All spiritual paths and yogas lay stress upon the need of getting liberated from the clutches of our lower nature, of seeking a higher fullness and perfection in one’s life. But the spiritual seeker is often not very clear as to why he has taken the spiritual path and what does it mean to do everything for the sake of the Divine.
At times the question arises in the seeker’s mind:
Question: What is the meaning of yoga? Why should I take up the spiritual path? Is it for a personal gain, even if it is high and spiritual? Is it for serving the society and humanity? Is it for the sake of the Divine? But then what does Sri Aurobindo mean when he says even personal liberation, perfection, fullness must not be pursued for their own sake but for the sake of the Divine?
A difficult question! Here is the Mother’s answer to the children:
It means that all this perfection which we are going to acquire is not for a personal and selfish end, it is in order to be able to manifest the Divine, it is put at the service of the Divine. We do not pursue this development with a selfish intention of personal perfection; we pursue it because the divine Work has to be accomplished.
But why do we do this divine Work? Is it to make ourselves…
No, not at all! It is because that’s the divine Will. It is not at all for a personal reason, it must not be that. It is because it’s the divine Will and it’s the divine Work.
No personal desire should come in
So long as a personal aspiration or desire, a selfish will, get mingled in it, it always creates a mixture and is not exactly an expression of the divine Will. The only thing which must count is the Divine, His Will, His manifestation, His expression. One is here for that, one is that, and nothing else. And so long as there is a feeling of self, of the ego, the person, which enters, well, this proves that one is not yet what one ought to be, that’s all. I don’t say that this can be done overnight but still this indeed is the truth.
It is just because even in this field, the spiritual field, there are far too many people (I could say even the majority of those who take to the spiritual life and do yoga), far too many of these who do it for personal reasons, all kinds of personal reasons: some because they are disgusted with life, others because they are unhappy, others still because they want to know more, others because they want to become spiritually great, others because they want to learn things which they may be able to teach others; indeed there are a thousand personal reasons for taking up yoga.
One single motive—the Divine
But the simple fact of giving oneself to the Divine so that the Divine takes you and makes of you what He wills, and this in all its purity and constancy, well, there are not many who do that and yet this indeed is the truth; and with this one goes straight to the goal and never risks making mistakes. But all the other motives are always mixed, tainted with ego; and naturally they can lead you here and there, very far from the goal also.
But that kind of feeling that you have only one single reason for existence, one single goal, one single motive, the entire, perfect, complete consecration to the Divine to the point of not being able to distinguish yourself from Him any longer, to be Himself entirely, completely, totally without any personal reaction intervening, this is the ideal attitude; and besides, it is the only one which makes it possible for you to go forward in life and in the work, absolutely protected from everything and protected from yourself which is of all dangers the greatest for you—there is no greater danger than the self (I take “self” in the sense of an egoistic self).
The Mother
