The March of Time
Tuesday January 11 2005 07:51 IST
By Karmayogi
Time never stops. It is
relentless. Its march is called the progress of civilisation. Century after
century, decade after decade, progress continues. Thus the mere existence of
Man becomes history. His mere existence is now denoted as pre-historic period.
As existence matures into history, history ripens into culture. Man was
physical, selfish. Now he is mental and aims at being selfless. Man does not
become selfless on his own.
He is compelled by circumstances to be selfless. When other tribes attacked,
man organised collective defence, impelled by his own selfish security. The
ultimate goal of that movement is self-giving, the Spiritual progress of the
collective Man. The March of Time compels Man to be selfless and practise
Self-giving.
Such a movement is there in commercial technology, education, democracy and the
Pure Spirit. When education was a close preserve of the chosen few, children
were eager to learn and were aware of the prestige of being educated. Such
eagerness lessens the effort of the teacher.
No special method is called for. Teaching was easy for teachers who had the
knowledge of the subject. Now education is universal. Children are to be
enticed to school by a meal. Most of them will drop out before reaching 5th
standard. All of them are of the first generation of education. To produce any
result in such schools without even a blackboard, educationists all over the
world have discovered more and more sophisticated methods.
There is a further dimension to it. Now we want to teach the deaf and dumb, the
invalids, those whose sight is impaired. Glenn Doman was a doctor in the army.
He was interested in teaching brain-damaged children. He was rewarded with a
marvellous success. He used those methods to teach retarded children.
Trying to teach ALL and those with disabilities, methods of teaching became
refined to a great degree. This is social progress. Progress comes from the
effort to reach wider cross-sections of people. Man is compelled to do so by
social pressure. We see the computer in 1950 and the one in 2000 AD.
The vast improvement and cheaper price came out of a profit motive to earn more
by reaching all the corners of the market. It is true of royalty changing into
democracy. Spirituality means individual salvation, moksha. The modern man in
the West or, for that matter, in the modern Indian metropolis is NOT interested
in moksha.
He wants a BETTER life at home, better education for his children, better
living conditions at home, the most sophisticated medical treatment. To get
them is spirituality in life. It cannot be had on a salary of Rs. 10,000. One
needs ten times more.
Sri Aurobindo offers the SPIRIT in life, the Psychic Being as the goal of
spirituality for the common man, the collective Individual. To earn that income
in the right way, one needs a life of spiritual values.