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The Spiritual Seeker and the Challenges of Spiritual Growth and Development · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  People believe generally that taking up the spiritual life
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  involves a form of escapism from the daily obstacles,
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  difficulties and pressures of living and active life in
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  society. Some people in fact take up the
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  spiritual path as an escape, but that is neither the primary
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  motivation nor does it represent the majority of spiritual
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  seekers. Spirituality in its essence
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  involves a change of consciousness that is challenged
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  at each step by the habits, instincts and trained responses
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  that the seeker brings with him, as well as millennia of human
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  evolution embedded in his being, the challenges he faces with his
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  physical, vital and mental nature, and then on top of that,
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  the interaction with others and living in the world in some form
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  or another. When the seeker becomes aware of
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  the difficulties, when the amazing experiences and insights
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  recede, it is quite common for a period of dullness,
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  dissatisfaction or depression to enter the play of the three
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  gunas. The qualities of nature, satwa,
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  rajas and tamas continues for the spiritual seeker and thus he
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  goes through periods when one or another of these is predominant.
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  When Sattva comes to the fore, he feels that there is light,
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  harmony, beauty and the advent of knowledge.
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  When Rajas rules, he may experience periods of desire or
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  ambition that can overpower his spiritual aspiration with
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  demands and vital seeking. When Thomas takes the
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  predominant position, particularly when the rajasic
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  element has been frustrated or denied, he can experience doubt,
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  despair, depression. The phenomenon of the dark night
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  of the soul is something that arises at some point for every
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  seeker as they navigate through all the issues they face during
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  the spiritual development. Sri Aurobindo makes an important
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  point for the spiritual aspiration when he says, quote,
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  he who chooses the Infinite has been chosen by the infinite.
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  End Quote. We continue to think that our
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  body, life, mind, Nexus, the ego, personality, the external
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  person is in charge and makes its own decisions without
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  recognizing that the universal manifestation is driving the
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  entire process forward. And those who are ready, those
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  who are receptive, are the ones who come to the spiritual
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  transformative process. All things in nature await their
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  time. Gestation and birth takes time.
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  The transformation from the Caterpillar to the butterfly
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  takes time. None of this is consciously
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  controlled by the individual being, but rather there is a
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  process of nature as manifested by the Divine that carries out
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  these transformations. Similarly, we see the children
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  grow at their own pace, first focusing primarily on physical
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  development, then vital development and later mental
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  development. When the individual is called to
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  the spiritual path, it means that he has reached the stage in
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  his development when that is the inevitable next step.
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  He can try to avoid it, he can attempt to misuse it, but if the
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  calling is true, he will eventually gain the focus and
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  receptivity and develop the active aspiration within him to
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  grow into the spiritual life in all its fulness, Sri Orobindo
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  notes quote. All who enter the spiritual path
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  have to face the difficulties and ordeals of the path, those
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  which rise from their own nature and those which come in from
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  outside. The difficulties in the nature
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  always rise again and again till you overcome them.
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  They must be faced with both strength and patience.
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  But the vital part is prone to depression when ordeals and
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  difficulties rise. This is not peculiar to you, but
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  comes to all sadiqs. It does not imply an unfitness
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  for the sadhna or justify a sense of helplessness, but you
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  must train yourself to overcome this reaction of depression.
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  All who cleave to the path steadfastly can be sure of their
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  spiritual destiny. If anyone fails to reach it, it
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  can only be for one of the two reasons, either because they
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  leave the path or because for some lure of ambition, vanity,
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  desire, etcetera, they go astray from the sincere dependence on
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  the Divine. End Quote Reference Shrioro
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  Vindo and the Mother Looking from Within, Chapter 4, Ordeals
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  and Difficulties, pages 93 to 94.