Page 45 - All India Magazine Aug-2026

ancient psychological discipline and practice of Yoga. In the past
it has been attempted by a drawing away from the world and a
disappearance into the height of the Self or Spirit. Sri Aurobindo
teaches that a descent of the higher principle is possible which
will not merely release the spiritual Self out of the world, but
release it in the world, replace the mind's ignorance or its very
limited knowledge by a supramental truth-consciousness which
will be a sufficient instrument of the inner Self and make it pos-
sible for the human being to find himself dynamically as well
as inwardly and grow out of his still animal humanity into a di-
viner race. The psychological discipline of Yoga can be used to
that end by opening all the parts of the being to a conversion or
transformation through the descent and working of the higher
still concealed supramental principle.
This however cannot be done at once or in a short time or by
any rapid or miraculous transformation. Many steps have to be
taken by the seeker before the supramental descent is possible.
Man lives mostly in his surface mind, life and body but there is
an inner being within him with greater possibilities to which he
has to awake — for it is only a very restricted influence from it
that he receives now and that pushes him to a constant pursuit
of a greater beauty, harmony, power and knowledge. The first
process of Yoga is therefore to open the ranges of this inner be-
ing and to live from there outward, governing his outward life
by an inner light and force. In doing so he discovers in himself
his true soul which is not this outer mixture of mental, vital and
physical elements but something of the Reality behind them, a
spark from the one Divine Fire. He has to learn to live in his soul
and purify and orientate by its drive towards the Truth the rest
of the nature. There can follow afterwards an opening upward
and descent of a higher principle of the Being. But even then it
is not at once the full supramental Light and Force. For there are
several ranges of consciousness between the ordinary human

All India Magazine, August 2026 45