Integral Yoga - Articles - Yoga of Evolution

Yoga of Evolution

4 January 2008

If we approach the problem rationally, we shall find that the movement of Nature can be viewed in terms of evolution, and even though Science now affirms an evolutionary terrestrial existence, it may be argued that the generalisations which science arrives at are short lived. It may be contended that Science holds these generalisations for some decades or some centuries, then passes to another generalisation, another theory of things. In the field of biology and psychology, the instability of generalisations is still greater. It may further be argued that in the field of psychology, the relevance of which is obvious since the evolution of consciousness comes into the picture, Science passes from one theory to another before the first is well-founded; it can even be shown that several conflicting theories hold the field together. It may further be argued that no firm metaphysical building can be erected upon these shifting quicksands.

A line of reasoning can be constructed to question the contention that Nature intends to develop on this earth a supramental being. Sri Aurobindo himself has stated the line of reasoning that can be constructed. That argument can be briefly summarised as follows:

1. Heredity, upon which Science builds its Concept of life-evolution, is an instrument for conservation rather than for evolution; all the facts show that a type can vary within its own specification of Nature but there is nothing to show that it can go beyond it.

2. It has not yet been established that ape-kind developed into man; for it would rather seem that a type resembling the ape, but has a characteristic of itself and not of apehood, developed within its own tendency of nature and became what we know as man, the present human being.
3. The progress of Nature from Matter to Life, from Life to Mind may be conceded: but there is no proof yet that Matter developed into life or Life-energy into Mind-energy; all that can be conceded is that Life has manifested in Matter, Mind, in living Matter.
4. The constant creation of types is visible but that is no indubitable proof of evolution. In this light, man is a type among many types; he is one pattern among the multitude of patterns in the manifestation in Matter. To exceed himself, to create into a superman, to put on the Nature and capacities of god would be a contradiction of his self-law, impracticable and impossible.
5. If a supramental being has to appear in the terrestrial creation, it must be a new independent manifestation; but there is no sign of any such intention in the operations of Nature.
6. It may even be argued that the world can be explained as a self-organising dynamic Chance that is at work. An inconscient and inconsequent Force acts at random and creates this or that by a general chance; a persistent repetition of the same rhythm of action appears as a repetitive rhythm. It is the work of a chance that elucidates the free play of the endless unaccountable variations which are visible in the evolution. It may be concluded that there is no such thing as intention in Nature, and therefore, there can be no question of the intention in Nature to manifest as supramental being.

The above line of reasoning may seem at first to be cogent and even formidable but that line of reasoning, in some of its aspects, assumes that the theory of materialism is unquestionable and even irrefutable. Sri Aurobindo points out that this assumption is unfounded. The premise on which materialism stands is that the physical senses are our sole means of Knowledge and that Reason, therefore, cannot escape beyond the domain of physical existence even in its most extended vigorous flights. But this premise is Sri Aurobindo points out arbitrary, and it assumes its own conclusion as its undeniable basis. Sri Aurobindo points out that the world of Matter is affirmed by the experience of the physical senses which, because they are themselves unable to perceive anything immaterial or not organised as gross Matter, would persuade us that the supra-sensible is unreal. But there are today increasing evidences, of which only the most obvious and outward are established in the name of telepathy and cognate phenomena, cannot long be resisted. As soon as we begin to investigate the operation of mind and of Supermind, in themselves and without the prejudgement that is determined from the beginning to see in them only a subordinate term of Matter we come into contact with a mass of phenomena which escape not only from the rigid hold and the limiting dogmatism of the materialistic formula. Sri Aurobindo adds:

“And the moment we recognise, as our enlarging experience compels us to recognise, that there are in the universe knowable realities beyond the range of the senses and in man powers and faculties which determine rather than are determined by the material organs through which they hold themselves in touch with the world of the senses, — that outer shell of our true and complete existence, — the premise of materialistic Agnosticism disappears. We are ready for a large statement and an ever-developing inquiry.”

(The Life Divine, Vol. 18, p. 10)

Sri Aurobindo points out that even though the Inconscient is discovered to be at the origin of the evolutionary movement, the emergence of consciousness of the Inconscient is a stumbling block in the materialistic theory of Chance. For it is a phenomenon which can have no place in an all-pervading truth of the Inconscience. For it may be asked as to what this mind is, this Consciousness which differs so radically from the Energy that produced it that for its actions is required to impose its idea and need of order on the world it has made and in which it is obliged to live. There would then be a double contradiction, Sri Aurobindo points out, of consciousness emerging from a fundamental Inconscience and of a Mind of order and reason manifesting as the brilliant final conclusion of a world created by inconscient Chance.

According to Sri Aurobindo, the evolutionary process cannot be explained unless Inconscience is conceived and realised as involved Superconscience, which, in turn, points to the higher and highest operations of the Supermind. The argument that he puts forward is stated as follows:

We speak of the evolution of Life in Matter, the evolution of Mind in Matter; but evolution is a word which merely states the phenomenon without explaining it. For there seems to be no reason why Life should evolve out of material elements or Mind out of living form, unless we accept the Vedantic solution that Life is already involved in Matter and Mind in Life because in Essence Matter is a form of veiled Life, Life a form of veiled Consciousness.

