that function of teaching that I have alluded to, and also the function
of testing and trying them, to see how far they are worthy and reliable,
testing all their weak points in order that those weak points may be
gotten rid of, trying them, where there is a germ of vice still
remaining, in order that that germ of vice may be eradicated. Let us try
to realise the nature of that working. Suppose we see a man who has made
great progress. He is approaching the end of his births. In that man
there is some germ of evil still remaining that has not been brought out
yet into manifestation by the working of karma. He is going to be
liberated, but he cannot be liberated while that germ remains. What
shall be done with him? That germ of evil must be hastened to its
ripening. It must be made to grow more quickly than otherwise it would
grow. It must be gotten rid of, at any cost of pain, of anguish, and of
temporary degradation, and the God will take such action as will ripen
that germ and bring it to fruitage; so that, the man acting as he would
act when that germ had been ripened by evolution, may suffer the results
which would follow from the error, and by such suffering may get rid of
that evil in his nature, which would otherwise have prevented him from
attaining liberation.
Let me give you a story for each of these to make the action clear. You
see that a man is strong; well and good; but that strength must be
tested to see if there be a flaw anywhere; if there is a rope on which
the life of a man is going to depend, he holding it and descending a
precipice, that rope must be pulled and tested to see if there be any
weak point in it which might break when the man's body is hanging upon
it, so that he would fall. There may be a flaw in the rope, and not
till it has been tested will the man risk his life upon it. How much
less then will the Deva risk the progress of an advanced man on a virtue
not strong enough to bear every strain? He will test it with every
possibility of strain, until it has proved itself strong enough to bear
the weight which it may be called upon to hold up. We will take our
stories from the _Mahâbhârata_, which you all know, or ought to know.
Arjuna was seeking to get divine weapons; he was to be a great leader in
a battle still in the future. We are at the time of the thirteen years'
exile, and you may remember that he spent many of these years in the
search for these weapons. During his search, he sought Maheshvara, who
had promised to give him His own weapon, and he performed many
austerities in order that he might come pure into the presence of God.
One day as he was performing worship, a wild boar came along; at the
same time a hunter appeared, a hunter of a very low caste, a hunter of
the hills. Now you remember that Arjuna was a Kshattriya, and he
accordingly caught up his bow to shoot at the wild boar; the hunter also
raised his bow to shoot at the wild boar. Two arrows went from the two
sides and the boar was struck dead. Arjuna was very angry at the
interference of this low-caste hunter, and cried: "How dare you shoot at
the wild boar which was mine?" and he began to quarrel and to threaten
to slay him. Said the hunter: "If you wish to fight, fight"; at that,
Arjuna showered his arrows on the hunter but they all fell off from him.
The hunter, laughing, said: "Excellent! Excellent! go on! go on!"; and
Arjuna hurled at him weapon after weapon, but everything failed. Arrows
fell off him, everything broke against him--trees, rocks, everything; he
remained untouched and uninjured, until at last He showed Himself as
Mahâdeva, and praised the man who had held his own against the God. Thus
He tried Arjuna's strength; could he be sent to Kurukshetra with
celestial weapons if his strength were too little for the fight? Try him
against the Divine potency, limited in order to be faced and fought;
when his courage is found to be dauntless and his strength sufficient,
then send him to Kurukshetra tried and proved, able to lead his men to
victory.
