Sri Aurobindo
Autobiographical Notes
and Other Writings of Historical Interest
Part Two. Letters of Historical Interest
3. Other Letters on Yoga and Practical Life 1921–1938
To and about Public Figures 1930–1937
Draft of a Letter to Maharani Chimnabai II1
To H.H the Maharani of Baroda
It is true that I have by the practice of Yoga attained to the higher spiritual consciousness which comes by Yoga, and this carries with it a certain power. Especially there is the power to communicate to those who are ready or to help them towards that spiritual state which, in its perfection is a condition of unalterable inner calm, strength and felicity. But this spiritual peace and joy is something quite different from mental peace and happiness. And it cannot be reached without a spiritual discipline.
I do not know whether this has been rightly explained
to Your Highness. I may say briefly that there are two states of consciousness
in either of which one can live. One is a higher consciousness which stands
above the play of life and governs it; this is variously called the Self, the
Spirit or the Divine. The other is the normal consciousness in which men live;
it is something quite superficial, an instrument of the Spirit for the play of
life. Those who live and act in the normal consciousness are governed entirely
by the common movements of the mind and are naturally subject to grief and joy
and anxiety and desire or to everything else that makes up the ordinary stuff of
life. Mental quiet and happiness they can get, but it can never be permanent or
secure. But the spiritual consciousness is all light, peace, power and bliss. If
one can live entirely in it, there is no question; these things become naturally
and securely his. But even if he can live partly in it or keep himself
constantly open to it, he receives enough of this spiritual light and peace and
strength and happiness to carry him securely through all the shocks of life.
What one gains by opening to this spiritual consciousness, depends on what one
seeks from it; if it is peace, 
one gets peace;
if it is light or knowledge, one lives in a great light and receives a knowledge
deeper and truer than any the normal mind of man can acquire; if it [is]
strength or power, one gets a spiritual strength for the inner life or Yogic
power to govern the outer work and action; if it is happiness, one enters into a
beatitude far greater than any joy or happiness that the ordinary human life can
give.
There are many ways of opening to this Divine consciousness or entering into it. My way which I show to others is by a constant practice to go inward into oneself, to open by aspiration to the Divine and once one is conscious of it and its action to give oneself to It entirely. This self-giving means not to ask for anything but the constant contact or union with the Divine Consciousness, to aspire for its peace, power, light and felicity, but to ask nothing else and in life and action to be its instrument only for whatever work it gives one to do in the world. If one can once open and feel the Divine Force, the Power of the Spirit working in the mind and heart and body, the rest is a matter of remaining faithful to It, calling for it always, allowing it to do its work when it comes and rejecting every other and inferior Force that belongs to the lower consciousness and the lower nature.
I have written so much in order to explain my position
and the nature of my Yogic power. I do not usually ask anyone to practise this
Yoga, because it is possible only for those who have from the beginning or who
develop a strong call to it; others cannot go through it [
]2 to the end. Nor [do I]3 often go out of my way to
help those who are merely in need of some kind of quietude of [the] external
nature as many Yogins do – though I do not refuse to do it in certain cases. My
aim is to create a centre of spiritual life which shall serve as a means of
bringing down the higher consciousness and making it a power not merely for
“salvation” but for a divine life upon earth. It is with this object that I have
withdrawn from public life and founded this Asram in Pondicherry (so-called for
want of a better word, for it is not 
an Asram
of Sannyasins, but of those who want to leave all else and prepare for this
work). But at the same time I have a small number of disciples all over India
who live in their families and receive spiritual help from me even at a
distance.
This is all I can answer to Your Highness at present. It is for Your Highness to decide4 whether what you seek has anything to do with what I have explained in this letter.
1930
1 Gajrabai Ghatge (1871–1958), later Maharani Chimnabai II, was married to Maharaja Sayajirao III of Baroda in 1885. Sri Aurobindo met her while working under the Gaekwar between 1893 and 1906. More than two decades later, she wrote to him about her personal life. In replying, Sri Aurobindo used, out of courtesy, the form of address required by official protocol in writing to Indian royalty.
2 MS with
3 MS I do
4 Alternative: see for yourself