The Significance of K.D. Sethna In the Context of the Problem of Aryan Origins “ HERE is the book I was looking for," I had said to myself aloud as I finished the first edition of The Problem of Aryan Origins soon after it was published in early 1980. It was no outburst of passing enthusiasm for what was undoubtedly a brilliant piece of research. I had seen in this book the birth of a new dawn on the horizon of Indian historiography. Scholars had so far used the modern lore - linguistics, comparative mythology, archaeology, and the rest - for denigrating and dismissing India's indigenous historical traditions.  Here

Gandhi and Indian Mysticism It is unfortunate that an impartial estimate of the greatness of Mahatma Gandhi, done more than forty years ago by Amal Kiran in his book The Indian Spirit and the World's Future, has not received its due recognition. While an average Indian immediately links up Swaraj with Gandhi, the author of this exegesis wonders if the elements of Indian mysticism in the Mahatma's socio-political approach really draw nourishment from the rich and invigorating traditions of the land. - Editors THE idealisation of non-violence at all costs serves also to throw into relief the precise meaning of Gandhi's saying: "P

BOOKS BY AMAL-KIRAN (K.D. SETHNA) Published Books. 1. The Parnassians (1923) 2. Artist Love (1925) 3. The Secret Splendour (1941) 4. Evolving India: Essays on Cultural Issues (1947) 5. The Poetic Genius of Sri Aurobindo (1947,1974) 6. The Adventure of the Apocalypse (1949) 7. The Passing of Sri Aurobindo: Its Inner Significance and Consequence (1951) 8. Life-Literature-Yoga: Correspondence with Sri Aurobindo (1952, 1967) 9. The Indian Spirit and the World's Future (1953) 10. Sri Aurobindo on Shakespeare (1965, 1991) 11. The Vision and Work of Sri Aurobindo (1968, 1992)

-02_The Development of Sri Aurobindo^s Spiritual System.htm The Development of Sri Aurobindo's spiritual System and The Mother's Contribution to it Note These articles were first published in 1979 and republished from 1997-98 in Mother India, Monthly Review of Culture. In their present form they have been slightly re-edited. 10 March 2000 The Author 1 (a) SRI AUROBINDO AND THE MOTHER followed from the beginning the same Yogic process of integral development towards an identical goal of spiritual manifestation. But they followed it according to their own psychological and cultural circum- stances, with some variations of initial stress and

9 You may remember my speaking to you of the difference between the "lonely" and the "solitary". Apropos of it I may dig up some lines that arose in me at the Samadhi at 5 p.m. on October 10. There was suddenly a pull from some profound within, threatening to take away whatever might be the dearest joy of one's days. I say "threatening" because that is how the pull seemed at first, but soon the sense of loss was gone and a recompense beyond one's highest hope was felt. Then the lines took shape: Suddenly life's sweetest love was snatched away To a veiled Within that gave no marvel back. Then a strange silence found its final word: "This paradise must swallow up al

16 I am so glad my earlier letter has proved helpful to you, both inwardly and in regard to your health. I have been very much concerned about your physical condition and again and again I have offered it to the Mother with intense concentration at the Ashram Samadhi which I visit from 4.30 to 5.30 p.m. every day as well as at the inner Samadhi which I carry in my heart. I am sure there is such a Samadhi within you also. If your health does not permit a flight to Pondicherry, do not feel discouraged ever. As long as the urge to fly over is present, the Samadhi in your heart will grow more and more powerful and render an actual visit unnecessary in the existing state of your body. If

12 "Compassion" for us cannot mean the same thing as what is talked about by good-natured worldly people. When I think of it I see Buddha before me. "Nirvana" and "Compassion" are his two characteristics at its highest and they interpenetrate. Budddhist compassion is the envelopment of the poor suffering non-Buddhas with the "peace, stupendous, featureless, still" of the "illimitable Permanent" which Sri Aurobindo's sonnet about his own experience suggests to us. It is to be able to free people from their suffering with the help of one's mighty inner liberation. One doesn't oneself suffer: one merely reflects the sufferer's state in a clear unmoved mirror of true perception - but he

2 TO DILIP KUMAR ROY The terms "saint" and "saintly" are used very loosely in English, just as "spiritual" and "mystical" are applied to anybody who believes in and thinks about supernormal and supernatural things and experiences. But we must take the English language in hand and chisel the meaning of its great words to represent precisely the inner life. I suppose French is worse stilt: spirituel means in it "mentally sparkling" - even an atheist and materialist and sensualist can be spirituel! The Protestant Reformation had much to do with befogging the English language in regard to the inner life. The Roman Catholics had more or less accurate notions about the difference

31 I am glad you are reading my series "Life-Poetry-Yoga" with interest. The personal vein in which it is cast gives me a lot of liberty to express myself. And it seems to help people in their inner and outer problems. I receive encouraging words from several sadhaks when I go and sit my hour and a half at the Samadhi every afternoon. Generally it's the only outing I have and even the walk from the Ashram gate to the chair under the clock and the return "Marathon" plod gateward are trying. It is so fine of you to ask me to consider your Bombay flat my home, and to tell me that 1 should come there if ever I need to visit my native city. But my legs refuse to get along with that kind