Aligning the External Nature With the Inner Spiritual Aspiration

People espousing their philosophy of how to act in the world are often confronted by a disconnect between their statements and their own actions. They frequently tell children, for instance, ‘Do as I say, not as I do.’ If we assume that the person is not simply motivated by pure self-interest and using his words to capture the support of others, essentially a form of hypocrisy, we sometimes find that the person himself treats his mental adoption of a certain idea, principle or attitude as the reality, without reflecting that his outer actions do not correspond with this inner idea. This is then a form of self-deception. There is of course another possibility. The individual may adopt certain principles on the mental level, and yet recognise that he has not yet succeeded in perfecting his outer expression and action to correspond fully with the inner adopted stance. This individual then recognises the divergence between inner and outer reality, and can work on resolving it.

Many people simply are not cognizant of the various different parts of their being and their different ways of responding and acting. This provides a key to the resolution of the divergence. The vital being, for instance, may have a desire or motive that does not completely coincide with the spiritual seeker’s aspiration, consecration or dedication. Similarly the mind may interpret the spiritual inward motivation in a way that leads to contrary actions externally, which is one of the causes of the kind of torture, harassment, warfare that has result from strongly held religious convictions, for example. As most people are conditioned and educated to believe in the primacy of the external being and the life of the world, they tend to judge matters from that standpoint.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna asks how to identify the liberated man. He asks how does he walk, how does he speak, etc. Sri Krishna makes it clear that these outward signs are not the true indication of such an individual. The real identifying characteristic is the inner attitude that underlies the activity, not the form of the activity itself.

For the spiritual seeker, however, Sri Aurobindo recommends starting from the inner standpoint and systematically working to bring the external being into alignment with the inner view, values and direction.

Sri Aurobindo observes: “Not only in your inward concentration, but in your outward acts and movements you must take the right attitude.”

“You must learn to act always from within — from your inner being…. The outer should be a mere instrument and should not be allowed at all to compel or dictate your speech, thought or action.”

“All should be done quietly fromwithin — working, speaking, reading, writing as part of the real consciousness — not with the dispersed and unquiet movement of the ordinary consciousness.”

“It is the spirit and the consciousness from which it is done that makes an action yogic — it is not the action itself.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Looking from Within, Chapter 3, Action and Work, pg. 57