Evolution     Evolution   WHAT IN its principle and scope is the force of evolution and how does it work out in the world? The theory of evolution has been the key-note of the thought of the nineteenth century It has not only affected all its science and its thought-attitude, but powerfully influenced its moral temperament, its politics and its society Without it there could not have been that entire victory of the materialistic notion of life and the universe which has been the general characteristic of the age that is now passing, —a victory which for a time even claimed to be definitive, —nor such important corollary effect

'Essays in Philosophy and Yoga' by Sri Aurobindo - Page1 of 16 Note on the Texts     Note on the Texts   ESSAYS IN PHILOSOPHY AND YOGA consists of short prose pieces written by Sri Aurobindo after May 1909 and published by him in journals or books or both before his passing in 1950 Most of them are on aspects of philosophy and yoga Short prose pieces written between 1910 and 1950 but not published during Sri Aurobindo's lifetime are included in Essays Divine and Human, volume 12 of THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SRI AUROBINDO Short prose writings published between 1910 and 1950 on certain specialised subjects —the Vedas, the Upanishads, Indian culture,

Karma and Freedom   THE UNIVERSE in which we live presents itself to our mentality as a web of opposites and contraries, not to say contradictions, and yet it is a question whether there can be in the universe any such thing as an entire opposite or a real contradiction Good and evil seem to be as opposite powers as well can be and we are apt by the nature of our ethical mind to see the world, at any rate in its moral aspect, as a struggle and tug of war between these eternal opposites, God and devil, Deva and Asura, Ahuramazda, Angrya Mainyu We hope always that on some as yet hardly conceivable day the one will peris

Supermind and Humanity   WHAT THEN would be the consequence for humanity of the descent of Supermind into our earthly existence, its consequence for this race born into a world of ignorance and inconscience but capable of an upward evolution of its consciousness and an ascent into the light and power and bliss of a spiritual being and spiritual nature? The descent into the earth-life of so supreme a creative power as the Supermind and its truth-consciousness could not be merely a new feature or factor added to that life or put in its front but without any other importance or only a restricted importance carrying with it no results profoundly affecting

The Higher Lines of Karma   THE THIRD movement of mind labours to bring the soul of man out of the tangle of the vital and mental forces and opens to him a field in which the mind raises itself, raises at least the head of its thought and will, above the vital demands and standards and there at that top of its activities, whatever its other concessions to the lower Karma, lives for the sake of the true values, the true demands of a mental being, even though one imprisoned in a body and set to wrestle with the conditions of life in a material universe The innate demand of the mental being is for mental experience, for the mind's manifold strengths

The Superman   The Superman   THE IDEAL of the Superman has been brought recently into much notice, some not very fruitful discussion and a good deal of obloquy It is apt to be resented by average humanity because men are told or have a lurking consciousness that here is a claim of the few to ascend to heights of which the many are not capable, to concentrate moral and spiritual privileges and enjoy a domination, powers and immunities hurtful to a diffused dignity and freedom in mankind So considered, supermanhood is nothing more important than a deification of the rare or solitary ego that has out-topped others in the force of our common human

APPENDIX   Passages Omitted from "Our Ideal"   The "Arya" having completed its first year and survived the first perils of infancy, now offers itself a second time to the decisions of Time and the mind of the hour We think it necessary to open our new year with a succinct statement of the idea this Review is intended to serve and the aim which it holds before it For our Review has been conceived neither as a mirror of the fleeting interests and surface thoughts of the period we live in, nor as the mouthpiece of a sect, school or already organised way of thinking Its object is to feel out for the thought of the future, to help in shaping its foundations

Mind Nature and Law of Karma   MAN IS not after all in the essence of his manhood or in the inner reality of his soul a vital and physical being raised to a certain power of mental will and intelligence If that were so, the creed that makes our existence a manifestation of a Will to life, a Life Force moved by no other object than its own play, heightening, efficient power, expansion, might have a good chance of being the sufficient theory of our universe, and the law of our Karma, the rule of our activities would be in entire consonance with that one purpose and ordered by that dominant principle Certainly in a great part of this w

The Strength of Stillness   THERE are two great forces in the universe, silence and speech Silence prepares, speech creates Silence acts, speech gives the impulse to action Silence compels, speech persuades The immense and inscrutable processes of the world all perfect themselves within, in a deep and august silence, covered by a noisy and misleading surface of sound —the stir of innumerable waves above, the fathomless resistless mass of the ocean's waters below Men see the waves, they hear the rumour and the thousand voices and by these they judge the course of the future and the heart of God's intention; but in nine cases out of ten

Yoga and Hypnotism   WHEN the mind is entirely passive, then the force of Nature which works in the whole of animate and inanimate creation, has free play; for it is in reality this force which works in man as well as in the sun and star There is no doubt of this truth whether in Hinduism or in Science This is the thing called Nature, the sum of cosmic force and energy, which alone Science recognises as the source of all work and activity This also is the Prakriti of the Hindus to which under different names Sankhya and Vedanta agree in assigning a similar position and function in the Universe But the immediate question is whether this force can act in man ind