Struggle for Existence Is Not the Way to Higher Evolution The dualistic world of New

ton slowly sep- a rated mind from matt er and grad u ally brought the vi sion of a
world where there is sep a ra tion of man from man man from !od and in the long
run na tion from na tion" #ar win$s ideas of strug gle for ex is tence and sur vival of
the %t - test comb ined with the Newt on ian vis ion of a dualistic uni verse& and civ i
li 'a tion emerged (red in tooth and claw$" #uri ng his stay in Eu rope in )*+,
Swami -ive.ananda fore saw the dar. fu ture of the West ern civ i li 'a tion based
on the new the o ries of strug gle for ex is tence and sci en ti%c ma te ri- al ism" He
prophe s ied a bloody fu ture for the West and the proph ecy came true through the
two World Wars where the dis cov er ies of sci - ence were used for mut ual de
struct ion" Ethi cs enc oura ges mut ual love and ser vice" Hu man- ity saw in the act
ions of ap plied sci ence a /out- ing of ethi cs" When the World Trade 0en tre fell to a
dev as tat ing airc raft at tac. on )) Sep tem ber 122) with the ins tant death of
seve ral thousand in no cent peop le the world rea l i'ed li.e the citi 'ens of #en
mar. in Sha.es peare$s Ham let3 (Some thing is rott en in the state of #en mar."$ (4ll
they that ta.e the sword shall peri sh with the sword$ said 5es us 0hrist" Such acts
of his toric de struct ion in vite as Swami -ive.ananda called it (the ven geance of
his - tory$" #ur ing his ext ens ive re search on the evo - lut ion of /owe rs with orn
ate orc hids #arw in reached the con cept of co-evo lu tion and ver i -
%ed that /ow ers and in sects af fect one an - other" 6arl 7immer in his lat est boo.
Evo lu tion writes (Not long aft er #ar win %ni shed his 8r i - gin of Spe cies he dis
cov ered 9ust how dras ti- cally /ow ers and in sects could af fect one an- other"$)
This was the new con cept .nown as co-evo lu tion" If plant evo lu tion de pends on
such so - phis ti cated co op er a tion be tween plant life and ani mal life will not
higher hum an evo lu tion need more so phis tic ated well-thought-out co- op er a
tion be tween hu mans and other life forms in the en vi ron ment: 0on trad icting
#ar win$s idea of strug gle for ex is tence for higher evo lu tion Swami -i- ve
.ananda ex plained the Hindu idea of higher evo lu tion through cons cious choice
and thought power in his in ter pre ta tion of ;a tan - 9ali$s <ogaSutras3 0om pe ti
tions for life or sex-grat i % ca tion are only mo men tary un nec ess ary ex tra ne
ous ef- forts caused by ig no rance" Even when all com - pet i tion has ceased this
per fect na ture be hind will ma.e us go for ward un til eve ry one has be- come perf
ect" Theref ore there is no reas on to be - lieve that comp et i tion is nece ss ary to
prog ress" In the ani mal the man was supp ressed but as soon as the door was
opened out rushed man" So in man there is the pot ent ial god .ept in by the loc.s
and bars of ign or ance" When .nowl- edge brea.s these bars the !od be comes
mani - fest"1 No bel phys i cist Erwin Schr=dinger says that for en suri ng the sel ec
tion of a spe cies for sur vival (the beh av iour$ and the (hab its of life$ are of (outs
tandi ng imp ort ance and dec is ive in /u ence$" With out these Schr=dinger ar
gues>""?2