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Integral Yoga: Teaching and Method of Practice

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One of the foremost Indian philosophers of the twentieth century, Sri Aurobindo was also a political activist, a mystic and a spiritual leader. Between 1927 and 1950, Sri Aurobindo remained in seclusion while perfecting a new kind of spiritual practice he called the Integral Yoga. During this period he gave detailed guidance to disciples and seekers, responding to thousands of inquiries. This correspondence constitutes a major body of work on the practice of yoga-sadhana. The present volume brings together a comprehensive selection of Sri Aurobindos letters, organized by area of interest. An ideal introduction to his work and vision, it will also serve as an invaluable daily handbook for seekers of all paths - beginners and experienced practitioners alike.

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

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About the author

Sri Aurobindo

1,173 books424 followers
Sri Aurobindo (Bengali: শ্রী অরবিন্দ Sri Ôrobindo) was an Indian nationalist and freedom fighter, major Indian English poet, philosopher, and yogi. He joined the movement for India's freedom from British rule and for a duration (1905–10), became one of its most important leaders, before turning to developing his own vision and philosophy of human progress and spiritual evolution.

The central theme of Sri Aurobindo's vision is the evolution of life into a "life divine". In his own words: "Man is a transitional being. He is not final. The step from man to superman is the next approaching achievement in the earth evolution. It is inevitable because it is at once the intention of the inner spirit and the logic of Nature's process."

The principal writings of Sri Aurobindo include, in prose, The Life Divine, considered his single great work of metaphysics,The Synthesis of Yoga, Secrets of the Vedas, Essays on the Gita, The Human Cycle, The Ideal of Human Unity, Renaissance in India and other essays, Supramental Manifestation upon Earth, The Future Poetry, Thoughts and Aphorisms and several volumes of letters. In poetry, his principal work is Savitri: a Legend and a Symbol in blank verse.

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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
Profile Image for Niamh.
39 reviews30 followers
March 25, 2018
Sri Aurobindo is one of the giants of modern Indian spirituality and for very good reason. His grasp of the subject from an experiential perspective combined with his vast intellect, his devotion and surrender to the Divine along with his poetic nature and political and philosophical perspectives combine to produce one of the most comprehensive teachers and guides to spiritual life India has produced.

This is not for the casual or curious reader. It is an overview of his and Sweet Mother's path of Integral yoga and sketches the foundations of the teaching and the method of practice in the form of a compilation of letters grouped under various headings.

The concept of the evolution of the 'psychic being' or soul is a central part of the teaching, along with a union in all parts of our being with the divine and a consequent transmutation of all the now jarring elements into the harmony of a higher divine consciousness and existence.

This is a refreshing change from the up and out, transcendance model of awakening as it includes the divination of mind, life and body here and now on earth which is seen as none other than Bramhin, and not a mere illusion to be disregarded.

In a way this teaching is the next step after such a transcendant awakening. I know if I had read it a few years ago, I wouldn't have been able for it. As it is, a lot of it is above my level of understanding and beyond my spiritual experience.

In the beautiful synchronous way of these matters though, it has arrived in my life at the exact right time for such profound and comprehensive teachings. This book is an entry point to a treasure trove of authentic yogic methodology which is truly integral, integrating as it does teachings of vedanta, tantra, the sciene of evolution, the static and immanent Self and the workings of the logical mind.

I can't recommend it highly enough - but only if it is for you at this point in your sadhana. If your life is for the Divine and you are in need of guidance on levels of consciousness, surrender, devotion, aspiration, transformation or any other aspect of the path then go for it.

