Sri Aurobindo’s “The Synthesis of Yoga”

The iconic Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950), the father of integral yoga and integral psychology, is doubtless one of the most profound and influential spiritual philosophers ever to walk the planet. And in the text “The Synthesis of Yoga,” his unique, complex, and intricate vision of Yoga, which explicates his integral philosophy – “All life is Yoga” – is on full display for 900 pages.

Before there was Adi Da Samraj (whose teachings partially derive from Aurobindo’s), there was Sri Aurobindo, and to venture into his elaborate expositions of yoga practice and philosophy is sure to deepen and expand one’s understanding of  spiritual life and Divine Truth.

“The Synthesis of Yoga,” along with Aurobindo’s magnum opus, the 1100-page “The Life Divine,” contain the bulk of his most important and illuminating essays on spiritual life and how it impacts, and can transform, earthly existence. Anyone seriously into Yoga philosophy owes it to him/her self to read these books.

Whereas “The Life Divine” is oriented more toward the evolutionary unfoldment of Divine life on Earth, “The Synthesis of Yoga” focuses more on Aurobindo’s analysis of the great traditional yogic paths and how they compare to his own integral yoga. The back cover summarizes what the book is about:

“In ‘The ‘Synthesis of Yoga’ Sri Aurobindo unfolds his vision of an integral yoga embracing all the powers and activities of man. First he reviews the three great yogic paths of Knowledge, Works and Love, along with Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga and Tantra. Then, in a section entitled ‘The Yoga of Self-Perfection’ he presents his own unique contribution to the field.”

If you want to get an idea of the depth and intricacy of Aurobindo’s integralism, check out the Wikipedia page “Integral Psychology (Sri Aurobindo).” There you will find that Aurobindo’s map/model includes myriad dimensions of mind (Higher Mind, Spiritual Mind, Inner Mind, Psychic Mind, Mind Proper, Thinking Mind, Dynamic Mind, Exterior Mind, Vital Mind, Physical Mind, Mechanical Mind, Mind of Light Intuitive Mind, Overmind, Supermind) and being (Outer Being, Inner Being, Psychic Being, Central Being).

Even though I consider Aurobindo “must” reading for serious students of yoga philosophy and integral or transpersonal psychology, I personally find him a tedious and tortuous read. Although fans of my Amazon reviews have long requested that I review an Aurobindo text, I was in no rush to do so, because, frankly speaking, I did not look forward to revisiting his prolix prose. In my opinion, the two thousand pages of rambling, repetitious discourse in “The Life Divine” and “The Synthesis of Yoga” could have (and should have) been pared down to about five hundred pages by an editor.

Although Aurobindo is greatly revered, he is not without his big-name critics. Fritjof Schuon , the renowned perennial philosopher (see my two-star review of “The Essential Frithjof Schuon”)  has nothing but disdain for both Pierre Teilhard  de Chardin’s and Sri Aurobindo’s  evolutionary spiritual philosophies. Schuon, alluding to Aurobindo’s essays on Supermind, writes:

"This neo-yogism, like other similar movements, pretends that it can add add an essential value to the wisdom of our ancestors; it belies that religions are partial truths which it is called upon to stick together, after hundreds or thousands of years of waiting, and to crown with its own naïve little system... It is far better to believe that the earth is a disk supported by a tortoise and flanked by four elephants than to believe, in the name of ‘evolution,’ in the coming of some ‘superhuman’ monster."

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho) considered Aurobindo just an intellectual and not a spiritual realizer, and Adi Da Samraj wrote the following regarding Aurobindo:

“This is really just a visionary or mystical yoga. Aurobindo and the Mother were not truly saints, not sages, not Siddhas, just yogis of a peculiar kind. It is a Westernized yoga. In the West there is a kind of mysticism that doesn't generate a spiritual force. It is just an occupation with internal aesthetic imageries, not of the kind that true yoga depends on. It doesn't have any fire. It is mystical rather than yogic in the traditional Hindu sense. So Aurobindo saw a lot of visions, had a sort of intellectual system in which he synthesized the spiritual culture of this country and added a certain evolutionary notion to it.”

I don’t at all agree with Schuon’s, Osho’s, and Da’s criticisms of Aurobindo. I think Sri Aurobindo was a great yogi who emphasized the practice of same Divine Yoga (of uniting one’s individual soul with universal Spirit) that both Da and I teach. But I do have my own criticisms of Aurobindo’s teachings; however, because this is just a book review, I’ll limit them to just a couple of things.

In the chapter “The Realization of Sachidananda” Aurobindo once again fails to elaborate the “mechanics” of a spiritual practice that enables a yogi to realize Sachidananda, the En-Light-ened State of Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. If you’re looking for a detailed description of how to actually practice Divine Yoga, Aurobindo is not a good source for this instruction. Moreover, if you’re interested in esoteric anatomy, a specific detailed map of how the Descent of Divine Power, the Shakti, transforms a yogi into a realized Self, you will have to look elsewhere, say to Ramana Maharshi and Adi Da.

In summary, if you are a serious, intellectually inclined student of yoga philosophy and/or integral psychology, for sure check out the writings of Aurobindo. But if long-winded, unnecessarily complexified dissertations on spiritual reality, evolution, and synthesis put you to sleep, then look elsewhere for Dharma insights and guidance.