Introduction M.P. Ajith Kumar Idea of history in Sri Aurobindo Thesis. Department of History, University of Calicut, 2003

Transcription

1 Introduction M.P. Ajith Kumar Idea of history in Sri Aurobindo Thesis. Department of History, University of Calicut, 2003

2 Introduction Sri Aurobindo is usually regarded as a metaphysicist whose views are of highest spiritual values which matter little with the material world. Especially in a world which believes that philosophy is merely an impractical academic subject irrelevant in the present world the ideas of Sri Aurobindo are apt to remain in the plane of highest intellectuality. It is the subject of a few. And fewer have the idea that Sri Aurobindo's Philosophy has got wide application in human life, especially in man's social activities, in moulding human history, destiny and the future evolution of civilization. Sri Aurobindo's philosophy of history is never confined to itself, nor is it a separate topic cut off from the rest of his views. Indeed it is inseparable from his total philosophical outlook. He did not form his views for the sake of historical studies as Toynbee or Spengler did. His views on history are lying at random, strewn accros the entire range of his voluminous writings. Perusing and piecing them together, one can arrive at Aurobindo's views on history. Substantial and selfsupporting with logicality and validity, each of his views proves right when' analysed against the backdrop of the past developments in world civilization though it may seem beyond the grasp of ordinary intellect which hardly accepts it. This, combined with his

3 iv prose style which is so difficult to follow that many would leave it in the beginning itself, is the reason why Sri. Aurobindo becomes the subject of a few. Sri Aurobindo, like all the great., visionaries believes that man is the maker of hlstory, but more than others he subscribes to the view that history is more the reflection of humanity's mental progress than anything else. History is to him the revealer of the truth, the path humanity treads towards this truth through the ages. However, Sri Aurobindo's objectivism is not confined merely to the discovery of historical facts, but facts or truths about man himself. It is the discovery of man by man; it is self-searching and self-discovery which involves a good deal of painstaking and readiness to undergo ordeals and suffering which purify and steel humanity in the final stage. History thus brings forth the various stages with man struggling to be superman using his will-to-power, the will that helped humanity retain its integrity and would help it to reach perfection, the final stage where man would come face to face with his long lost truth which is his primeval as well as the final truth. Thus the idea that humanity's mental evolution determines the progress of history forms the core of Sri Aurobinod' S philosophy of history. The nature of history, Aurobindo believes, is cyclical, To some extent he believes in what had already

4 been pronounced by the German thinker, Karl Lamprecht. But Sri Aurobindo's is not a blind acceptance of what this early thinker opinionated, instead he reconstructed the earlier view, adding to it the elements of reason and vision. Lamprecht's theory did not get the full acceptance of this Indian philosopher. On the other hand Aurobindo points out some of the errors of the German thinker and rightly fills the missing links. Basing on the theory of universal cycles mentioned in Indian lore, Aurobindo proceeds with his theory of human cycle which, according to him, begins with the age of symbolism when men of thought used symbols to express the truth. Literature of this period, poetry, prose or any other branch bristled with symbols which successfully carried the meaning of the highest truth to the oridnary man. Especially when this truth which is both primordial and ultimate became difficult to be transmitted symbols proved to be the media. The Vedas as well as the Old Testament thus give us innumerable stories with the symbols conveying this highest ideal. The age of symbols was, Aurobindo says, a prelude to so many stages in future. Man's relation with the ultimate truth made him strictly adhere to ideals and morals so that in future he developed 'types1 or certain codes of conduct which would shape and perfect his life in accordance with the ideals he derived from his contact with the world of the divine. Hence the origin of the.typal age which later slipped unfortunately into the age of conventions. There came in an age of mere blasphemy and conventions.. Man

5 vi floated in the world of superficialities and untruths; his life became a high sounding nothing, a shell without kernel. But as time floweded forth man became restless, having seen himself chained and fettered by artificialities and conventions the crust of which he now longed to break apart. He started searching his long lost truth, the real vision of it and the related ideals. No sooner he realised that he was now living by a lie than he felt his inner urge for having in life the sparks of the ultimate truth. This resulted in the age of reason which appeared at different times among different nations and civilizations but with equal impact irrespective of East-West difference. Indeed the dawn of the age of reason had done away with the medieval darkness in European history for instance, and had led humanity to the threshold of a new world with man progressing further on the path of understanding and reason. He embarked on with new movements which he believed, would help him reach his ultimate' truth. Humanity now was on its march from the truths that are relative to that beyond the world of relativities. Thus the cycle starts with the age of truth expressed through symbols and seems likely to end with man's having his final realisation of the truth after several stages of ignorance, enquiry and reason. He stops at the point whence he started. Culture has been, Sri Aurobindo believes, an inseparable part of historical development. To him history

6 vii bereft of culture is meaningless. He thinks that nature has written each line on the brow of every nation, and accordingly cultures often differ one another. culture has been down the centuries the determining Indeed factor of national identity, and has been expressing itself through different ways. It got expression in accordance with the nature of the people dwelling in different lands. Aurobindo takes for comparison two of the most ancient civilizations of the world - Greek and Roman. The Greek culture he says was more wedded to the element of beauty than anything else. Though the culture of Greece reaped manysided progress encompassing within itself almost all the aspects required to embellish a civilization its most remarkable achievement was in its idolisation of the concept of beauty. Greeks were a people desirous of deriving the fullest enjoyment of life. Their education their art, poetry, philosophy and every thing targeted at the attainment and realisation of the beauty. And they would never succumb to or accept anything that stands in their way of enjoying this beauty. They were so wedded to the concept of beauty that their's was an aesthetic culture. But in the case of Rome it proved different. Romans were strictly adhered to the concept of law and disciplines of life. Strict austerity and ethics of life would supplant everything though this would mar beauty and enjoyment. Instead of a beautiful body Roman life suggested a robust one with protruding muscles Roman arenas proclaimed the strength of body and the consequent victory.

