SRI AUROBINDO’S PHILOSOPHY OF EVOLUTION · 10 Sri Aurobindo's with birth as its machinery, _ for...

Sri Aurobindo'sPhilosophy of Evolution

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Kireet JoshiKireet JoshiKireet JoshiKireet JoshiKireet Joshi

Academy for New Education© Authorwww.academyforneweducation.com

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First Edition, 2012

ISBN: 978-93-82085-09-

Published by:POPULAR MEDIAJhilmil Industrial Area, [email protected]

Sri Aurobindo'sPhilosophy of Evolution

According to Sri Aurobindo, evolution is aword which merely states the phenomenon ofthe graduated development of Life in Matterand of Mind in Matter, but does not explain thissurprising phenomenon. He contends thatthere seems to be no reason why Life shouldevolve out of material elements or Mind out ofliving form, unless we accept the Vedanticsolution that Life is already involved in Matterand Mind in Life because in essence Matter is aform of veiled Life, Life a form of veiledConsciousness, and then there seems to be littleobjection to a farther step in the series and theadmission that mental consciousness may itselfbe only a form and a veil of higher states whichare beyond Mind.

According to Sri Aurobindo, the terrestrialworking of the Nature from Matter to Mind andbeyond it has a double process: there is anoutward visible process of physical evolution

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with birth as its machinery, _ for each evolvedform of body housing its own evolved powerof consciousness is maintained and kept incontinuity by heredity; there is, at the sametime, an invisible process of soul evolutionwith rebirth into ascending grades of form andconsciousness as its machinery. Each grade ofcosmic manifestation, each type of form thatcan house the indwelling Spirit is turned byrebirth into a means for the individual soul, thepsychic entity, to manifest more and more ofits concealed consciousness; each life becomesa step in a victory over Matter by a greaterprogression of consciousness in it which shallmake eventually Matter itself a means for thefull manifestation of the Spirit.

A distinguishing feature of this theory ofevolution is that it considers evolution as aprocess of a gradual development of conscious-ness. It is the evolving consciousness thatpresses the development of forms from onegrade to another or from one series of steps toanother either by imperceptible process or bysome bound or crisis, or perhaps, by anintervention from above, _ some descent orensouling or influence from higher planes ofNature. But, by whatever means, it is the

Philosophy of Evolution

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indwelling consciousness that makes its wayupward from the lower to the highergradations, taking up what it was into what itis and preparing to take up both into what itwill be. Evolution is thus not primarily andessentially the evolution of forms, but formsthemselves are generated by the indwellingconsciousness in its push towards gradualemergence through more and more capableforms. Evolution of forms is merely an outwardprocess of evolution; the evolution ofconsciousness is a process of the innerevolution. All evolution is in essence aheightening of the force of consciousness in themanifest being so that it may be raised into thegreater intensity of what is still unmanifest,from matter into life, from life to the mind, andfrom mind to the supermind. To heighten theforce of consciousness until it passes from amental instrumentation into the supra-mentalinstrumentation of the Spirit is an indispens-able evolutionary step. But that is not all thathas to be done. What is to be achieved is tomake the supramental consciousness descendinto lower states of mental, vital and physicalconsciousness and to bring about an integralsupramental transformation of the entire being.

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For this reason, the process of Nature is notconfined to the process of heightening; it takesup all that which is lower into the highervalues; but the farther object that is sought afterin the evolutionary process is the manifestationof the divine life, which would assume intoitself the mental, vital, physical life transformedand spiritualised. In the words of SriAurobindo:

“Our mental, physical, vital existence neednot be destroyed by our self-exceeding, nor arethey lessened and impaired by being spiritual-ised; they can and do become much richer,greater, more powerful and more perfect: intheir divine change, they break into possibilitieswhich in their unspiritualised conditions couldnot be practicable or imaginable.” 1

This is the main substance of Sri Aurobindo’sspiritual theory of evolution.

Many questions arise, and they deserve tobe examined.