I'm glad I read 'The Sunlit Path' and 'The Psychic Being' and also Satprem's book 'Sri Aurobindo' before this one I might add... They kind of eased me in gently. I'm now officially ready for 'The Synthesis of Yoga. '!!
22 reviews
November 6, 2013
The language of the book is not easy but the content is worth the effort.
Profile Image for Preetam Chatterjee.
7,162 reviews386 followers
January 13, 2026
I lost Caesar Bose, a very close friend of mine, to cancer in the year 2017. He was three years my senior and one of the ace scholars I have had the privilege of knowing. We had started a project in 2009, wherein we sought to make a judiciously curated list of the toughest, most intellectually demanding, dense, or conceptually challenging books ever written — across philosophy, literature, science, mathematics, theology, psychoanalysis, linguistics, and critical theory. In this list would be books known for difficulty of language, abstraction, structure, or depth. We grouped them by category so the list was useful and not random. These books find a place in my ‘Toughest Read Shelf’. It is my obeisance to Caesar.

What is this book all about?

‘Integral Yoga: Teaching and Method of Practice’ is not a yoga manual in the conventional sense. There are no numbered steps promising serenity in thirty days. There is no posture chart, no breath-counting routine, no feel-good mysticism. What Sri Aurobindo offers instead is ‘‘a radical redefinition of what yoga itself means’’—and, more dangerously, what human life could become.

At its core, Integral Yoga proposes a daring thesis: ‘‘liberation is not the end of evolution’’. It is a beginning.

Where classical yoga systems—Patañjali’s Rāja-Yoga, Śaṅkara’s Jñāna-Yoga, even traditional Bhakti—aim at release from the world, Aurobindo aims at ‘‘the transformation of the world’’.

Not metaphorically. Literally.

Yoga, for him, is not the art of leaving matter behind; it is the discipline by which ‘‘Spirit descends into matter consciously’’.

This is yoga rewritten under evolutionary pressure.

Sri Aurobindo begins from Vedānta but refuses its final quietism. Yes, Brahman is real. Yes, the Self is free. But if the Divine has manifested a universe, then escape cannot be the final intention. The world is not an error to be erased; it is ‘‘a process still unfolding’’.

Integral Yoga thus positions itself beyond the classical quartet of yogic paths. It includes knowledge, devotion, action, and concentration—but refuses to absolutize any single one.

Instead, it integrates them under a single imperative: ‘‘to bring down higher consciousness into mind, life, and body’’.

This is the decisive break.

In Integral Yoga, liberation is not an ascent alone. It is also a descent—what Aurobindo calls the ‘‘descent of the supramental consciousness’’. Enlightenment that floats above life is incomplete. True realization must ‘‘reconfigure instincts, emotions, habits, social forms—even cells’’.

Comparatively speaking, if Patañjali seeks mastery of mind, and Vivekananda seeks freedom of the soul, Aurobindo seeks ‘‘a new species of humanity’’.

The book outlines this vision through essays, letters, and practical instructions. Yoga here is not practiced in isolation from life; life itself becomes the laboratory. Work, relationships, suffering, desire, failure—all are materials for transformation.

Aurobindo’s method is subtle but uncompromising. There is no violent suppression of desire, no forced moralism. Instead, one offers everything—thoughts, emotions, actions—to the Divine consciousness, allowing it to ‘‘replace ego-driven functioning with a higher law’’.

This is neither ascetic nor indulgent. It is surgical.

One hears echoes of the Upaniṣads, but also something unmistakably modern. Where the Upaniṣads say ‘tat tvam asi’—you are That—Aurobindo asks: ‘‘what does That want to become through you?’’

Milton’s cosmic ambition—’“Till body up to spirit work, in bounds proportioned to each kind”‘—finds its philosophical fulfillment here. Shakespeare’s restless sense that “the world is still deceived with ornament” becomes Aurobindo’s insistence that surface consciousness is provisional.

Integral Yoga is not about personal salvation. It is about ‘‘cosmic participation’’.

Why, then, does the book feel overwhelming—even intimidating?

Because it quietly annihilates every small spiritual ambition.

Most spiritual paths offer relief: from suffering, fear, rebirth, meaninglessness. Integral Yoga offers ‘‘responsibility’’. If consciousness is evolving, then every practitioner becomes a site of evolutionary pressure. That is not comforting—it is terrifying.

Let us analyse pointwise:

1) The first source of intimidation is ‘‘scale’’. Aurobindo is not interested in improving mood or achieving peace. He speaks of transforming human nature itself. Compared to this, most spiritual goals feel cosmetic.

