Sri Aurobindo
Letters of Sri Aurobindo
Volume 1. 1934
I am much delighted by yesterday’s letter, and wiser too. But my point was a little different; perhaps I could not make it clear. What I meant is this: If a sadhak is asked to offer himself through a work for which he has a natural liking, the offering becomes a joyous and consequently an easier one. The very rasa of the Divine for which we are all here, first and last, can be had and tasted more quickly and less laboriously through such a work. For instance, if Dilip were to transfer his allegiance to another deity, say one who presides over the control of servants (if there be any), well, you can imagine the results! (Yesterday itself he said that if he is asked to do Yoga working at the timber godown, he will have to look for a rope for his neck!)...
It is not a question of liking but of capacity – though usually (not always) liking goes with the capacity. But capacity can be developed and liking can be developed or rather the rasa you speak of. One cannot be said to be in the full Yogic condition – for the purposes of this Yoga – if one cannot take up with willingness any work given to one as an offering to the Divine. At one time I 
was absolutely unfit for any physical work and cared only for the mental, but I trained myself in doing physical things with care and perfection so as to overcome this glaring defect in my being and make the bodily instrument apt and conscious. It was the same with some others here. A nature not trained to accept external work and activity becomes mentally top-heavy – physically inert and obscure. It is only if one is disabled or too physically weak that physical work can be put aside altogether. I am speaking of course from the point of view of the ideal – the rest depends upon the nature.
As for the deity presiding over control of servants, godown work as well as over poetry or painting, it is always the same – the Shakti, the Mother.
... The day when I am able to keep the experiences, only then the Yogic consciousness will be founded in me!! But that day seems to be an ever-receding one, for it seems there are many sadhaks living here for four to five years who still haven’t established themselves in this inner silence!
There are many who have not even got it – even most. But I was not laying stress on silence but on the separate awareness of the inner being.
I would like to know if experiences of this kind effect a lasting result in the way of raising one’s consciousness higher, or is it simply the result of preceding days of prayer and aspiration and nothing more, coming and going just like a shower of rain on a parched plot of sandy tract?
They come first in this isolated way, afterwards more frequently and for longer periods, then they settle. In some they settle at once, but that is rare. In some they persist recurring till they are settled, that is less rare. In others the occurrence is at first at long intervals and waits for the consciousness to be ready.
I cannot quite follow you when you say, “... to show you in what direction you must travel.” Does it imply that I should first establish myself in the inner consciousness? But surely that is the primary concern of everyone, as well as mine!
Yes, but I was not writing to everyone and everyone had not asked for the রস [rasa] in work.
Will it do any harm if I show some parts of my letter which deal with my personal experiences?
It is not of much importance whether you can show or not. Just as you feel about it. Later on it may become necessary for you to keep all your personal experiences to yourself.