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The Synthesis of Yoga
The Synthesis of Yoga is Sri Aurobindo's principal work on an examination of the traditional systems and an explanation of his own method of Integral Yoga.
"Truth of philosophy is of a merely theoretical value unless it can be lived," Sri Aurobindo wrote, "and we have therefore tried in the 'Synthesis of Yoga' to arrive at a synthetical view of the principles and methods of the various lines of spiritual self-discipline and the way in which they can lead to an integral divine life in the human existence."
Sri Aurobindo discusses at considerable length the three great yogic paths of Knowledge, Works and Love, and comments more briefly on other Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga and the Tantric Yogas. In the final part of the book, the "Yoga of Self-Perfection", he describes his own system of yoga, known as the Integral Yoga, through which his philosophy of supramental transformation and conscious evolution could be lived in life and finally the transformation of Man into Superman could be achieved.
Unlike the other systems, the aim of the Integral Yoga is not only to enter into the divine consciousness but to bring it down on earth to transform mind and life and body. Its principle is "a self-surrender, a giving up of the human being into the being, consciousness, power, delight of the Divine", as a result of which the Divine himself "shall by the light of his presence and guidance perfect the human being in all the forces of the Nature for a divine living".
The Conditions of the Synthesis;
Part The Yoga of Divine Works;
Part The Yoga of Integral Knowledge;
Part The Yoga of Divine Love;
Part The Yoga of Self-Perfection.
Yoga, Philosophy, Psychology.
"Truth of philosophy is of a merely theoretical value unless it can be lived," Sri Aurobindo wrote, "and we have therefore tried in the 'Synthesis of Yoga' to arrive at a synthetical view of the principles and methods of the various lines of spiritual self-discipline and the way in which they can lead to an integral divine life in the human existence."
Sri Aurobindo discusses at considerable length the three great yogic paths of Knowledge, Works and Love, and comments more briefly on other Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga and the Tantric Yogas. In the final part of the book, the "Yoga of Self-Perfection", he describes his own system of yoga, known as the Integral Yoga, through which his philosophy of supramental transformation and conscious evolution could be lived in life and finally the transformation of Man into Superman could be achieved.
Unlike the other systems, the aim of the Integral Yoga is not only to enter into the divine consciousness but to bring it down on earth to transform mind and life and body. Its principle is "a self-surrender, a giving up of the human being into the being, consciousness, power, delight of the Divine", as a result of which the Divine himself "shall by the light of his presence and guidance perfect the human being in all the forces of the Nature for a divine living".
The Conditions of the Synthesis;
Part The Yoga of Divine Works;
Part The Yoga of Integral Knowledge;
Part The Yoga of Divine Love;
Part The Yoga of Self-Perfection.
Yoga, Philosophy, Psychology.
918 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1948
90 people are currently reading
527 people want to read
About the author
Sri Aurobindo
1,173 books424 followersSri Aurobindo (Bengali: শ্রী অরবিন্দ Sri Ôrobindo) was an Indian nationalist and freedom fighter, major Indian English poet, philosopher, and yogi. He joined the movement for India's freedom from British rule and for a duration (1905–10), became one of its most important leaders, before turning to developing his own vision and philosophy of human progress and spiritual evolution.
The central theme of Sri Aurobindo's vision is the evolution of life into a "life divine". In his own words: "Man is a transitional being. He is not final. The step from man to superman is the next approaching achievement in the earth evolution. It is inevitable because it is at once the intention of the inner spirit and the logic of Nature's process."
The principal writings of Sri Aurobindo include, in prose, The Life Divine, considered his single great work of metaphysics,The Synthesis of Yoga, Secrets of the Vedas, Essays on the Gita, The Human Cycle, The Ideal of Human Unity, Renaissance in India and other essays, Supramental Manifestation upon Earth, The Future Poetry, Thoughts and Aphorisms and several volumes of letters. In poetry, his principal work is Savitri: a Legend and a Symbol in blank verse.