2) Second, the book dismantles the familiar binary between spirituality and ordinary life. There is no monastery of exemption here. Every weakness—anger, lust, ambition, despair—must be confronted not by denial but by ‘‘transmutation’’. This requires relentless honesty.

3) Third, Aurobindo refuses mechanical methods. There is no guaranteed technique. No algorithm for awakening. Integral Yoga depends on ‘‘inner receptivity, patience, surrender, and discrimination’’—qualities that cannot be rushed or faked.

4) Fourth, the language itself intimidates. Terms like “supramental,” “overmind,” “psychic being,” and “descent of consciousness” are not part of everyday spiritual vocabulary. Readers trained in either classical metaphysics or modern psychology can feel unmoored.

5) Fifth, the book challenges both scientific materialism and religious escapism. To materialists, it sounds metaphysical. To traditional spiritualists, it sounds dangerously worldly. It occupies a no-man’s-land where certainty is scarce.

6) Finally, the most unsettling aspect: ‘‘there is no finish line’’. Integral Yoga does not promise completion in one lifetime. It asks for collaboration with a process larger than the individual ego—and possibly larger than historical time. That demand alone filters readers ruthlessly.

And now we arrive at the unavoidable reckoning. Why is it tough? And even if it is, what makes this text worth reading time and again?

It is tough because it refuses the ancient bargain of spirituality: ‘‘escape in exchange for obedience’’.

Integral Yoga denies the legitimacy of premature transcendence. It insists that realization which leaves the world untouched is incomplete. That insistence makes the path longer, harder, and more uncertain—but infinitely more relevant.

The toughness lies in its patience. Ego wants results. Consciousness evolves slowly. Integral Yoga teaches endurance without despair, aspiration without fanaticism.
And yet—this is precisely why the book refuses to fade.

In an age facing ecological collapse, technological acceleration, and moral exhaustion, Aurobindo’s vision feels eerily prescient. Humanity does not need another escape hatch. It needs ‘‘a higher mode of being’’.

Each rereading of this text reveals different layers. Early readings dazzle with ambition. Later readings humble with difficulty. Still later, they steady with perspective. The book grows as the reader grows because it addresses ‘‘becoming’’, not arrival.

Latin wisdom captures the spirit: ‘per aspera ad astra’—through hardship to the stars. But Aurobindo adds a radical twist: the stars must descend into the dust.

The text is worth rereading because it restores ‘‘hope without illusion’’. Not optimism. Not utopia. Hope grounded in discipline, surrender, and evolutionary realism.

Sanskrit seals the vision:

‘ā no bhadrāḥ kratavo yantu viśvataḥ’
“Let noble thoughts come to us from all directions.”


Integral Yoga answers: not only thoughts—’’ new forms of consciousness’’.
This book is tough because it refuses shortcuts.

It is worth returning to because it refuses despair.

It does not ask who you are.

It asks ‘‘what are you becoming’’.

And in a century still learning how to survive itself, that question will not stop mattering— not once, not ever.

