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Shifting the Motive Power of Action from the External Being to the Psychic Being · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  For most people, the impulsion to action comes from a need,
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  desire or ambition of some sort. If these are removed, the
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  individual can become depressed and fall into a state that lacks
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  motivation and thereby reduces their energy.
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  When it comes to doing anything. We frequently see people or
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  experience within ourselves states of being that have
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  essentially given up with the sense that all this action is
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  meaningless or destined to fail, or else a sense of deep fatigue
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  takes over and one can barely get up out of bed and go through
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  the normal chores of the day. Some people work day in and day
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  out for years to accomplish some task only to have all their
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  forward progress destroyed in a day.
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  It is discouraging and they either renew their efforts or
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  simply accept the failure and give up action.
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  The spiritual seeker is not immune to these setbacks and the
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  fatigue of action. He has an additional issue to
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  resolve, and that is if he removes all the prods that the
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  physical, vital and mental nature normally provide to
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  provoke him into action, what remains to get him to act at
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  all? In some cases we see individuals
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  who take up the spiritual life simply abandoned the life in the
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  world with the sense that it is all an illusion, or else as a
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  reaction to setbacks and difficulties, more or less as an
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  escape from the pressures of the outer existence.
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  What can move the spiritual seeker to action when he is no
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  longer driven by need, desire or ambition?
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  In the Bhagwad Gita, Sri Krishna confronts this issue when Arjuna
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  declares he will not fight and it is better to give up than to
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  undertake the action before him for which he has been preparing
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  his entire adult life. He explains to Arjuna that one
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  can act from an entirely different standpoint, one of
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  doing the work to be done without desire for the fruits,
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  without attachment to the result, simply because it is
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  what the divine has placed before 1 for one's action.
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  Sri Krishna explains that all of the warriors are destined to die
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  in this battle, and that Arjuna's role has been prepared
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  to carry this out, but the result, one way or the other,
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  cannot be avoided. The larger purpose of moving
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  humanity forward in its evolution and overcoming
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  retrogressive forces is what Arjuna should be focusing on.
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  The spiritual seeker is called upon to act with full energy and
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  focus, not for his own personal aggrandizement or benefit, but
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  as a dedicated and consecrated activity carrying out the
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  Divine's impulsion in the world at large.
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  This requires shifting the standpoint for the motive power
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  from the external being, the Nexus of the body, life and
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  mind, to the psychic being, which is the individual's direct
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  link to the divine. Shrioro Bindo notes quote.
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  Men usually work and carry on their affairs from ordinary
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  motives of the vital being, need, desire of wealth or
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  success or position or power or fame, or the push to activity
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  and the pleasure of manifesting their capacities.
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  And they succeed or fail according to their capability,
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  power of work and the good or bad fortune which is the result
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  of their nature and their karma. When 1 takes up the yoga and
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  wishes to consecrate one's life to the Divine, these ordinary
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  motives of the vital being have no longer their full and free
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  play. They have to be replaced by
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  another, a mainly psychic and spiritual motive, which will
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  enable the sadak to work with the same force as before, no
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  longer for himself but for the divine.
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  If the ordinary vital motives or vital force can no longer act
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  freely and yet are not replaced by something else, then the push
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  or force put into the work may decline, or the power to command
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  success may no longer be there. For the sincere Sadak the
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  difficulty can only be temporary.
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  But he has to see the defect in his consciousness or his
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  attitude and to remove it. Then the divine power itself
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  will act through him and use his capacity and vital force for its
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  ends. End Quote.
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  Reference Shriya Rabindu and the Mother, Looking from Within,
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  Chapter 3. Action and Work, page 65.