Illumination, Heroism and Harmony Preface The task of preparing teaching-learning material for value-oriented education is enormous. There is, first, the idea that value-oriented education should be exploratory rather than prescriptive, and that the teaching learning material should provide to the learners a growing experience of exploration. Secondly, it is rightly contended that the proper inspiration to turn to value-orientation is provided by biographies, autobiographical accounts, personal anecdotes, epistles, short poems, stories of humour, stories of human interest, brief passages filled with pregnant meanings, reflective short essays written in well-chiselle

Homer and the Iliad Sri Aurobindo and Ilion Acknowledgements This monograph is part of a series on Value-oriented Education centered on three values: Illumination, Heroism and Harmony. The research, preparation and publication of the monographs that form part of this series are the result of the cooperation of the following members of the research team of the Sri Aurobindo International Institute of Educational Research, Autryville: Abha, Alain, Anne, Ashatit, Auralee, Bhavana, Christine, Claude, Deepti, Don, Frederick, Ganga, Jay Singh, Jean-Yves, Jossi, Jyoti Madhok, Kireet Joshi, Krishna, Lala, Lola, Mala, Martin, Mirajyoti, Namrita, Olivier, Pala, Pi

Homer and the Iliad A Brief Note I Homer is the name attached by the Greeks of ancient times themselves to the two great epic poems, Iliad and Odyssey. Unfortunately, not much is known of him, but there is no doubt that there was indeed an epic poet called Homer and that he played the primary part in shaping those two great poems. The text of these two poems exists, and their literary merit is so great that Homer is considered one of the very greatest of the world's literary artists. According to a popular idea which was prevalent through out antiquity, Homer must have lived not much later than the Trojan War (1194-1184 BC) about which he sang. Ther

Sri Aurobindo and Ilion I Sri Aurobindo was born on the 15th August 1872 at Calcutta. At an early age of seven, he was taken along with his elder brothers to England for education, since his father wanted him to have no Indian influence in the shaping of his outlook and personality. And yet, even though Sri Aurobindo assimilated in himself richly the best of the European culture, he returned to India in 1893 with a burning aspiration to work for the liberation of India from foreign rule. While in England, Sri Aurobindo passed the I.C.S. Examination, and yet he felt no call for it; so he got himself disqualified by remaining absent from the riding test. The Gae

Instructive Insights into some Principal Characters, Gods and Goddesses related to the Trojan War Extracts from Sri Aurobindo's Ilion On Achilles One in his singleness greater than kings and multitudes sends me. (Sri Aurobindo, Ilion, in Collected Poems, Centenary Edition, Vol.5, p.397) On Paris Happy of light like a lustrous star when it welcomes the morning, Brilliant, beautiful, glamoured with gold and a fillet of gem-fire, Paris, plucked from the song and the lyre by the Grecian challenge, Came with the joy in his face and his eyes that Fate could not alter. Ever a child of t