The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 5/Notes from Lectures and Discourses/Evolution
EVOLUTION
In the matter of the projection of Akâsha and Prâna into manifested form and
the return to fine state, there is a good deal of similarity between Indian
thought and modern science. The moderns have their evolution, and so have
the Yogis. But I think that the Yogis' explanation of evolution is the
better one. "The change of one species into another is attained by the
infilling of nature." The basic idea is that we are changing from one
species to another, and that man is the highest species. Patanjali explains
this "infilling of nature" by the simile of peasants irrigating fields. Our
education and progression simply mean taking away the obstacles, and by its
own nature the divinity will manifest itself. This does away with all the
struggle for existence. The miserable experiences of life are simply in the
way, and can be eliminated entirely. They are not necessary for evolution.
Even if they did not exist, we should progress. It is in the very nature of
things to manifest themselves. The momentum is not from outside, but comes
from inside. Each soul is the sum total of the universal experiences already
coiled up there; and of all these experiences, only those will come out
which find suitable circumstances.
So the external things can only give us the environments. These competitions
and struggles and evils that we see are not the effect of the involution or
the cause, but they are in the way. If they did not exist, still man would
go on and evolve as God, because it is the very nature of that God to come
out and manifest Himself. To my mind this seems very hopeful, instead of
that horrible idea of competition. The more I study history, the more I find
that idea to be wrong. Some say that if man did not fight with man, he would
not progress. I also used to think so; but I find now that every war has
thrown back human progress by fifty years instead of hurrying it forwards.
The day will come when men will study history from a different light and
find that competition is neither the cause nor the effect, simply a thing on
the way, not necessary to evolution at all.
The theory of Patanjali is the only theory I think a rational man can
accept. How much evil the modern system causes! Every wicked man has a
licence to be wicked under it. I have seen in this country (America)
physicists who say that all criminals ought to be exterminated and that that
is the only way in which criminality can be eliminated from society. These
environments can hinder, but they are not necessary to progress. The most
horrible thing about competition is that one may conquer the environments,
but that where one may conquer, thousands are crowded out. So it is evil at
best. That cannot be good which helps only one and hinders the majority.
Patanjali says that these struggles remain only through our ignorance, and
are not necessary, and are not part of the evolution of man. It is just our
impatience which creates them. We have not the patience to go and work our
way out. For instance, there is a fire in a theatre, and only a few escape.
The rest in trying to rush out crush one another down. That crush was not
necessary for the salvation of the building nor of the two or three who
escaped. If all had gone out slowly, not one would have been hurt. That is
the case in life. The doors are open for us, and we can all get out without
the competition and struggle; and yet we struggle. The struggle we create
through our own ignorance, through impatience; we are in too great a hurry.
The highest manifestation of strength is to keep ourselves calm and on our
own feet.