-11_chapter - 9 hour of god.htm?IsHostedInContentPage=1 CHAPTER 9 HOUR OF GOD I   Sri Aurobindo's decisive plunge into the maelstrom of Indian politics and his tempestuous involvement in it occupied a mere fraction of his life - a matter of three or four years. But they were to prove momentous years in India's history. A convenient breakdown would be - July 1905-July 1906: The "partition of Bengal", the "Hour of God" that roused and united the people of Bengal and if India as a whole against their unwanted British rulers. This year was the transitionary period of Sri Aurobindo's silent withdrawal from Baroda and of the beginnings of his open participation in Bengal and

-18_chapter - 16 pondicherry- cave of tapasya.htm?IsHostedInContentPage=1 CHAPTER 16   PONDICHERRY: CAVE OF TAPASYA   I   Having decided to leave Chandernagore for Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo first spoke to Motilal Roy about it. The idea was that Sri Aurobindo, accompanied by Bejoy Nag, should board the steamer Dupleix on the night of 31 March 1910. Motilal wrote to Sukumar Mitra (Krishna Kumar Mitra's son, and Sri Aurobindo's cousin) and Amar Chatterji of Uttarpara asking them to make the necessary arrangements. Everything had to be done in secret, for there was an oppressive air of suspicion everywhere, and police spies were posted at even the unlikeliest places. Suk

-13_chapter - 11 the nation's pace-maker.htm?IsHostedInContentPage=1 CHAPTER 11  THE NATION'S PACE-MAKER I   We saw that one of the developments that helped Sri Aurobindo to decide to leave the Baroda service for good and take the plunge into Bengal politics was the offer of the Principalship of the New National College at Calcutta. The college opened on 14 August 1906, and Sri Aurobindo began his work there on 15 August, his birthday. On the organisation side, there was Satish Chandra Mukherjee - already associated with the Dawn Society and the National Council of Education - as Superintendent, and among the other teachers was Radhakumud Mukherjee. Sri Aurobindo had on his h

CHAPTER 17   ARYA: A GOD'S LABOUR   I   It was mentioned in the previous chapter (16.III) that, soon after Sri Aurobindo's arrival in 1910, he was met by M. Paul Richard who was on a visit to Pondicherry. They had two fruitful meetings, and Richard afterwards said to a Japanese audience: The hour is coming of great things, of great events, and also of great men, the divine men of Asia. All my life I have sought for them across the world, for all my life I have felt they must exist somewhere in the world, that this world would die if they did not live. For they are its light, its heat, its life. It is in Asia that I found the greatest among

CHAPTER 23   THE TEN LIMBS OF THE YOGA   1 The 'Siddhi' of 24 November 1926 was a decisive stage in Sri Aurobindo's mission, since it meant - as he explained later - "the descent of Krishna into the physical". On 11 November he had said that he was trying to bring down the "world of the Gods", and had almost hinted that the descent was imminent. In the Aurobindonian Weltanschauung, the "world of the Gods" was the Overmind world just below the Supermind: If we regard the Powers of the Reality as so many Godheads, we can say that the Overmind releases a million Godheads into action, each empowered to create its own world, each world capable o

-02_preface to the fourth edition.htm?IsHostedInContentPage=1 PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION   The first edition appeared in February 1945, the second in February 1950 and both had been read by Sri Aurobindo and generally approved. The third edition took due note of the immense mass of valuable new material that had come to light in the meantime, grew to about three times the bulk of the second edition, and was published in two volumes in Sri Aurobindo's Birth Centenary year (1972). Some more material became available during the next few years (1972-78), and whatever was relevant was incorporated in my book On the Mother: The Chronicle of a Manifestation and Ministry (1978). Sri Auro

-33.bibliography.htm?IsHostedInContentPage=1 BIBLIOGRAPHY   Sri Aurobindo's writings have appeared in journals (notably Indu Prakash, Bande Mataram, Yugantar, Karmayogin, Dharma, Standard-Bearer, Arya and Bulletin of Physical Education), as also in book form in successive editions and impressions. For this edition the references to Sri Aurobindo's writings are from the Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library:   Volume 1 — Bande Mataram, EARLY POLITICAL WRITINGS — I (1893-1908): New Lamps for Old; Bhawani Mandir; The Doctrine of Passive Resistance; editorials and comments from the Bande Mataram; Speeches. Volume 2 — Karmayogin, EARLY POLITICAL WRITINGS —11(1909-1910): Uttarp

-16_chapter - 14 karmayogin.htm?IsHostedInContentPage=1 CHAPTER 14   KARMAYOGIN   I   A whole year in prison, in Alipur most of the time; in the eyes of the outside world, a year of bleak or baneful incarceration. Yet, for Sri Aurobindo himself, the jail had been no cage of confinement, but a veritable Yogashram where Purushottama had befriended him, and had sported as Guru, companion and guide. Thus had Sri Aurobindo's "enemies", by sending him to prison, only opened to him the doors of sudden enlightenment and felicity. And it had always been like that, for the highest good had come to Sri Aurobindo from his so-called "enemies" - and now he had no "enemy" in the wor

-28_chapter - 26 savitri.htm?IsHostedInContentPage=1 CHAPTER 26 SAVITRI I   The Savitri story is of great antiquity. It was already ancient at the time of the Mahabharata events, for it was one of the stories that Rishi Markandeya narrated to Yudhishthira during the years of his exile to console him and fortify his spirits. Several of Sri Aurobindo's narrative poems or fragments - Love and Death, Vidula, Chitrangada, Uloupy, Nala - were based on, or translated from, the Mahabharata, yet the fascination was inexhaustible, and in particular the Savitri story, like the Nala story, had a special attraction for Sri Aurobindo as embodying the early morning glory of Rishi Vyasa

Sri Aurobindo     a biography and a history   by K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar         SRI AUROBINDO INTERNATIONAL CENTRE OF EDUCATION PONDICHERRY