The central theme of Sri Aurobindo's vision is the evolution of life into a "life divine". In his own words: "Man is a transitional being. He is not final. The step from man to superman is the next approaching achievement in the earth evolution. It is inevitable because it is at once the intention of the inner spirit and the logic of Nature's process."
The principal writings of Sri Aurobindo include, in prose, The Life Divine, considered his single great work of metaphysics,The Synthesis of Yoga, Secrets of the Vedas, Essays on the Gita, The Human Cycle, The Ideal of Human Unity, Renaissance in India and other essays, Supramental Manifestation upon Earth, The Future Poetry, Thoughts and Aphorisms and several volumes of letters. In poetry, his principal work is Savitri: a Legend and a Symbol in blank verse.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
July 26, 2020
My review will be biased as this is personally my favorite book. I've been working through it as my primary study for almost 4 years. I can imagine the time when all 900 or so pages are memorized, not because that is the goal, but because that will naturally occur in the process of fully understanding the essence of the work. it's a daunting and heavy text but if you are looking for a practical guide to reaching ones highest and widest possible potential this is one of those books. it's heaviness is possibly related to it's intellectual soundness. it doesn't dish out micro isolated half truths but gives translated reflections that are vast, interconnected, primary and essential aspects of a single whole truth. And to comprehend such a whole requires a radical transformation because it is not some lower knowledge to be merely thought, nor some pale idea, but reflection of an Infinity of Conscious-Being being pointed out to the consciousness. A knowledge to be known by Identity. As Self. This sacred text is also a powerful "force of transformation", to me, I consider it a grimoire, a Magick Text, a living force and perhaps being. To think I paid $7 for it in India when it is the most important thing I have ever come across..
also I created an Integral Discord Server (chatrooms), PM me for a link
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it took me about 7.5 years.. but yeeehaw I finally finished my first pass through The Synthesis of Yoga woo! I put off finishing it for a long time because the later parts of the book were so clearly far beyond my scope and feeling like a rock trying to study physics I instead kept turning back to earlier portions of the book or to other books in his collected works instead of always trying to attempt the mental gymnastics of a untransformed reason trying to understand things magnitudes beyond it.
It is still my favorite book, though I dont imagine it is necessarily the "best" or highest & widest book. That seems like it may be Savitri, his greatest work, which was produced over the course of 40+ years of writing. But it is well beyond the scope of this review to attempt to cover Savitri.
But at the same time it seems like my continual study of Sri Aurobindo has opened my eyes to so much Truth in so many other scriptures and so there is an immense bias in my appreciation of the particular being who opened such doors to me. Who points everywhere to a secret Divine working. Despite my biases, Sri Aurobindo still seems to be the greatest prolific consciousness I have come across. As if objectively so. I say this because even if others have reached the same potential heights or depths nowhere else have I seen such truths so seemingly translated into such terms accessible to an open philosophical mind, to a poetical consciousness, to the heart, to the soul, perhaps even to the physical consciousness and most hidden corners of the being. He comes to show the many beings within as much of the Truth as can be circled towards by the limitations of the lower being through which it is manifesting itself. But I am speaking perhaps too much in his terms for the sake of a review.
Ill go into some history to explain how his works differ from the other brilliances I have come across.
(the rest of the review is coming soon. I am working on it elsewhere in celebration of my first read through.)
also I created an Integral Discord Server (chatrooms), PM me for a link
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- EDIT: -
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it took me about 7.5 years.. but yeeehaw I finally finished my first pass through The Synthesis of Yoga woo! I put off finishing it for a long time because the later parts of the book were so clearly far beyond my scope and feeling like a rock trying to study physics I instead kept turning back to earlier portions of the book or to other books in his collected works instead of always trying to attempt the mental gymnastics of a untransformed reason trying to understand things magnitudes beyond it.
It is still my favorite book, though I dont imagine it is necessarily the "best" or highest & widest book. That seems like it may be Savitri, his greatest work, which was produced over the course of 40+ years of writing. But it is well beyond the scope of this review to attempt to cover Savitri.
