Discuss Sri Aurobindo’s idea of ‘integral perfection’ and ‘divine life’ as ethical aspirations for public servants. Distinguish his approach from Gandhi’s, with a contemporary application.

Definition: Aurobindo's Integral Yoga (The Life Divine, 1939) synthesises karma, jnana, bhakti and raja yoga to transform body, life, mind and soul; divine life is humanity's collective evolution toward a supra-mental consciousness — articulated also in his Uttarpara speech (1909).

Illustration: An officer driving an Aspirational District programme — converging health, nutrition, education, livelihood — practises integral perfection: outer convergence mirrors inner integration. Aurobindo differs from Gandhi: Gandhi worked outward through satyagraha and decentralised swaraj; Aurobindo worked inward through consciousness evolution. Both demand ego-renunciation and service as sadhana. Auroville (1968) is the civic experiment; Mission Karmayogi (2020) consciously frames the civil servant as karmayogi. E. Sreedharan blended technical mastery with daily prayer in this Aurobindean spirit.

Application: Aurobindo offers an inward-evolution model that complements Gandhi's outward-action ethics in trusteeship and sarvodaya; the modern public servant needs both — inner steadiness to absorb stress and outer satyagraha to resist injustice from political and bureaucratic superiors alike.