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A Series of Lessons in Gnani Yoga816
nourish their young by milk, or similar fluid, secreted by the mother. The
mammals are the highest form of the vertebrates.
First among the mammals we find the aplacentals, or those which bring
forth immature young, which are grouped into two divisions, i.e., (1) the
monotremes, or one-vented animals, in which group belong the duck-bills,
spiny ant-eaters, etc.; and (2) the marsupials, or pouched animals, in which
group belong the kangaroo, opossum, etc.
The next highest form among the mammals are known as the placentals, or
those which bring forth mature young. In this class are found the ant-eaters,
sloth, manatee, the whale and porpoise, the horse, cow, sheep, and other
hoofed animals; the elephant, seal, the dog, wolf, lion, tiger, and all flesh
eating animals; the hares, rats, mice, and ail other gnawing animals; the bats,
moles, and other insect-feeders; then come the great family of apes, from
the small monkeys up to the orang-outang, chimpanzee, and other forms
nearly approaching man. And then comes the highest, Man, from the Kaffir,
Bush-man, Cave-man, and Digger Indian, up through the many stages until
the highest forms of our own race are reached.
From the Monera to Man is a long path, containing many stages, but it is
a path including all the intermediate forms. The Yogi Teachings hold to the
theory of evolution, as maintained by modern Science, but it goes still further,
for it holds not only that the physical forms are subject to the evolutionary
process, but that also the “souls” embodied in these forms are subject to the
evolutionary process. In other words the Yogi Teachings hold that there is a
twin-process of evolution under way, the main object of which is to develop
“souls,” but which also finds it necessary to evolve higher and higher forms of
physical bodies for these constantly advancing souls to occupy.
Let us take a hasty glance at the ascending forms of animal life, as they rise
in the evolutionary scale. By so doing we can witness the growth of the soul,
within them, as manifested by the higher and higher physical forms which
are used as channels of expression by the souls within. Let us first study soulevolution
from the outer viewpoint, before we proceed to examine it from