Canto III: The Yoga of the King: The Yoga of the Soul’s Release

This is the description of the seer-king Aswapati as he ascends out of the zone of Ignorance and settles into Knowledge. We are also told that he also embodies the human aspiration and thus becomes a meeting point between the human, as he stands now, and the Divine manifestation that is yet to come.

What is this reversal, this new vision acquired by the seer; how does he view the world? This is being described now.

As the seer awakens to the workings of Intuition within him, he develops new ways of knowing and understanding life. A new relation begins to form between himself and the world replacing the old, egocentric view and the laborious mental understanding.

Aswapati’s journey carries him right up to the borders that join the lower and the higher hemispheres of existence. Thus we see the first part of his yoga coming to a close with ascension out of the state of Ignorance into the wide luminous spaces. He crosses domains of growing Light and, ascending through the Rays of Intuition, stands at the borders of the Overmind. The changes that accompany this ascent are being described subsequently.

As the consciousness ascends beyond the limiting hedge of sense mind, we begin to receive intuitive flashes from Above. Slowly there is a progressive intuitivisation of our being. We see here a detailed description of the workings of Intuition, its birth and path in the human consciousness, its action and role in the transformation of the mind.

What is now described is the settling of repeated contacts and experiences into a Realisation.The discovery of the Divine within is indeed the pivotal point of sadhana, the first thing needful. But instead of making this discovery a means for escape from worldly life, the yogin on the path of Integral Yoga turns this into a greater and diviner living.

The process is the same for all. Even the great and the strong must pass through the dark field of Nature. In fact, greater the being, greater is the burden it must bear. The seer-king Aswapati leads us and shows the way out of our present limited and ignorant existence and transforming it into a conscious play of the Eternal and the Infinite.

The journey and process of yoga is not a straight line but a wave-form with rise and fall and rise again. This is the general course of the process of Integral yoga: the soul ascends to a higher level and then returns back with the light and power gained to lift up the nature as well.

No more tied to the surfaces of life, aware of the One Self that hides behind all names and forms, we discover the state of Peace and Joy that comes from this vast inner Freedom. A new and vast Knowledge begins to pour upon us from Above revealing all things a New Light.

The road to Self-Realisation undertaken by Aswapati is through a stilling of the Mind leading to an ascension into a vast, luminous and powerful Silence Above.

“How does our self-experience and world-experience change when we are identified with the Cosmic Spirit? We are given a brief glimpse of this state in the lines that follow.”

“We see the soul’s progress and freedom that comes through a progressive heightening and widening and of consciousness as it draws near its Origin and Source.”

What is being described now is a result of the expansion and growth of consciousness that is taking place in the seer-king Aswapati during the course of his yoga. His ascension is marked by new discoveries.

With the release of consciousness from the strong grip of Matter, we discover new faculties and begin to experience the realms hidden behind the physical world.

“The Seer-king Aswapati now ascends to the higher planes. He leaves the limits and boundaries of terrestrial nature, and enters the domain of the Gods, who preside over creation and its various aspects and functioning as powers of the One.”