In all that is done in the universe, the Divine through
his Shakti is behind all action but he is veiled by his Yoga Maya and works
through the ego of the Jiva in the lower nature.
In Yoga also it is the Divine who is the Sadhaka and
the Sadhana; it is his Shakti with her light, power, knowledge, consciousness,
Ananda, acting upon the Adhara and, when it is opened to her, pouring into it
with these divine forces that makes the Sadhana possible. But so long as the
lower nature is active the effort of the Sadhaka becomes necessary.
The personal effort required is a triple labour of
aspiration, rejection and surrender,—
an aspiration vigilant, constant, unceasing—the mind's
will, the hearts seeking, the assent of the vital being, the will to open and
make plastic the physical consciousness and nature;
rejection of the movements of lower nature—rejection of
the mind's ideas, opinions, preferences, habits, constructions, so that the
true knowledge may find free room in a silent mind,—rejection of the vital
nature's desires, demands, cravings, sensations, passions, selfishness, pride,
arrogance, lust, greed, jealousy, envy, hostility to Truth, so that the true
power and joy may pour from above into a calm, large, strong and consecrated
vital being,—rejection of the physical nature's stupidity, doubt, disbelief,
obscurity, obstinacy, pettiness, laziness, unwillingness to change, so that the
true stability of Light, Power, Ananda may establish itself in a body growing
always more divine;
surrender of oneself and all one is and has and every
plane of the consciousness and every movement to the Divine Shakti.
In proportion as the surrender and self-consecration
progress the Sadhaka becomes conscious of the Divine Shakti doing the Sadhana,
pouring into him more and more of herself, founding in him the freedom and
perfection of the Divine Nature. The more this conscious process replaces his
own effort, the more rapid and true becomes his progress. But it cannot
completely replace the necessity of personal effort until the surrender and
consecration are pure and complete from top to bottom.
Note that a tamasic surrender refusing to fulfill the
conditions and calling on the God to do everything and save one all the trouble
and struggle is a deception and does not lead to freedom and perfection.
The Mother by Sri Aurobindo