ABSTRACT
Patanjali explains the Hindu theory of evolution of species by means of an illustration from agriculture. In Hindu religious literature there are numerous stories of men who hated God or an avatar. In any particular incarnation, a man’s condition is determined by the balance of his karmas. Suppose that balance is very favourable, and he is born to become a monk and a spiritual teacher. By ‘memory/ Patanjali does not mean conscious remembering, but unconscious co-ordination of the impressions received in past lives with the actions and thoughts of our present life. Karma—the chain of cause and effect—is absolutely continuous. Karma can only operate and produce tendencies as long as certain causes are present. These causes are ignorance, attachment, aversion and the desire to cling to life. Every combination of individuals or forces in this world has to have a purpose for its action or existence; otherwise it would be just a meaningless, functionless collection of objects, brought together haphazardly.
