How to Recognise the Divine Will

We get prompted inwardly to do somethng. In some cases, we have conflicting impulses or reactions. We wonder how to distinguish the Divine Will from all of the other drives, motives, forces, and options that confront us. Add to this the complications of the vital nature, in i ts attempts to justify and fulfill its desires, having the ability to convince the mind about what it wants. We thus effectively paralyze the mental understanding through this vital interaction. Then we have the mind itself with its ideas, philosophies, religious tenets, moral rules that tries to superimpose these onto the being without reference to any higher power or source. In some cases, these rules lead to an awakening of what we call the conscience, which is actually mainly just the conflict between the vital nature and the mental rules that have been drummed into us.

There are several indicators of the Divine Will within this framework. The vital demands are generally loud and powerful, while the voice of the psychic being is generally quiet and non-insistent. The framework of the mental consciousness reveals itself (as we are able to adopt the standpoint of the witness consciousness) as rigid and limited as opposed to taking a more wide and flexible approach. And in each case, the physical/vital/mental being primarily looks at things from its own ego-standpoint and the benefit it can accrue from whatever the proposed action turns out to be. These are signs of the control, or at least the admixture, of the ego consciousness rather than the divine consciousness.

The Mother provides us a methodology for recognising the Divine Will. It requires a separation of the inner observer from the outer nature, and then, the ability to listen to the quiet voice of the psychic being which channels the divine intention, and the absolute sincerity to follow this guidance when it comes.

The Mother observes: “How are we to know, you will ask, when it is the Divine Will that makes us act? The Divine Will is not difficult to recognise. It is unmistakable. You can know it without being very far on the path. Only you must listen to its voice, the small voice that is here in the heart. Once you are accustomed to listen, if you do anything that is contrary to the Divine Will, you feel an uneasiness. If you persist on the wrong track, you get very much disturbed. If, however, you give some material excuse as the cause of your uneasiness and proceed on your way, you gradually lose the faculty of perception and finally you may go on doing all kinds of wrong and feel no uneasiness. But if, when once you feel the least disturbance, you stop and ask of your inner self, ‘What is the cause of this?’ then you do get the real answer and the whole thing becomes quite clear. Do not try to give a material excuse when you feel a little depression or a slight uneasiness. When you stop and look about for the reason, be absolutely straight and sincere. At first your mind will construct a very plausible and beautiful explanation. Do not accept it, but look beyond and ask, ‘What is it that is behind this movement? Why am I doing this?’ Finally you will discover, hidden in a corner, the little ripple — a slight wrong turn or twist in your attitude that is cause the trouble or disturbance.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Looking from Within, Chapter 5, Attitudes on the Path, pg. 121