Aurobindo’s Purna Yoga or Integral Yoga is a grand synthesis of several major schools of yoga – Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga and Gyana Yoga. Without rejecting any of these yogas, he takes the idea of Yoga to the next level – yoga of self-perfection. But he is careful in explaining that “[the] principle of [Integral] Yoga is not perfection of the human nature as it is but a psychic and spiritual transformation of all the parts of the being through the action of an inner consciousness and then of a higher consciousness which works on them, throws out their old movements or changes them into the image of its own and so transmutes lower into higher nature. It is not so much the perfection of the intellect as a transcendence of it, a transformation of the mind, the substitution of a larger principle of knowledge – and so with all the rest of the being.”

The practice of Integral Yoga provides not only a path towards turning inward but also a doorway to finding innovative and more harmonious ways of living within the material world. This reflects the idea that a path to inner transformation and seeking a unity of all things matter and spirit doesn’t have to reject the advancement we have made in the material world. It also emphasizes the need for personal transformation as a way to achieve success in and harmony with the outer world.

Transformative learning and practice, future-oriented thinking, and dialogue of civilizations are guiding lights for the development of IKS.