Take another case, more difficult. Yudhishthira is sad at heart; he
is struggling, has failed, and is in danger. Drona is there, leading
the hosts of his enemies, and he has been driven by him from the
battle-field. No one is able to stand against Drona; every one flies
before the face of that mighty warrior; he turns back every attack. What
can be done? Yudhishthira is in despair. Is he to be conquered? A
stainless king was this son of Pându, one of the noblest and most
blameless figures that ancient literature paints; but with a strain of
weakness in him which in critical times would sometimes show a too great
readiness to yield, too little of the Kshattriya's power of standing
alone against any force that might be brought to bear against him; a
little germ of weakness was there, that had in it the possibility of a
fatal fall. Shrî Kṛiṣhṇa is there, the great Avatâra, and Bhîma comes
rushing up from the battle-field saying that he has slain an elephant,
whose name is the same as the name of the son of Drona. If Drona hear
that his son Ashvatthâmâ is dead, he will drop his weapons, he will let
go his enemy; no further will he fight when his beloved is gone. "I told
him that Ashvatthâmâ was dead, but he would not believe me; he sent me
to you saying that Yudhishthira is a devotee of truth, he will not tell
a lie for the sovereignty of the three worlds. If he says Ashvatthâmâ is
dead, I will believe." Terrible is the strain; mighty the force brought
to bear against the man who has a weakness in him; and Shrî Kṛiṣhṇa,
standing by him, watching him steadfastly, advises him to utter that
which is not true. God advises this almost blameless man to tell a lie?
How strange the scene! Yudhishthira, yielding to Shrî Kṛiṣhṇa, tells
the falsehood, and Drona lets fall his weapons and is killed. If the
story stopped there, we might well be puzzled. If Yudhishthira's life
was no further told, we might well ask: what is this that we have
studied? But when we remember that one of the great functions of the
Teacher, the Gurudeva, is to bring out any weakness inherent in His
pupil, because otherwise that weakness will keep the man tied, and he
will not be fit to be liberated, we pause and read on. When that lie was
spoken, the chariot of Yudhishthira sank downwards to the ground, no
longer able to support itself, truth having been violated. And as years
went on, the bitterness of that memory of a falsehood remained; the
sorrow of the slaying of the preceptor by a lie ate deep into the heart
of the king; he never recovered from it, he never got rid of its effect;
over and over again, he breaks from his repose in anguish; "I have slain
my Guru." The sorrow worked and the shame, till the anguish purified
that noble soul from the last stain of weakness; and when the Great
Journey is over, when wife and brothers lie dead behind him and he
utters not a word of protest against the death of his beloved, when he
stands ready to ascend to heaven, when only one living creature remains
with him, the dog who had followed after him faithfully through all his
wanderings since he left his capital, when that dog remained his sole
companion, trusting his master's love faithfully unto death, then comes
down a mighty God and stands beside him. "Your time has come; mount on
my celestial chariot, and ascend in your body unto the heaven where you
have won the right to sit and reign." Will he now yield to the
invitation of the God? He said: "This dog is here; he has trusted to my
protection and I cannot leave him alone; I must take him with me." The
God answered: "Dogs have no place in heaven; dogs are unclean, no place
for them is there; you have left your dead brothers behind, and your
wife when she perished; why should you remain still with this dog?"
"They are all dead," he answered "for the dead, the living can do
nothing. This creature is still living and has sought my protection; I
will not abandon him." "Nay," the God said, "be not so foolish; leave
the dog there." But Yudhishthira stood firm; he was strong enough to
stand against the God, and to show righteousness and fidelity to the
poor brute that had placed his love in him; unless he might take the dog
with him, he would stay on the earth and do his duty. Such lesson had he
learnt from his fall; such is the result of the working of Shrî Kṛiṣhṇa
on his evolution. We can see this same working throughout the whole of
that struggle. Trace Shrî Kṛiṣhṇa through the pages of the
_Mahâbhârata_, and you will find that He never deviates from one steady
purpose--to bring the great struggle to a foreseen ending, where justice
