Latest / Sri Aurobindo Studies / How Do We Determine Our Destined Role in the World? -- Part 3

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How Do We Determine Our Destined Role in the World? -- Part 3 · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  Today's world provides people with both an obstacle and an
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  opportunity when they try to follow their chosen or cherished
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  path in life. The obstacle is based on
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  societal requirement that individuals take up a productive
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  form of work in the world to earn enough money to support
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  their needs for basic necessities of life.
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  In many cases, the skill set and education or training simply is
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  not available to them for the jobs that are accessible to them
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  or else to obtain the necessary skills and certifications.
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  The time and cost of acquisition are beyond their means.
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  Thus, many people bemoan the fact that they are stuck in a
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  dead end job which they do not want, but have no choice in the
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  matter if they have to survive or in some cases pay off their
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  bills or loans or maintain their health insurance etcetera.
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  In other cases they get limited support from their family or
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  their society, but only if they agree to follow a predestined
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  path that may not actually suit them.
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  This occurs frequently in what may be called a family business.
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  The individual has no talent OR interest in taking up the reins
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  of the business, but is expected to do so as the next generation
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  carries on what the previous generation started.
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  Or the family puts pressure on the individual to follow a
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  career path that is at odds with the natural interests, passions
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  and skills of the individual and only provides any support if the
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  person suppresses his natural inclinations and takes up the
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  assigned role. In some cases, the individual is
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  able to pursue their vision or dream concurrently with making
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  their way on society. They may find an educational
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  path or career path that supports what they are inwardly
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  driven to undertake, and thus they can combine their deepest
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  aspirations with a systematic approach within the societal
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  framework. At the same time, there are
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  opportunities for individuals who are willing or able to focus
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  on their driving motivation to find a way to create that future
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  despite the obstacles. They may temporarily take jobs
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  while they prepare themselves and position their future
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  activities. They may find alternative
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  arrangements for living that gives them the freedom to pursue
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  their dreams. They may join like minded people
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  if the goals and developmental freedom align with their
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  seeking. Monasteries, ashrams, and
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  spiritual communities tend to accept people who have a
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  religious or spiritual aspect to their seeking, although the
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  seeker must ordinarily align with the lifestyle that goes
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  along with that. In some cultures, if an
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  individual is willing to sacrifice everything for a
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  spiritual objective, they can take up the life of a wandering
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  mendicant and live a subsistence life.
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  An interesting case occurred in the life of Paramount's
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  Yogananda, as related in his book Autobiography of a Yogi.
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  He was driven from an early age to take up the spiritual life
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  and tried to escape several times from his family and school
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  commitments to find his guru and live in the Himalayas.
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  Devoted to spiritual realization.
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  He eventually came in contact with his guru, who insisted he
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  complete his university studies. He neglected the courses, but
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  the guru insisted he sit for the exams.
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  His guide suggested he work with a friend of his who was a solid
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  student and that individual tutored him so perfectly on the
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  likely exam questions that he was able to pass the exams and
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  satisfy the demands of his family and his guru that he get
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  the benefit of both the education and the degree which
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  stood him in good stead in his later life.
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  Activities. There are others who have a
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  dream or vision and who are willing to sacrifice outer
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  comforts and security for bringing that dream to life.
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  In many cases, they get little or no support until they have
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  created something the society finds valuable.
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  This may take many years or even decades.
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  In some cases this catapults them into the upper echelons of
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  financial well-being. In other cases, they become
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  leaders, founders, researchers, inventors, explorers,
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  innovators, artists, or musicians.
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  They may gain recognition or not, but they are able to
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  develop the line of life that they were clearly destined to
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  follow. In many cases, we see that their
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  work is valued long after their death.
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  Many people feel unfulfilled because either fear or ambition
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  causes them to hold back or overreach, and thus they wind up
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  neither accomplishing their cherished goal nor being
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  satisfied with what they wind up accepting in lieu of taking the
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  chance and living their passion. In some cases, they simply do
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  not prepare the ground if their vital nature is impatient and
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  does not want to work out the steps needed along the way.
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  And then there is the Divine grace.
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  In some instances, an individual with a deep aspiration can find
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  doors opening, pathways laid out before him, opportunities arise
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  and circumstances favour a direction that speaks to his
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  deepest aspirations and allows him to live a life that is both
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  fulfilling and fulfilled in the service of a greater purpose
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  than his own personal needs or desires.
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  The mother notes quote, people are often blamed for choosing an
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  action for themselves which does not correspond to their
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  abilities. There is a slight confusion
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  here. Those who freely set out to
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  accomplish their own favorite work cannot, in my opinion, be
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  on the wrong track. This work must surely be the
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  expression of their own particular tendency.
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  But their mistake lies in wanting to accomplish this work
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  all at once, in its entirety, in its integrality, in depth, and
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  above all on the surface. Forgetting that the very
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  conception of the work is imperfect as they are imperfect,
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  and that to be wise they should add to the knowledge of what
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  they wish to do the more immediate and practical
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  knowledge of what they are capable of doing at the present
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  time. By taking both these factors
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  into account, they can employ themselves with a minimum waste
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  of time and energy. But few people act with so much
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  insight and wisdom, and it very often happens that one who is
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  seeking his way falls into one of these two possible errors.
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  Either he takes his desires for realities, that is, he
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  overestimates his present strength and capacity and
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  imagines that he is capable of immediate assuming a role and a
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  place which he can honorably fulfill only after many years of
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  methodical and persevering effort.
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  Or he underestimates his latent powers and deliberately confines
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  himself, in spite of his deeper aspirations, to a task which is
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  far beneath his abilities and which will gradually extinguish
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  within him the light that could have shone for others.
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  It seemed difficult at first to steer clear of these pitfalls
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  and find the balanced way, the middle way.
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  End Quote. Reference.
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  Sri Orovindo and the Mother, Looking from within, Chapter 3.
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  Action and Work, pages 58 to 61.