The Story of Evolution

My beloved parents, teachers and students, I shall tell you a story today. My story begins from that point in history when I was still an ape. I heard a whisper. The whisper said, “Change, for you must change, you will change.” I set that voice aside. It made no sense to me. I was such a perfect ape. I could stand on my two feet, I could peel my banana so gracefully, and I could swing deftly from tree to tree. What change could I need? She kept on whispering, “You have no choice, and you will change.” I again set her aside. But, that voice of Shakti, the Evolutionary Force, did not relent. She used my body as Her laboratory and created a human being from within it.

Some apes evolved into man. The rest of the apes shall remain tree-swinging, banana-eating apes for generations ahead. And mind you, only those apes were selected whose bodies were fit for this leap of evolution. There was then, the process of natural selection.

I ask you, had I, the ape even understood what Shakti meant, would I have believed Her? Would I have believed, that me, a jungle-treading ape, could ever evolve into a human who could become an Einstein, a Gandhi, a Bill Gates? 

The human was born and with him evolved the mind. Millions of years of striving, of the throbbing aspiration of the soul within, have led the evolution from non-living rock, to a living plant, to animal, to ape, to man. Today, we believe ourselves to be the epitome of creation. We find it hard to believe that this too is only a transitory phase. 

I admit that in the mental and scientific realm mankind HAS made immense progress; and yet the crisis is felt, because, in the realm of ethics and spirituality, we have chosen to remain dwarfed. We seem to be rotating in a vicious circle from which our deepest aspirations for self-exceeding, for evolution escape us. We are in a state of crisis.

Sri Aurobindo has said, “Man is a transitional being. He is not final….For in man and high beyond him ascend the radiant degrees of Super-manhood.”

It may be hard to believe but today, the door is open for all mankind. We all have a choice; a choice to remain content in our mediocrity or choose to collaborate with Shakti, whose Evolutionary Force cajoles us, compels us, caresses us to collaborate with Her, to take with Her the next leap forward in Her evolutionary march, to become luminous beings of light, love, power and bliss.

I still hear Her whisper. It says, “Change, for you must change. But this time, the choice is yours.”