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Spiritual Development Through Action of the Divine Force Rather Than Through Purely Personal Effort · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  We are wrapped up in the ego consciousness from the moment we
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  take birth. The entire societal structure as
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  well as the weight of millennia of evolutionary development to
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  create an entity that could develop the powers of the vital
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  and mental. Being as a self aware and
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  seemingly independent being works to build up the ego
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  consciousness. As we build our relationships
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  with our family, our friends, our coworkers, and as we undergo
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  education and socialization, we get tied ever tighter to the
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  sense that we are a separate being with free will and the
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  ability to make our own decisions about our life.
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  If we examine this sense more closely, we quickly find that
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  much of what we consider to be the action of free will is
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  easily seen to be determined, caused or manipulated through
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  forces and beings working on us and through us.
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  Yet most people never take the examination to this level and
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  thus feel empowered as independent beings.
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  When a seeker takes up spiritual sadhana, this well established
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  ego consciousness does not simply disappear.
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  It continues as we believe we can succeed in the spiritual
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  practice by our own efforts and overcome the limitations and
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  difficulties similarly by effort.
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  Eventually the seeker begins to understand that it is not so
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  simple when the guna of rajas is predominant.
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  The seeker believes through the exercise of strength of will and
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  effort he will accomplish. He may believe he is specially
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  suited, has a background or innate capacity for this, or
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  that efforts in his past lives have prepared him for the
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  realization in the current life. When this does not work out as
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  anticipated, he may fall back into the Guna of Thomas and feel
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  despondent, depressed, or otherwise incapable or a
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  failure. When the Gunausatwa is in front,
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  he may begin to gain a recognition of the
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  interrelationships and long evolutionary background he has
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  to deal with. Of course, the feeling of pride
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  or vanity can enter into the response of any of the gunas in
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  the unique way that a particular guna responds to situations.
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  Eventually it becomes clear that the ego consciousness is an
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  illusory construct set up for a particular evolutionary purpose
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  but not suited to carry out the next phase of the evolutionary
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  process. The seeker begins to appreciate
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  that the fiction of a self-made success cannot stand in front of
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  millions of years of habitual and instinctual behavior, or
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  even just the social construction of his personality
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  in the present lifetime. The evolution is not of the
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  individual, but of the earth consciousness, and it is the
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  divine force that actually carries out the development,
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  working through the Nexus and framework provided by the
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  individual seeker, but not under the separate control of that
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  individual. This shift of standpoint from
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  the ego standpoint to the divine standpoint implies that the
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  individual should not focus his efforts entirely on suppression
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  or concern about defects which abound in everyone born into the
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  earth consciousness, But rather he should work on tuning his
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  consciousness to the spiritual forces that are then capable of
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  carrying out the spiritual sadhna and effectuating the
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  needed changes and transformations.
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  Whenever the focus drifts away from the focus on higher forces,
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  the seeker can gently but persistently refocus and open
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  his receptivity, Srioro Bindo writes quote.
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  It does not matter what defects you may have in your nature, the
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  one thing that matters is you're keeping yourself open to the
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  force. Nobody can transform himself by
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  his own unaided efforts. It is only the divine Force that
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  can transform him. If you keep yourself open, all
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  the rest will be done for you. Hardly anyone is strong enough
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  to overcome by his own unaided aspiration and will.
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  The forces of the lower nature, even those who do it, get only a
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  certain kind of control, but not a complete mastery.
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  Will and aspiration are needed to bring down the aid of the
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  divine force and to keep the being on its side in its dealing
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  with the lower powers. The divine force fulfilling the
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  spiritual will and the heart's psychic aspiration can alone
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  bring about the conquest. End Quote Reference Sri
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  Aurobindo Basis of Yoga Chapter 2 Faith, Aspiration Surrender
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  page 25.