It seems to me that it is good to have both a more detailed understanding and a simple self-surrender, and that as time goes on, perhaps, as Kireet Joshi has written it, one “becomes increasingly clever”, or perhaps rather the Grace works in oneself, in choosing what aspect to emphasize at any given moment.
It seems both linear and so dynamic. Linear, perhaps, in that each part must have some base before moving on, dynamic in that the parts can be at entirely different levels of progress, and open or closed in different ways. And that moment to moment things can change. For instance, we may read on the shanti chatusthaya the subdivisions of just one of its legs, the samata. Perhaps, at some moments, or in some part of the being, we may have to put the titiksha, the most external endurance, toward some crude situation pressing against us, in order for it not to invade and burst us open with lower reactions.
But then, in another moment, if we are open to it, why not ” skip ” all the way to Nati, to a self-surrender to the One in everything, the wide Self in All, behind and yet immanent even to matter? Which naturally brings with it both endurance and non-attachment, non-clinging, as well as this more positive delight. Or in between, perhaps mere enduring feels a bit too crude and negative, but we do not feel ready for Nati; it feels too abstract, and may be more like a mental idea we try to impose on the rest, but it doesn’t infuse with wideness; then it may be better to rest in the udanisata, a more neutral “indifference” or unattachment, level-headedness, standing back. And so on for the other limbs. Does this seem like a correct understanding? Or is there perhaps a value in staying with more linear and small steps in the beginning?
The Saptachatustya described in the Records of Yoga is the program given to Sri Aurobindo as part of his personal sadhana.
Its general version applicable for every sadhaka has been described in The Synthesis of Yoga in the book on the yoga of self-perfection.
However, after completing his sadhana, Sri Aurobindo knew that it is not easy for most sadhaks. The collective effort began after the Siddhi day on the 24th November 1926. It is when Sri Aurobindo completed his Siddhi and handed over the entire charge of the Yoga to the Mother. From then onwards, the central key to the Yoga has been psychically opening to the Mother.
In the actual order of practice, Sri Aurobindo advised establishing Peace and Equanimity first, growing in aspiration through consecration, progressive surrender to the Divine Mother.
Taking the Mother’s Name and offering all we do is the core practice. Concentration on Her in the heart and/or the head is the other simultaneous practice in real time.
Love
Alok Da
