In the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna discloses the ultimate secret of spiritual living to Arjuna when he advises him to “Devoting all thyself to Me, giving up in thy conscious mind all thy actions into Me, resorting to Yoga of the will and intelligence be always one in heart and consciousness with Me. If thou art one in heart and consciousness with Me at all times, then by My grace thou shalt pass safe through all difficult and perilous passages…: and “Abandon all dharmas and take refuge in Me (n.b. the supreme Purusha, the divine Presence manifesting the entire world) alone.”
When the supramental being manifests, based in the consciousness of Oneness with the Divine and the entire creation, then the actions that flow from that status are aligned with the divine purpose and represent an inherent expression of the Truth of the divine reality.
Many are those who believe that this is a life of austerity, a life of strict adherence to an external rule or teaching, or alternatively, abandonment of the outer world; the truth is subtler and more nuanced than the mind’s normal “either/or” stance. The divine expression includes beauty, love, divine sweetness, as well as knowledge, will and power of expression. The creation manifests with incredible diversity and at the same time, a deep-rooted interconnection and harmony of all existence based in their oneness. This implies that there is not one fixed and immutable rule for all to follow. Rather, there must be a flexible and harmonious interaction that guides the action of the gnostic being in his actions in the world.
Sri Aurobindo notes in The Life Divine: “The one rule of the gnostic life would be the self-expression of the Spirit, the will of the Divine Being; that will, that self-expression could manifest through extreme simplicity or through extreme complexity and opulence or in their natural balance, — for beauty and plenitude, a hidden sweetness and laughter in things, a sunshine and gladness of life are also powers and expressions of the Spirit. In all directions the Spirit within determining the law of the nature would determine the frame of the life and its detail and circumstance. In all there would be the same plastic principle; a rigid standardisation, however necessary for the mind’s arrangement of things, could not be the law of the spiritual life. A great diversity and liberty of self-expression based on an underlying unity might well become manifest; but everywhere there would be harmony and truth of order.”
Sri Aurobindo, The Future Evolution of Man, Chapter Nine, The Divine Life Upon Earth, pg. 131
Sri Aurobindo Studies 