shall triumph and the Kshattriyas of India shall disappear; He was at
once destroying injustice and preparing for the future of India,
breaking down the iron wall of her warring caste that ringed her around
with safety. There is a particular aim in everything that He does, and
you will see that His purpose is immovable, if you study carefully. He
is working towards its accomplishment the whole way through. Look at the
way in which He steps in when His strength or protection is needed; see
how He tries to stimulate the Pândavas to do their duty, and only takes
their place when they fail. See the case where Shrî Kṛiṣhṇa having
promised that he would do no battle, Arjuna falters before the face of
Bhîshma and has no heart to strike; you remember how sad was the
struggle. Arjuna was not able to strike harshly at Bhîshma, the greatest
of all men and all warriors, perfect in Dharma, the grandsire and the
teacher of all. "How can I slay him?" insisted Arjuna; "I remember when
as a child soiled with dust, I climbed on to his knees and throwing my
arms around him called him 'Father,' and he said to me, 'I am thy
father's father.' How can I bring myself to slay him?" And you will
remember how Shrî Kṛiṣhṇa Himself told him not to shrink, 'bade him slay
him.' Hard was the task; Arjuna's memory was too strong for him; he only
fought in appearance with restrained might, not with vigour, until at
last Shrî Kṛiṣhṇa saw that He must stimulate this man to do his duty,
and to fight, though it were against his old teacher himself; He throws
down the reins of His horses, takes the whip, and leaps down from the
chariot, and with the whip He rushes through the brunt of the battle to
attack Bhîshma Himself. Ah! that sight is hard for Arjuna; it appeals to
him as Kshattriya, and duty is remembered instead of emotion; throwing
his arms round Shrî Kṛiṣhṇa to stop him he says, "Go back! Go back! and
drive me yet again, and I will do my duty even to the slaying of
Bhîshma." Now what does that mean? It means that the purpose of the God
will be accomplished, whether or not a man is found to do it; that
evolution will proceed, no matter who may falter or who may hinder; that
while evolution will go on under the Will of God, individual progress
depends on individual co-operation with that Will; that God evolves His
agents by setting them to His work, and that their progress depends on
the extent to which they are able to receive the impulse that He
imparts. Only one other case I will take to show you how Shrî Kṛiṣhṇa
worked when the force was too great for Arjuna to meet, when He saw
Arjuna could do nothing with all the valour at his command, that no
force of appeal, no stimulus, could enable him to defend himself. One
weapon was thrown that might not err in its aim, one weapon a celestial
weapon that He had given as a boon, when He waked from His thousand
years of sleep. That weapon was cast against Arjuna. Arjuna could not
avert it. Alone of all the weapons in earth and heaven, that weapon must
go to its ending, and Arjuna would have been slain in the midst of the
battle. What can be done? He could not cut it with the arrows from
Gândîva, he could not use against it any of the mighty weapons that the
Gods had given him. This was the weapon of the Supreme, which nothing
was able to oppose. Shrî Kṛiṣhṇa then, at that last moment, as the
weapon flies straight at the breast of the warrior throws Himself in
front, and, as it strikes His bosom, it knows its Master and is changed
into a garland of flowers. So also with the chariot on which He drove.
He bade Arjuna first get down. He bade him take his weapons, and until
Arjuna had left it, Shrî Kṛiṣhṇa stood there immovable, He would not
stir; and the moment He left it the whole chariot burst into flames, for
only His presence had kept it together, He who was the Lord of fire, as
well as the Lord of all else. You see, my brothers, how fruitful is the
study of this subject, when you are dealing with the sacred literature;
how you may be able to explain it to men of your own faith, and defend
it against the attacks of men of other creeds. Do not defend it with
bitter words, do not defend it with harsh language, do not defend it
with wrath in your mind, and indignation making your tongue poisonous;
but remember that where ignorance attacks, it is the duty of knowledge
to defend; and that when that which ignorance attacks is the spiritual
food of millions, every man of knowledge should spring forward to defend
it, lest the ignorant of that faith should swerve, when they see the
truths in their books assailed by those who do not understand.
