Question: Does the perfection of the body result in a superman?

Sri Chinmoy: The German philosopher Nietzsche used the term 'superman,' but his superman was nothing but a vital force, a vital being that wanted to lord it over the world and rule the world. Sri Aurobindo also wrote considerably about the superman, but his superman is the totally transformed human being. The totally transformed human being will be most luminous, perfect in every way. He will not go through the human process of birth and death. He will not come into the world from human parents: his soul will descend from the psychic world and take a human body, but a perfect one.

So, perfection is only a kind of evolution in nature. But again, real perfection, divine perfection, is not only the transformation of human life, but also the manifestation of the divine Love here on earth. A superman can be perfect in his own way because of his intense aspiration, but absolute perfection in life depends on one's total surrender to God's Will. If we let the Will of God act in and through us, that is called real perfection.

The cosmic gods and goddesses are more powerful than we are, but in absolute terms they are not perfect because sometimes they do not listen to the Supreme. With their own individual will sometimes they act against the Supreme's highest Will. So how can one call them perfect? Somebody is perfect in the category of aspiration; somebody else is perfect in self-dedication; somebody else is perfect in some other inner or outer sphere of life. But absolute perfection lies in our inseparable oneness with, and unconditional surrender to, the Will of the Supreme.