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The First Aim of the Yoga: Receptivity to a Higher Spiritual Consciousness · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  Historically, much of the spiritual focus has been
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  directed towards seeing through the illusory nature of the
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  external reality and shifting the awareness to a pure
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  spiritual consciousness that is not involved in that external
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  reality. Regardless of terminology used,
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  whether it is Maya or samsara or something that represents A
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  transitory field of experience that prepares us for heaven or
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  hell, eternity or some development beyond this world,
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  possibly becoming energetic beings separated from physical
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  substance, the dissolution of the ego personality and the
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  subsequent or consequent merging of that individuality into the
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  universal consciousness turns out to be the primary direction.
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  There are, of course, also those who reject this idea entirely
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  and seek to enhance and improve life in this world.
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  They may treat this as some kind of random existence, or they may
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  simply believe that the purpose of our lives is to gain
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  experience, grow and enjoy the world given to us for our
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  enjoyment. Triorobindo and the Mother look
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  at the manifestation as an omnipresent reality such that
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  the expressed consciousness is systematically evolving over
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  time, and thus there is both an individual progress and a
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  transformation of the external life.
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  As the individual progress impacts that external reality in
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  virtually every direction, however, we can see that an
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  unstable, shifting and jumping mind, subject to the pressure of
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  circumstances and the impulses and sensations that reach the
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  awareness through the senses and the nerve channels, is not a
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  suitable basis for achievement for whatever objective the
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  individual seeks. Those who seek to focus on the
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  external reality as also those who seek to achieve spiritual
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  realization or a shift to a consciousness no longer involved
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  in earthly matters, all need to achieve a certain quietude in
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  the mind to reach their goal, whatever it may be.
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  In today's world, we are constantly bombarded with
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  sights, sounds, smells, sensations and pressures that
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  constantly set the mind in motion.
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  Many of these things spur immediate reactions within us,
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  while others may trigger long stored or embedded reactions
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  that represent memory of the past, either of the individual
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  or even the long process of the evolutionary past that have
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  carried through to maintain their responses in all of us.
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  We thus have a real challenge before us to achieve a calm,
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  quiet, peaceful mind. In his lectures on Rajagoga,
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  Swami Vivekananda goes into considerable depth about the
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  nature of mind, how to observe the mind, how to bring it to a
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  state of quiescence and how then to prepare it to both receive
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  the higher spiritual forces and how to achieve any result for
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  which the seeker is aiming through the concentration of
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  samyama. That is one element of the
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  practice of Raja Yoga. He also describes the status of
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  consciousness called samati, whereby the seeker is not
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  responding actively to all the sensory provocations that
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  otherwise are pressuring him. All spiritual development is
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  founded on the first step, which is achieving this kind of
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  quietude and distance from the impressions of the senses and
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  the pressures of the outer existence.
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  At first a certain amount of separation may be needed to
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  establish this basis, but eventually for the integral Yoga
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  it must become constant even while the individual is fully
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  engaged in carrying out his actions and duties in the
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  external world. Sri Aurobindo writes quote.
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  It is not possible to make a foundation in yoga if the mind
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  is restless. The first thing needed is quiet
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  in the mind. Also to merge the personal
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  consciousness is not the first aim of the yoga.
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  The first aim is to open it to a higher spiritual consciousness
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  and for this also a quiet mind is the first need.
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  End Quote reference Shriya Robindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter
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  1. Calm, Peace and Equality, Page
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  1.