And then there seems to be little objection to a farther step in the series and the admission that mental consciousness may itself be only a form and a veil of higher states which are beyond Mind. In that case, the unconquerable impulse of man towards God, Light, Bliss, Freedom, Immortality presents itself in its right place in the chain as simply the imperative impulse by which Nature is seeking to evolve beyond Mind, and appears to be as natural, true and just as the impulse towards Life which she has planted in certain forms of Matter or the impulse towards Mind which she has planted in certain forms of Life. As there, so here, the impulse exists more or less obscurely in her different vessels with an ever-ascending series in the power of its will-to-be; as there, so here, it is gradually evolving and bound fully to evolve the necessary organs and faculties. As the impulse towards Mind ranges from the more sensitive reactions of Life in the metal and the plant up to its full organisation in man, so in man himself there is the same ascending series, the preparation, if nothing more, of a higher and divine life.

The animal is a living laboratory in which Nature has, it is said, worked out man. Man himself may well be a thinking and living laboratory in whom and with whose conscious co-operation she wills to work out the superman, the god. Or shall we not say, rather, to manifest God? For if evolution is the progressive manifestation by Nature of that which slept or worked in her, involved, it is also the overt realisation of that which she secretly is. We cannot, then, bid her pause at a given stage of her evolution, nor have we the right to condemn with the religionist as perverse and presumptuous or with the rationalist as a disease or hallucination any intention she may evince or effort she may make to go beyond. If it be true that Spirit is involved in Matter and apparent Nature is secret God, then the manifestation of the divine in himself and the realisation of God within and without are the highest and most legitimate aim possible to man upon earth.

(The Life Divine, Vol. 18, p. 3-4).

In regard to the infirmities of the scientific theory of evolution, Sri Aurobindo points out that the theory of spiritual evolution is not identical with the scientific theory of form-evolution and physical life. The theory of spiritual evolution may accept the scientific account of the physical evolution as a support or an element, but that support is not indispensable. What is common between the theory of spiritual evolution and scientific theory is the account of certain outward aspects of evolution, namely, that there is in the scale of terrestrial existence the development of forms, of bodies, a progressively complex and competent organisation of Matter, of Life in Matter, of consciousness in living Matter, and that in this scale the better the organised the form, the more is it capable of housing a better organised, the more complex and a more developed or evolved Life and consciousness. In regard to these common aspects, there does not seem to be a basis for dispute, once the evolutionary hypothesis is put forward and the facts supporting it are marshalled. The dispute arises in regard to those aspects which are not indispensable for the theory of spiritual evolution, namely, the precise machinery by which the evolutionary process is effected or the exact genealogy or chronological succession of types of beings, the development of one form of life out of a precedent less evolved form, natural selection, struggle for life and the survival of acquired characteristics.

As Sri Aurobindo points outs, this may or may not be accepted; what is of primary consequence is the fact of a successive creation with a developing plan in it. The essential point in the theory of spiritual evolution is the fact of evolution of consciousness, a progression of a spiritual manifestation in material existence, and that essential point follows naturally from the refutation of the materialism and from the consequent theory of consciousness and its involution in the original Inconscient.

In regard to the argument that man is a type among many types and therefore to suppose that man can exceed himself and can grow into a superman would be a contradiction of the law governing the types, Sri Aurobindo concedes that each type of pattern of consciousness and being in the body once established, has to be faithful to the law of being of that type to its design and rule of nature. But he points out that it may very well be that part of the law of the human type as its impulse towards self-exceeding, that the means for a conscious transition has been provided along with spiritual powers of man and that the possession of such a capacity may be a part of the plan on which the creative Energy has built him.

It has further been pointed out that there has been a tremendous human progress since man’s appearance or even in his recent ascertainable history, and this progress suggests fresh steps of progression until the highest consummation is reached. It may, however, be argued that the progress that has been registered so far has not carried out the human race beyond itself, into self-exceeding. In reply, Sri Aurobindo contends that that was not to be expected until a critical stage was reached and that it is only now that that stage is being reached. The action of evolutionary nature in a type of being and consciousness is first to develop the type to its utmost capacity by a stabilization and increasing complexity till it is ready for bursting the shell, ripened decisive emergence and universal turning over of consciousness on itself.

According to Sri Aurobindo’s spiritual theory of evolution, what man has achieved is that he has sharpened, subtilised and made an increasingly complex and plastic use of his capacities. All that he has so far developed can be regarded as a process of developing the human type to its utmost capacity, and it is only now that we are ready to feel that it has ripened for a decisive emergence or mutation. It is not contended that the whole human race is ready to rise en masse to the supramental level. What is suggested is nothing so evolutionary or astonishing, but on the capacity in the human mentality, when it has reached a certain level or a certain point of stress of the evolutionary impetus, to press towards a higher plane of consciousness and its embodiment in the being. It has been further suggested that the urge of man towards self-exceeding is not likely ever to die out totally in the race, and that the human mental status will always be there, not only as a degree in a scale but also as an open step towards the spiritual and supramental status.

According to Sri Aurobindo, man is a transitional being but his mind is capable of opening to what exceeds it, and therefore, there is no reason why man himself should not arrive at Supermind and supermanhood or at least lend his mentality, life and body to an evolution of the supermind. Sri Aurobindo’s theory of spiritual evolution is not merely a philosophical theory, but the uniqueness of this theory is that Sri Aurobindo and The Mother have developed this theory on the basis of a long and a difficult process of experimentation. During the course of this experimentation, they have found it necessary to develop, not only new objects and new methods of yoga, even while incorporating in a suitable manner the objects and methods of yogic systems of the past. As a result, a new synthesis of yoga, involving a long programme of experiments by evolving supramental action in the body itself has been undertaken. As a result, it is envisaged that even the human body will undergo a mutation so that it can be no longer a clamorous animal and impeding clod it now is but become instead a conscious servant and radiant instrument and living form of the spirit.

The central concept in the new synthesis of yoga is that of a Spiritual Man. The fact is that Sri Aurobindo discovered the supermind, which he has described as the peak of the Superconscient fact. Sri Aurobindo opened up for exploration of still higher level of consciousness which had remained unexplored, are of eminence significance, not only for breaking the bounds of history and of evolutionary process, but also for the recovery of the ancient origin of yogic endeavour and subsequent development in the history of yoga. We can see how these facts provide to the science of yoga fresh evidence of the objectivity of the truth of the Supermind and of every discoveries recorded in the history of yoga. Sri Aurobindo’s discovery of the Supermind preceded as discovery of the descriptions of the Supermind that were recorded in the Veda, even though for a millennia these descriptions had remained undeciphered and therefore forgotten. Hence, Sri Aurobindo’s discovery of Supermind was a new discovery, independent of what was achieved in regard to the Supermind in the Vedic times. Sri Aurobindo subsequently showed to what extent the Supermind was discovered by the Rishis of the Veda and the Upanishads and even by the later tradition of which Sri Krishna’s yogic knowledge and realisation is witnessed in the Gita. It was not as if Sri Aurobindo had any idea of Supermind or of the yoga by which the Supermind can be attained by following the Vedic discovery of the Supermind. Sri Aurobindo had, in course of his own yogic self-development, attained the Supermind. But when he came to read subsequently the pages of the Rigveda, he found in the symbolic but fairly transparent hymns, the epical victory of the Vedic Rishis that they had attained in discovering the Supermind and in their attainment of what they had called immortality. The Rishis had described immortality as the state of widening or universalisation of the physical consciousness as the result of the visitation of the supramental consciousness in the physical body. From the scientific point of view, it can be said that the discovery or rediscovery of the Supermind by Sri Aurobindo could take place only if the Supermind had objective reality; for then only could one encounter it, even if one were not guided by any subjective idea or by the ideas prevalent in the cultural environment.

But, as noted above, Sri Aurobindo’s discovery of the Supermind has resulted in breaking down the boundaries of history of the evolutionary process itself. During the historical development of yoga, the Vedic knowledge of the Supermind was lost and the yogic endeavour gradually came to be confined to a more limited aim of the liberation of the individual soul from its entanglement with the ego and three gunas of Prakriti, the realms of the Supermind as recorded in the Veda, Upanishads and the Gita did not come to be rediscovered. But when Sri Aurobindo discovered the Supermind, he also found that there was a need of a farther research. He found that the Divine Will working in the evolutionary process required the necessity of removing a central hurdle to the manifestation of the supramental consciousness in the Matter. According to Sri Aurobindo the highest achievement of the Veda had ended in a state of incompleteness. The question was the method that was adopted by the Vedic Rishis and to the extent to which the discovery of the Supermind was developed and applied. According to Sri Aurobindo, the Vedic Rishis or their forefathers had individual attainment, and although they followed the method of ascent to Supermind by the help of the cosmic beings on various planes of existence, particularly those on the planes beyond the Mind. The other methods which came to be developed in subsequent periods, particularly the method of self-surrender on which the Gita has placed a great emphasis, was not yet discovered and applied. Similarly, the maximum point which the Vedic Rishis reached was that of the attainment of widening of physical consciousness so that the body could become a vehicle of receiving Supermind. Sri Aurobindo also points out that the reception of the Supermind in the physical consciousness resulted in breaking of the limits of the physical being and its opening out to supramental light. It was this attainment of the wideness of the physical being which the Vedic Rishis termed as the attainment of the state of immortality. According to Sri Aurobindo, and also according to The Mother, although this was a very high attainment, it was not enough for fulfilling what Sri Aurobindo discovered to be the intention of the supramental Divine Will for the next step in the evolution on the earth. According to Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, what is aimed at by the evolutionary force in the human species is the accomplishment of fixing of the supramental consciousness in the physical being and not merely of attainment of universalisation or vastness of the physical being.