That then is the outcome of this lecture. I ask you to remember that in
every stage of your life, Gods are around you. No karma that you make,
that they will not remember; no appeal that you utter, that they will
not answer. If for a moment no answer seems to come, or if sorrow that
you shrink from falls upon you, remember that the hand of love allows it
thus to fall, and that in bearing that sorrow bravely, you are swiftly
working out your own deliverance. You are to be men, not children, in
the future; men-sons of the living Íshvara whose image you are, and not
babies that He must for ever carry in His arms. He asks from you the
strength of men to help the Gods. He is evolving you as the agents for
His future universe. You may delay, if you will. You may lose time, if
you will. Kalpa after Kalpa, you may remain at a low stage. If so you
choose, He will not force your will; but your wisdom lies in letting His
Will work in you to your swift and perfect evolution, that you may have
the joy of carrying out that Will in other worlds, of consciously being
His agents under other conditions; for men are Gods in the making, and
we are preparing to discharge the functions of the Gods.
[THIRD LECTURE.]
EVOLUTION OF LIFE.
My Brothers,--We have reached a point in our study from which we may
begin to trace the Evolution of Life in our own system that evolution
takes place on the various planets, but it is similar in its general
outline, though modified in its details on the different globes. We
shall chiefly confine ourselves to our own world and our own humanity at
the outset we shall be obliged to go somewhat further afield, but for
the greater part of our study we may confine ourselves to the evolution
of life on our earth. Now we are seeking in our study to find a common
ground of agreement on which co-operation may arise between peoples of
different faiths and of different schools of thought. If we are trying
to find a meeting-place for western and for eastern Science, if we are
seeking in the light of Religion to understand some of the mysteries of
life, it is right and fitting that we should remember that no one
religion has a monopoly of truth, and that any one who is seeking to
expound the truth should be able to fortify his position from the
different religions of the world, and to show that on all great,
essential, and fundamental truths they speak with a single voice, they
teach an identical lesson. Therefore in dealing with my subject this
morning, I shall, as before, draw your attention on the main points
where challenge might arise to the consensus of religious opinion, to
the definite statements of the world's Teachers; so that the tendency
towards unity, on which the future evolution of life depends, may be
helped to develop amongst us. And there is a special reason for that
just now. We shall see, as we trace out the evolution of life, that we
are in the very crisis of the intellectual evolution, and we shall find
that the characteristic of that stage of evolution is division and
separation, and the placing of the individual apart from, and somewhat
in conflict with, other individuals. And we shall find that the next
stage in the evolution of life is the seeking for union amid the
individualised units; that the next divine aspect that man has to
develop in the Self within him is the aspect of union and not the aspect
of diversity; and it is of importance that those who are seeking the
light, those who are striving to co-operate with nature by understanding
her hidden ways, should realise the next step of evolution as well as
the present, in order that they may co-operate with nature by themselves
taking that step, thus quickening the possibility of similar taking for
all mankind.
Now with regard to life in its relation to forms, change at the present
time is coming over the thought of western Science. I pause on this for
a moment in order to substantiate that assertion, for it is important in
the search for the means of drawing together the two kinds of science,
ancient and modern, to notice how much the position of the leading
scientists of the West has been modified with regard to life and form
during the last ten years. I take as a declaration on this subject of
life, issued some years ago, the article on Biology in the last edition
of the _Encyclopædia Britannica_, written, as all the articles in that
_Cyclopædia_ are written, by a prominent man in the scientific world. In
dealing then with life, the writer of the article in question distinctly
states that "a mass of living protoplasm is simply a molecular machine
of great complexity, the total results of the working of which, or its
vital phenomena, depend, on the one hand, upon its construction, and on
the other, upon the energy supplied to it and to speak of 'vitality' as
anything but the name of a series of operations is as if any one should
talk of the 'horologity' of a clock." That is to say, that to regard
life as being in any sense a common existing principle, as anything more
than a mere succession of phenomena in connection with a particular
apparatus of matter, is as foolish and unreasonable as if, looking at a
clock, you should separate its going property from the mechanism of the
