Liberation and Self-Perfection: Adherence to the Divine Intention in the Universal Manifestation

Much of the historical context of spirituality has been centered around the idea of individual realisation and liberation. The disciplines, practices and methods have been geared towards the individual achieving some form of release from what is recognised to be the ‘illusion’ of the exte
al world around us and the chasing after transitory rewards to be acquired in that exte
al world, in the form of wealth, prestige, fame, power, physical, vital or mental satisfactions or gratifications, etc.

The focus on individual salvation has, however, seen modifications in some traditions. The Bodhisattva vow in the Buddhist tradition is an example. The Bodhisattva reaches to the very border of liberation into Nirvana, but vows not to ‘cross over’ until every sentient being has also been liberated. While the focus remains on liberation as a goal, the Bodhisattva forsakes individual achievement of the goal in favor of a collective result encompassing all beings.

The idea of the kingdom of God being realized on earth represents another attempt to bridge the gap between the individual and the exte
al reality and the collective realisation.

In The Life Divine , Sri Aurobindo moves beyond the traditional focus on a purely individual salvation. He acknowledges the reality of both the process of liberation and the process of perfection as part of the exte
al manifestation which are normally considered to be at odds with one another, as he maps out the “omnipresent reality” that incorporates both aspects. In The Synthesis of Yoga, Sri Aurobindo introduces the ‘yoga of self-perfection’ to model a yogic sadhana that incorporates this integral perspective. Sri Aurobindo’s recognition of a universal divine intention and consciousness which is manifesting the evolution of consciousness as the defining motive of the Divine’s force in the world, moves beyond the focus on the individual and places the individual in a situation of consciously accepting and collaborating with this larger movement, for which individual liberation is a part, but not the entire meaning of existence.

The Mother notes: “… a supreme disinterestedness and a supreme liberation is to follow the discipline of self-perfection, the march of progress, not with a precise end in view…, the liberation of Nirvana, but because this march of progress is the profound law and the purpose of earthly life, the truth of universal existence and because you put yourself in harmony with it, spontaneously, whatever the result may be.”

“There is a deep trust in the divine Grace, a total surrender to the divine Will, an integral adhesion to the divine Plan which makes one do the thing to be done without conce
for the result. That is the perfect liberation.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Looking from Within, Chapter 5, Attitudes on the Path, pg. 168