REAL EVOLUTION OCCURS FROM THE UNFOLDMENT OF THE HEART
People talk of evolution; they say that man has evolved, but I do not see any evolution. Can we say that the man existing today is better than the man who lived during the time of Christ? No. Technological processes and progress have not improved the quality of man. During the time of Christ, there were thieves and robbers, Philistines and what have you, and we have them today, too. We have the same human mind and mentality. Perhaps we think we are advanced because of the invention of motor cars, aeroplanes, and atom bombs. We are not advanced. The evolution of man is not dependent on technology because technology is dependent on the mind. The evolution of man occurs from the heart, from the unfoldment of the heart. Not development of the heart, but unfoldment.
We call our Foundation the International Foundation for Spiritual Unfoldment. The spirit within man is forever unfolded and pure; we must remove the veils and let it shine forth in its expansion. So technologically, we have progressed to a certain extent, but in many instances, we have progressed to our detriment. It required a lot of thinking and high-powered brains to invent the hydrogen bomb, but what have we done with it? We missed it, where millions of people were killed. So, what is the use of this technological progress? I would rather live in Christ’s time and do things by hand instead of machines. Technological progress would have influenced human values if it had been so significant. But we see so much strife and turmoil because humans have become more mind-orientated. He has concentrated more on developing the mind and has forgotten how to create the heart.
MAN AND HIS MIND IS THE TROUBLEMAKER
You take a mad scientist. With his powerful brain, he can invent some instruments, and being a mad scientist, he will use the instrument to destroy the world. But, with that high brain development, if the heart too were unfolded, then the combination of mind and heart would have prevented him from destroying the world. It would stop him. He would use all his laser beams and hydrogen bombs to help the world, to help humanity, to make the life of humankind easier, more smooth, and more joyful.
The world’s present condition is dependent upon us and our minds. The mind tries to find comfort through outward search and by outward glorification itself and builds up its ego more and more. It does everything in its power to see individuality and develop individuality, forgetting universality, with the development of the ego and forgetting that which is within. These things happen. Therefore, we cannot say that the world today is better than it was, and most of its troubles are caused by man. Man and his mind. There is a lovely saying: “God plus mind makes man; man minus mind makes God.”
So the troublemaker is the mind, and the basis of the mind, the power giver of the mind, is the ego. That gives the impetus and the stimulus to the mind. You have a motor car, so my motor car must be better although I might not need it. And it is this always striving to improve, not betterment of ourselves but to seem better. That is what we are doing. We want to appear better to the world. So, if Mrs Jones can do that, Mrs Thomas must do better. She has a little Austin motor car; the other one should have a little Hillman motor car.
THROUGH MEDITATION, MAN EVOLVES
So, all troubles are created by the human mind, and if we can bring greater calmness to the human mind through meditation practices, it will have a better power of thinking. It will think in terms of more excellent equilibrium. Through meditation, the heart’s quality will empower and stimulate it. When the mind and the heart can work simultaneously, man evolves, develops, and finds beauty in living. Then, man finds beauty in existence.
People today exist because they have to exist because they are born, and many of them feel, “Oh, this terrible life”. Many of them pray when it will end. They do that every day; they struggle every day. I went to work this morning, and the boss was terrible; I came home, and the children and the wife were nagging. And the wife says, “Oh, my husband is so inconsiderate; he does not care’ “All these troubles. Why? Because of our essential instability. The unstable person is the person who always blames the other; he blames his wife, his children, his boss, and his motor car. And when he cannot get the golf ball in the hole, he blames the club—always blaming others.
Therefore, please do whatever form of meditation you want to follow. It brings beautiful, excellent, peaceful stability within us. From that stability angle, all our actions become more dynamic and vital, and that is how we can reduce the tensions in the world.
Tensions in the world can only be reduced by individual effort. There will be less tension when individuals become less tense and less nervous. You cannot reduce the tensions of the world collectively. They have to be decreased individually, and we must make our start. We make our start, even if we are not those do-gooders for others, forget that. Do not worry about that. Let us do good for ourselves; automatically, it will reflect in the environment, and we will be helping humanity.
TECHNOLOGY CAN BE HARMFUL, AND IT CAN BE USEFUL TOO
So, this world has not evolved since then; it has yet to become. Evolution depends on heart quality, and we cannot say that people today are kinder, loving, charitable, or compassionate than those who lived a couple of thousand years ago. Technology is a beautiful thing if it is used correctly. Hydrogen power can be used as fuel to provide electricity and light, and the current required for the surgeon’s operating table can help someone operate and save someone’s life. And the same energy can be used for destruction. It is like electricity: the same electricity that heats the stove is the same electricity that gives the fridge coldness. It is how it is used.
The way the world is going today, they are not using technology but abusing technology. They try to make things easier for the housewife and themselves with all these modern inventions, but at the same time, that it is good must not produce more significant tensions. It must not create considerable tension. For example, we have television. You see beautiful programmes, lovely concerts, and beautiful plays. Fine. In South Africa, television just started very recently, but I hear that people buy ready-made dinners in England, and the art of cooking is being lost. They buy those little TV dinners. You come home, plop down, open the TV, and they feed themselves with these readymade dinners. Who knows how the food was prepared? Food must be better prepared by the wife, with all her love and the cleanliness of her kitchen for her husband and children. It is much more beautiful that the family remains together instead of sending little Johnny to buy four TV dinners at the corner shop. This is, of course, an extreme example. Please do not take it seriously; we have to have fun and not be serious all the time, but I am trying to point out that technology can be harmful and helpful, too. It depends on how we use it. And to find the secret of using technology to its most entire value, to its best value, is by creating stability and harmony within us, which meditational practices can make.
… Gururaj Ananda Yogi: Satsang UK 1976 – 02B