It may be contended that the only statementof which we are certain is that there are events,but there is no warrant to admit that eventshave any internal or causal connections among


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themselves or any plan or design behind them.There is, in other words, no teleology. It is,therefore, argued that every event is a ‘chanceevent’, and that the quest of man to seek anymeaning or purpose or any teleological orevolutionary goal may have some emotionalsignificance but none in terms of objectivetruth. But if we examine this view, we find thatit leaves us with some dissatisfying paradoxes.If everything were a chance, we may ask, howdid the sense of meaning and design arise atall? It may, of course, be answered that that alsowas a matter of chance. But that precisely is theparadox, namely, chance generating the senseof meaning and design. Again, if chance rulesthe world, then it is only a chance, and not acertainty, that the chance theory may be valid.In other words, the chance theory has noobligatory force. On the other hand, if there isa secret consciousness in or behind theapparently inconscient Energy in Matter, thenthe chance theory cannot hold its ground. In thesame way, the materialistic position, too,cannot maintain its validity.

At the other extreme, it may be contendedthat if there is an ultimate Reality, which isinfinite, perfect and absolute, then such a

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Reality cannot have any purpose in manifest-ation. It may, however, be conceded, as in theIndian theory of Lila, that the only purpose thatthe Absolute can have in manifestation wouldbe the delight of manifestation itself. But it maybe asked if the delight of manifestation or thedelight of a game would not carry within itselfan object to be accomplished in a partmovement of the universal totality. Indeed, itmay be conceded that a drama withoutdenouement may be an artistic possibility,existing only for the pleasure of watching thecharacters and the pleasure in problems posedwithout a solution or with a forever suspended,dubious balance of solution; the drama of theearth’s evolution might conceivably be of thatcharacter, but an intended or inherentlypredetermined denouement is also and moreconvincingly possible. In that case, it may besaid that Delight or Ananda is the secretprinciple of all being and support of all activityof being; but Ananda does not exclude a delightin the working out of a Truth inherent in being,immanent in the Force of Will of being, upheldin the hidden self-awareness of its consciousness-Force. There can then be no objection to theadmission of a teleological factor, if the purpose


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is not a purpose in the human sense, % thesense of the need to acquire what one does notpossess, _ but in the sense of the intention tomanifest fully all the possibilities inherent inthe total movement.

It may be admitted that science affirmstoday an evolutionary terrestrial existence andthat there are in recent trends of thinking boldand plausible speculations on evolution andthe evolutionary future of man, particularlyamong philosophers. But it may be argued thatthe scientific theory of evolution can bechallenged on the ground that it isinsufficiently founded and that it is superfluousas an explanation of the process of terrestrialNature. If the facts with which science deals arereliable, the generalisations it hazards are short-lived; it holds them for some decades or somecenturies, then passes to another generalisation,another theory of things. No firm metaphysicalbuilding, it may be concluded, can be erectedupon these shifting quicksand.

But, Sri Aurobindo makes it clear that thetheory of spiritual evolution is not identicalwith the scientific theory of form-evolution andphysical life-evolution. According to the theory

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of spiritual evolution, there are three stages inthe process of becoming. An involution of thespirit in the inconscience is the beginning. Anevolution in the ignorance with its play ofpossibilities of a partial developing knowledgeis the middle. A consummation in adeployment of the spirit’s self-knowledge andself-power of its divine being and conscious-ness is the culmination. It is admitted that thetwo stages that have already occurred seem atfirst sight to deny the possibility of the laterconsummating stage of the cycle, but it isstressed that logically they imply itsemergence. For, it is argued, if the inconsciencehas evolved consciousness, the partialconsciousness already reached must surelyevolve into complete consciousness. It iscontended that it is a supramentalised,perfected and divinised life for which the earth-nature is secretly seeking, and that aprogressive manifestation of this kind can onlyhave for its secret of significance the revelationof Being in a perfection of Becoming.

Let us elucidate this view in fuller terms inthe light of Sri Aurobindo. An involution of thespiritual reality in the apparent inconscience ofmatter is the starting-point of evolution.


