Chapter 31Bhakti Yoga and Vaishnavism · Vaishnava Bhakti and the Integral Yoga

It is not necessary to repeat past forms [of Bhakti Yoga] — to bring out the bhakti of the psychic being and give it whatever forms come naturally in the development is the proper way for our sadhana.

* What three signs [of the Paramhansa]? If you refer to the four conditions (child, madman, demon, inert), it is not Ramakrishna who invented that. It is an old Sanskrit sloka, b¯alonm¯adapi´s¯aca-jad.avat, describing the Paramhansa or rather the various forms of Paramhansahood. The Paramhansa is a particular grade of realisation, there are others supposed to be lower or higher.

I have no objection to them [vital manifestations of love and bhakti] in their own place. But I must remind you that in my Yoga all vital movements must come under the control of the psychic and of the spiritual calm, knowledge and peace. If they conflict with the psychic or the spiritual control, they upset the balance and prevent the forming of the base of transformation.

If unbalance is good for other paths, that is the business of those who follow them. It does not suit mine.

* Everybody must be made to understand clearly that this is not a sadhana of emotional and egoistic bhakti, but of surrender. One who makes demands and threatens to commit suicide if his demands are not complied with, is not meant for this Yoga. . . .

This Yoga is not a Yoga of emotional egoistic vital bhakti full of demands and desires. There is no room in it for ¯abd¯ar of any kind. It is only for those who surrender to the Divine and obey implicitly the directions given to them by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.