Purna Yoga info
Integral yoga is a modern
version of the traditional yoga systems of India. Many contemporary philosophers
felt that traditional yoga gives too much importance to the attainment of the
salvation and too much emphasis to the next life that the present life is
neglected. This yoga teaches that what you do everyday (karma) is important
(Although traditional yoga always had karma or yoga of work as part of the
arsenal all the time. It is the emphasis or importance on attaining the
consciousness, outside space-time that is of issue here.) Integral yoga gives
yoga an affirmative and dynamic form. It places the spiritual ideal of life on
the foundation of an integrated world-view that takes into account the
evolutionary and historical perspective of life.
Integral Yoga evoke three
levels of integration: the integration of the inner environment (or
harmonization of the human personality), the integration of the human psyche
with its external environment, and the integration of the psyche with its
ultimate spiritual Ground, or the Divine. It is a world-affirmative and
body-positive spirituality that skillfully combines self-transcendence with
love, compassion, and reverence for all life.
For integral yoga the ultimate
goal of life is complete self-integration. Action, love, wisdom and peace are
equally important elements in such self-integration. The yoga of love or
devotion (Bhakti yoga) is perfectly right in affirming love as the fulfillment
of life and as an essential ingredient of salvation. But integral yoga points
out that love is inseparable from wisdom and selfless action. Love in its
spiritual essence is an attribute of wisdom. It is active interest in the
progress and betterment of society. Love is undivided loyalty to life's higher
values.
The yoga of knowledge (Jnana
yoga) is perfectly right in affirming knowledge as the fulfillment of life and
an essential ingredient of salvation. But integral yoga points out that
knowledge is inseparable from love and action. Knowledge in its essence is
comprehensive awareness of the nature of existence.
The yoga of action (Karma yoga)
is perfectly right in affirming action as the essence of human reality and as an
essential condition of salvation. But integral yoga points out that action is
not merely a means to self-purification resulting in salvation.
An unbridgeable gulf is
believed to exist between nature and spirit, between body and soul. All forms of
self-torture and mortification of the flesh are invented in order to help in the
triumph of the spirit. According to integral yoga, freedom is not emancipation
from Nature, but emancipation in Nature. The balanced growth of
personality-complete self-integration or integral self-realization-is the ideal
for those practicing this yoga.
According to integral yoga, the
values designated spiritual are no less an essential part of the spirit of
Nature than the values designated material. The spirit may be defined as the
higher mode of fulfillment of the creativity of Nature. And Nature may be
regarded as the self-expressive energy and evolutionary dynamism of the spirit.
So, both nature and spirit are equally important.
The dualism of matter and mind,
nature and spirit, is inherent in the same evolutionary flux. Spiritual values
emerge naturally and dualistically out of the organized and intelligent
fulfillment of material values. When man intelligently co-operates with Nature,
he gets rewarded with the treasures of the spirit. Integration of personality
lays the foundation for an integrated outlook on life.
In integral self-realization,
the growth of personality is as important as the vision of the super-personal.
It implies organized fulfillment of normal human desires. The growth of
personality brings power and love. It represents a vision of new values and the
hidden possibilities of life. Integral yoga aims at the unity of personality
growth and spiritual intuition. It affirms the ideal of integrated personality
as a creative center of expression of the external.
There are three essential
ingredients in the realization of complete self-integration: psychic
integration, cosmic integration, and existential integration. Integral yoga is
the art of harmonious and creative living on the basis of the integral
experience of Being. It aims at opening the springs of creative inspiration
hidden in the human psyche. It aims at that serenity of self poise which
preserves the light of the eternal amidst the storm and stress of social living.