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Existence appears out form the Inconscient in afirst evolutionary form as substance of Mattercreated by an inconscient energy.Consciousness, involved and non-apparent inMatter, first emerges in the disguise of vitalvibrations, animate but subconscient; then inimperfect formulations of a conscient life, itstrives towards self-finding through successiveforms of that material substance, forms moreand more adapted to its own completeexpression. Consciousness in life, throwing offthe primal insensibility of a materialinanimation and nescience, labours to finditself more and more entirely in the Ignorance(a middle term between inconscience andplenary consciousness), which is its firstinevitable formulation. But it achieves at firstonly a primary mental perception and a vitalawareness of self and things, a life- perceptionwhich in its first forms depends on an internalsensation responsive to the contacts of the outerlife and of Matter. Consciousness labours tomanifest, as best it can, through the inadequacyof sensation, its own inherent delight of being;but it can only formulate a partial pain andpleasure. But when we come to Man, we findthat the energising consciousness appears as

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Mind more clearly aware of itself and things.This is still a partial and limited, not an integralpower of itself; but a first conceptivepotentiality and promise of integral emergenceis visible. That integral emergence is the goal ofevolving Nature.

The appearance of Man in the evolutionarymovement is, according to Sri Aurobindo,highly significant. It is true that Man’s first andprimary business is to affirm himself in theuniverse. But his chief business is to evolve andfinally to exceed himself. He has to enlarge hispartial being into a complete being, his partialconsciousness into an integral consciousness.He has to achieve mastery of his environment,but also world union and world harmony. Hehas to realise his individuality, but also toenlarge into a cosmic self and develop and fulfila process of a transformation, a chastening andcorrection of all that is obscure, erroneous andignorant in his mentality, an ultimate arrival ata free and wide harmony and luminousness ofknowledge and will and feeling and action andcharacter. This can only be accomplished by hisgrowing into a larger being and a largerconsciousness: self-evolution from what hepartially and temporarily is in his actual and


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apparent nature to what he completely is in hissecret self and spirit. This is the justification ofhis work and struggle upon the earth amidstthe phenomena of the cosmos.

It has been affirmed by Sri Aurobindo that,in fact, life, mind and supermind are present inthe atom, are at work there, but invisible, occultand latent in a subconscious or apparentunconscious action of energy. The electron andthe atom are in this view eternalsomnambulists. In the plant the outer formconsciousness is still in a state of sleep, alwayson the point of waking, but never waking.Animal being is mentally aware of existence,its own and others, it has even a practicalintelligence, founded on memory, association,stimulating need, observation, a power of device.The animal prepares human intelligence. Butwhen we come to man, we see the whole thingbecoming conscious. Man not only turns hisgaze downward and around him, but alsoupward towards what is about him and inwardtowards what is occult within him. To climb tohigher altitudes, to get a greater scope, totransform his lower nature, this is always anatural impulse of man as soon as he has madehis place for himself in the physical and vital

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world of the earth and has a little leisure toconsider his further possibilities. He is capable,unlike other terrestrial creatures, of becomingaware of what is deeper than mind, of the soulwithin him, and of what is above the mind, ofsupermind, of spirit, capable of opening to it,admitting it, rising towards it, taking hold of it.It is in his human nature, in all human nature,to exceed itself by conscious evolution, to climbbeyond what he is. And where is the limit ofeffectuation in the evolutionary being’s self-becoming by self-exceeding?

A spiritual evolution, it is affirmed, is anevolution of consciousness in Matter, in aconstant developing self-formulation till theform, even the physical body, can reveal thehigher supramental knowledge and power andharmony. This, according to Sri Aurobindo, isthe keynote, the central significant motive ofterrestrial existence.

The theory of spiritual evolution may,according to Sri Aurobindo, accept the scientificaccount of physical evolution as a support oran element, but the support is notindispensable. What is common between thetheory of spiritual evolution and scientific