7 Beauty got the least significance. The Roman culture was ethical which killed beauty while disciplining life. Aurobindo says there were also cultures which held both beauty and ethics aloft and the harmony of them brought in excellent results. India, Aurobindo opines, is the best example. Here the disciplines were perfectly modelled. So many were the orders and restrictions in life; 'do's and 'dont's abounded. However these this was not enforced by any authority. Here soul-force rather than physical force prevailed and individual was free to select his path. And the man selecting the path of ethical life had an end before him. It was the attainment and realisation of beauty, ethics led one to aesthetics. The disciplines or (thapas) helped a seeker towards the ultimate beauty (saundrya) and the resultant bliss (ananda). Here the thing of beauty attained through an austere life brings the bliss eternal (sukham athyanthikam). Even the ordinary faculties of life were guided by this core teaching of the Hindu thought. For instance the theory of Indian music is connected with the ideas of 'Sruthi' and 'Laya1. The former with its musical setting merges with the latter which is connected with time measure, creating the musical ecstacy. Order thus leads to beauty. Whether in dance, painting or architecture or mathematics which is the maker of patterns there were set laws, order and rythm which would lead to the creative beauty. Here disciplines or ethics lead to the aesthetics.

8 Indian culture was thus both ethical and aesthetic, both working in harmony to perfect human life. Also culture has got different stages it being the expression of different psychic levels. Culture is the product of human psyche and the culture of a nation is the expression of the national psyche. Nation has a mind as in the case of the individual. National mind is the sum total of the people's psyche. However one many be confused to understand what is the right stage of culture. For instance Aurobindo speaks of the rational, infrarational and suprarational stages of mental progression. All these are, he believes, the stages in humanity's progress towards the realisation of the ultimate truth which is also the end of all human cycles. But each stage, has its imperfections, some mere imitation of the aestheticism, some mere dilettantism with ignorant people pulling down the highest things to the level their lowest psychic stages ie, handling the higher things in mean manner. But with man progressing more on the lines of reason and truth, all these changes and he is soon to enjoy the suprarational beauty. This Aurobindo believes is the end of all historical progress. I Like all the ideas of Sri Aurobindo his idea of nationalism also differs from those of other philosophers. According to him nationalism is a religion which nature has

9 X been developing in the heart of humanity. Nation is a persistant psychological unit formed by identical ideas, distinct cultures, religion, philosophy, art, music and all the like elements. It is very difficult to do away with nationalism. A strong advocate of nationalism, Aurobindo often admires the Jewish and Irish people for their having held aloft their national ideals down their chequered history. The national minorities, he says, are stronger than all the other political units and would never allow their national interest to be jeopardised by any aggressive force. It is indeed nationalism's glorious fate that it was to cling to some areas of the glob and prove its might and infinite potential before the world. Aurobindo is proud of India's nationalism which is the expression of its culture. In India nationalism and culture are compatible or one and the same. Therefore he had it that India would live so long as the 'Sanathana Dharma' would live. He warns the Indians that if this 'Dharma' would decline the nationalism would also decline. Hence his exhortation to keep alive this eternal 'Dharma' as the only means to perpetuate India's nationalism. Often it was the decadence of inner vitality and culture that took many ancient civilaztions and nations to their doom. Aurobindo believes that if this inner vitality is preserved it can steel the temperament of a people and nation so that they would not succumb to any alien force however much mighty it might be. The strength of the nation can suffice all the national needs. Nation must

10 xi therefore grow, heavily drawing upon the past and imbibing many new ideas and developments so that it can face all the challenges of modern times. Along with nationalism Aurobindo eulogizes the idea of world unity. But he says that this unity should not be at the cost of nationalism which is eternal. The world unity is to be forged retaining the vitality and potential of the nations. The new world order may be the one in which each nation has its importance, standing independently, not infringing on or being infringed upon by other nations. ~urobindo envisions a universal unity based on the ideal of 'give and taker among different nationalities. The unity is to be forged without compromising each other's integrity and intrinsic cultural values. But here again man is pivotal of this idea. Therefore Aurobindo speaks of the human unity rather than world unity. Like nations respecting each other man too must develop love and respect to his fellow beings. He must feel himself as part of the universal whole by having an intellectual vision regarding the unity of all things. Philosophy as well as science speaks of the ultimate unity. Everything is so inextricably intertwined as to form the intricate patterns of the universal entity. One is not different from the other, or both are the same, they being the manifestations of the permanent substance. The ancient

11 xii upanishadic teaching regarding brotherhood of man sourcing from the divine unity or the christian teaching of the divine love has got the parallel in modern in science with its many theories, Quantum or Unified Field for instance, which proved the underlying unity of all things or the interconnectedness of the universe which is composed of a permanent infinite entity. Therefore Aurobindo exhorts man to see himself as a part of the whole world and see himself in others. Standing aloof and feeling oneself as a separate being callously indifferent with the rest is against the spirit of the world, and a fall out with all the eternal principles of the universe. The lore of India always holds aloft the idea of the 'Lokasangrahal or the 'holding together of all' which in totality brings balance, perfection and beauty. This holistic or integral apprach would certainly bring in a world of harmony and unity in which all nations and people would find there proper place, believes Sri Aurobindo.