But at the same time it seems like my continual study of Sri Aurobindo has opened my eyes to so much Truth in so many other scriptures and so there is an immense bias in my appreciation of the particular being who opened such doors to me. Who points everywhere to a secret Divine working. Despite my biases, Sri Aurobindo still seems to be the greatest prolific consciousness I have come across. As if objectively so. I say this because even if others have reached the same potential heights or depths nowhere else have I seen such truths so seemingly translated into such terms accessible to an open philosophical mind, to a poetical consciousness, to the heart, to the soul, perhaps even to the physical consciousness and most hidden corners of the being. He comes to show the many beings within as much of the Truth as can be circled towards by the limitations of the lower being through which it is manifesting itself. But I am speaking perhaps too much in his terms for the sake of a review.
Ill go into some history to explain how his works differ from the other brilliances I have come across.
(the rest of the review is coming soon. I am working on it elsewhere in celebration of my first read through.)
Read
January 26, 2009 Required for any seeker ready to practice the true Yoga. Sri Aurobindo's book glows with purple light. Every sentence is as a shock to the system, awakening every cell of the body, and aligning in right relation the workings of the lower to the higher.
March 10, 2018
This is one of the book , which is much ahead then its time , and whose perspectives and insights are so deep that would take years to fathom . Possible one of the best work of Yoga in 20th century.
April 20, 2008
A must read and keep for understanding the yogas of spiritual advancement - their origins, practices, dangers, and results. Nothing left out. Could use a different sort of cover, it's a bit off-putting to buyers who run from the sight of another guru type staring out at them.
September 18, 2011
Essential reading for those who wish to learn the path of the integral yoga.
It is the blueprint to go from the human limited self to the divine supreme Self.
To read this book is to walk the sunlit path, it is a journey of self-awakening.
It is the blueprint to go from the human limited self to the divine supreme Self.
To read this book is to walk the sunlit path, it is a journey of self-awakening.
August 30, 2012
a stimulant, makes me feel alive, captures and maintains flow. whether or not one can achieve yoga (by reading this book) is a whole 'nother thing. i hope to read this again though - the experience of reading the prose is theraputic.
November 24, 2007
integration of the three main paths of yoga: karma, bhakti, and jnana yogas.
November 4, 2008
A must read for any philosophy enthusiast
May 27, 2019
Aurobindo - the intellectual giant of the Indian spiritual renaissance
April 9, 2012
I can not express my feelings in words for this Great book on the very popular topic of Yoga. Sri Aurobindo has revealed every mystery on the subject of Yoga in this book.
January 9, 2013
Excellent
January 2, 2015
whole life is yoga.
August 22, 2017
I love how he looked at the things in his own way!
March 4, 2020
Synthesis of Yoga is considered one of the major works of Sri Aurobindo, and I believe the book happens to people when the language and the essence the pages carry can be absorbed by the reader - it is not a book one can pick up in a normal state of mind, it requires an openness and quieting of the being as each word is potent and soaked with higher consciousness.
The book shows how one can walk in the path of integral yoga and no matter what they are practicing how it can be a step in achieving further towards integral yoga, and how these paths merge and where and how they flow. From speaking about the object of our adoration to self perfection the book is filled with wisdom which usually takes one some years to delve into and maybe even more to fully grasp. It breaks down the different part of the forces which are at play in humans - vital, mental, physical and the psychic, and how to understand and use each for the ultimate results.
While all this may sound daunting the book also provides one with clues to what may be going on with them as they aspire for higher spiritual truths. For me, coming from practicing Vipasaana to integral yoga, it helped me to understand experiences, road blocks, transformations in a very clear manner, no one else had been able to do this before with such clarity- only Sri Aurobindo.
The book also gives immense light and hope in our quest to know the true self, the divine within and without...it provides us with encouragement, which we need a lot of when we choose to live with spiritual progress as the main aim.
