THE
HIGHEST RUNG
SAILEN RAY
Sri
Aurobindo Ashram,
The
Mother has said:
“A
decisive choice has to be made between lending the body to Nature’s ends in
obedience to her demand to perpetuate the race as it is, and preparing this
very body to become a step towards the creation of the new race. The two cannot
go together; at every moment you have to decide whether you wish to remain
within the humanity of yesterday or belong to the supermanhood
of tomorrow.”
Sri
Aurobindo has accepted the theory of the terrestrial evolution as has been
proved by scientific discoveries. During the first few millenniums of its
existence our earth was in a hot gaseous state. Gradually it cooled down and
became a solid mass. The first living creatures were aquatic plants and animals.
It is imagined that a fish once accidentally jumped out of water and dropped on
the land and then it plunged again into the water, but it carried back with
itself the knowledge that there was something like a solid land. Pushed by the
indwelling spirit and the urge for an adventure or impelled by the innate evolutionary
impulse, the aquatic animals wanted to live upon the solid land and thus there
came into existence the amphibians; then came the
great reptiles. At a particular moment in the episode of our earth, an animal
looked upwards and saw the sky, and it wanted to fly, and thence there evolved
the flying animals. Then came quadrupeds, then
monkeys, and lastly the biped animal, man.
It
has been recognized that for a decisive change from one stage to another, the
evolutionary process took millions and billions and trillions of years.
Sri
Aurobindo has said that man is not the last rung in the ladder of the
terrestrial evolution. As monkeys have been changed into men,
so men will be changed into supermen.
There
will be some novelty in this process of transformation. No monkey was ever transformed
into a man, but the body of the monkey was gradually changed into the body of a
man through intermediary stages which stretched through millions of years. Now,
by the conscious co-operation of human beings, the supramental
change can be effectuated within a very short time. But that does not imply
that any man can become a superman overnight.
First
of all, there must be a strong, unwavering aspiration in a man for becoming a
superman. By the intensity of our aspiration, our consciousness will be
eventually supramentalised.
A
supramentalised human being will be known as a gnostic being. But a supramentalised
human body will retain the stamp of animality. That
means a male or a female will remain as such.
The
disciples of Sri Aurobindo, the sadhakas of the Supramental Integral Yoga, are aspiring for the Supramental Consciousness. In 1956 the Supramental
Light penetrated the earthly atmosphere, and ever since it has been very
active. Any human being who sincerely aspires to be supramentaIised
can receive the Supramental light and be submitted to
the process of the supramental transformation.
Our
human consciousness is immersed in the material inconscient
from which it is rising slowly towards the higher regions of spiritual consciousness.
An aspirant should avoid imposing any load which would impede this upward
movement. Any egoistic material pre- occupation may hinder the ascent of
consciousness.
Now,
the question arises how will the supramental race be created
upon earth? By what process the first Superman will arrive? A Superman will not
take an animal birth. In the supramental race there
will not be any male or female. It is obvious that the animal reproduction has
to be continued so long as a real supramental birth
in a supramental way is not effectuated.
Logically
it comes to this that, first of all our human consciousness must be completely
freed from all animal obsessions. Our mental consciousness has to undergo a supramental change, our vital being should be transfused
with the supernal light, and our soul should be emancipated from its prison of
mud. Human beings who will possess gnostic
knowledge, will probably be the parents of the intermediate beings, between an
ordinary man and a superman.
Thus,
children will be born with Mind of Light, Intuitive Light, Overmental Light. And, according to the level of
consciousness there will be changes in the physical body. Finally, one day, a supramental being will arrive. And, that is regarded as the
highest rung in the ladder of the earthly evolution.
Our
immediate aim is to become a gnostic being. A human
being can be supramentalised, and thus his natural
parts: mind, life, body can be transformed; his consciousness will be unified
with the divine consciousness and he will be the creator, or a predecessor of a
supramental being. Surrendered to the Divine Force
our natural parts will be transformed and divinised.
A spiritual life guided by the indwelling Divinity will pave the path for the
advent of the Supramental Race.
“The movement which will lead us out of the
disturbances of the lower nature must be necessarily a movement towards
equality in the mind, in the emotional temperament, in soul.”
–SRI AUROBINDO