Evolve (Letters)

Expressions researched:
"evolve" |"evolved" |"evolves" |"evolving"

1947 to 1965 Correspondence

Letter to Jawaharlal Nehru -- Allahabad 20 January, 1952:

"So we search for new ways, new aspects of the truth more in harmony with our environment. And we question each other and debate and quarrel and evolve any number of 'isms' and philosophies. As in the days of Socrates, we live in an age of questioning, but the questioning is not confined to a city like Athens: it is worldwide".

Letter to Jawaharlal Nehru -- Allahabad 20 January, 1952:

As the Socratesian ways of reasoning is not bound up within the walls of Athens so also the Brahminical culture is not bound up within the walls of India. You can find out the nine prescribed qualifications of a Brahmin, the seven qualifications of Ksatriyas, the three qualifications of Vaisya and the one qualification of a sudra, world wide. You can therefore pick up Brahmins and other orders of society all the world over. Gandhiji although born in a Vaisya family, possessed almost all the nine qualifications of a Brahmin and if possible we can find out such Brahmin in other parts of the World.

One Brahmin-Gandhi Congressman is quite competent to guide its principle whereas thousand other sudra congressmen can only help it to break it up into pieces.

Thus if we want to approach the Absolute Truth by new ways in harmony with present environment we should try to be true to one another in the qualified way of Brahminical culture. Only a dozen of real qualified Brahmins from all parts of the world should combine to guide the principles of the Ksatriyas, the Vaisya and the Sudras all over the world. The Socratesian way of reasoning should be fully utilized because that makes the only difference between a human being and a beast. There is ample scope for this new way of approaching the Absolute Truth and that will only solve the acute distressing world problem. If there is scarcity of such qualified Brahmins which I honestly think there is, we should combine to evolve such Brahminical culture not by blind faith but by sound reasoning and questioning. But all the same we must be sincere and thorough in our attempt.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Swami Bhaktivedanta -- Hawaii 14 March, 1969:

God is the Supreme Lord. The living entities are qualitatively one with God, or in other words,, living entities and God are one in quality, but by quantity, God is great. As such the living entities are eternal servitors and subordinate of God maintained by the Supreme Lord. This relationship is eternal, therefore time is also eternal. There are two kinds of natures, the spiritual nature and the material nature. Material nature is temporary and spiritual nature is permanent; Material nature is simply temporary manifestation within the jurisdiction of spiritual nature. The living entities somehow or other being entrapped by material nature are meeting all kinds of material conditions. His birth, death, old age, and diseases are due to his contact with this material nature. The living entity is evolving different kinds of material body numbering 8,400,000 different forms. The human form is a great opportunity for the living entity to understand God, the living entity, time, nature, and different activities.

Letter to Rupanuga -- Hawaii 14 March, 1969:

Regarding your questions: The spark soul has certainly form which means hands, feet, etc. This we learn from Bhagavad-gita. The body is described there as Vasamsi, which means dress. So unless one has got originally hands and legs, how the dress, coat and pants and shirt, takes such form? Therefore the spirit soul has original form. When he is in the material energy the dress is evolved materially and when he is in the spiritual energy, the dress is evolved spiritually. This is also not very difficult to understand, as our students before coming to my contact, he was supposed to be materially dressed, attached to sense gratification, and after devoting himself in Krishna Consciousness, he is gradually developing a spiritual dress. That means attached to satisfying the senses of the Supreme.

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Hayagriva -- Los Angeles 9 March, 1970:

We can take the idea from the tree—the tree grows gradually, and the different fruits, branches, and twigs gradually appear. Therefore it is to be understood that this planet has grown later on. Besides this we understand that although the planet was later on grown up, it was covered with water—pralaya payodhi jale **, merged into the water after devastation. Then gradually it emerges from water. That we can experience, that gradually land is coming out of the oceans. Because of its being merged into water, it is natural to conclude that the beginning of life was aquatic. This is confirmed in Padma Purāṇa that the species of life evolved from aquatics to plants, vegetables, trees; thereafter insects, reptiles, flies, birds, then beasts, and then human kind. This is the gradual process of evolution of species of life.

1971 Correspondence

Letter to Upendra -- Delhi 8 December, 1971:

You say that you have met people who claim that by evolution we are approaching a higher stage of existence. That is true in one sense, that anyone who takes to Krishna Consciousness may elevate himself to the highest status of life. Krishna mentions many types of higher beings in Bhagavad-gita, such as demigods and those who dwell on higher planets. We have information that there are 8,400,000 species of life. Out of these, 400,000 species are considered human life. Of these 400,000, how many species do we find in our experience? Not many, probably less than 1,000, so we must conclude that there are hundreds of thousands of higher and lower types of human forms. But this does not mean that automatically one body evolves into a higher body. No. It is described by Krishna how the soul becomes embodied according to his desire. So there are 8,400,000 types of bodies eternally existing. Not that the appearance of a new form in this world means that form has never existed previously. No, as conditions change on this earth planet, the living entities here desire to enjoy in a different way, so they take a different type of body. Even that body may be new here, it has always existed also somewhere else. So if a man qualifies for that body, he may be rewarded the body of superman, as he desires. So if someone wants such body, he must learn the process for acquiring it, that is Bhagavad-gita.