By David Hutchinson

It is interesting to observe that Sri Aurobindo and the Mother's genius was in asking — and then investigating — questions that had been considered unthinkable and heretical not only by all religions, but also the physical sciences: the possibility that complete transformation could come from within, and include the entire being, including the physical body — and even extend itself out to the earth itself.

This is still, in our time, a radical proposition. Most spiritualities, in their practical efforts, don't venture this far. They treat the body and the world as fixed, and the only possible change as inward. And the sciences, though the fringe may flirt with the notion of technological singularity, don't give any credence to a spiritual singularity (aka, supramental transformation).

I mention this because it is the quality of throwing open one's mind and spirit, of being open to all possibility of truth and discovery, of not keeping oneself tied to current trends of thought, no matter how sanctioned, no matter how strongly such trends may be embedded in a national consciousness (such as the emotional idea of the avatar in India) — it is that openness that forges new ground.

In this regard, I would say that Peter's book does us all a great service, in that by detailing the actual events of Sri Aurobindo's life, he makes it possible for us to imagine how we — who, like Sri Aurobindo before us, eat, digest, sleep, defecate, breathe, blink, and have conflicting elements within ourselves — how we might approach a transformative yoga.

It's relatively easy to approach yoga and spirituality as an all-or-nothing enterprise. That's been done for millenia: Retire to the forest (exclude society); practice asceticism (exclude the body); go into solitude (exclude the emotional being); stop all mental activity (exclude the mind).

But while any of these can be useful as a tool, for a limited period (as Sri Aurobindo admitted), they are not final solutions. So just as we have to include our minds, society, emotions, and our bodies in any complete yoga, so we also have to come to grips with the reality that Sri Aurobindo had "madness" in his family; that he had a woman who was a "partner" in his yoga (no matter how well we may understand that relationship); that as Larry points out, he wasn't known as "Sri Aurobindo" as a child, or even as a professor.

Integrating the details of our lives with the higher movements of consciousness is where yoga becomes practical. Anyone can give a fine speech on the abstract ideas of this yoga, quote Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, relate them to ideas in the sciences, art, literature. The proof of yoga, however, is in how we embody those principles in our actions, our lives, our selves — and especially, in situations such as this, when there are troubling movements abroad.

There is a quote, I think from MP Pandit (who, paradoxically, was Sraddhalu's mentor): "How much you are a force for harmony, that is your badge of spirituality." That quote has stuck with me for years, especially in times when one is tempted to take sides, to condemn others, to create or perpetuate division. I would ask, who or where is the force for harmony in the Ashram right now?