Difficult, but most extremely recommended.
144 reviews3 followers
April 3, 2018
Much of it I don't understand, even intellectually. I do find his Spiritual cosmology very interesting. It's a lot more interesting than a strictly materialistic cosmology. And even the materialistic cosmologists in recent years have realized that what they used to think was EVERYTHING is at best only about 5 percent of the whole picture; you know: dark energy, dark matter, etc. Maybe even a lot less than 5 percent of the whole picture if you consider the possibility of parallel universes. Oh well, I'll probably never be able to verify Aurobindo's ideas in my own experience, but it's fascinating nonetheless.
Profile Image for Jean.
41 reviews4 followers
January 6, 2009
GREAT BEDSIDE READING FOR THOSE WHO PRACTICE MEDITATION ON A DAILY BASIS. EVERY TIME I CAME TO A WALL IN MY EARLY MEDITATIVE PRACTICE I WOULD REACH FOR THIS BOOK. HE ALWAYS HELPED ME IN MY HURDLES AND PROVIDED WHAT I NEEDED TO CONTINUE ON.
Profile Image for Devadeep Gupta.
Author 16 books21 followers
April 3, 2024
I often go back to this book every now and again. A wide range of daily life topics are covered, apart from those more pertaining to serious seekers and spiritual wanderers. I enjoy how this book is slightly more accessible in terms of language compared to some other works by Sri Aurobindo, and is a practical guide to life.
Profile Image for Gregory Tilden.
24 reviews2 followers
January 4, 2017
Though it took me some time to get interested in Aurobindo's wording and high spiritual ideas, I gradually found my state of consciousness tuned into a a state of greater peace and genuine interest & reverence for the practical ideas that Aurobindo espoused.
Profile Image for Anuj Dubey.
Author 3 books21 followers
April 6, 2024
"Integral Yoga: Teaching and Method of Practice" by Sri Aurobindo is a comprehensive guide to spiritual transformation and self-realization that offers readers profound insights into the nature of consciousness and the path to inner awakening. Originally published in 1950, this seminal work distills Aurobindo's teachings into a practical and accessible framework that can be applied by seekers of all backgrounds and spiritual traditions.

What sets "Integral Yoga" apart is its holistic approach to spiritual growth, which emphasizes the integration of all aspects of the human being—body, mind, and spirit—towards the realization of our highest potential. Aurobindo presents a synthesis of Eastern and Western spiritual traditions, drawing from the wisdom of yoga, Vedanta, and other mystical traditions to create a comprehensive system of practice that addresses the needs of the modern seeker.

Central to Aurobindo's teachings is the concept of the "integral consciousness," which transcends the limitations of the ego and connects us to the divine essence within. Through practices such as meditation, self-inquiry, and selfless service, Aurobindo guides readers on a transformative journey of self-discovery and self-transcendence, leading to a profound shift in consciousness and a deepening of our connection to the divine.

Moreover, "Integral Yoga" offers practical guidance on how to apply spiritual principles in everyday life, from cultivating mindfulness and compassion to transforming negative habits and patterns of thought. Aurobindo's emphasis on self-discipline, perseverance, and surrender to the divine will serves as a guiding light for those seeking to navigate the challenges of the spiritual path with grace and integrity.

In addition to its practical wisdom, "Integral Yoga" is also a testament to Aurobindo's visionary insights into the evolution of consciousness and the destiny of humanity. He envisions a future in which humanity collectively awakens to its true nature and collaborates in the creation of a more harmonious and enlightened world—a vision that continues to inspire and motivate spiritual seekers to this day.

Overall, "Integral Yoga: Teaching and Method of Practice" is a profound and illuminating guide to spiritual awakening and self-realization. Whether you're a seasoned practitioner or a newcomer to the path of yoga, Aurobindo's timeless wisdom offers invaluable guidance and inspiration for those seeking to deepen their understanding of themselves and their place in the cosmos.
Profile Image for Gustavo Krieger.
145 reviews5 followers
March 13, 2018
After reading "Rebirth and Karma" and "Bhagavad Gita and Its Message", I took Aurobindo as a Philosopher. After reading "Integral Yoga", I believe he is just a guru. He has some nice ideas here, but usually you get what you find in any cult leader. Do this, do that, follow me, don´t follow others, must avoid sex, must abandon your family to be a true sadhaka (a practitioner), my ideas are the right ones, everything else is wrong...
27 reviews
July 27, 2025
this is not really a book , collection of letters, answers to someone's questions etc. , had high expectations but what a waste of time , most of the book has no context , no proper definitions , random paragraphs on various topics randomly arranged
21 reviews1 follower
December 31, 2020
well organized and systematic approach to the Integral Yoga as taught by Sri Aurobindo.
Profile Image for Angela.
5 reviews
May 11, 2020
Read morality, idealism, religion, and yoga. The meaning of spirituality - Sri Aurobindo and the Mother
Profile Image for Hope Gwilyams.
Author 2 books1 follower
November 10, 2016
Sri Aurobindo is not a light read, but he is so worth the effort. A great philosopher and saint.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews

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