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theory is the account of certain outward aspectsof evolution, namely, that there is in the scaleof terrestrial existence a development of forms,of bodies, a progressively complex andcompetent organisation of Matter, of Life inMatter, of consciousness in living Matter; inthis scale the better organised the form, themove it is capable of housing a better organised,a more complex and capable, a more developedor evolved Life and consciousness. In regard tothese common aspects, there does not seem tobe a basis for dispute, once the evolutionaryhypothesis is put forward and the factssupporting it are marshalled. The dispute arisesin regard to those aspects which are notindispensable for the theory of spiritualevolution, namely, the precise machinery bywhich the evolutionary process is effected orthe exact genealogy or chronological successionof types of being, the evolved form, naturalselection, the struggle for life and the survivalof acquired characteristics. These may or maynot be accepted. What is of primary consequenceis the fact of a successive creation with adeveloping plan in it. Another conclusion is thatthere is a graduated necessary succession in theevolution; first the evolution of Matter, next the

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evolution of Life in Matter, then the evolutionof Mind in living Matter, and in this last stagean animal evolution followed by a humanevolution. In particular, the essential point inthe theory of spiritual evolution is the fact ofthe evolution of consciousness, a progressionof spiritual manifestation in material existence.

But even if all this is accepted, it may stillbe doubted that Man would evolve sounimaginably as to develop into a superman orsupramental species. It may be argued thatMan is a type among many types soconstructed, and like others, so he, too, has hisown native law, limits, special kind ofexistence, within whose limits he can extendand develop, but which he cannot transcend.To exceed himself, to grow into the superman,to put on the nature and capacities proper tothe supermind, would be, it may be concluded,a contradiction of his self-law, impracticableand impossible.

In reply, Sri Aurobindo concedes that eachtype or pattern of consciousness and being inthe body, once established, has to be faithful tothe law of being of that type, to its design andrule of nature. But he points out that it may very


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well be a part of the law of the human type towork for self-exceeding, and in its impulsetowards self-exceeding, the means for aconscious transition has been provided alongwith the spiritual powers of man, and thepossession of such a capacity may be a part ofthe plan on which the creative Energy has builthim.

In the process of self-exceeding, it hasfurther been pointed out that there has been atremendous human progress since man’sappearance or even in his recent ascertainablehistory. It may, however, be argued that thisprocess has not carried the human race beyonditself, into a self-exceeding. In reply, SriAurobindo points out that that was not to beexpected until a critical stage was reached andthat it is only now that stage is being reached.The action of evolutionary nature in a type ofbeing and consciousness is first to develop thetype to its utmost capacity by subtilisation andincreasing complexity till it is ready for herbursting the shell, the ripened decisiveemergence, reversal turning over ofconsciousness on itself.

Sri Aurobindo further points out that in the

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evolutionary process, at each stage of higherascent from a lower stage, the higher does notabandon the lower, but its first occupation is totake up and assimilate the lower by intensercultivation, sharpening, subtilising andsublimination. As man ascends from theanimal, he looks downward from his plane ofwill and intelligence and enlarges, subtilisesand elevates his use of those elements whichare central to the animal-sensation, sense-emotion, vital desire and pleasure. He does notabandon the animal reactions and enjoyments,but more lucidly, finely and sensitivelymentalises them. But as he develops further, heputs his lower being to a severer test, begins todemand from it on pain of rejection somethinglike a transformation that is the mind’s way ofpreparing for spiritual life still beyond it. Asthere are several lower and higher elements inman, the process of assimilation andsublimation becomes long and complex, andthere appears to be not a straight line ofprogression, but development in a cycle. Inreality, when the process is examined moreclosely, it turns out to be a process of spiralprogression, in which a cycle of developmentends at a higher point than the point which was


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earlier reached before entering into a period ofa downward curve. Looked at from this pointof view, it may be conceded that what man hasuntil now principally done is to act within thecircle of nature, on a spiral of nature-movement, sometimes descending, sometimesascending. But what he has achieved % and thisis important from the point of view apreparation for a future secure ascent % is thathe has sharpened, subtlised and made anincreasingly complex and plastic use of hiscapacities. In that sense, it can be said thathowever great the ancients, however supremesome of their achievements and creations,however impressive their powers ofspirituality, of intellect or of character, there hasbeen in later developments an increasingsubtlety, complexity and manifold develop-ment of knowledge and possibility in man’sachievements, in his politics, society, life,science, metaphysics, knowledge of all kinds,art and literature. Even in his spiritualendeavour, it has been urged, there has beenthis increasing subtlety, plasticity, sounding ofdepths and extension of seeking, even thoughthe heights reached were less surprisingly loftyand less massive in power than those reached

