Sri Aurobindo's Philosophy And Yoga - Some Aspects

The Present Ills Of Life And Their Remedy

The definition of civilisation, its signs and characteristics have so often and so thoroughly been gone into in the recent and past history of mankind that they do not need any re-iteration here. If adherence to moral and spiritual values constitutes civilisation, then admittedly we are not living now in a civilised world. This deterioration of moral and spiritual values applies equally to individuals and nations of the whole world as we know it at present. There is hardly any exception. No country or community can claim to be completely civilised in the light of what constitutes real as opposed to faked civilisation barring some hundreds, nay, even thousands of individuals to be found amongst the various nations who constitute the world community to-day.

What are these moral and spiritual values which are the core of civilisation ? They are certainly truth, honesty, sincerity, uprightness, kindness, love, compassion and right and just dealings between individuals and between nations. Do we find these among men and nations of the world to-day save a few thousands here and there ? But a few thousand people do not constitute a nation ; they are to be considered rather as exceptions than rules to the all-round deterioration of moral and spiritual conduct which has unfortunately overwhelmed the bulk of humanity. In international

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relations hypocrisy, insincerity, dishonesty, falsehood, treachery and suspicion have come to govern the conduct of nations.

A civilised existence would ensure freedom from fear and suspicion in our individual, national and international relations. No treachery or breach of faith should vitiate individual and collective life. Mentally, humanity has progressed beyond imagination from the beginnings of our ancestors, the cavemen, hunters and nomads who lived more or less animal lives though they were far superior to the animals in intelligence. But having once settled to agricultural life, men developed various arts and sciences. A fairly civilised existence commenced with pursuits of higher arts and sciences. Music, poetry, literature, painting, architecture, sculpture were cultivated. A collective life with ideas and ideals of philanthropy, humanitarianism and social services was built up in course of a few centuries. Medical, engineering and other sciences grew. Man began slowly and consciously to master his environment. Navigation developed from its crude beginnings. And the industrial revolution with the discovery of steam-power brought about a thorough revolution in men's and nations' external lives.

With the growth of international trade and commerce came the phenomena of colonialism. The use of fire-power enabled the colonial powers to conquer other people's lands and territories and exploit their human and material resources for their own aggrandizements to the infinite misery of the conquered people who were turned into slaves of the conquerors. Thus selfishness, greed, tyranny and exploitation came to take the

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place of love, sympathy and understanding of others which formerly characterised the life of a simple and primitive people. Greed, rapacity, treachery and violence took the place of their opposites with the result that men became more and more brutalised in their dealings not only with their inferiors but also with other fellowmen of their own ranks. two great wars were fought ostensibly to ensure peace but really to entrench the superior powers in their newly acquired territorial possessions. This has continued to this day and international relations have so much deteriorated that double-dealing, duplicity, treachery and spying are no longer counted as something wrong, harmful and un civilised but are resorted to as a matter of principle which justifies the dictum : Everything is fair in love and war. This is the state at which the so-called civilised human beings of the day have arrived. What farther degeneration awaits humanity is known only to the gods.

The age-long remedy suggested for this downward trend of humanity has been, since the time of the Buddha, to inculcate moral teachings which are universal in principle and applicable to all. But from the results it is clear that no amount of moral teaching and preaching is effective for transformation of the crude human nature however mentally enlightened. So, Buddha's teaching of ahimsa, non-violence, love and compassion has come to naught. Latterly, in our days, it was sought to be revived by Gandhi but his powerful advocacy of truth and non-violence has also become ineffective in the life not only of humanity in general but of his own countrymen in particular and he had to

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acquiesce in the outburst of violence that overtook the whole country following his "Quit India" slogan in the early forties of this century.

It is a tragic irony of fate that the apostle of nonviolence should himself fall a victim to the bullet of an assassin. Political- murder and violence have since become a commonplace all over the world.

Lying, violence, insincerity, hypocrisy and dishonesty have become rampant in the whole world and have almost turned into a way of daily life of mankind. Commercialism, is the bane of the day. And profit-making being the sole motive behind commercialism, it is to earn money any how, by hook or crook, by means fair or foul that has become the order of the day. More than 200 years ago, the Irish poet wrote in an inspired vein : Till fairs the land to hastening ills a prey/Where wealth accumulates, men decay. This truth is more than amply borne out by the insane craze for accumulation of wealth both individually and nationally and the inevitable result is the decadence of all moral and spiritual values which is sure to lead men and nations to utter and absolute ruin.

What. then, is the remedy to arrest this downward trend of human mentality which claims to have reached the acme of civilisation because of its scientific and technological achievements ? A journey to the moon or space shuttles has certainly not solved the many complex, subtle and intriguing problems of human life. The many mechanical and electrical gadgets may have added to the comforts and luxuries of physical existence and instant communication by means of radio and television may have brought humanity closer but they have not certainly solved the basic problems of selfish-

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ness and ego. For the ego is a falsification of our true individuality by a limiting self-identification of it with one mind, one body and one life which are constantly changing from birth to death. What then is the true being which animates us and is changeless, eternal and infinite ? A little reflection will convince us that it is not the mind much less- our life and body which is eternal and imperishable, and makes us one with all and with God who is the One and Unique source of this manifested creation rich and varied and manifold in nature. This is the Spirit, Atman or Brahman and it is to the discovery of this secret entity in us that all our hit man life and effort have to turn to make our lives happy, peaceful and blissful with the antecedent omniscience and omnipotence (knowledge and power) which are lacking in us at the present. To rise above our ignorant, narrow and selfish mentality which is the creation of the ego-prim, ciple in us which sees and acts in division, separation and distinction is then, the first and foremost task of a really enlightened and civilised humanity. The rest are only ancillary and secondary to this principal object of our life which is to discover the divine Reality in us in place of the Ego. A new orient tation of our life from the ignorant mental to spiritual and supramental consciousness is the call of the Spirit in us and to ignore this call is to invite certain defeat, death and disaster both for men and nations. It is the heightening, widening and deepening of the ignorant mental to the spiritual and supramental or truth consciousness that is the need of the hour. The task is no doubt difficult and arduous but this is the only remedy for the present ills of life. There is no other way.

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EXPRESSION

The opposite of expression is repression. When we repress our honest feelings, it may cause complication. We are not, however, free to express all our feelings, so the question of which feelings to express is constantly with us. There is no easy answer to that,, but it is helpful for us to realize that the greatest creation of man is a loving expression of self. Personality and character are our gifts to the world. Learning to express our feelings in a positive manner is a worthy goal.

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