Four Instruments for Attaining the Perfection of the Practice of Yoga

People frequently seek for a very specific, directed form of practice which will provide liberation and spiritual perfection. They ask ‘what is the best form of practice’? Sri Aurobindo takes a much more flexible approach which is based on the need and development of the individual practitioner, the unique capacities that seeker brings to the process at a particular point in time, and the unique challenges a particular individual must face given their pre-existing habits and formations. For this approach, Sri Aurobindo provides a guideline as to the approach and the available tools for spiritual realisation rather than a fixed and formalized program to be followed by all.

In The Synthesis of Yoga, Sri Aurobindo devotes an entire chapter to an explanation of ‘the four aids’ which are briefly outlined in the citation below. When he speaks of the sastra, he is not referring to a specific scripture or teaching, leaving the seeker free to find guidance from whatever direction actually is suited to his own situation. The personal effort called for involves the systematic development, within oneself, of the truths, principles and practices provided through the guidance received. It is not sufficient to understand a teaching intellectually. It needs to become an integrated element in one’s life. It is extremely difficult to recognise the necessary and correct steps along the way, particularly as the vital nature has a way of achieving its limited aims by actively misleading the mind and engaging it to defend what the vital desires. Thus, the role of the teacher or guru is an important aid in the process. Patient and persistent effort is required. Changing human nature is not something that is accomplished in a day. The habits and formations that make up our normal human life and our reaction to circumstances were formed over countless millennia, and thus, time is required. For further explication of these four aids, reading in The Synthesis of Yoga or The Mother is recommended.

Sri Aurobindo notes: “Yoga-Siddhi, the perfection that comes from the practice of Yoga, can be best attained by the combined working of four great instruments. There is, first, the knowledge of the truths, principles, powers and processes that govern the realisation — sastra. Next comes a patient and persistent action on the lines laid down by the knowledge, the force of our personal effort — utsaha. There intervenes, third, uplifting our knowledge and effort into the domain of spiritual experience, the direct suggestion, example and influence of the Teacher — guru. Last comes the instrumentality of Time — kala; for in all things there is a cycle of their action and a period of the divine movement.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Growing Within: The Psychology of Inner Development, Chapter III Growth of Consciousness Basic Requisites, pg. 32