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Touch... struggling or insistence for the result, brought the yoga into the realm of the body
then this effect which needs a quiet receptivity cells. The body will be the crucible of the
in the mind is impeded.” Mental quietude transformation and the time for the body
very necessary “and not too much straining is now:
or effort, to give time to allow the psychic and
the mind to develop the necessary condition “I have also come to realize that for this sadhana of
of receptivity… To spend all the energy in japa the body, the mantra is essential. Sri Aurobindo
or meditation is a strain which even those who gave none; he said that one should be able to do
are accustomed to successful meditation find it all the work without having to resort to external
difficult to maintain — unless in periods when means. Had he reached the point where we
there is an uninterrupted flow of experiences are now, he would have seen that the purely
from above (10).” psychological method is inadequate and that
a japa is necessary, because only a japa has a
There should be no strain with the mantra. direct action on the body….
The power of the name can quieten the
mind and enlist the vital if it is sufficiently In fact you can immediately see the difference
embedded in the being. Considerable initial between those who have a mantra and those
effort is required at the beginning as these two who don’t. With those who have no mantra,
instruments gradually learn to collaborate. A even if they have a strong habit of meditation or
change of government is required. It takes concentration, something around them remains
time as we move forward but alternate hazy and vague. Whereas the japa imparts to
between light and shadow. However, once those who practise it a kind of precision, a kind of
the psychic being steps forward, the mantra solidity: an armature. They become galvanized,
becomes increasingly more automatic and, as it were (12).”
of itself, transforms into an overriding tool
for progress. Once we discover our mantra, our life changes
for good. An indelible link is created and an
There is a misconception that the mantra or imprint is laid upon our soul. I pray that the
japa doesn’t quite ‘fit’ the Integral Yoga. This last words I utter in this lifetime will be my
is not surprising seeing as Sri Aurobindo mantra. The mantra can be lived throughout
stated, “In this yoga there is no fixed mantra, the whole life-journey. The words can mirror
no stress is laid on mantras, although sadhaks our entire life destiny. In japa, it can even
can use one if they find it helpful or so long bring us to the threshold of transformation
as they find it helpful. The stress is rather itself. Mantra is too great an opportunity to
on an aspiration in the consciousness and a lose.
concentration of the mind, heart, will, all the
being. If a mantra is found helpful for that, one References
uses it (11).”
1. The Mother. Mother’s Agenda, Volume 1. Paris:
However conditions have changed as the Institut de Recherches Évolutives; English transl.
body itself has become more and more the 1979, p. 433.
arena for this yoga. It was the Mother who

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