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The Perpetual Effort Required for Transformation of Life in the World · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  Ascent and integration, relentless effort.
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  What many do not appreciate is that any attempt to achieve
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  individual perfection or transformation is limited by the
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  readiness of the world, and the rest of humanity in particular,
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  to accept those changes that are needed for this to occur.
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  Thus, progress will necessarily be partial, halting, and in some
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  cases there may appear to be retrogressive steps as forces
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  that oppose the changes, raise up their defenses and fight to
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  prevent the next step of progress from taking hold and
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  becoming the standard from which the further steps of progress
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  could then begin. There is a range of capacity
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  available within humanity at any point in time, and as long as
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  the individual stays more or less within that range, progress
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  can be made. Once an individual reaches the
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  upper boundary, however, and attempts to go beyond, the real
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  resistance can kick in. This is where persevering,
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  relentless focus and effort is required.
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  Without accepting failure or discouragement as the final
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  answer, one may attempt to overcome the force of desire.
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  For instance, various methods have been tried in human
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  history. Yet the individual is not immune
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  to the vibrations that cause desire to arise, and with the
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  least failure of vigilance, these vibrations can take hold
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  and manifest within him. It can be even more difficult if
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  active opposition arises to protect the status quo.
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  In his epic poem Savitri, A Legend and a Symbol, Srioro
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  Bindo provides an illuminating segment describing the world
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  redeemer's efforts. Quote, hard is the world
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  redeemer's heavy task. The world itself becomes his
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  adversary. Those he would save are his
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  antagonists. This world is in love with its
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  own ignorance. It's darkness turns away from
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  the Savior light. It gives the cross in payment
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  for the crown. End Quote Reference Book 6 Canto
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  2, page 448. The mother writes quote.
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  It is only by a very persistent effort that one can succeed in
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  overcoming his difficulties. And yet it seems impossible to
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  cut oneself off completely from one's solidarity with the rest
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  of the world. Therefore, a perfect purity, a
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  perfect perfection, seems impossible so long as the world
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  has not reached at least a certain degree of perfection.
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  Even the ascetic, the solitary who goes and sits in a cave or
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  under a tree or in the jungle, cannot completely free himself
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  from solidarity with the rest of the world.
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  The air he breathes is full of all the vibrations of the world.
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  The food he eats, whatever it may be, even if it is reduced to
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  the minimum, contains the vibrations of the world.
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  And so it is enough for him to exist to be in solidarity with
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  the difficulties of the world. That is why, in fact, the way is
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  so long, even without having any other consideration than that of
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  what one is absorbing constantly into himself.
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  When breathing or eating all these things one must constantly
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  transform as one goes on absorbing them.
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  It is a continuous alchemy in which one absorbs a particular
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  kind of vibration containing all the possible disorders, and must
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  transmute this into something which is ready to receive the
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  light from above. And this work is perpetual and
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  perpetually renewed. So it is impossible to live in
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  this world, in the world as it is, and become perfect without
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  the world itself making a great progress.
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  End Quote. Reference Sri Orobindo and the
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  Mother, The Hidden Forces of Life, Chapter Eight Life A Mass
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  of Vibrations, page 187.