Dates: January 24, 2026
Venue: Matriniketan
As part of the residential programme organized by Uditam: Institute for Integral Healing, Sri Aurobindo Society, Dr. Beloo Mehra, Director, BhāratShakti, was invited to facilitate a group discussion session, one on Friday, January 23. For her session, Dr. Mehra focused on the topic – The Triple Labour of Integral Yoga. She also invited Ms. Chitra Kolluru, a volunteer resource person for BhāratShakti to co-facilitate this session.
Ms. Kolluru began the session by reading a couple of small paragraphs from Sri Aurobindo’s book titled The Mother which set the context for the reflection that followed on the significance of Aspiration in Integral Yoga. She spent some time discussing the essential difference between desire and aspiration, and how to keep the flame of aspiration going when challenges come in inner and outer life. There was also a brief discussion on the connection between aspiration and psychic being.
Dr. Mehra added a few more points to this discussion on aspiration by bringing in some guidance from the Mother regarding how we may identify and protect the flame of aspiration. She also reminded the participants about the link between aspiration and complete trust in a higher consciousness or the Divine. Highlighting that Sri Aurobindo uses the term triple labour to speak of Aspiration, Rejection and Surrender, Dr. Mehra suggested that this emphasises the role of personal effort in sadhana. And one aspect of this effort takes the form of rejecting from ourselves all which keeps us mired in the Avidya of our lower nature.
Dr. Mehra then read out a relevant passage from the book The Mother by Sri Aurobindo where he lists all that we must consciously reject from our mental, vital and physical parts of the being. She invited the participants to share their understanding, observation and reflection about the long list which Sri Aurobindo mentions, especially focusing on whether they have been able to work on anything from that list.
This led to some thoughtful and thought-provoking discussion, and made the learning more practical for everyone. Challenges that we all face due to the persistent pull of our lower nature were also brought up. Dr. Mehra read out a few parts from a couple of letters of Sri Aurobindo to the disciples highlighting that we all go through such struggles, and what is most needed is constant effort and calling in Mother’s help.
Ms. Kolluru then brought the group’s attention to the third aspect of the Triple Labour – Surrender. While acknowledging that the topic of surrender is indeed very vast, she said that we can get some clear guidance from a few of Sri Aurobindo’s letters to his disciples from the volume titled Letters on Yoga. Reading a few sentences from a couple of letters, she highlighted the difference between active surrender and passive surrender. She explained these concepts through some examples and stories. This was then opened up for sharing and discussion by the participants.
The interactions brought out several other points regarding surrender, such as the significance of one’s sincerity. The Mother’s advice on giving onself completely without demand, without condition, without reservation was also highlighted. It was also pointed out that the Mother reminds that in proportion to our faith, sincerity and surrender, Divine grace and protection also grow for us.
The whole session was conducted in the spirit of a satsang, with reverential sharing and due acknowledgement of the challenges that we all experience in our inner journeys.
To learn more about our sessions conducted for Uditam, see HERE.