The Integral Way to the Truth of Existence

It is not through the power of mind that one achieves knowledge of the truth of existence. The frame within which the mind operates, and the methodology that it utilizes, simply cannot appreciate, nor understand, those aspects of existence which fall outside of its direct scope or which exceed its limits.

Sri Aurobindo therefore clarifies that true knowledge requires a change of consciousness. A standpoint that lies outside the mental framework, and a methodology of unity coherence of everything as one existence, rather than fragmentation of each particle as a separate reality, is required to comprehend the entirety of our life and our purpose.

When one achieves this new perspective, there is no longer any division or fragmentation in the view and thus, the outer world within which we exist and move is not separate from the divine consciousness. It is seen as a manifestation of the divine intention through Time and Space and thus, the manifestation of the higher consciousness in the physical world becomes not only possible, but certain.

Sri Aurobindo writes: “It is not by ‘thinking out’ the entire reality, but by a change of consciousness that one can pass from the ignorance to the Knowledge — the Knowledge by which we become what we know. To pass from the exte
al to a direct and intimate inner consciousness; to widen consciousness out of the limits of the ego and the body; to heighten it by an inner will and aspiration and opening to the Light till it passes in its ascent beyond Mind; to bring down a descent of the supramental Divine through self-giving and surrender with a consequent transformation of mind, life and body — this is the integral way to the Truth. [I have said that the idea of the supermind was already in existence from ancient times. There was in India and elsewhere the attempt to reach it by rising to it; but what was missed was the way to make it integral for the life and to bring it down for transformation of the whole nature, even of the physical nature.] It is this that we call the Truth here and aim at in our yoga.” Sri Aurobindo, Integral Yoga: Sri Aurobindo’s Teaching and Method of Practice, The Integral Yoga and Other Systems of Yoga and Philosophy, pp. 25-26