled) intuition and the instincts/impulses of the life-mind.
7.11 Latter lost most of its intuitive character because dependent upon the mind.
7.12 Former not pure and organized, but mixed with the mind.
7.13 Reason is really an intermediate power between these two.
7.2 Characteristic power of reason is threefold:
observation/arrangement; action; logical testing of results.
7.3 Data come from nature, internal subjective self, others, observation of the intelligence itself, and (unusually) other ranges of existence (occult.)
7.4 Action of the reason is the same in all these fields.
7.41 Culminates in the logical, analytical intelligence.
7.5 Memory, imagination, judgement are other powers of the reason.

8. Corresponding power of the supramental sense described.
8.1 Has a sense-action not limited to physical organs; a form/contact consciousness.
8.2 Observation: it makes the thing the object of a perceptual action, but it is in some sense subjective: it sees it in the self of the universal consciousness in which the individual knower lives.
8.21 There is always a onenss with the thing known.
8.211 A stream or bridge of conscious connection is set up between the knower and the object.
8.2111 Resulting in an active union.
8.2112 The bridge ceases when the oneness is complete and active.
8.2113 This is Patanjali's samyama.
8.3 Three ways contact can happen: knower may project himself on the object; may feel it by contact; may feel it in himself.

9. Supramental analysis.
9.1 Sees the particularities of a thing directly.
9.2 But primary is the essence.
9.3 The whole is always implied.
9.4 Sees always the particularities as a manifestation of the self which is the essentiality.
9.5 Thus analysis is tied inextricably with observation.

10. Supramental memory.
10.1 A presence of knowlede already there; a remembering.

11. Supramental imagination.
11.1 A power of true image, and a vision of potentialities not less true than actual things.

12. Supramental judgement.
12.1 Inseparable from observation/memory.
12.2 A linking of knowledge to knowledge.

Part 4, Chapter 24, The Supramental Sense

1. Highest level is knowledge by identity; on the the supramental plane remains a thing proper to its level, intimate and comprehensive.

2. Next is the vijnana: a large, embracing consciousness taking things in their essence, totality and parts.

3. Another supramental activity is prainana: stresses the objectivity of the thing known.
3.1 Descending into the mind this becomes the characteristic of mental knowledge.
3.2 In the supermind still takes place in the cosmic oneness.
3.3 For the fullness of this, thought and word are needed.

4. Fourth activity is samjnana: the supramental sense proper, the contacting of existence/presences/forms/forces in the stuff of the supramental being and energy.
4.1 Just as mind is capable of an independent awareness not dependent on the physical organs, there is an independent sense, a movement of the self.
4.2 The spiritual sense can know all things whatsoever, formed or formless.
4.21 This reaches even to a sensation of the spirit, the self, the Divine, the Infinite.
4.3 All is felt as God: the manifest touch, sight, hearing, taste, perfume; directly, play, vibration, nearness, pressure.
4.4 Nothing is really finite to this sense; it is oceanic and ethereal.
4.5 Its action is an extension of the vibration of being and consciousness of the Self, and Ananda Akasha, the matrix of the Self.
4.6 Can act independent of the body/mind/inner mind.
4.7 Can be aware of any plane, any world.
4.8 Can act in the waking consciousness; can use all the other states of sense, adding to them, correcting them.

5. Physical senses must ultimately be transformed; behind them is developed a deeper faculty of each sense.
5.1 Sight acquires a totality and precision: the eye of the poet, artist.
5.11 The eye carries the soul of quality, the vibration of energy of which it is made.
5.12 Sight also develops an inner fourth dimension; the material object becomes an expression of the unity of all that we see: the unity of the Brahman.
5.2 Similarly with the other senses.

6. Range is also extended beyond the body, and includes the inner psychic realm.
6.1 Can have physical contact of things at a distance.
6.2 Physical organs can be channel for psychic sight: the soul or psychic sees but uses the body and lets it share in the experience.
6.3 Material instrumentation is supramentalised and merged with the subtler instrumentation, including the subtle physical, vital mental.
6.4 Includes the "independent" vital.
6.41 Here, primarily aware not of forms but of forces.
6.42 Can deal directly with the forces of the vital, including matters of health and disease, either close or at a distance.
6.43 The individual life breaks down and we live in the universal life energy, which is felt as the outpouring of the conscious universal Shakti.

7. Result of the above is an opening of psychical experience.
7.1 Has an inferior activity and a pure action of the true psychic.
7.2 Range and variety is almost illimitable.
7.3 First is the psychic senses, which register images formed in the subtle matter of the mental/psychical ether, cittakasha.
7.31 Images of material/nonmaterial things; what is, was or will be; awake or not; with eyes closed or open.
7.4 Also receives impressions created by the activity of consciousness in ourselves or other beings.
7.41 May be mere shells, or may carry a beneficent/maleficent force.
7.5 Works similarly for other senses.
7.6 Can put us in contact with other planes or extra-terrestrial beings through their psychical selves.

