The full prayer is as below. It denotes two kinds of joy that human beings experience, the joy when we are engaged in activity, and the greater joy when we sit quietly in contemplation or very simply a state of inner rest. Here is the full prayer.
‘October 8, 1914
The joy that is contained in activity is compensated and balanced by the perhaps still greater joy contained in withdrawal from all activity; when the two states alternate in the being or are even simultaneously conscious, the felicity is complete, for then, O Lord, Thy plenitude is realised.
O divine Master, Thou hast granted to me the infinitude of divine contemplation, the perfect calm of Thy Eternity, and through an identification with our divine Mother, the All-Realiser, Thou hast permitted me to participate in her sovereign power to be conscious and active…
In the omnipotent bliss of Thy infinitude, I bow to Thee!’
Both these represent two sides of a single Reality, dynamic and passive, Purusha and Prakriti, the Eternal Divine Presence and the Power of the Divine Mother. We need both, neither a withdrawal from life in an ecstatic silent contemplation nor a ceaseless activity. The ideal state though is where both can be combined as one, inner quietude and outer activity, inner silence and outer speech, inner rest in the Divine Presence and the tremendous outpouring of the Force of the Divine Mother in life and activity.
The confusion arises because the word translated as counterpoised can mean either balance (which is what is meant here) but also as if opposed to action. Otherwise it is straight and clear in the standard translation that says balanced and not counterpoised.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
