RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY It is trite to observe that the religion and spirituality are not one and the same though in the minds of many of the present and the utterance of the past generation of spiritual teachers and thinkers they are or were identical. The distinction between these two has been clearly brought out by Sri Aurobindo among the modern spiritual thinkers and writers. According to him, religion is only one of the three approaches to spirituality, the other two being occultism and spiritual philosophy. Each of these three may lead separately or together or in varying collaboration to direct spiritual experience and realisation which constitute

EVOLUTIONARY TYPES—RELIGIOUS & SPIRITUAL MAN Although all men look similar to one another, there is always a great difference in their mental and moral consciousness so much so that at the lowest end of the human mental development, men represent more or less animal consciousness and are almost on the same mental plane with the animals of developed intelligence. These men represent the physical mind and belong in the terminology of the Gita to the class of tamasic type. Tamas is the principle of inertia and ignorance and-these men have no higher objectives in life than those demanded by the necessities of sheer physical existence. At a higher stag

THE PRESENT ILLS OF LIFE AND THEIR REMEDY The definition of civilisation, its signs and characteristics have so often and so thoroughly been gone into in the recent and past history of mankind that they do not need any re-iteration here. If adherence to moral and spiritual values constitutes civilisation, then admittedly we are not living now in a civilised world. This deterioration of moral and spiritual values applies equally to individuals and nations of the whole world as we know it at present. There is hardly any exception. No country or community can claim to be completely civilised in the light of what constitutes real as opposed to faked civi

PASSING OF THIS CIVILISATION To all appearances, we are heading for a new birth, a new civilisation through all the throes, pangs and turmoil's of the present times. The crisis in human destiny was never so acute as now. Never in the history . of man such rapid and revolutionary changes took place in his life throughout the globe as humanity is facing today. This is only a prelude to some corning significant change of which few of us are really conscious. To a discerning intellect it ought to be evident that ours is a world which is constantly changing ; there is nothing stable even for a moment. It is in a state of constant flux and what appears stable is only

SRI AUROBINDO AS A LITERARY GENIUS Sri Aurobindo is better known as a philosopher and yogi than for his literary creations. That he is the pioneer of the integral philosophy of life and has done all that could be done to bring down the supramental power and principle in the earth life is well known to the elite of humanity. What however is less known of him is his most remarkable and original contribution to English language and literature. His letters, essays, aphorisms, poems, dramas and philosophical writings stand out as something unique in literature both as regards the originality of their thought-points as their wonderful literary and artistic excellen

CHURNING OF UNIVERSAL LIFE—ITS SIGNIFICANCE Never before in history has there been such a worldwide crisis in the life of humanity. There is no region of earth which is free from the turmoil and upheaval social, economic and political. From one corner o£ the earth to the other the scene is the same everywhere, disenchantment with the present ways of life in all countries whether large or small, rich or poor. The same malaise has more or less equally affected all the peoples of the earth. There is no peace anywhere. Even in the midst of plenty as in America, West Germany and Japan, there is a growing feeling of the uncertainty of tomorrow and people a

DIRECT APPROACH TO SRI AUROBINDO Some one has very pertinently remarked that Sri Aurobindo is the only Master who has left nothing for his disciples to say and and that is perfectly true. If we took note of the various writings of Sri Aurobindo, from his daily letters to the ashramites to the highest flights of his imagination in poetry, literature and philosophy, we cannot but be impressed by the stupendous work he has left for posterity covering every field of human thought and activity with the only exception of finance and economics. Yoga, philosophy and spirituality are his forte but there is hardly any field of human relations, society, politics, educatio

HA To turn to the Divine is the only truth in life. —Sri Aurobindo Moksha, i.e., the liberation of the Soul from the dominance of Prakriti was considered the highest goal of life from time immemorial. In fact, after the Vedic age and during the period of the Upanishads when the Vedic ritualistic practices fell into disuse and the Jnana kanda came into prominence in our spiritual seeking, the sole objective was to get rid of the subjection of the embodied soul to Prakriti or executive nature. This was behind the whole of Shankara's philosophy of Adwaitavad. He emphasised the existence of the Soul or Atman to the exclusion of the whole of the phenomenal nature because it was s

-18_A Letter On Sri Aurobindo^s Life Divine.htm A LETTER ON SRI AUROBINDO'S LIFE DIVINE Even if Life Divine appears too difficult for you to understand, I can only ask you to persevere with it so that, light of understanding may dawn upon you one day. I am compelled to accept whatever Sri Aurobindo writes as true and authentic and have only to realise their truth by practice and practical application in life. Even if one understands his writings intellectually, they are of no use unless and until you practise them in actual day-to-day life. Otherwise, all remain in the intellectual domain and are useless for the purpose of life. You can never be sure of understanding the Life Divine in all' its detail

SRI AUROBINDO—A SHORT INTRODUCTION Sri Aurobindo does not perhaps need any introduction now at this late stage. He has already become like his own SAVITRI a legend and a symbol. Still to those of us who have not known much or studied much of Sri Aurobindo, this small introduction may prove useful. Sri Aurobindo is unique in this sense that in history of culture both of East and West, there is none who can compare with or come near him in learning and scholarship. If only we take account of the vastness of his erudition, neither Plato nor Shankara nor both of them together approach him although at the initial stages of his life, he had to learn from both