This way of turning people to the spiritual life is nothing but spiritual commercialism wherein spiritual teaching or practice is sold as a commodity. The seeker buys or tries different products and then zeroes in on the one which he finds most serviceable or helpful. But all this has little to do with the authentic spiritual life which begins with a deep inner seeking for God or Truth or the ultimate Reality behind things. The seekers feels intuitively drawn towards something higher and greater than the human frame and formula of life. When he has this genuine seeking then God and destiny bring him in contact with the books, the people that become like feeders to the newborn flame within him. This flame of seeking grows into an aspiration once one is no longer satisfied with the intellectual answers alone but wants the authentic experience, the direct discovery of the Divine Reality. It is this aspiration that opens his path. Methods, techniques, disciplines can create an illusion of walking on the path while one is simply moving in a slightly larger circle. One may even be led to believe that by joining a special sect or a monastry one has written one’s name in the book of the elite while in reality he has entered a comfort zone of beliefs. It takes long and a great inner sincerity to break free from these trappings of sects and religions and books and methods to spread the wings of the Soul and fly through the gates of inner freedom.
Spirituality cannot be taught like mathematics or physics wherein you apply a certain formula and get a certain result. It is more like a poetry. You must be inspired to explore it, to look behind layers of meanings into the deepest truth embedded within the words and their intellectual meaning. It is somewhat like jumping into an ocean with faith and surrender in the living reality of the Divine whom one is seeking but does not yet know. It requires great courage and faith and not many are ready for it. Reading a book with someone is fine, doing a course is okay, whether paid or unpaid, learning a method and practicing it religiously is one thing and spiritual life is quite another. Book reading and learning methods is like reading about the Himalayas and learning how to climb the mountain in some training institute. All this is a preparation at best. But the actual scaling of a mountain is, like the authentic spiritual life very different. It takes place not only in the rational mind or the intellectual memory where the texts have been learnt and preserved but in real time through real challenges, inner and outer that no book or method can teach. There are treacherous slopes, blinding storms, delightful but deceiving groves, amidst the real glimpses that are few and far between to begin with. One has to be sincere, very sincere in the seeking, persevering and ready to endure whatever comes in the journey, to truly walk the path that goes through the tiniest events and circumstances of life and not just when we sit with closed eyes in a certain posture.
The same applies to Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga. One should read the book to which one naturally feels drawn or the book that answers his quest. There is no need for any courses paid or unpaid as very often it gives a limited angle of vision to a vast and catholic teaching. Of course if you ask me I would suggest starting with simple books such as Elements of Yoga, Yoga and its objects, The Mother, Letters on Yoga, Collected Works of the Mother especially Prayers and Meditations. Then when the urge arises then visit the Ashram. As to the mainstay of the practice it is turning to the Mother and opening and surrendering oneself and one’s aspiration to Her.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
