New Race

A Journal of Integral Studies

From the editor's desk…

Mother Flowers

Dear Readers,

Darshan greetings to all!

The Mother once described the value of spiritual path in these words:

“In each one’s life a moment comes when he has to choose between the Path and the muddle. You cannot put one foot here and one foot there. If you try to, you will be torn to pieces.
A heart that does not choose is a heart that will die.”
(CWM, 14, p. 29).

In her beautifully simple and simply beautiful expression, Mother has gently compelled us to ask ourselves with full sincerity and humility – have we consciously chosen to walk on a path to the Divine? Are we inwardly prepared for the path and all that it brings before us? And, are we indeed really committed to the path?

For our readers who have felt within a deeper inner call for the path of Integral Yoga the present issue of New Race will be much valuable. We devote most of this issue to describing the philosophy and practice of Integral Yoga.

Sri Aurobindo has said in one of his letters, “The goal of yoga is always hard to reach, but this one [Integral Yoga] is more difficult than any other, and it is only for those who have the call, the capacity, the willingness to face everything and every risk, even the risk of failure, and the will to progress towards an entire selflessness, desirelessness and surrender” (SABCL, 23, p. 545). Those of us who have turned to the teaching of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother are often faced with a kind of self-exploration process to search within and re-discover this kind of capacity and willingness and will that Sri Aurobindo speaks of. We are supported along the way by our faith and trust in the Divine, by the force and power of the words of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, and by a constant reminder of the triple formula of aspiration, rejection and surrender.

The present issue of New Race hopes to be a source of such helpful reminder and a means to reinvigorate our commitment to the path of Integral Yoga. The opening essay by Prof. Madhusudan Reddy gives us a comprehensive picture of Purna Yoga, its difference from other paths of Yoga, and helps us understand the ‘theory’. This is appropriately followed by a long but very helpful ‘practical’ discussion on how one may actually begin and continue to ‘walk the walk.’ Larry Seidlitz has painstakingly culled many important pieces of advice and teaching given by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on the practice of Integral Yoga.

From Yoga to Academia. Our readers may agree that through its various educational works, SACAR is attempting to be a bridge between the world of spiritual aspirants and that of intellectuals in the academic arena. This theme is aptly reflected in the choice to include the remaining two smaller articles in this issue. These articles reflect the aspects of societal evolution and literary criticism – two important areas in which Sri Aurobindo’s phenomenal work has generally not been fully appreciated or completely accepted in the mainstream academic community in India. We firmly believe that there is much to be gained by the intellectuals working in the academic disciplines of social philosophy, sociology, literary criticism and aesthetics if they open themselves to some of the unparalleled contributions made by Sri Aurobindo.

As always, we welcome suggestions and comments from our readers.

Till next time….                                   Beloo