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by the ancients. It is not surprising that therehave been falls from a high type of culture, asharp temporary descent into a certainobscurantism, cessations of the spiritual urge,plunges into a barbaric natural materialism.Considering the total spiral of progress, SriAurobindo views them as temporaryphenomena, at worst a downward curve,preparing for higher curve. It is thus true thatthis progress has not carried the race beyonditself, into a self-exceeding or a transformationof the mental being; but this was not to beexpected. All that has developed so far can beregarded, it has been concluded, as a processof developing the human type to its utmostcapacity, and it is only now that we are readyto feel that it has ripened to a point of a decisiveemergence or mutation. And the present crisisof mankind is an indicator of the comingmovement of that mutation.

It has been observed that the appearance ofhuman mind and body on the earth marks acrucial step, a decisive change in the course andprocess of evolution. Up to the advent of man,evolution had been effected, not by the self-aware aspiration, intention, will or seeking ofthe living being, but subconsciously or


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subliminally or by the automatic operation ofNature. But in man the necessary change hasbeen made. In him, the self-aware participatingindividual will has emerged, and the being hasbecome awake and aware of himself. Man hasseen that there can be a higher status ofconsciousness than his own; the aspiration toexceed himself is delivered and articulatewithin him. He becomes conscious of a soul, hecomes to discover the self and spirit. Until hisemergence, evolution was subconscious; withhim a conscious evolution becomes conceivableand practicable.

It has been further pointed out by SriAurobindo that if we observe closely theoperations of Nature, we find that in theprevious stages of the evolution, nature’s firstcare and effort had to be directed towards achange in the physical organisation. Thatchange was a prerequisite of a change ofconsciousness. But in man a reversal is possible,indeed inevitable. It is through his conscious-ness, through its transmutation, and no longerthrough a new bodily organism as a firstinstrumentation, that the evolution can beeffected. It may even be surmised that in theinner reality of things, a change of conscious-

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ness was always the major fact, that evolutionhas always had a spiritual significance and thephysical change was only instrumental. Thisrelation was concealed by the first abnormalbalance of the two factors, the body of theexternal inconscience outweighing andobscuring in importance the spiritual element,the conscious being. But once the balance hasbeen righted, it is no longer the change of bodythat must precede the change of consciousness;the consciousness itself by its mutation willnecessitate and operate whatever mutation isneeded for the body.

It may, however, be still argued that if anevolutionary culmination in the production ofthe spiritual and supramental being is intendedand man is to be its medium, it will only be afew especially evolved human beings who willform the new type and move towards the newlife; that once done the rest of humanity willsink back and remain quiescent in its normalstatus. In reply to this argument, Sri Aurobindoconcedes that there is not the least probabilityor possibility of the whole human race risingen masse to the supramental level. What issuggested, it has been admitted, is nothing sorevolutionary and astonishing, but only the


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capacity in the human mentality, when it hasreached a certain level or a certain point ofstress of the evolutionary impetus, to presstowards a higher plane of consciousness and itsembodiment in the being. It has further beenexplained that the being will necessarilyundergo by this embodiment a change of thenormal constitution of its nature, a changecertainly of its mental and emotional andsensational constitution and also to a greatextent of the body consciousness and thephysical conditioning of our life and energies;but the change of consciousness will be thechief factor, the initial movement; the physicalmodification will be a subordinate factor, aconsequence. As to whether humanity will sinkback after the mutation of the human species,Sri Aurobindo suggests that the urge of mantowards self-exceeding is not likely ever to dieout totally in the race, and that the human,mental status will always be there, not only asa degree in the scale, but also as an open steptowards the spiritual and supramental status.

Man as he is, it has been affirmed, cannotbe the last term of an evolution, if a spiritualunfolding on the earth is the hidden truth ofthe emergence of consciousness that has been

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taking place in Nature. He is, it is stressed, tooimperfect an expression of the Spirit, Minditself a too limited form and instrumentation.Man, the mental being, can only be atransitional being. If man is incapable ofexceeding his mentality, it has been suggested,he must be surpassed, and Supermind andsuperman must manifest and take the lead ofthe creation. But if his mind is capable ofopening to what exceeds it, then there is noreason why man himself should not arrive atSupermind and supermanhood or at least lendhis mentality, life and body to an evolution ofthat greater term of the Spirit manifesting inNature.

