Personal Effort in Service of the Divine Is an Initial Step Towards Complete Shift to the Divine Standpoint

The normal human action is based in the ego-consciousness. We act as if we are fully independent, making our own decisions based on our own criteria, needs and conce
s. We treat ourselves as something of a self-standing actor, working to survive in a somewhat hostile world and environment, maintaining our individuality against the pressures of both circumstances and our societal setting, while at the same time, finding ways to ‘fit in’ to our society.

This is, of course, a very much illusory viewpoint. We have the illusion of ‘agency’ while we are being moved, motivated, or manipulated by the various forces operative in the world, in the society and within the historical evolutionary basis of human life itself. We act under the impulsion of instincts, deeply embedded reactions (such as the ‘fight or flight’ response) and the expectations of our society as communicated to us through parents, relatives, friends, teachers and society at large, including through mass media, social media and our interactions with others through any and all means. We are shaped, and we accept the basic aspects of what we have chosen to focus on as the core of our personality and our lives.

It is not generally feasible to simply leave all of this behind and surrender to a higher Force without some kind of process and transitional period. Nor is it feasible to smply float along with whatever current is flowing towards and through us at any moment, as there are forces in the world that have their own intentionality, purpose, and objectives and they will take charge of our energies if we are not awake and vigilant to what they are attempting to do.

Thus, Sri Aurobindo describes the need for a personal effort consisting of aspiration, rejection and surrender until such time as the Divine has taken full charge of the being and we no longer experience the sense of being a separate, individual, self-standing ego-personality, but rather a nexus of the divine energy in manifestation which receives and further transmits that force within our own sphere of activity. Along the way, we become aware of the many limiting factors in the established lifeways of our minds, vital being and physical being, and thus, we work to recognise them and invite the higher consciousness to transform them systematically, piece by piece, step by step, moment by moment.

Sri Aurobindo observes: “It is not advisable in the early stages of the sadhana to leave everything to the Divine or expect everything from it without the need of one’s own endeavour. That is only possible when the psychic being is in front and influencing the whole action (and even then vigilance and a constant assent are necessary), or else later on in the ultimate stages of the Yoga when a direct or almost direct supramental force is taking up the consciousness; but this stage is very far away as yet. Under other conditions this attitude is likely to lead to stagnation and inertia.”

“It is only the more mechanical parts of the being that can truly say they are helpless: the physical (material) consciousness, especially, is inert in its nature and moved either by the mental and vital or by the higher forces. But one has always the power to put the mental will or vital push at the service of the Divine. One cannot be sure of the immediate result, for the obstruction of the lower Nature or the pressure of the adverse forces can often act successfully for a time, even for a long time, against the necessary change. One has then to persist, to put always the will on the side of the divine, rejecting what has to be rejected, opening oneself to the true Light and the true Force, calling it down quietly, steadfastly, without tiring, without depression or impatience, until one feels the Divine Force at work and the obstacles beginning to give way.”

“You say you are conscious of your ignorance and obscurity. If it is only a general consciousness, that is not enough. But if you are conscious of it in the details, in its actual working, then that is sufficient to start with; you have to reject steadfastly the wrong workings of which you are conscious and make your mind and vital a quiet and clear field for the action of the Divine Force.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bases of Yoga, Chapter 2, Faith — Aspiration — Surrender, pp. 29-30