THE TEACHING OF SRI AUROBINDO (Inst 12/7th Sept, ‘13) CHAPTER FIVE – THE IDEAL OF HUMAN UNITY PART 1 Allied to the question of the individual and his society is the larger problem of the society and the collectivity of societies – the entire human race. Here too the solution is envisaged on the same lines on which the rights and claims of man and his environmental society are reconciled. For, as Sri Aurobindo observes, the issue is basically the same. There is One Spirit, Divine Reality, which manifests singly in the individual and multiply in the humanity. The society is the middle term in this collective manifestation. To awake to this truth of existence and to realize the basic unity of one’s self with the rest of his fellow beings as jets of a common fount is the way to a radical solution of the problem. Unity is the base and unity is the summit of the whole evolutionary movement. Nature starts with a solid unity in matter; there at the basis of all is concretely one. It is only with the eruption of the life element that this unity is apparently broken up and there is a diversity of forms which go on multiplying variously till there appears the principle or power of an overt consciousness or half-consciousness, the mind, through which Nature attempts to restore, gradually, the truth of unity amidst the blossomed variety. It sets into operation the forces of aggregation even at the animal level; these living creatures tend to gather together in their respective in their respective types and it is rule of the hive, the pack, that comes into prominence. This trend acquires momentum with the advent of man – the conscious evolutionary being. The earliest unit of aggregation in the human kind is the family. From this unit Nature initiates larger and yet larger circles of agglutination. This movement of the combination is actuated by necessities of security, of aggrandizement and enlargement which are impelling motives of progress in evolutionary nature at this stage. From the family the commune; from the commune the tribe, the clan. The communities take a definite shape, each developing its own way of life, its own modes and beliefs. Each people evolves its own political and social form of life; city states, principalities, kingdoms gradually come into being. These living units rub each other in collaboration or in combat, run into each other’s life and eventually get merged into yet bigger political and administrative units. That is how the nation-state which is the strongest collective unit so far developed by Nature has come to be. The nation is an organic entity. It represents the collective ego of the people who have constituted it. It is a landmark in the endeavour of the general collective evolution to arrive at an order in which not only the individual finds an environment to support and promote his self-growth but equally he contributes his share in the development of his greater body – the community which is intended to formulate and put forth the characteristic power of the manifesting Godhead that underlies and seeks expression in that particular collective form. The nation, however, points out Sri Aurobindo, is not the culmination of the progressive evolutionary advance in the race; it is only the middle term, a significant junction to stabilize and coordinate the evolutionary gains of the individual and those of the collectivity of which he is the immediate member. A still larger movement is afoot; it aims to gather up all the diverse nation units and weld them into an organic whole. Nature has been experimenting with a variety of moulds for this purpose; she has released into operation a number of forces which cut across the boundaries of nations and emphasize the oneness of all human beings. The thought of man has accepted the necessity of transcending the barriers of nationality and growing into a supra-national climate in which alone each people could achieve the fullest unimpeded growth and arrive at a common fulfillment in Harmony and Peace. The problem is, indeed, to evolve a form of world unity which assures the smooth coordination and commingling of the life impulse of all the member units in a common pool of collective progress but at the same time leaves sufficient scope for the free development of their characteristic ways of life and thought in a manner that answers to the demands of variegated Nature. Various forms for embodying this supra-national Idea are being tentatively tried e.g., the empire, the commonwealth, federation of states, confederacies and unions of one-minded peoples. If the attempts have not been attended with glowing results, it is not due to lack of truth or strength in the Idea. It is because of want of a central sincerity in the approach which is still governed by individual and national ego. Besides, the problem is being met only on its superficies. Most of the steps at unification and integration so far developed and applied have only served to provide the externals of the world order. They were indispensable, but they could go no further. There is need of a life-spirit to be breathed into the effort. The organization has to be enlivened into an organism, the body has to be infused with a soul. And this, Sri Aurobindo declares, is possible only from the level of the soul. Men and nations have to accept in their hearts and effectively recognize the right of each unit, single or aggregate, to be free, its right of liberty to develop itself according to its natural life of progress but consistent with the equal right of others to develop likewise; it can be possible only if the mind of humanity wakes to the depths of its own consciousness where each perceives and realizes its unity with others, its commonality of purpose, commonality of feeling and thought and action with the rest – in a word, opens to a Spiritual Religion of Humanity. With pranams to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.
Posted on: Sat, 07 Sep 2013 03:51:21 +0000
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