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Liberation From and Mastery of the External Nature of Man · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  Many religious and spiritual traditions focus on the idea of
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  liberation, from bondage to the illusion of the external world
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  and its enticements and attractions.
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  In some cases this takes the form of a vow of austerity and a
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  focus on achieving redemption and access to heaven after one
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  dies. In other cases it involves the
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  one pointed focus on liberation with the abandonment of the
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  active life in the world, a reduction of 1's needs down to a
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  bare minimum, and in some cases using a begging bowl to obtain
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  food and accepting whatever, if anything, comes to 1.
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  Some practice austere meditations or practices of
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  concentration while residing in the desert, in mountain caves,
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  etcetera. There is a tradition that
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  indicates that a liberated soul can be fully engaged in the
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  external life, but without attachment to the fruits of that
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  life. The legend of King Janaka, for
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  instance, incorporates such a sense.
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  The goal remains liberation, but the active life is not set up in
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  opposition to it. Rather, the seeker needs to act
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  in the world without attachment, act based on principles of
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  righteousness, fairness and balance, and carry out one's
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  Dharma in an upright and proper manner.
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  To a great degree, there has been a divergent view between
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  those who seek liberation from the world and those who want to
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  bring about progress and development in the world.
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  In The Life Divine, Sri Robindo sets forth the opposing views in
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  chapters 2 and 3. The materialist Denial and the
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  refusal of the ascetic. He reconciles these two
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  standpoints in Chapter 4. Reality, omnipresent liberation,
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  and progressive development of the external nature are not
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  opposites but complementary aspects of one reality, and thus
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  both have their underlying validity.
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  In the Bhagwad Gita, Sri Krishna explains to Arjuna that the
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  liberated individual is not to be identified by any particular
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  outer activity or manner of action, but according to his
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  inner state of spiritual realization.
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  In chapter 13, verse 23, however, the Gita goes even
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  further as translated by Sri Aurobindo.
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  Quote Witness source of the consent, upholder of the work of
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  nature, Her enjoyer, Almighty Lord and Supreme Self is the
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  Supreme Soul seated in this body.
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  End Quote. The significant point here is
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  that the Gita goes beyond the description of the Mundaka
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  Upanishad that treats the Supreme Soul as the witness.
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  While the soul of man is actively participating in the
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  actions of nature, the Supreme Soul is seated in the body and
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  is not simply a witness of nature for the Gita, but also
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  source of the consent, upholder of the work of nature, her
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  enjoyer, Almighty Lord and Supreme Self.
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  This implies the possibility that Triorobindu expands upon
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  when he describes the difference between assuming the role of the
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  witness of nature and the potential for transformation and
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  mastery of nature, or in the interim, refusing or withholding
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  of consent for certain responses of nature.
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  Srioro Bindo writes Quote. You can certainly go on
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  developing the consciousness of the witness Purusha above, but
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  if it is only a witness and the lower Procriti is allowed to
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  have its own way, there would be no reason why those conditions
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  should ever stop. Many take that attitude that the
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  Perusha has to liberate itself by standing apart and the
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  procrity can be allowed to go on till the end of the life doing
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  its own business. It is prarabdha karma.
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  When the body falls away, the procrity will drop also, and the
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  Perusha go off into the featureless Brahman.
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  This is a comfortable theory, but of more than doubtful truth.
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  I don't think liberation is so simple and facile a matter as
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  that. In any case, the transformation
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  which is the object of our Yoga would not take place.
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  The Pirusha above is not only a witness.
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  He is the giver or withholder of the sanction.
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  If he persistently refuses the sanction to a movement of
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  procriti, keeping himself detached, then even if it goes
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  on for a time by its own momentum, it usually loses its
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  hold after a time, becomes more feeble, less persistent, less
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  concrete, and in the end fades away.
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  If you take the Purusha consciousness, it should be not
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  only as the witness, but as the Anumanta, refusing sanction to
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  the disturbing movements, sanctioning only peace, calm,
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  purity and whatever else is part of the divine nature.
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  This refusal of sanction need not mean a struggle with the
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  lower property. It should be a quiet,
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  persistent, detached refusal, leaving unsupported, unassented
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  to, without meaning or justification, the contrary
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  action of the nature. End Quote Reference Srioro Bindu
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  and the Mother Looking from Within, Chapter 5.
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  Attitudes on the Path, pages 1:50 to 1:51.