In 1854, Vogt gave a materialistic explanation of consciousness...like biological functions. Moleschott thought that matter contains within itself the principle of thought. Buchner popularized the theory of evolution and in Force and Matter explained that matter is the ultimate principle of life. Materialism was advanced most vigorously by Earnst Haeckel (1834-1919), whose book, The Riddle of the Universe (1899), gained wide popularity. He taught zoology and did much to popularize Darwin's theory of evolution. Frederick Mayer, HMP N. Berdyaev, one of the leading “Neo-Christians” of modern Russia, prophesies in his book, The End of Our Time, the breakdown of modern civilisation, because he can find no meaning in any life in which the central principle is not a mystic communion with God. Materialistic civilisation has failed, but neither does mysticism seems to offer a door of escape...To these criticisms levelled against mysticism and Yoga by the modern scientific mind, Sri Aurobindo's book, The Riddle of the world, furnishes a complete and trenchant reply. Anilbaran Roy, 1940 Life is instinct with the stuff of Mind, abounds with an unconscious sensation...I use the language of the materialist Haeckel in spite of its paradoxical form. Sri Aurobindo, KENA.18.39
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