This 4 day workshop by Dr. Yogesh Mohan was designed to provide an experiential base for understanding and practising Integral Yoga. This workshop was useful for both beginners and experienced sadhaks. Summarising Integral Yoga is a hard undertaking as it does not have any fixed mental models and also because it is very different from all other yogas, not just in its goal but also in its mechanism. To do justice to Integral Yoga in an experiential manner in just 8 hours was a challenge that this workshop took on. There was also the need to keep a fine balance between not making it too abstract and not reducing its fullness in order to simplify it. Dr. Yogesh did reasonably well by keeping the structure free-flowing and making the sessions participatory and experiential, while maintaining fidelity to the words and guidance of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. More importantly, he brought together a collective aspiration that called on the Presence of the Mother and her Force which was felt to work on every participant.
The context was set for the participants to not expect much theory or intellectual speculations. At the same time, the participants were encouraged to share their genuine observations, feelings, experiences and questions in all the sessions which made the workshop interactive and aligned everyone to a collective aspiration for the Yoga.
The first session focussed on the fundamental principles of Integral Yoga – that this yoga takes along all parts of the being in an integral way and aims to transform all the parts by the Light and Force of the Divine consciousness. Participants learnt about the three layers of the being and their parts - (1) outer being comprising the external mind, vital and body, (2) inner being comprising the inner mind, inner vital and subtle physical and (3) psychic being, the representative of the Divine inside everyone. This multifold existence is then transformed via three steps – Psychic transformation, Spiritual transformation and Supramental transformation. Since this was a programme for beginners, emphasis and discussion was kept specific to the psychic realisation and transformation.
The practical aspects of the session focussed on giving the participants a taste of their inner consciousness and exhorting them to strive to live in that consciousness for as long as they could.
In session 2, the fundamental attitude towards Yoga and the qualification for Yoga were discussed. Participants understood that for a Yoga that relies on the Divine to make the transformation, the only acceptable qualification and criteria for success would be to want the Yoga for the sake of the Divine and not for serving personal desires or ambitions. The first step on the path is an aspiration for the Divine and the second step is to nurture and kindle it through a “concentration upon the Divine with a view to an integral and absolute consecration to its Will and Purpose”. As an aid towards this, a subtle shift in identity was proposed – the identity we have of ourselves – who we are in terms of profession, gender, relationships, age, nationality, religion, what we do, accomplishments, ambitions, etc. needs to shift from superficial realities to that of the Divine consciousness. For example, a worldly identification such as ”I am a 35 yr old male from XYZ city, working in ABC profession married to XYZ and father of ABC” can be internally shifted to “I am an eternal child of the Divine Mother living this life on earth with a purpose of realising the Divine and being Her instrument”. This struck a chord with quite a few participants.
This discussion was followed by an exploration of the inner and psychic consciousness and how in this Yoga we need to constantly feel the Divine Presence and live in it to bring out the psychic influence and let it take control of all the facets of our life and gradually transform them in its Light. “To transform” is the keyword, explained Dr. Yogesh. He reiterated that every aspect of our life – how we think, eat, sleep, work, relate with others, speak, all need to be transformed in the light of the psychic.
Session 3 built on the discussions from the previous sessions and explored “All Life is Yoga”. Dr. Yogesh took up many aspects of life and discussed how they can be related to the Divine Consciousness and remoulded from that. Calmness and equality were insisted upon in life situations. The workshop explored Yogic attitude to food, the importance of physical culture and leveraging prana as a tool in the sadhana. It also discussed how to convert day to day work and our career as Divine work done for the sake of the Divine.
In session 4, the final session of the workshop, we had a meditative reflection on Chapter 1 of ‘The Mother’, which dwelled on the triple labour of Aspiration, Rejection and Surrender and the nuances of the pitfalls and right attitudes to take in each part of our being. Though a summary of all the discussion topics was not provided, the detailed discussion of the first chapter of The Mother to a large extent covered critical aspects of Integral Yoga. Overall, Dr. Yogesh tackled an important and broad topic in an experiential and interactive way that connected well with the participants agnostic of their past familiarity with Yoga.
Participant Reflections
The participants shared their gratitude for the Mother and Sri Aurobindo and the programme. One participant wondered about the choice offered to us to choose the divine life rather than ordinary life. Some participants resolved to take baby steps in their life to maintain a connection to the Divine presence and offer all their actions to the Divine. Dr. Yogesh shared options for the participants to continue collective meditations. One participant called out the importance of reading the Works of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo on a daily basis as a means to connect with their consciousness. Some talked about the possibility of falling into an ordinary consciousness and the persistence needed to connect with the divine consciousness repeatedly and strive to live in it.
Dr. Yogesh and James Anderson concluded the workshop with a call-out that the real work of sadhana begins after the workshop and exhorted the participants to continue the Yoga journey. This workshop was a soulful refresher for experienced sadhaks and very illuminating for beginners.
Feedback
“I learnt that our real world is within us.”
“The sessions gave a variety of experiences which deepen my connection with The Mother and SriAurobindo.”
