Correspondence and analogy were used by the ancient Teachers in educating the people. Myth, drama, allegory, were all so many devices to impart to the groping human intelligence facts and truths of Nature and of Nature's Laws.

Thus, in the nature of every man grow weeds and poison-plants, also beautiful flowers and shady trees. Many a poet and writer, ancient and modern, has compared man's virtues and vices, his good and bad habits, to jungle growths and flowering garden plants.

Seers and singers have seen in the Lotus, for example, the symbol of the Universal Man. In Egypt as in India, the Lotus, Padma, was called the sacred flower because in its life-process was seen the unfoldment of the human soul to its perfection—the individual becoming the Universal; man, the microcosm, developing into the Macrocosm, the Heavenly Man.

Similarly, some Western mystics and esotericists saw in the Rose a symbol of the secret knowledge by which the burgeoning of the Soul-bud into the full-blown Rose took place. One aspect of this symbol is worked even today by the Freemasons in what is known to them as their eighteenth degree. This is not divulging any secret, for it is to be found in publicly printed books.

The philosophical principle underlying this ancient mode of learning through symbols and emblems is this: As everything in Nature emanates from the one homogeneous substance which is Life, popularly called God, every object, every being and every kingdom carries within itself and reflects some particular aspect of the Universal Whole. Therefore, every stone and metal, every flower and fruit, every bird and beast, reflects some aspect of Nature, of her Light side or of her Dark side, generally of both. The human kingdom, however, being the highest in manifested Nature, is the reflected shadow and the miniature copy of the Universal Whole. Only one form of Life, namely, the human form, is perfect: in that form all the powers of vast Nature are hidden in latency, that is, in an undeveloped condition. Man's form is a miniature but perfect copy of the whole of the Living Universe, just as the newly born baby is a miniature copy of the full-grown human body.

Using this Law of Correspondence and Analogy, we find that the jungle, dark, dangerous, pathless, trackless, reflects its qualities and characteristics in human nature. Also, the garden with its well-trimmed hedges and borders, its patterns and paths, its colourful fragrance, its shady nooks and corners, is reflected in human nature. These two may be compared to the evil and the good nature in each person; but we must not overlook that the forest has its own value, and that in the garden also cobras and chameleons are found! Not in a precise scientific way are we here pursuing the study of this comparison. Only in a general way can we treat this metaphorical comparison between the dark, seemingly purposeless jungle, and the gloomy, vicious, unmethodical nature of man; between the well-kept garden and the well-shaped human character.

A garden is not possible in wild nature; without the aid of man, Nature by itself does not produce a garden. Soon the jungle arises in a neglected garden, but never does a garden emerge out of a neglected jungle. Even a virtuous character is overgrown by weaknesses if attention is not paid to it; if we do not systematically water our flowerbeds of virtue they will in no time grow weeds of vice.

For the purposes of our study we may confine ourselves to these aspects of the jungle: (1) its might and strength—the law of the jungle is that might is right; (2) its ferocious beasts, who are afraid of man because, though puny, he is intelligent; (3) its poisonous creepers which kill not only sturdy shrubs, but even giant trees. These three are man's foes, for they have their corresponding reflection in human nature.

(1) in our lower nature, Egotism-ahamkara is the predominant force—the "I-making" tendency. All the power and the force of our lower nature proceeds from this "I"—the root of the notion that each one of us is separate from, and therefore superior to, all others. Crass selfishness is its product. All ambitions and competitions arise from this force of Egotism, the very foundation of our lower nature. That lower nature derives all its might and strength from Egotism, and when it succeeds, the worldly man succeeds. He says, in the words of the Gita (XVI, 13-16):

This today hath been acquired by me, and that object of my heart I shall obtain; this wealth I have, and that also shall be mine. This foe have I already slain, and others will I forthwith vanquish; I am the lord, I am powerful, and I am happy. I am rich and with precedence among men; where is there another like unto me? I shall make sacrifices, give alms, and enjoy.