In the light of the foregoing, Sri Aurobindoregards man as a laboratory of evolution onwhich Nature is experimenting to bring abouthis mutation. But man is a conscious being witha conscious will and instrumentation ofdeliberate action. The evolutionary force ofNature and man’s will can therefore act andreact upon each other, and the entire humandrama can be seen as an enactment of thisaction and reaction. If the consciousness of mancan be widened, intensified and heightened, itcan learn the laws and processes of evolution


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and master the art of engineering theevolutionary movement, and it can, byvoluntary cooperation with the evolutionarywill, accelerate and effectuate the highestpossible transmutation of himself. Man can, inother words, universalise himself, exceedhimself, and fashion from his stuff and spirit anew being, a superman.

But there are several past and presentconcepts of the superman. Supermanhood inthe ordinary idea consists of a surpassing of thenormal human level, not in kind but in degreeof the same kind, by an enlarged personality, amagnified and exaggerated ego, an increasedpower of mind, an increased power of vitalforce, a refined or tense and massiveexaggeration of the forces of the humanignorance. There is also implied in it the ideaof a forceful domination over humanity by thesuperman. This is the concept of superman-hood that we find in Nietzsche. Sri Aurobindopoints out that the Nietzschean type ofsuperman really signifies what is contained inthe Indian concepts of the Rakshasa or Asura.The Rakshasa and the Asura symbolise a tenseeffort of humanity to surpass and transcenditself, but in the wrong direction. In India, a

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specific distinction is made between theRakshasa and the Asura. The Rakshasa iscentred in the violence and turbulence of theexaggerated vital ego satisfying itself with thesupreme tyrannical or anarchic strength of self-fulfilment; he is the giant, the ogre or devourerof the world. In the Asura, we find a mightyexhibition of an overpowering force, a self-possessed, self-held, even, it may be, anascetically self-restrained mind-capacity andlife-power; he is strong, calm or cold orformidable in collected vehemence, subtle,dominating; he achieves even a sublimation atonce of the mental and vital ego. If we examinethe history of the world in the light of SriAurobindo, we shall find that the earth has hadenough of this kind of supermanhood in herpast, and a larger emergence of that type wouldbe a retrograde evolution. What is, however,conceived as the supermanhood that resultsfrom the decisive spiritual evolution is at oncemuch more difficult and much more simple. SriAurobindo conceives in the divine superman aself-realised being, a building of the spiritualself, an intensity and urge of the soul and thedeliverance and sovereignty of its light andpower and beauty. It is not egoistic superman-


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hood seizing on a mental and vital dominationover humanity, but the sovereignty of the Spiritover its own instruments, its possession of itselfand its possession of life in the power of theSpirit. The divine superman, Sri Aurobindoaffirms, will represent a new consciousness inwhich humanity itself shall find its own self-exceeding and self-fulfilment by the revelationof the divinity that is striving for birth withinit. This is the concept of the superman that wefind in Sri Aurobindo. As Sri Aurobindoexplains, the divine superman combines andsynthesises the highest powers of love, powerand wisdom. In him, the full heart of love istranquillised by knowledge into a clam ecstasyand vibrates with strength; the strong hands ofPower labour through him for the world in aradiant fullness of joy and light; his luminousbrain of knowledge accepts and transforms theheart’s obscure inspiration and lends itself tothe workings of the high-seated will. All thesepowers are founded together, not in ego, but inbeing that transcends ego, in a soul of sacrificethat lives in unity with all the world andaccepts all things to transmute them in theirdivine stuff and forms.

