We open with a passage from Sri Aurobindo:
“Man, limited, yearns to the Infinite; relative, is attracted in all things towards their absolute; artificial in Nature, drives towards a higher ease, mastery and naturalness that must for ever be denied to her inconscient forces and half-conscient animals; full of discords, he insists upon harmony; possessed by Nature and to her enslaved, is yet convinced of his mission to possess and master her.
“What he aspires to, is the sign of what he may be. He has to pass by a sort of transmutation of the earthly metal he now is out of flawed manhood into some higher symbol. For Man is Nature’s great term of transition in which she grows conscious of her aim; in him she looks up from the animal with open eyes towards her divine ideal.”
~ CWSA, 13: 155
Necessity of an Inward and Upward Turning
Sri Aurobindo, the Avatar of the Future, has opened the possibility for the transmutation of earthly existence. He assures us that the present existence composed of the particles of entities such as ignorance and sorrow and incapacity will be one day replaced by one with entities of light and joy and love, of peace and strength and wideness. But at present humanity is going through an evolutionary crisis. It expresses itself at all levels, individual, communal, national and global. And it can be adequately addressed only by going beyond the mental consciousness which necessitates an inward and upward movement.
The world of Science has seen great developments in the field of Quantum Physics and other areas. It now acknowledges the transcendental dimension of existence. In other words, Science today confirms what the Mystics have said since ages. After all the advancement humanity has made in the material domain, what lies ahead? Sri Aurobindo says emphatically that the next stage in the human progress is definitely a spiritual and psychical advance. Thus it becomes essential that more and more sections of humanity develop an inward orientation to seeking truth.
This necessitates nurturing an innate sense of wonder. It requires cultivating a deeper quest for knowing the hidden truths of existence and life. This is the work we must do to prepare ourselves as collaborators in the work of bringing a new age based on the New Spiritual Ideal that Sri Aurobindo and the Mother have given us.
Offerings in the Current Issue
In The Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo has clearly spelled out the nature of the evolutionary crisis humanity is going through. This crisis expresses itself in the variety of social-cultural-economic challenges we face today. After a sweeping analysis of the various means through which humanity has so far tried to address these challenges, he declares that only a spiritual solution, a radical change of human consciousness, will bring the humanity out of this crisis. He writes that as the world-crisis deepens, we will see larger sections of humanity recognising the imperative need of a spiritual change and and working with a will to make it possible in themselves.
In this second issue of the series on ‘The New Ideal: Some Socio-Cultural Perspectives’, our exploration begins with revisiting some profound excerpts from the chapter titled ‘The Divine Life’ in Sri Aurobindo’s book The Life Divine. We present these excerpts in two parts. Read them HERE and HERE. Readers will also find great inspiration in a short essay by Nolini Kanta Gupta where he reminds that an awakened dynamic spiritual reality is the supreme and inevitable destiny of the earthly human existence.
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Sri Aurobindo writes, “the hope of the world lies in the re-arousing in the East of the old spiritual practicality and large and profound vision and power of organisation under the insistent contact of the West” (CWSA, 13: 137-138). The coming together of “spiritual practicality” of India with the West’s power of organisation will yield new forms of action, force and influence which can help humanity advance further.
Starting with this issue we begin serialising a long essay by Jugal Kishore Mukherji titled Science and Spirituality: An Unnecessary Antimony and a Harmonious Reconciliation. This was first published in the special issue of Mother India (1968, Vol. XX, No. 10-11) which commemorated the 25th anniversary of Sri Aurobindo International Center of Education (SAICE). The issue featured several important articles by SAICE teachers. In part 1, the author points out that it is not so much spirituality and Yoga as the accredited credal religions that historically clashed with the spirit and findings of Science. He also briefly discusses the difference between spirituality and religion.
We hope our readers will enjoy going through the various offerings in this issue. As always, we offer this work at the lotus feet of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.
In gratitude,
Beloo Mehra (for Renaissance Editorial Team)
~ Graphics Design: Akshay Sonakiya & Beloo Mehra