(2) In this jungly nature ruled by the "I," the "I," the "I," prowl ferocious beasts destructive of our noble aspirations. Three of them, which are the main vices of man, his worst enemies and the dangerous wombs of a whole brood of vices, are called "Gates of Hell" in the same chapter of the Gita. They are Kama, Krodha and Lobha—Lust, Anger and Greed. The death of Egotism results from the destruction of Greed, the foul soul of competition; of Anger which arises from unfulfilled ambitions; and of Lust which results from uncontrolled desires. Sri Krishna calls them "destroyers of the Soul." These three beasts are afraid of the spiritual Soul in man, and therefore attack that Soul. And foolish people, remaining unaware of the strength of the very Soul within them, fall prey to knawing fangs of lust and anger and greed.

(3) But what are the poisonous creepers of our human nature? Not those growling beasts whose existence and presence are easily detected, but those sly, weak-looking, cringing, curling, parasite tendencies which silently destroy our manhood, our nobility and the possibility of growth itself. Our humanity in the mass is not suffering so much from crass wickedness as from petty folly. No doubt there are many lustful, angry and greedy people in the world, but there are many, many more foolish people whose lives are choked by effete habits, by meaningless customs, by a purposeless going round and round, like the creeper which winds itself around the trunk of the tree that presently it is going to destroy.

These three make jungles of human lives. A garden has to be fashioned in their stead. How shall we do it?

The answer comes from the Gita: by the sword of knowledge we can cut the nefarious influence of the poisonous creepers; we can also destroy the beasts of Lust, Anger and Greed; in fighting egotism by knowledge we come upon the "Real," the Real Ego, the human Soul or Thinker, and it teaches us how to make a garden where before the jungle was.

We can create a garden out of this jungle of human nature only when we have found the gardener. The Soul in us is the gardener. If modern education from the very start taught boys and girls to seek their own Souls, within their own minds and hearts, the jungle of character and of the lower nature would not so easily arise. It is harder for the adult to transform his jungle into a garden; but, though difficult, it is not impossible; and, moreover, it is imperative that each man, each woman, undertake the task. Why? Because their very Souls, when they are overpowered by Egotism, by Lust and Anger and Greed, by habits, customs and blind beliefs, will encounter death. Alas! the Living-Dead are many.

How to build a garden out of our human nature? The first requisite is that we act as human beings. In us the animal nature predominates. To become human we must invest our daily living with the dignity of purpose. A gardener lays out his plans: what the shape of the beds, and where they are to be; the location of the lawn; how to get water from the shortest distance possible; the buying of good seeds, and then their planting; and finally looking after the process to growth complete.

We need knowledge—knowledge of the ways our mind functions and the recognition of the Soul which is higher than the mind and controls its movements. The Soul is the gardener and his mind is the chief weapon with which he clears the ground, turns the sod, waters the soil and plants the chosen seeds. Hence the need of knowledge of our own make-up, of the Soul with its capacity to control the mind, of the mind with its weakness to be impressed by feelings, emotions and desires aroused by the senses and objects of sense. And thirdly, the knowledge that every human being can and should grow a garden out of his own nature. No one else can do the work; Great Teachers, Poets and Prophets can but point the way—each one has to walk it by himself; this is Karma. Karma is not fatalism; there is no fixed and unalterable destiny. Karma is action—the doing and the becoming. Whatever we may have done in the past, however overgrown with weeds our character may be, however dark the jungle of our feelings and thoughts, the Soul like the Sun in heaven shines on us and the showers of his blessing fall on us. If we but despair not, and with moral pluck take ourselves in hand, we shall learn the truth about happiness and progress and then it will be possible for us to acquire that inner attitude which Tennyson has so well described:

And I must work thro' months of toil,
And years of cultivation
Upon my proper patch of soil
To grow my own plantation.
I'll take the showers as they fall,
I will not vex my bosom;
Enough if at the end of all
A little garden blossom.

The recovery of the old spiritual knowledge and experience in its full splendour, depth and fullness is its [the Indian Renaissance's] first, most essential work; the flowing of this spirituality into new forms of philosophy, literature, art, science and critical knowledge is the second; an original dealing with modern problems in the light of Indian spirit and the endeavour to formulate a great synthesis of a spiritualized society is the third and most difficult. Its successes on these three lines will be the measure of its help to the future of humanity.

—Sri Aurobindo