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The Joy of Action -- Independent of Concern for the Fruits of the Action · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  The goal of the Integral Yoga is nothing less than the
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  transformation of human nature, the uplifting of consciousness
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  to the next evolutionary stage in the manifestation, and the
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  consequent changes that brings about to create a new harmony
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  and a New Balance in the life of the individual and in the world.
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  Those who take up this yoga find that human nature is not so
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  malleable, and thus old modes and habits of action tend to
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  stay embedded even when we recognize that things need to
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  change. Some of the past developments of
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  consciousness have taken not just millennia to manifest and
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  embed themselves in human nature.
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  Rather, some of these traits go back literally hundreds of
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  millions or even billions of years.
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  If we take up the yogic practice with the expectation that we
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  will get easy or fast results, we are thus bound to be
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  disappointed. We thus have to take a different
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  approach, one of offering and self giving to the longer term
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  process of which we are a part. We may never ourselves see or
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  experience the changes we are aspiring toward, but we are
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  helping by the very attempt to prepare the ground, the texture
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  of consciousness, for these changes to come about.
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  In a very simplified way, we can look at this process as
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  something of a relay race. Forerunners sequentially take
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  the baton as they are running around the track.
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  Only the last one actually crosses the finish line, but all
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  of the others were essential to make it happen.
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  Possibly some of the changes in human nature may take place very
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  quickly in just a few 100 years. We ourselves are tasked with
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  carrying our baton through our brief lifetimes and handing it
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  off figuratively to the next generation who will continue the
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  work. And eventually the new
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  consciousness will be fully manifested, will set right the
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  imbalances and disharmonies in the mental, vital, physical,
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  precarious balance that clearly has its limitations as a
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  transitional stage, and will reorganize the life of the
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  humanity and its relationship with the other beings and the
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  environment of the planet itself.
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  If we take the approach of a self offering to this larger
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  divine manifestation, and if we at the same time do not carry
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  within us the expectation of personal benefit, we can
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  experience, as the Mother mentions, the joy of living our
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  lives and the joy of offering the Mother observes.
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  Quote. As with everything in yoga, the
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  effort for progress must be made for the love of the effort for
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  progress. The joy of effort, the
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  aspiration for progress, must be enough in themselves, quite
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  independent of the result. Everything one does in yoga must
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  be done for the joy of doing it, and not in view of the result
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  one wants to obtain. Indeed, in life always in all
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  things, the result does not belong to us, and if we want to
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  keep the right attitude, we must act, feel, think, strive
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  spontaneously, for that is what we must do and not in view of
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  the result to be obtained. As soon as we think of the
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  result, we begin to bargain, and that takes away all sincerity
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  from the effort. You make an effort to progress
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  because you feel within you the need, the imperative need to
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  make an effort and progress. And this effort is the gift you
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  offer to the divine consciousness in you, the divine
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  consciousness in the universe. It is your way of expressing
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  your gratitude, offering yourself, and whether this
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  results in progress or not is of no importance.
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  You will progress when you it is decided that the time has come
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  to progress, and not because you desire it.
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  If you wish to progress, if you make an effort to control
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  yourself, for instance, to overcome certain defects,
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  weaknesses, imperfections, and if you expect to get a more or
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  less immediate result from your effort, your effort loses all
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  sincerity. It becomes a bargaining.
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  You say, see, I am going to make an effort, but that's because I
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  want this in exchange for my effort.
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  You are no longer spontaneous, no longer natural.
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  End Quote. Reference Sri Aurobindo and the
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  Mother, Looking from Within, Chapter 5, Attitudes on the
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  Path, pages 169 to 170.