While we live and act from the standpoint of the individual ego-personality, we measure and respond to everything based on how it impacts us personally and directly, and judge things based on that impact. This leads us to treat as positive, those events and interactions that satisfy our desires, meet our physical needs, or support our ambitions. Conversely, those things which create obstacles to what we desire, or which undermine our ambitions, or create physical or vital difficulties as we navigate our way through our lives, we treat as negative events. When these things occur, we either try to stay fixed in the 'positive' and either try to avoid or wallow in the suffering we are experiencing due to the 'negative' situations. It is all about 'me, me, me'. There is no way out of this fixation as long as we maintain the ego-standpoint as the basis of our reactions and motivations to action.
If we shift our standpoint out of the ego, however, we can begin to receive and respond to the larger actions and forces of the world, which give us both a different perspective about what is positive or negative, and which allows us to act free of egoistic limitations. The more constantly we can assume this new standpoint, the more we are able to carry out our true role in the world-manifestation.
Sri Aurobindo writes: "To be free from all egoistic motive, careful of truth in speech and action, void of self-will and self-assertion, watchful in all things, is the condition for being a flawless servant."
"... get the spirit of the yoga of works as it is indicated in the Gita -- forget yourself and your miseries in the aspiration to a larger consciousness, feel the greater Force working in the world and make yourself an instrument for a work to be done, however small it may be. But, whatever the way may be, you must accept it wholly and put your whole will into it -- with a divided and wavering will you cannot hope for success in anything, neither in life nor in yoga."
Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Looking from Within, Chapter 3, Action and Work, pg. 66
Santosh has been studying Sri Aurobindo's writings since 1971 and has a daily blog at http://sriaurobindostudies.wordpress.com and podcast located at https://anchor.fm/santosh-krinsky
He is author of 21 books and is editor-in-chief at Lotus Press. He is president of Institute for Wholistic Education, a non-profit focused on integrating spirituality into daily life.
Video presentations, interviews and podcast episodes are all available on the YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@santoshkrinsky871
More information about Sri Aurobindo can be found at www.aurobindo.net
The US editions and links to e-book editions of Sri Aurobindo’s writings can be found at Lotus Press www.lotuspress.com