Sri Aurobindo's Philosophy And Yoga - Some Aspects

Churning Of Universal Life - Its Significance

Never before in history has there been such a worldwide crisis in the life of humanity. There is no region of earth which is free from the turmoil and upheaval social, economic and political. From one corner o£ the earth to the other the scene is the same everywhere, disenchantment with the present ways of life in all countries whether large or small, rich or poor. The same malaise has more or less equally affected all the peoples of the earth. There is no peace anywhere. Even in the midst of plenty as in America, West Germany and Japan, there is a growing feeling of the uncertainty of tomorrow and people are almost panic-stricken at the thought of what lies in store for them in the near future, for peace is indivisible.

Add to this the political and economic rivalries of the great powers who, instead of trying to find a solution to their difficulties, are only adding fuel to the fire by resorting to power-politics in every region of the earth making a world-wide conflagration almost a certainty in the not very distant future. If they have so far been deterred from igniting the flames of war, it is the conviction of uncertainty about their own survival in the case of a nuclear holocaust.

But how long, one wonders, will this uncertainty continue ? The day is not probably far off, when tired of waiting for the prospects of a better and brighter future, the belligerent powers may take the decision to start a devastating war both nuclear and conventional

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which will swallow up the whole world and take it back once again to the dark ages. The whole international relation is poisoned with so much doubt, distrust and animosity that it is difficult even to envisage a peaceful and negotiated settlement of the differences that divide the nations into two powerful camps, the capitalist and the .communist regimes.

A third power will always be on the look-out to fish in the troubled waters and wait like a vulture for the dead end of two contending giants so that it may emerge victorious out of the ruins. These are not mere speculations but those who have an insight into human affairs will confirm their truths. China is bidding its time for a war to break out between U. S. and U. S. S. R. and L J. S. A. for a war between China and Russia. The political and diplomatic moves between the two erstwhile and deadly enemies point to the truth of this assertion. The whole atmosphere of the world has been vitiated by espionage, suspicion and mutual distrust. What a degeneration in international relations that when talks for control of armaments are going on, there is a mad race for arms increase and research for more and more lethal weapons for mutual destruction. Hypocrisy cannot go farther.

In a world where the whole outlook of men and nations is purely materialistic, where the needs of the body are considered more important than the needs of the soul, one cannot expect anything better than pure self-interest for survival and exploitation and domination over the weaker sections of humanity. This had been carried on openly and unashamedly by the colonial powers since the invention of steam, the use of gunpowder and mass destructive devices. People were

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ruthlessly killed, their lands seized and they were reduced to slaves where wholesale genocide was not feasible. Thus the whole of Africa and Asia was brought under foreign domination for ruthless exploitation of their resources in men and materials. The process still continues under various subterfuges and camouflages but the result is the same. The world is now divided between the haves and have-nots and there is tooth-and-nail resistance on the part of the developed nations to allow anything like equality to their less developed brethren. In the background of a world which is still dominated or sought to be dominated by sheer brute force, superior armaments and developed technology, one cannot expect men and nations to give up their hard-won privileges in having all the comforts and amenities of life. And there is a mad race of competition not only in the political and military spheres among the industrialised nations but also for economic hegemony acquired over the years. This is the overall picture of the world as it is today.

Where moral and spiritual values are at the lowest ebb and the principle of might is right is followed without the least compunctions of conscience, where treachery, falsehood, bribery and corruption are the order of the day, where the principle is each man and nation for himself and itself, how can one expect a world order of peace, amity and harmony ? Individual and national degradation seem to have reached the rock-bottom of degeneracy ; where everything in life and each of its value has touched the bed-rock of moral and spiritual degradation, there is no scope for further degeneration and the destiny of the race, if it is to survive, must recover its goal. From the experience of the material and

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vital aspects of existence which vitiate even the purely mental and moral life, we must emerge into a spiritual era of living where everything in life will be true, good and beautiful and by realisation of the oneness of the Spirit, we shall realise the essential unity, peace and harmony of a life full of knowledge, power, love and bliss. The age-long preaching of the sages of unity in diversity of the Many in One and of the One in Many, will no longer remain a theory or speculation but will be actually realised in human life.

It is for this that the evolutionary nature is in travail and which she is seeking to deliver to a distressed humanity by churning of the ocean of universal life with all its nectars and poisons. So that the evil and poison-i

Our souls can visit in great lonely hours

Still regions of imperishable Light,

All-seeing eagle-peaks of silent Power

And moon-flame oceans of swift fathomless Bliss

And calm immensities of spirit Space.

—Sri Aurobindo.

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ADDENDUM

Answer to questionnaires regarding the present day ills

of the world.

I am not a prophet who can answer the questions of over-population, hatred, passions and the lust for power that are most characteristics of the crucial age through which the whole humanity is passing. But I have sought to answer in my own way the questions posed by you in this article which was written by me some month ago.

Obviously, the remedy does not lie in our hands. There must be and we believe, there is a higher power that is guiding the destiny of human race through all the toils, strivings and travails of the race. If we see only the dangers and disasters of the present which is obvious even to the most blind, we need not despair of the evolutionary destiny of the human race which is, as you say, heading for destruction.

Even though we try to take a detached view of the whole situation, we are no less pained at what is happening throughout the world now (and not only in India) but knowing as we do that we cannot help or retard the situation by so much as our little finger, we are content to leave things to the Divine who alone is responsible for all the adverse as well as good happenings according to our petty and funny standards of human judge ment, narrow, limited, ignorant and arrogant, at the same time Have patience, see, wait and watch.

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As it is, the spiritual state of consciousness is rare and difficult to reach. So far what has been achieved was individual. The generalisation of the spiritual consciousness among the whole humanity will not be possible even after the Supramental Power manifests in terrestrial life. There will always be a gradation, an hierarchy of the lrurnan consciousness at different levels, physical, vital, mental and supramental.

The gifts of the spirit crowding came to him ;

They were his life's pattern and privilege.

A pure perception lent its lucent joy ;

Its intimate vision waited not to think ;

It enveloped all Nature in a single glance,

It looked into the very self of things ;

Deceived no more by the form he saw the soul.

—Sri Aurobindo.

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