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Difficulties Provide the Possibility of Progress · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  If we examine the times and phases of our lives, we find
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  that when things seem to be going smoothly forward and we
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  feel great, we want to enjoy and appreciate the good times.
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  We thus tend to slacken our efforts so that we can get the
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  most out of the positive energies we are experiencing.
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  This is quite a natural tendency which tends to lull us into a
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  state of quiescence. Real progress, on the other
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  hand, involves focus and attention.
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  In order to get a violin to make music, we need to put the
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  strings under the right amount of tension.
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  Too much and the strings will snap.
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  Too little and there's no music. The same thing happens in our
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  lives. Too little pressure and we tend
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  to become soft and complacent. Too much pressure and we tend to
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  break down in some way or another.
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  Finding the right balance involves determining how to both
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  appreciate the positive and good things that are coming to us,
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  while at the same time remaining focused and persevering.
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  In the yogic sadhna, we can see this everywhere, not just in
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  spiritual pursuits. Athletes practice endlessly,
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  building up their muscles, their reflexes, their coordination and
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  timing, and focusing their minds and emotions on the task they
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  have set before themselves. There's a common saying among
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  many athletes. No pain, no gain, Implying that
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  sitting back and enjoying oneself in ease and comfort is
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  not going to achieve the desired result.
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  The spiritual aspirant who has purposely decided to pursue
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  spiritual growth and development in some form or another,
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  naturally tunes his focus to deal with the issues that help
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  to achieve that progress. This effort immediately leads to
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  any opposing or contrary forces or aspects of the being
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  appearing and insisting on their right to maintain the status
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  quo. Thus the process of aspiration,
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  rejection and surrender, as Shrioro Bindo succinctly
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  describes in his book The Mother.
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  Aspiration, is the action of tuning the receptivity to the
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  higher forces. Rejection is the action of
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  removing the noise from the signal that results from that
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  tuning. Surrender is the action of
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  actively adhering to the impulsions of those higher
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  forces when they are called into the being and separated from the
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  contrary forces and energies. Shrioro Bindo cautions against
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  what he calls a temasek surrender, which essentially
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  gives up any individual effort as long as the ego personality
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  is active. Some focused effort is both
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  needed and beneficial. We sometimes wonder why it is
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  that certain individuals who take up the spiritual path are
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  loaded up with all kinds of difficulties, inner and outer.
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  The Divine manifestation is precise in giving to each
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  individual the issues he is able to face and handle effectively
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  if he makes the effort. Those who have a developed
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  spiritual being naturally can take on what may be considered
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  to be a heavier load than those who are still at an earlier
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  stage of formation and development.
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  Thus, the World Redeemer, whom Sri Aurobindo describes in
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  Savitri, a legend and a symbol, carries all the suffering of the
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  world as he tackles the pain, grief, suffering, weakness and
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  depression that oppress all of humanity.
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  Facing issues that are larger than we have dealt with in the
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  past is actually the process of our growth.
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  Just as we build up our bodies through systematic expansion of
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  our exercise regimen, just as we build up our mental faculties by
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  tackling ever tougher assignments, so too in the
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  spiritual realm, we grow as we take on harder and more
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  difficult inner tasks, the mother writes.
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  Quote The difficulties are for the strong and help to make them
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  stronger. Difficulties come because there
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  are possibilities in you. If in life everything was easy,
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  then it would be a life of nothing.
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  Because difficulties come on your way, it shows you have
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  possibilities. For the aspirant and the sodic,
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  all that comes in his life comes to help him to know the truth
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  and to live it. The difficulties come always to
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  make us progress. The greater the difficulty, the
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  greater can be the progress. End Quote.
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  Reference Shriya Rabindu and the Mother Looking from Within,
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  Chapter 4, Ordeals and Difficulties, pages 76 to 77.