Sri Aurobindo's Philosophy And Yoga - Some Aspects

Humanity - Peace And Harmony

I had dealt with the workings of two contradictory forces, those of good and evil, light and darkness and Truth and Falsehood. These antagonists are striving to dominate our earth life ; they have ever done since the creation arrived at mental consciousness culminating in the creation of a mental humanity. But mind and mental humanity though they have been taken in the forefront of our life for over many millions of years have long been weighed in the balance and found wanting. That is how at the peak of human mental development we find ourselves no better than primitive animals which act on physical and vital desires and impulses and have not the least control over themselves. Satisfaction of hunger and sex is their sole preoccupation From that point of view the present humanity is not better than the animals because, self-preservation and race-preservation have been the dominant instincts even amongst men, the exceptions being the very few saints, sages and mystics who have contact with the higher and deeper ranges of our Being, which is the Self, Soul or the Divine Reality of our Existence, one in all, infinite, immortal and vmchanging amidst the constant changes of our body, mind and life culminating in the death and dissolution of our material existence.

There is a teleological object in the creation. It is not something accidental or without end or purpose. The object is the evolution of the full Consciousness which is involved in the involutionary process. The

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Divine who is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent has chosen to hide His omniscience etc., in the dense involution of the Consciousness in its total opposites. He must find Himself in opposites of his own involution in the Inconscience. Probably the time has now come for humanity to arise out of its somnolence to its true Stature of Divinity. But because of its entrenched habits of egoistic life spread over millions of years it is not ready peacefully to co-operate in the emergence of full consciousness in a quiet, peaceful and harmonious working. Hence, the necessity of this world-wide strife, turmoil, war and its widespread devastations.

You cannot deny that the last two World Wars have to a certain extent helped in the raising of our limited human egoistic and separative consciousness to the necessity of human unity at political and economic levels. This is only a beginning on the mental level and cannot be realised in practice till the selfishness, inherent in ordinary human viral being is not eradicated by a new spiritual and supramental orientation. This is a very difnculttonerous task and may take even centuries for preparation, for even, if the mind is prepared to shed off its limits and ignorance because it is an instrument of nature open to change and progress, not so the life-being or the vital nature of man. It is fixed in its operation of consciousness and can only change when there is a spiritual orientation of the Being : but I hope, the widespread interest now shown all over the world for spirituality even on mental levels will one day succeed in changing the selfish nature of the vital. Then the real work will be accomplished and there will be an end to fighting between men and

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men and communities against communities and war at national and international levels will cease.

In the present we have to be content with what we see going on in the World at large, the aggressive attitude of the militant nations, the emergence of fanaticism, the Sectarian intolerance, communal strifes and competitive existence leading to unrest and disorder and disharmony in our individual and collective lives.

Another problem that immediately concerns us is the population explosion in Asian and African countries. Imagine that only less than 40 years back we were half our present numbers. If this goes on unchecked there is hardly any prospect of prosperity in our lives. Peace, they say, is global we cannot live in isolation these days. The world has become physically one. Rapid transport and communication have brought about this unique phenomenon in our lives. But so long as militancy and exploitation rule the conduct of individuals and nations there is little prospect of any global improvement in the standard of our living. But it is hoped, that when trust replaces suspicion, friendliness replaces enmity and truth replaces falsehood we shall see the reduction of military expenditure all over the globe—even to the bare necessity of self-defence and when there is an understanding and harmony in international relations, the vast resources of the nations will be dev ted to the removal of want, poverty, ignorance and disease from the weaker sections of humanity. Already as we know small-pox has been eradicated from the world. So it will be with* other epidemics given the good-will of the nations. A New Era of health and happiness will dawn upon us.

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