Sri Aurobindo and The Mother describe devotion as the crowning movement of Yoga. Faith, surrender to the Divine Mother, opening to Her through service and self giving are the central elements of the Integral Yoga. Calling Their Name is the only method they suggest.
Here are two self-explanatory letters of Sri Aurobindo revealing this truth.
‘All can be done by the Divine, the heart and nature purified, the inner consciousness awakened, the veils removed, if one gives oneself to the Divine with trust and confidence—and even if one cannot do so fully at once, yet the more one does so, the more the inner help and guidance comes and the contact and the experience of the Divine grows within. If the questioning mind becomes less active and humility and the will to surrender grow in you, this ought to be perfectly possible. No other strength and tapasya are then needed, but this alone.’
‘ There is no method in th is Yoga except to concentrate, preferably in the heart, and call the presence and power of the Mother to take up the being and by the workings of her force transform the consciousness; one can concentrate also in the head or between the eyebrows, but for many th is is a too difficult opening. When the mind falls quiet and the concentration becomes strong and the aspiration intense, then there is a beginning of experience. The more the faith, the more rapid the result is likely to be. For the rest one must not depend on one’s own efforts only, but succeed in establ ishing a contact with the Divine and a receptivity to the Mother’s Power and Presence.’
Of course being an integral yoga it is not a path of Devotion alone. Besides Devotion has a much deeper meaning here than worship and rituals etc.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
