The Intrinsic Nature of Integral Yoga: An Overview of Sri Aurobindo’s Works

Abstract

The Indian philosopher and religious mystic, Sri Aurobindo Ghose, explored his social, political, spiritual, and yogic philosophy in various genres of literature. He believed in the transforming power of man’s inner reality. There are different systems of Yoga like : Karma Yoga, Jnan Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Hatha Yoga etc. but what is proposed by Sri Aurobindo is to bring about synthesis of all the systems of Yoga. Most of the time, Yoga only develops a single aspect of the being, but Sri Aurobindo emphasizes on the transformation of the entire being in his spiritual odyssey, The Synthesis of Yoga. He founded the system of “Samagra Yoga”( the yoga-based philosophy and practice of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, Mirra Alfassa), very purpose of which is to bring about a cosmic transformation and to achieve the goal of supramental consciousness. Sri Aurobindo has used ‘Yoga’ as a tool for spiritualization of all aspects of human existence. By this Man will undergo a spiritual metamorphosis. So, transformation is the keyword of his Integral Yoga. According to Sri Aurobindo, “ All life is Yoga.” ( Ghose, p8). The primary objective of this paper is to analyse his concept of Integral Yoga , which has a dynamic approach to life and is intensely practical.