In the vision of Sri Aurobindo, the advent

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of the divine superman would mean a reversalof the present law of human consciousness andlife. The divine superman does not reject Matterand physical life, although he transforms it.One realises that the soul has descended intothe Inconscient and assumed the disguise ofMatter for the adventure and the joy of creationand discovery. Life is seen as an adventure ofthe Spirit; it is not an error of the soul, but adeliberate enterprise that seeks a fulltransformation of material life on the earth.And when that transformation is achieved, thesuperman may not withdraw from life andMatter, but would continue to lead theevolution in Knowledge, a continuous self-unfolding of the infinite Spirit. It is envisagedthat the evolution in Knowledge would be amore beautiful and glorious manifestation withmore vistas ever unfolding themselves andmore intensive in all ways than any evolutioncould be in the Ignorance. The supramentalmanifestation of life would be more full andfruitful; it would mean a greater and happierlife for the entire earth.

It is, indeed, realised that the task involvedin the transmutation of man into the divinesupermanhood or into a supramental being is


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the most difficult task that can be conceived. Ithas been pointed out that this would meangetting nearer to our inner self and discoveringthe force of the soul that presides over thepowers of our nature. There has to be,according to Sri Aurobindo, constant stress onself-perfection that gives to the soul-force itslargest scope. The soul-power of Knowledgemust rise to the highest degree of which theindividual nature can be the supporting basis.There must develop a free mind of light, andthere must develop a bottomless steadiness andillimitable clam, upholding all the illumination,movement, and action as on some rock of ages,equal, unperturbed, unmoved. Similarly, thesoul-power of Will and strength must rise tolike largeness and altitude. One has to developan absolute, calm fearlessness of the free spirit,an infinite dynamic courage which no peril,limitation of possibility or wall of opposingforce can deter from pursuing the work, a highnobility of soul and will untouched by anylittleness or baseness and moving with a certaingreatness of step to spiritual victory throughwhatever temporary defeat or obstacle. Theremust be a spirit never depressed or cast downform faith and confidence. There should also

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come to fulfilment of a soul-power of mutuality,a free self-spending and spending of gift andpossession in the work to be done, a greattaking into oneself from all beings and a freegiving out of oneself to all, which can bedescribed as a divine commerce. And, finally,there must come about the perfection of thesoul-power of service, the universal love thatlavishes itself without demand of return, theembrace that takes to itself the body of God inman and works for help and service, theabnegation that is ready to bear the yoke of theideal and make life a free servitude to the truth,the right and the vast. This would also mean acomplete extinction of egoism and the sense ofthe ego, a complete self-surrender of the wholebeing to the spiritual Reality of our being andto its work in the world. All these things are tobe united, and in the process, they would allassist and enter into each other and become one.

It is clear that the task is colossal. It is at onceindividual and collective. According to SriAurobindo, no individual by himself canaccomplish this task. The great but little knownexperiments have shown that there has to be aminimum collectivity, representative of thewhole humanity, which must support the


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individual revolutionary effort and evolutionarygeneral progression. Not speculations but directinvolvement in material transmutation wouldbe needed. Indeed, a century or two or evenmore may be needed before the task can beaccomplished; but to accomplish it even then,we are called upon to begin now.

Notes

1 Sri Aurobindo: The Life Divine, CentenaryEdition, Vol.19, p. 728

Kireet Joshi

Kireet Joshi (b.1931) studied philosophy andlaw at the Bombay University. He was selectedfor I.A.S. in 1955 but in 1956 he resigned in orderto devote himself to the study and practice of theIntegral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the Motherat Pondicherry. He taught Philosophy andPsychology at the Sri Aurobindo InternationalCentre of Education at Pondicherry andparticipated in numerous educational experi-ments under the direct guidance of the Mother.

In 1976, Government of India invited him to beEducational Advisor in the Ministry ofEducation. In 1983, he was appointed SpecialSecretary to the Government of India, and heldthis post until 1988. He was Member-Secretaryof Indian Council of Philosophical Research from1981 to 1990. He was also Member-Secretary ofRashtriya Veda Vidya Pratishthan from 1987 to1993. He was the Vice-Chairman of the UNESCOInstitute of Education, Hamburg, from 1987 to1989.

From 1999 to 2004, he was the Chairman ofAuroville Foundation. From 2000 to 2006, he wasChairman of Indian Council of PhilosophicalResearch. From 2006 to 2008, he was Editorial

Fellow of the Project of History of Indian Science,Philosophy and Culture (PHISPC).

