The importance of Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s works

The spiritual literature left by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother is vast, and one may be at loss how to approach and where to begin. After some initial attempts to read the original sources, the sadhaka may start looking for a book that describes an easy-to-do step-by-step practice of the integral yoga. They are often disappointed to learn that Sri Aurobindo and the Mother have not only never written such an oversimplified guide to the Integral Yoga, but rather discouraged any such shortcut procedures and reliance on external techniques and outer methods. They can find their limited use, no doubt, but do not form the core of the yoga. Of course, there are books written by well-meaning disciples to satisfy this seemingly legitimate need, but it is important to understand from the very beginning that this yoga does not proceed in this easy to do step-by-step manner.

It is a wide movement in many directions towards an opening and self-giving to the Divine. The Yoga therefore takes place in real-time and all our outer and inner experiences, however trifle or small in our eyes, become catalysts for opening the path or closing the doors to it. It is through the everyday life experiences and our attitude towards them that the doors open one after another, especially with the cultivation and application of that rare quality called sincerity. If the seeking is sincere and not a mask for some earthly or spiritual ambition, then one finds oneself walking the path spontaneously as if an inner Hand is leading him through everything.

Of course, there are special processes, well described in so many books by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. Foremost among them is the triple labour of aspiration, rejection and surrender, undertaken with faith and sincerity of our seeking. It is beautifully described in a seminal work of Sri Aurobindo titled ‘The Mother (with question and answers on the Mother)’. There are also other important works, especially Conversations with the Mother, notable among which are the conversations 1929 – 1931, now published as Vol. 3 of the Collected Works of the Mother. There are also countless letters of Sri Aurobindo, written to various disciples, that touch upon the details of Integral Yoga from every angle. These voluminous works answer every possible question one may have on the subject, in essence and often in detail as well.