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EDITOR'S NOTE: We would be happy to receive your response to the project – 'Mankind on the March'. You could contribute your article/essay on any of
the 12 parts/chapters that are suggested in the summary.
Truly, the universe is not mere monodimensional physical reality. There is a multidimensional hierarchy telescoped in it. It is too manifold and
mystical, and too arcane and unaccountable to be fully proved or explained by science.
Its marathon exploration by science has led us t6 the frontiers of the Unknown. It has arrived at a point where investigative instruments fall back
upon infinitive resourcefulness. It is the cut off point in the long process of its enquiry and search when mind prefers to merge itself in meditation.
The appearance of the human species on the earth makes matters much too complex and complicated for Reason to solve or resolve. Surely in the heavens
above and in the depths of our being below, as the Scriptures say, there are signs for the initiated to discover the secret of existence. The truth is that he who sincerely seeks shall invariably find. But where to
begin? And how to begin? The journey has a much greater inner dimension than mind can imagine; it is more a psychic movement, within man than any coherent account of external investigations. It is this inner side of
human evolution with which I was trying in vain to grapple. Verily, it involved both an unprecedented insearch and an unparalled research. Only The Mother knew my predicament. Her Grace alone could come to. my
rescue. I wrote a brief letter to The Mother. during my stay at Pondicherry placing at her lotus feet my problem – a problem whose implications I myself was least aware of. I also submitted a couple of titles under
which I should proceed to accomplish the task. Nolini-da was gracious enough to take it to The Mother.
The next day, in the afternoon, around 4:00 P.M., when I was standing a little away from the Samadhi, prayerfully looking at the supreme panorama of
Love and Light and Grace, that I saw Dyuman-bhai unexpectedly coming towards me. There was a sort of excitement too in his voice. "Congratulations, you are going to write several volumes on Mankind on the
March. I never saw Nolini-da so very excited as when he met me early this morning. He told me that Mother has given you the work 'Mankind on the March." The Mother had heard my prayer. I felt both happy and
diffident; I was too small to do justice to the monumental theme. In all humility I bowed down at the Samadhi and came out. To my pleasant surprise I saw Nolini-da standing in front of the small door opposite the
school gate waiting to go to the sportsground. When he saw me he pulled out from the hip-pocket of his blue shorts a small chit on which was written "Mankind on the March". In his inimitable usual
composure he said simply, "Mother has given you this." And nothing more. That night I had little sleep, for never had I imagined the magnitude of that responsibility. It required both wide ranging
scholarship and spiritual discrimination, and I possessed neither.
Next morning I met Rishabhchand-da to seek his guidance in the matter. If The Mother has blessed the undertaking, he said, then I should turn only to
her for help. In 1972, synchronising with the Master's birth centenary celebrations, a booklet was brought out by the Institute of Human Study, with the caption, 'Mankind on the March', though authored by me it was
totally based on Sri Aurobindo's The Ideal of Human Unity.
Ignoramus as I was, I slept over the project for the next twenty years, sometimes ruminating, most of the time incubating but practically vegetating
all the time. There was lot of developmental activity in the Institute - construction of four four-storeyed buildings for the Sri Aurobindo International School as well as the expansion of Matridarshan orchards at
Jangaon. In the meantime a couple of international seminars and world conferences were also successfully organised at Hyderabad on the themes 'Celebration Future', 'Divine Dawn' and 'Global Future'. Notably among
the many books brought out by the Institute are The Vedic Epiphany in three volumes, Footnotes to the Future and Seven Studies in Sri Aurobindo, all authored by me.
In 1986 after retirement from the University I felt that I should at least write out the outlines of the long pending project. With The Mother's Grace
in less than a day's time the entire scheme was set out with all its details. 'Mankind on the March' was to be completed in twelve volumes, now epitomised in three, with a brief yet comprehensive Introduction.
Mankind on the March – The Research Project
A research project envisaged to be brought out initially in 3 volumes - (a) The Beginnings (b) The Journey and (c) The Divine Unfoldment, contain
tentatively the following twelve parts – 1) The Vision, 2) The Beginnings, 3) The Ascent of Life, 4) The Manifestations of the Mind, 5) The Quest for Beauty, 6) The Realm of Religion, 7) Philosophy and
Metaphilosophy, 8) Science: Towards Terrestrial Omnipotence, 9) Agni: The Illumined Will, 10) The Supreme Consummation, 11) The New Epiphany and 12) The Golden Dawn.
A Synopsis
'Mankind on the March', an evolutionary approach to the manifestation of consciousness upon earth and the vision of human destiny, will be an
evolutionary history of human civilisation as well as an evaluative account of Man's quest for Truth. It is to welcome the futurist trends in our times that celebrate the advent of the next millennium by presenting
an integralWeltanschauung, a unified and holistic world view, based on the oneness of Spirit, and to augment some measure the great work-being done by UNESCO; The project is undertaken to serve and to support
the great movement towards the realisation of human unity initiated in our own times notably by Tagore, Jawaharlal Nehru, Arnold Toynbee, Will Durant and others. Perhaps no other single individual in contemporary
history has been so close to this ideal and sympathised so deeply with the aspirations of sensitive men and women the world over for the fellowship of man than the great seer Sri Aurobindo.
It is hoped that the project will make a significant contribution to our knowledge of the cultural and spiritual heritage of humankind and promote
better understanding among the different cultures of the world. An undertaking of such a nature will be in keeping with the spiritual ethos of the nation, and will focus on India's timeless vision of the truth of
creation. Also, it will reinforce in us our instinctive belief that the evolution of man is indeed the story of the increasing manifestation of Spirit in and through Matter.
Science, no doubt, has succeeded in annihilating physical distances between different communities and nations, but the social, cultural and racial
prejudices can be dissolved only through the realisation of the spiritual oneness that underlines humankind. The depth and sweep and nature and scope of the proposed project will certainly inspire many to move in
the desired direction and to concretise the dream of Human Unity into a living fact.
(To be continued)
It is the ardent prayer and Hope of the sponsors that this series of volumes will make a significant contribution to the cultural heritage of
mankind and promote better understanding among differet peoples of the world. An understanding of such a nature. is as formidable and difficult to accomplish as it is alluring and rewarding; it seems to be as
ambitious as it is imperative.
The Author
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