Evolution is carried on by the Jiva passing from body to body, the bodies improving as his powers unfold; this is called re-birth, re-incarnation, or transmigration. The word re-incarnation means literally taking flesh again, coming again into a physical body. The word transmigration means passing from one place to another passing into a new body. Either word can be used equally well. Let us see what is the process described by these words. The Jiva, we have seen, is a portion of Brahman, “a portion of myself, a Jiva,” says Shri Krshna.
He contains the powers of Brahman, is Brahman. “Thou art That,” the Shruti teaches. But yet there is a difference in Space and Time, as the seed is different from the tree. The tree produces a seed, giving it its own nature; it drops the seed on the ground, and the seed slowly grows, putting out its hidden powers, until it becomes a tree like its parent; it can become nothing else, because its nature is the same as that of the parent. And so with the Jiva; like a seed he is dropped into matter by Ishvara, he slowly grows, putting out his hidden powers,until he becomes Ishvara; he can become nothing else, because his nature is the same as that of his Parent, Ishvara. Ishvara is said to be wise and powerful, Jiva to be unwise and powerless;* but the Jiva grows into wisdom and power, and that growth is what is called Evolution. We have seen that the Jiva begins in the mineral kingdom his long pilgrimage through the physical world. At that stage he is unconscious of the outer world.
His attention is called to it, its existence is forced on him, by violent shocks and blows from cutside ; earthquakes, volcanoes, landslips, the rolling of the furious surf, these and many other violent agencies arouse the Jiva’s attention to the fact that he is not alone, that there is something outside him. If the student reads the accounts of the very early periods of the earth’s history, he will be struck by the number of big catastrophies ; all these were necessary to awaken the Jivas. After a very very long time, the Jivas were sufficiently awake to be fit for softer and more flexible bodies than minerals, and they went on into plants, while others, coming out later from Ishvara, took their places in the mineral kingdom.
The Jivas in the plants now became more conscious of the outer world, feeling the warm sun, and the gentle breezes, and the life-giving rain. As they grew older and more sensitive, they passed into the longer-lived plants, such as shrubs and trees, and in these more of their inner powers unfolded, till they were ready to go on into the animal kingdom, while the younger ones came on into the vegetable kingdom, and others still younger into the minerals. And now in the animal kingdom the Jivas got on much faster, and by hunting for food, and fighting and outwitting each other, the senses and the simple mental powers were brought out and strengthened ; until at last the animal forms were no longer good enough for them, and they needed the human in order that their evolution should not stop. The student may ask : What makes the forms evolve to suit the Jiva ? The Jiva’s own efforts. He wants to look oat through the wall of matter that encloses him ; he tries to see, and his outwardgoing energy works on the wall, and slowly, very very slowly, evolves an eye ; and so with all the senses and all the organs. The senses are Pierced from within outwards, we are taught.
The Jiva shapes them all to suit himself, so that he can use his powers in the outer world, and the Devas help him by giving him material* that are suited to the organ he wants to build. When he is trying to see, Agni gives him some of his own fiery matter, which vibrates when touched by rays of light. When he wants to taste, Varuna gives him some of his own watery matter, which makes tasting possible. And so on. In this way he makes his bodies, and when he has shaped one as much as he can, and it is of no further use to him, he throws it away and makes another. He evolves faster and faster as he goes on, because his powers, as they work more freely, can bring about results much more quickly than in the earlier stages.
This is the general process of evolution, and the succession has been told about as though it were unbroken, so that the student may grasp the main idea. But, in nature, while the general stream is onwards, there are many little twists and turnings and runnings up into bye-ways. A Jiva may slip backwards for a time, stay a while in a stage that he has long left behind him. There is something he has not quite learned, some power he has not quite evolved, and he falls by this into a lower stage again as a boy at school, if he were idle, might be put back into a lower class. A Jiva which has reached the human stage may be attached to an animal, or to a plant, or, if he be very tamasic, even to a stone, till he has learned to use the human form better.
Then he is like a man in prison, shut out from human society, and unable to use his human powers, for want of freedom. But the Jiva is not to be tied for ever to the wheel of births and deaths. The ropes that tie him to this wheel are his desires. So long as he desires objects that belong to this earth, he must come back to this earth in order to possess and enjoy these objects. But when he ceases to desire These objects, then the ropes are broken, and he is free. He need not be born any more; he has reached liberation. He is then called a Mukta, a free Jiva. Often Muktas remain in this world to help its progress, so that other Jivas may get free sooner than they otherwise would. We read about such Muktas in the Vedas and Puranas and the Itihasa; sometimes they are great Rishis or Kings, and sometimes they are quite simple people. But whatever they may be in outside appearance, they are pure and unselfish and calm, and live only to help others. They are content to labour for the good of the world, and they know that they are one with God.—Sanatana Dharma
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