Bases of Yoga: Summary and Conclusions

In various places, Sri Aurobindo has noted that yoga is applied psychology. The practitioner of yoga is confronted by all of the instincts, habits, trained responses and reactions of human nature and is asked to address and change these in order to uplift the human being to the next stage of the evolutionary cycle, thereby transforming the understanding, the response and the action of the individual.

Many paths of religious and spiritual discipline provide what may be seen as a type of ‘roadmap’ whereby the practitioner adopts a specific set of practices, whether mental, emotional, vital or physical, and by carrying them out systematically, he can achieve the result set forth by that path. Some paths are based on attaining deeper knowledge, some on developing devotion and consecration, others focus on undertaking selfless action of various sorts, still others rely on psycho-physical practices such as pranayama and hatha yoga to effectuate changes in the energetic action of the nature, open up the subtle energy centers and bring liberation and new levels of understanding to the seeker.

To carry out any of these practices, the seeker needs must address the obstructions, desires, embedded habits, memories, traumas, etc. that he carries with him, along with any limitations based on his education and past training. Thus, whether consciously or not, he is undertaking a form of applied psychology.

For the seeker practicing the integral yoga, with an objective of the transformation of human life, rather than a form of liberation that abandons life, or an immersion in the material life to the exclusion of higher purpose, the need for insight into the aspects of applied psychoclogy becomes imperative.

The Bases of Yoga directly addresses this need. The first need is to establish the witness standpoint and not be reactive to every circumstance, event or pressure that arises. Thus, the first chapter focuses on ‘calm, peace, equality’. The way is long and arduous, and the progress is many times unseen or just barely glimpsed. The being must be fixed in its focus on the higher divine force intervening to effectuate the needed changes, and thus, the next chapter is directed to ‘faith, aspiration, surrender’. These represent the fundamental qualities needed to progress along the way. The third chapter ‘in difficulty’ works to apply the core principles to actual life situations and experiences of the seeker. The fourth chapter delves deeper into the vital drives that are some of the most difficult to overcome and redirect, and thus deals with ‘desire, food, sex’. Finally, Sri Aurobindo outlines in the fifth chapter, the bedrock of the embedded nature with ‘physical consciousness, subconscient, sleep and dream, illness.’ These are some of the last things that the seeker can take up and address, but no comprehensive and permanent change can take place until they are addressed.

Bases of Yoga is frequently referenced as an introductory book, but it contains a depth of understanding that makes it a practical support along the entire path of the yogic practice. It is not sectarian in any degree, focusing on real issues of human psychology and development that seekers along any path, religious, philosophical, scientific, spiritual can both relate to and find benefit from.

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Summary and Conclusions