Page 14 - NAMAH-Apr-2023

Namah Vol. 31, Issue 1, 24th April 2023

with it’. This force is buried under countless shortcuts or quick fixes for desire: the whole
layers of human insincerity. Not surprisingly of our being has to be addressed. Every part
then, desire is a major wheel in the world of our self is interrelated. Integral Yoga aims
system and economy. at transforming the source of every human
ignorance and suffering. The whole nature
A conventional response sometimes intervenes, must be divinised in its comprehensive sweep.
urging moderation. This will be self-imposed Everything has to be illuminated; nothing
and a fragile compromise might be reached. can be taken out of context and no detail can
A limit and a check are constructed, with the be ignored. Nothing can be achieved until
intention not to ‘transgress’ any further. Such everything is done. A perfect and true integer
is the notion of sin in everyday life. It is a is the aim of its practice.
response of the rational mind.
The duality of desire
On entering yoga, it becomes imperative
to find a more permanent solution to the The truth is, desire is part of a duality. At the
malaise, but one has to evolve quite far in flipside of desire stands aversion. In truth, just
one’s practice to dispense with the leverage as with pain and pleasure, which Sri Aurobindo
of the ordinary mind. The traditional yogic identifies as “the same thing (1)”, desire and
practices do not address the roots of desire. aversion have the same source. They come
When one is attempting to rise above them from the same universal force, though they
into a state of complete transcendence one find expression in different conditions and
has to climb a mountain-top of spirituality, guises. Desire is the foundation and the
which leaves the woes of the ordinary life far trigger; aversion is the consequence. The
below. Many are inspired to join the Masters two operate in a cyclical fashion. Desire
in their ascent but the roots of ordinary sets aversion in motion. In cases of sexual
human suffering and dissatisfaction are violence though, the two states seem to be
left unobserved and untouched. It is only horribly mangled together. More typically
by knowing the root that an affliction can be though, they operate in sequence. As soon
transformed. as we accommodate a desire and attempt
to satisfy it, one spits it out in aversion. As
soon as a desire is satiated, one feels pain
and anguish.

This pain can also manifest on a gross
physical level: it is not just a psychological
phenomenon, our whole being is affected.
It comes from a sense of overload and the
knee-jerk way of dealing with the pain is
Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga addresses the through the sense of repulsion.
integrality of the human being, every facet
of the nature, not just the roots of desire. Once a desire is ‘satiated’, one will hold onto
We have to work on ourselves. There are no this state of aversion for a certain period

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