Here is an example through a phrase- “....the ear is always listening to the infinite in its heard expression and the voice of silence.’ - synthesis of yoga pp 869-79
I hope this book happens to all who are ready and they benefit from it for the best.
The book shows how one can walk in the path of integral yoga and no matter what they are practicing how it can be a step in achieving further towards integral yoga, and how these paths merge and where and how they flow. From speaking about the object of our adoration to self perfection the book is filled with wisdom which usually takes one some years to delve into and maybe even more to fully grasp. It breaks down the different part of the forces which are at play in humans - vital, mental, physical and the psychic, and how to understand and use each for the ultimate results.
While all this may sound daunting the book also provides one with clues to what may be going on with them as they aspire for higher spiritual truths. For me, coming from practicing Vipasaana to integral yoga, it helped me to understand experiences, road blocks, transformations in a very clear manner, no one else had been able to do this before with such clarity- only Sri Aurobindo.
The book also gives immense light and hope in our quest to know the true self, the divine within and without...it provides us with encouragement, which we need a lot of when we choose to live with spiritual progress as the main aim.
Here is an example through a phrase- “....the ear is always listening to the infinite in its heard expression and the voice of silence.’ - synthesis of yoga pp 869-79
I hope this book happens to all who are ready and they benefit from it for the best.
March 17, 2025
I've lost the exact Sri Aurobindo quote, but the paraphrase is, "any advancement in self-knowledge puts one on the direct path to the Divine." What a galvanizing thought! Thus there are so many, many ways to progress without terminally losing one's way: you can always pick up the thread, or find a new one.
Aurobindo's collected works total upwards of 15.000 pages, so it's wonderful to find one under a mere thousand pages that seemingly displays so many facets of his thinking. Each facet, so to speak, is remarkably clearly and succinctly expounded, but the reader may still face overload in trying to fit them all together into a glittering jewel. So far I've only been dipping into the book at random, which feels like perhaps a good way to get going. The hope is that a random-access approach will gently provoke organic growth of understanding. This is a book to make friends with and come back to again and again.
My thinks to Goodreads reviewers whose glowing reviews prompted me to obtain this precious book.
Aurobindo's collected works total upwards of 15.000 pages, so it's wonderful to find one under a mere thousand pages that seemingly displays so many facets of his thinking. Each facet, so to speak, is remarkably clearly and succinctly expounded, but the reader may still face overload in trying to fit them all together into a glittering jewel. So far I've only been dipping into the book at random, which feels like perhaps a good way to get going. The hope is that a random-access approach will gently provoke organic growth of understanding. This is a book to make friends with and come back to again and again.
My thinks to Goodreads reviewers whose glowing reviews prompted me to obtain this precious book.
June 11, 2024
For those who finished reading it for the first time:
Thus Spoke the God, volumes and volumes of dense demouge gravitas and vistas of the mighty mysterious secret self, for these are the seeds, working and waiting for the right time to sprout and spread out into infinite infinitudes of inordinate envisions. Wait with thy calm, silence and quietness, and peace shall shower upon your thy heart and bliss towards a new age of unity; of not mind and mind, but of supermind and the great gnosis.
Thus Spoke the God, volumes and volumes of dense demouge gravitas and vistas of the mighty mysterious secret self, for these are the seeds, working and waiting for the right time to sprout and spread out into infinite infinitudes of inordinate envisions. Wait with thy calm, silence and quietness, and peace shall shower upon your thy heart and bliss towards a new age of unity; of not mind and mind, but of supermind and the great gnosis.
December 31, 2020
this is Sri Aurobindo's primary work on yoga. He does not simply provide one tightly scripted way or practice, but provides an overview of the yoga of knowledge, the yoga of love and devotion, the yoga of works, and his own unique contribution, the yoga of self-perfection.
March 14, 2022
It is not just a spiritual book but the truth and way of life.
December 28, 2025
Aurobindo is so refreshing to read! This is the first time in a long while that the length of an author's book did not put me off. In fact, I was looking forward to having more to read!
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews