Intergral Yoga, Evolution and The Next Species

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The spiritual theory of evolution as developed by Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950) and the Mother (1878-1973) is experimental in character and it is this theory which has been expounded in this book as briefly as possible. The consequences of the spiritual theory of evolution are for the individual momentous, since it is the developed individuals who will lead the evolutionary process to the next step. The next species will emerge from the present human species, and those individuals who will consciously work upon their evolved state of body, life and mind, utilizing the same as laboratories of evolution will lead evolution towards the next species. The question is as to how we can look upon ourselves as the thinking and living laboratories of the next species and what we need to do to move forward and contribute our best to the evolution of the next species.

The purpose of this book will be served best if it enables the readers to reflect seriously on this question and leads them to study original works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, particularly, 'The Life Divine', 'The Synthesis of Yoga', 'The Supramental Manifestation Upon Earth' and 13 volumes of Mother's Agenda' .

The theory of evolution is not entirely new. The Nasadiya Sukta , the Purusha Sukta. and the Aghamarshana Sukta of the Rig Veda indicate that the Vedic Rishis were aware of the evolutionary process, which begins with the lnconscience as a starting-point and higher levels of consciousness evolve step by step from the original starting-point of the lnconscience. The Sankhyan theory of Prakriti also refers to a process of evolution. But the facts of the universe as marshalled by Darwin have demonstrated to the contemporary scientific world some clues to the process of evolution. Even then. the scientific theory of evolution has not yet received universal acceptance. Many philosophers have provided new accounts of the process of evolution. These philosophical theories, such as those of Bergson, Whitehead, and Pierre de Chardin are speculative, and they do not carry scientific conviction. In contrast, the spiritual theory of evolution as developed by $ri Aurobindo (1872-1950) and the Mother (1878-1973) is experimental in character and it is this theory which has been expounded in this book as briefly as possible. The consequences of the spiritual theory of evolution are for the individual momentous , since it is the developed individuals who will lead the evolutionary process to the next step. The next species will emerge from the present human species. and those individual who will consciously work upon their evolved state of body, life and mind. utilizing the same as laboratories of evolution will lead the evolution towards the next species. The question is as to how we can look upon ourselves as the thinking and living laboratories of the next species and what we need to do to move forward and contribute our best to the evolution of the next species.

The purpose of this book will be served best if it enables the readers to reflect seriously on this question and lead them to study original works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, par-ticularly, 'The Life Divine', 'The Synthesis of Yoga', 'The Supramental Manifestation Upon Earth', and 13 volumes of `Mother's Agenda'.

The process of evolution seems to have been detected in ancient times. In the Rig Veda, the Nasadiya sukta 1refers to the "darkness wrapped in darkness" and points out that from the breath that stirred in that original darkness, there stirred the life-force as desire, and that that desire was the seed of the mind. In the Aitareya Upanishad, there is a fable which tells us that the gods rejected the animal forms successively offered to them by the Divine Self and only when man was produced, cried out, "This indeed is perfectly made," and consented to enter in the human body. 2 In the Sankhya philosophy, the infinite existence of Force was figured as a sea, initially at rest and therefore free from forms, but the first disturbance, the first initiation of movement necessitates the evolution of forms of Matter which grow gradually from its subtle states until solid states evolve. Upon these forms of Matter depend all our sensible experience; what we call the power of sensations, of vibrations of the mind, of the ego-sense and even of intelligence, which has the faculty of discrimination, is involved in Matter; and because of that involution, the evolution of what is involved takes place. According to the Sankhya, nothing comes out of nothing and that whatever manifests is inherent in the original state of Prakriti or the Force of energy.3 The Sankhyan theory of Prakriti and of the evolution of the universe that we see and experience is adapted in several other systems of Indian philosophy, including the Vedanta. In ancient Greece also there were important ideas of evolution. But subsequently, the creation of the world was largely set aside by the account of creation that is to be found in the story of the Genesis as narrated in the Old Testament.

**Contents and Sample Pages**