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Divine Realisation and the Uplifting and Perfection of Life in the World · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  The ancient sages of India, as we see in some of the texts that
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  have come down to us through the course of time, understood the
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  balance between the internal and the external, between individual
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  liberation and a balanced activity in the world.
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  They recognized the individual role as part of the divine
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  manifestation and embraced it. The issue Upanishad makes this
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  clear in its short compass, the Titiria Upanishad goes to great
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  lengths to ensure that the seeker does not abandon the
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  material world. The Bhagavad Gita also embraces
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  the idea of undertaking an active life while obtaining
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  liberation through rejection of desire for the results of
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  actions. The Mahabharata, the Ramayana
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  and various of the Puranas emphasizes through their
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  depictions of the lives of individuals who remained
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  householders, who occupied positions of power and
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  responsibility in some cases, yet who were clearly liberated
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  souls. The story of Milarepa, the great
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  Yogi of Tibet, introduces us to his guru Marpa, who was himself
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  a householder with a family. For some period of time.
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  This balance was lost and a single seeking for liberation
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  through abandonment of the outer life became the operative
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  principle. This led to a period in Indian
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  history that very much disregarded the external life in
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  favor of the life of the renunciate, the anchorite, the
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  satu. In every field of human life we
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  see that certain individuals focus on a specific line of
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  development and some become pre eminent in that field.
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  We honour those individuals for their achievement in whatever
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  field they happen to excel. Thus we can honour those who
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  have made the commitment to individual liberation as their
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  sole focus and goal in life. It is a difficult Rd., yet they
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  have chosen to take this path and reach a fulfilment.
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  This does not, however, reduce the value or the importance of
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  achieving a balance between the inner life and the outer life.
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  Srioro Bindo has explained this in his magnum opus The Life
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  Divine, where he begins by describing the human aspiration,
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  then takes up the two major opposing options for exclusive
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  concentration, the materialist and the ascetic, and reconciles
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  them in his affirmation of a soul omnipresent reality.
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  As he works through the issues of addressing the human
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  aspiration, it is important to note that the final chapter of
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  the work is dedicated to achievement of a divine life on
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  earth. This implies taking up all the
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  powers of man, physical, vital, mental, psychic and spiritual,
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  and uplifting, transforming and integrating them into a balance
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  and a harmonious working out of this divine life on earth.
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  Sri Aurobindo notes quote Divinization itself does not
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  mean the destruction of the human elements.
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  It means taking them up, showing them the way to their own
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  perfection, raising them by purification and perfection to
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  their full power and Ananda. And that means raising of the
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  whole of earthly life to its full power and Ananda.
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  End Quote. Reference.
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  Sri Ro Bindu and the Mother looking from within, Chapter 5.
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  Attitudes on the Path, page 152.