Sri Aurobindo

The Hour of God

and other writings

III. On Yoga

The Evolutionary Aim of Yoga [1]

The human being on earth is God playing at humanity in a world of matter under the conditions of a hampered density with the ulterior intention of imposing law of spirit on matter and nature of deity upon human nature. Evolution is nothing but the progressive unfolding of Spirit out of the density of material consciousness and the gradual self-revelation of God out of this apparent animal being.

Yoga is the application, for this process of divine self-revelation, of the supreme force of Tapas by which God created the world, supports it and will destroy it. It substitutes always some direct action of an infinite divine force for the limited workings of our fettered animal humanity. It uses divine means in order to rise to divinity.

All Yoga is Tapasya and all Siddhi of Yoga is accomplishment of godhead either by identity or by relation with the Divine Being — in its principle or by identity or its personality or in both — or simultaneously by identity and relation.

Identity is the principle of Adwaita, relation of Dwaita, relation in a qualified identity of Vishishtadwaita. But entire perfection comes by identity with God in essential experience and relation of difference with Him in experience of manifestatation.