"An Alchemy of Heaven on Nature's Base": Intimations of the Universal Opus in the Integral Yoga and the Divine Life in Man in the Work of C. G. Jung

Abstract

This comparative study addresses two main questions. First, considering the status of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother as spiritual teachers and Jung as a psychologist: might their respective views on transformation be too divergent to warrant comparison? Second, considering that one of the goals of the Mother’s and Sri Aurobindo’s yoga was the transformation of physical substance, could their relationship be viewed through an alchemical lens? The discussion begins with a comparison and differentiation of integral and analytic psychologies and a discussion of the nature of awakening in the two traditions, which leads to an extended amplification: “a method of association based on the comparative study of mythology, religion and fairy tales, used in the interpretation of images in dreams and drawings” (Sharp, 1991a, see entry under “amplification”), of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo’s relationship and yogic goals through analysis of the coniunctio motif in various alchemical traditions. Sri Aurobindo and the Mother are described as living symbols (in Jungian terms) of the union of divine masculine and feminine principles. A comparison of Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s views on the supramental speciation and Jung’s on alchemical transformation follows. A final, personal reflection concludes the paper.