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=== Shraddha in Integral Yoga<ref name=":18">Sri Aurobindo, [http://www.sriaurobindo.nl/docs/Sri%20Aurobindo/23-24TheSynthesisofYoga.pdf The Synthesis of Yoga], Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust.</ref> ===

=== Shraddha in Integral Yoga<ref name=":18">Sri Aurobindo, [http://www.sriaurobindo.nl/docs/Sri%20Aurobindo/23-24TheSynthesisofYoga.pdf The Synthesis of Yoga], Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust.</ref> ===

Sri Aurobindo emphasizes that there are three parts of the perfection of our instrumental nature including perfection of intelligence, heart, vital consciousness and body, perfection of the surrender of our instruments and action to the divine Shakti, etc. And they depend at every moment of their progression on a fourth power that is covertly and overtly the pivot of all endeavour and action ie. shraddha or faith. This perfect faith he describes as an assent of the whole being to the truth seen by it or offered to its acceptance. According to him, its central working is a faith of the atman in its own will to be, attain and become; its idea of self and things and its knowledge, of which the belief of the intellect, the heart’s consent and the desire of the life mind to possess and realise are the outward figures. This faith, he says, in some form of itself, is indispensable to the action of the being. Because, without it, man cannot move a single pace in life, much less take any step forward to a yet unrealised perfection. In fact, it is so central and essential a thing that the Gita justly says that whatever is a man’s shraddha, that he is, yo yacchraddhah sa eva sah. Here, it may be added that whatever he has the faith to see as possible in himself and strive for, that he can create and become.

Integral yoga, mentioned by Sri Aurobindo, refers to a sort of synthesis of all the different systems of yoga. In the practice of this system, there is one kind of faith demanded as indispensable which is faith in the divine and the Shakti, faith in the presence and power of the Divine in us and the world, a faith that all in the world is the working of one divine Shakti, that all the steps of the Yoga, its strivings, sufferings and failures as well as its successes, satisfactions and victories are utilities and necessities of her workings and that by a firm and strong dependence on and a total self-surrender to the Divine and to his Shakti in us we can attain to oneness, freedom, victory and perfection.

Sri Aurobindo talks about integral yoga that forms a sort of synthesis of all the different systems of yoga. And in the practice of this system of integral yoga, there is one kind of faith demanded as indispensable which is faith in the divine and the Shakti, faith in the presence and power of the Divine in us and the world, a faith that all in the world is the working of one divine Shakti, that all the steps of the Yoga, its strivings, sufferings and failures as well as its successes, satisfactions and victories are utilities and necessities of her workings and that by a firm and strong dependence on and a total self-surrender to the Divine and to his Shakti in us we can attain to oneness, freedom, victory and perfection.

Elaborationg further on perfection, Sri Aurobindo emphasizes that there are three parts of the perfection of our instrumental nature including perfection of intelligence, heart, vital consciousness and body, perfection of the surrender of our instruments and action to the divine Shakti, etc. And he says that they depend at every moment of their progression on a fourth power that is covertly and overtly the pivot of all endeavour and action ie. shraddha or faith. This perfect faith he describes as an assent of the whole being to the truth seen by it or offered to its acceptance. According to him, its central working is a faith of the atman in its own will to be, attain and become; its idea of self and things and its knowledge, of which the belief of the intellect, the heart’s consent and the desire of the life mind to possess and realise are the outward figures. This faith, he says, in some form of itself, is indispensable to the action of the being. Because, without it, man cannot move a single pace in life, much less take any step forward to a yet unrealised perfection.  

Sri Aurobindo also specifies the character of the shraddha needed for the integral Yoga. He says, a great and wide spiritual and intelligent faith, intelligent with the intelligence of that larger reason which assents to high possibilities, is the character of the shraddha needed for the integral Yoga.

Specifying the character of shraddha needed for the integral Yoga, Sri Aurobindo says, a great and wide spiritual and intelligent faith, intelligent with the intelligence of that larger reason which assents to high possibilities, is the character of the shraddha needed for the integral Yoga. He says, this shraddha is in reality an influence from the supreme Spirit and its light a message from our supramental being which is calling the lower nature to rise out of its petty present to a great self-becoming and self-exceeding. And that which receives this influence and answers to the call is not so much the intellect, the heart or the life mind, but the inner atman which better knows the truth of its own destiny and mission.

He also mentions that the English word faith is inadequate to express the connotations of the concept of shraddha. He says, this shraddha is in reality an influence from the supreme Spirit and its light a message from our supramental being which is calling the lower nature to rise out of its petty present to a great self-becoming and self-exceeding. And that which receives this influence and answers to the call is not so much the intellect, the heart or the life mind, but the inner atman which better knows the truth of its own destiny and mission.

He also mentions that the English word faith is inadequate to express the connotations of the concept of shraddha.

Because the intellect, the heart, or the desires of the life mind may take a prominent place in the circumstances that provoke our first entry into the path; but if these are all, then there can be no surety of our fidelity to the call and our enduring perseverance in the Yoga. For, the intellect may abandon the idea that attracted it, the heart weary may fail us, the desire of the life mind may turn to other objectives. But if it is the spirit that has been touched, the inward atman that has received the call, shraddha will remain firm and resist all attempts to defeat or slay it. (Need for shraddha)  

Because the intellect, the heart, or the desires of the life mind may take a prominent place in the circumstances that provoke our first entry into the path; but if these are all, then there can be no surety of our fidelity to the call and our enduring perseverance in the Yoga. For, the intellect may abandon the idea that attracted it, the heart weary may fail us, the desire of the life mind may turn to other objectives. But if it is the spirit that has been touched, the inward atman that has received the call, shraddha will remain firm and resist all attempts to defeat or slay it. (Need for shraddha)