8. #7 related to the continuous scale of the planes of consciousness.
8.1 Awakening of psychic sense enables us to be aware of influences on us.
8.2 Also to influence others, with a spiritual sense and purpose.
8.21 This is how a master in yoga helps his disciples.

9. Most direct use of the psychic consciousness is to make it an instrument of contact with the divine. 9.1 This is the world of psycho-spiritual symbols, such as Mantra.
9.2 And of the images of the Godhead, or his personalities or powers.

10. Psychical sense is in the end also supramentalised.
10.1 First result is to base it on a secure sense of oneness with all others and the mind and soul of universal nature.
10.2 The phenomena become harmonious, and cease to be incoherent or fragmentary.
10.3 They cease to be abnormal and possibly injurious, and become a manifestation of the embodied spirit.
10.4 The transformation comes not by a change of stance or law but by a change in the whole substance of the conscious being.
10.5 This corrects whatever errors or deformations are present.

11. After the transformation, nothing is really external to the sense.
11.1 The state will be that of an infinite and cosmic consciousness acting through the universalised individual Purusha.

Part 4, Chapter 25, Towards the Supramental Time Vision

1. To the mind, the eternal when experienced is a vast but timeless realm; or it is divorced from what happens in time.

2. The supermind has three elements to its time consciousness: that of the eternity beyond time; that of the coexistence of the three individual elements past/present/future; and that of the three as a single movement, a whole.

3. In the ascent of the mind there are three stages: the ignorant mind seeking knowledge; the mind turned inward that knowi knowledge .is hidden, but still must seek it; and the mind of knowledge in which all truths are already luminously present.
3.1 This last only possible by a partial supramentalising of the intuitive intelligence.

4. Knowledge of time has similar ascent.
4.1 At first we live in the present, with the memory of the past and the possibilities of a future.
4.2 We live in the moment, seeing only what is relatively close.
4.3 Breaking out of this depends on developing a consciousness other than that limited by sensation, memory, inference.

5. Reason, with inference, is our first method of escaping from the tyranny of the present.
5.1 Cause, effect, science, etc.
5.2 But the mind and vital escape scientific explanation because of their subtlety and intricacy: too much is happening below the surface that is not captured; too much is latent.
5.21 The possiblities are too complex for the intelligence; at best we arrive at uncertain calculations.
5.22 And there is behind the mind/vital the will of the soul (indefinitely variable) and the spirit (infinite and inscrutably imperative); hence prediction in this realm is impossible.

6. Intuition is the second means available to us.
6.1 However, it is still subject to error and uncertain.
6.2 Only the true intuition can use systems of indices, symbols, omens, etc.; and they are thick jungle of error.

7. Real knowledge of the three times first comes with the opening of the psychical faculties.
7.1 Can see images of all things in time and space.
7.11 This implies no development of soul or spiritual being or higher intelligence; it is just a door to the subliminal consciousness.
7.2 Only accurate if no inference or interpretation is attempted.
7.2 Much closer approximation to the triple time consciousness can be had by the psychical by projecting itself forward or backward into states of consciousness and experience.
7.21 Can do this for forces, other beings; can gather all kinds of indications of happenings in the three times.
7.22 Includes knowledge of past lives, the past of the world, present things beyond the physical sense, etc.
7.23 But still subject to error; its perceptions are only partial; the mind still interferes/interprets.

8. Limitations of the psychical are remedied by the light of the spirit entering the mind through the intuitive.
8.1 Comes from the universal soul of things.
8.2 Comes irregularly at first.
8.3 What is needed is a cessation of the interferences of the mind in this light.

9. First kind of mental interference is the personal will/desire.
9.1 May be from the heart or emotions or mind.
9.2 Distorts what we see, imposing on it what we desire.
9.3 Even if the personal is quieted, we may be assailed by suggestions from outside striving for realisation.
9.4 Remedy is to replace the personal will by the universal Will.

10. Second kind of mental construction belongs to its nature: it is made of inferences about possibles, reasoning/willing from the actual to the possible.
10.1 This has to be excluded for the intuition to act.
10.2 Silencing the mind does not stop knowledge, it lets the intuition act.

11. The three levels seen by the intuitive are actualities, possibles and imperatives.
11.1 Sees not just the actual things but the forces at work in them.
11.2 Sees the forces and the result about to emerge.
11.21 Or the result may be seen first.
11.3 This sees only the immediate past or future.
11.4 Its vision errs when a force comes down from a region of larger potentiality, which is constantly happening.
11.5 After actuals, potentials and imperatives.

12. But intuitive still limited by mind.
12.1 It is a transcription of higher knowledge working in the stuff of mind.
12.2 Leans on the present moment, moves in the stream of time.
12.3 Its knowledge is not a possession but a reception.

13. Solution is to surpass the intuitive with the supramental knowledge.
13.1 Again, a double movement coexists for a time, the intuitive and the higher; or a vacillation between the two.