Effort Summary

Read more about Effort from the works of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo.

What Are Efforts?

It is only effort, in whatever domain it be—material effort, moral effort, intellectual effort—which creates in the being certain vibrations which enable you to get connected with universal vibrations; and it is this which gives joy. It is effort which pulls you out of inertia; it is effort which makes you receptive to the universal forces. And the one thing above all which spontaneously gives joy, even to those who do not practise yoga, who have no spiritual aspiration, who lead quite an ordinary life, is the exchange of forces with universal forces. People do not know this, they would not be able to tell you that it is due to this, but so it is.

The first effort must be to find the soul within, to unite with it and allow it to govern one's life.

What Is Personal Effort?

There is one part of the being which is not at all conscious of being a part of the Divine. The whole of the outer being is convinced that it is something separate, independent and related only to itself. This part of the being must necessarily make a personal effort. It can't be told, "The Divine does the sadhana for you", for it would never do anything, it would never be changed.

Effortlessness

When one is well prepared and the nature is ready, then the last movement is like a spontaneous blossoming—it's no longer an effort, it's an answer. It is a truly divine action in the being: one is prepared and the moment has e, then the bud opens.

Why Are Efforts Needed?

One can't live without effort! If one were to refuse to make any effort, one would not even be able to stand on one's legs or walk or even eat.

Those who are essentially lazy will never find joy—they do not have the strength to be joyful...Effort makes the being vibrate at a certain degree of tension which makes it possible for you to feel the joy.

Steady efforts always bring great results.

One must make an effort to come into touch with one’s psychic being, to become aware and free in the consciousness of the psychic being, and then, quite naturally, spontaneously, you will know what Divine Love is.

How to Make an Effort?

It is always better to make an effort in the right direction; even if one fails the effort bears some result and is never lost.

You look at where you want to go and put all your effort in the movement to go forward. How far you have gone is not your concern. For the moment what is necessary is to do it; this is the only thing that matters.

Roadblocks to Do Effort

One can consider ignorance the cause of all bad things. But I think that one is cowardly because one is very tamasic and fears having to make an effort. In order not to be cowardly, one must make an effort, begin by an effort, and afterwards it becomes very interesting. But the best thing is to make the effort to overcome this kind of flight out of oneself. Instead of facing the thing, one recoils, runs away, turns one's back and runs away. For the initial effort is difficult. And so, what prevents you from making an effort is the inert, ignorant nature.

Nothing is more dangerous than wanting to rest. It is in action, in effort, in the march forward that repose must be found, the true repose of complete trust in the divine Grace, of the absence of desires, of victory over egoism.

Read more about Freedom from the works of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo.