Sri Aurobindo

Letters on Himself and the Ashram

The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo. Volume 35

Admission, Staying, Departure

The Purpose of the Ashram [2]

I don’t know where to draw the line between the egoistic will and the divine Will. Can there really be anything like the will of the instrument in the practical field? As the physical mind would put it: Since only the Divine’s Will is done, what is the need of your creating instruments for the divine creation?

As long as there is egoism, the egoistic will is there. And so long as there is Ignorance, there will be a will of the instrument in the practical field. If the ignorant egoistic will is to be considered as a manifestation of the Divine Will, then there is no utility in Yoga — in that case the Yogi and the ordinary man stand on the same footing, they are both the Divine and their will is the Divine Will.

The Divine can create his own instruments in an institution as well as outside it. Whether He does it in an institution or not, depends on what He intends to do. If His purpose is to manifest something through a collectivity and not only through scattered and separate individuals, there is nothing to prevent Him from creating an institution for the purpose.

26 July 1932