He was also formally Educational Advisor to theChief Minister of Gujarat (2008-2010). Currentlyhe is at Sri Aurobindo Ashram at Pondicherry,engaged in the tasks of research and guidancein themes related to ‘Science and Spirituality’and ‘Spiritual Education’.

Also by Kireet JoshiVisit www.kireetjoshiarchives.com

Books on Synthesis of Yoga and Allied Themes• Sri Aurobindo and The Mother• The New Synthesis of Yoga _ An Introduction• Varieties of Yogic Experience and Integral

Realisation• Significance of Indian Yoga _ An Overview• A Pilgrim’s Quest for the Highest and the Best• Synthesis of Yoga in the Veda• Synthesis of Yoga in the Upanishads• The Gita and its Synthesis of Yoga• Integral Yoga _ An Outline of Major Aims,

Processes, Methods and Results• Integral Yoga of Transformation _ Psychic,

Spiritual and Supramental• Supermind in Integral Yoga _ Problem of

Ignorance, Bondage, Liberation and Perfection• Integral Yoga and Evolutionary Mutation _ Its Aid

to Humanity and Human Species• Integral Yoga, Evolution and The Next Species• Sri Aurobindo and Integral Yoga

Books on Philosophy• A Philosophy of the Role of the Contemporary

Teacher• A Philosophy of Education for the Contemporary

Youth

• A Philosophy of Evolution for the ContemporaryMan

• Philosophy and Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and otherEssays

• Philosophy of Value-Oriented Education (Theoryand Practice)

• Philosophy of Indian Art• Philosophy of Indian Pedagogy• Towards a New Social Order

On Indian Culture• Glimpses of Vedic Literature• Stories for Youth In Search of a Higher Life• Arguments of Arjuna at Kurukshetra and Sri

Krishna’s Answer• Indian Identity and Cultural Continuity

Education• Education at Crossroads• A National Agenda for Education• Education for Tomorrow• Education for Character Development• Child, Teacher and Teacher Education• Innovations in Education

Booklet Series1. Towards Universal Fraternity2. Sri Aurobindo’s Philosophy of Nationalism and

Internationalism

3. Sri Aurobindo’s Philosophy of HumanDevelopment and Contemporary Crisis

4. Schopenhauer and Indian Philosophy5. Sri Aurobindo’s Philosophy of Evolution6. Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother7. Introduction to Sri Aurobindo’s Philosophy of the

Ideal of Human Unity8. Problem of Knowledge _ Problem of Causality,

Change and Time9. On Hinduism

10. Party System and Values of Honesty and Efficiency11. Vedic Ideals of Education12. Importance of Sanskrit13. Beyond Religion: Towards Synthesis, Harmony and

Integral Spirituality14. Philosophical Notes on Ibn Rushd15. Contemporary Crisis of Humanity and Search for its

Solutions

Edited by Kireet Joshi

Teaching Learning Material for TeacherTraining• The Aim of Life• The Good Teacher and the Good Pupil• Mystery and Excellence of the Human Body

Monographs Related to the theme ofIllumination, Heroism and Harmony• Parvati’s Tapasya• Nachiketas• Taittiriya Upanishad• Sri Rama• Sri Krishna in Brindavan• Nala and Damayanti• Svapna Vasavadattam• Episodes from Raghuvamsham• The Crucifixion• The Siege of Troy• Gods and the World• Homer and The Iliad _ Sri Aurobindo and Ilion• Socrates• Alexander the Great• Joan of Arc• Catherine the Great• Leonardo da Vinci• Danton and the French Revolution• Marie Sklodowska Curie• Uniting Men - Jean Monnet• Proofs of the Existence of God• Science and Spirituality• Napoleon

SRI AUROBINDO’S PHILOSOPHY OF EVOLUTION · 10 Sri Aurobindo's with birth as its machinery, _ for...

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Transcript of SRI AUROBINDO’S PHILOSOPHY OF EVOLUTION · 10 Sri Aurobindo's with birth as its machinery, _ for...