clock itself. A purely mechanical view of nature is thus taken, and
life-processes are regarded as being due to the unstable equilibrium of
protoplasm; the series of these life-processes is brought about merely
by mechanical and chemical changes, the actions called vital being thus
mechanical in their character. But at the last meeting of the British
Association, the President of the Chemical Section--chemistry having
been the very science to lead the scientific world towards materialism
in this respect--has taken up an entirely different standpoint, a point
that brings the question into a line with ancient thinking, and that
starts the investigations of western Science along a road whereon the
most fruitful results are likely to be encountered. Dr. Japp, the
President of that Section, compares the action of life to the action of
an operator who is deliberately working with a purpose, using knowledge
and will in order to bring about a definite result. "The operator," he
says, "exercises a guiding power which is akin, in its results, to that
of the living organism," and, going on to explain in very technical
language the ground on which this view is based, he concludes by saying:
"Every purely mechanical explanation of the phenomenon must necessarily
fail. I see no escape from the conclusion that at the moment when life
first arose a directive force came into play--a force precisely of the
same character as that which enables the intelligent operator, by the
exercise of his will, to select one crystallised enantiomorph and reject
its asymmetric opposite." That is the declaration: that with the arising
of life there is an arising of consciousness which exercises a directive
force in nature, as we see it exercising a directive force in the choice
exercised by men. Put those two statements side by side, see the entire
reversal of the attitude, and then you will be able to measure to some
extent the change that has come over western thinking--the recognition
of life as identical with consciousness, a position which has ever been
taken in the hoary Science of the East.
Now let me, before going into details, suggest to you the path that we
are to follow. From the One Existence, that One without a second,
arises, as we saw in our first study--Íshvara, God in His creative and
manifested aspect, Íshvara clothed in Mâyâ, out of which a new universe
is to be builded. Threefold we found Him to be in His manifestation,
threefold in the aspect that He showed forth; so that a Trimûrti, or
Trinity, is the aspect towards this universe of the manifested God; His
working will show this triple character, and the evolution of life is
threefold, whether we study it in nature or in man. I know the thought
that arises in many of you, accustomed to the broad statements in
eastern literature. You think of the building, the sustaining, and the
disappearing of a universe. Perfect, you say, is the One Existence,
infinite, unchangeable; perfect in the ending is the universe, as
perfect in the beginning; why then this long evolution of life with all
its struggles, with all its imperfections gradually and slowly
transcended. Why from the perfect should the imperfect come forth? Why
should it be trained into perfection, and then return into that
perfection whence it came? That question is based on a fundamental
misunderstanding which it is necessary to correct; a misunderstanding
which never could have risen amongst you if the Scriptures had been read
in the light of the Yoga-developed consciousness, and if the broad
outline which is presented had been followed out carefully in thought so
that its stages might be marked. You will remember how it is written in
the _Chhândhogyopanishad_ that the One willed to multiply; and the
moment you grasp the idea of multiplication, if you think of what it
means instead of merely repeating the word, you will realise that
multiplication must necessarily mean division and therefore limitation,
and that limitation necessarily implies imperfection. But having gone so
far, you would then have proceeded to ask: By what words is the universe
described, and what idea is hidden beneath the words? And you would find
that when God is spoken of as a Fire, the universe is not spoken of as a
Fire, but as a spark, and the lives of men are described as millions of
sparks that come from the illimitable Fire. Not only is that word
"spark" used, showing you the limitation that comes with manifestation,
giving you the idea that the spark, fed by suitable fuel is to be
developed into the likeness of the Flame whence it came; but as the
spark is of the same nature as the flame, so we are told "Thou art
That," the Self in man is identical in nature with the Self that gave it
birth. You will remember another word which is constantly used to
describe alike the universe as a whole, and also the parts of which it
is composed--the word germ or seed. Let me ask you to turn to the
_Bhagavad Gîtâ_ so familiar to every student amongst you, and to listen
for a moment to the words chosen by Shrî Kṛiṣhṇa when He desires to
convey the idea of the nature of the universe, and its relation to the
Supreme What does He say?
Mama yonir Mahad Brahma tasmin garbham dadâmyaham.
Sambhava sarva bhûtânâm tato bhavati Bhârata.