PART I THE LIFE DIVINE : SOME ASPECTS " Sri Aurobindo is both a poet and speculative thinker. The same is true of Rabindranath Tagore, but the thought of Sri Aurobindo appears to me more comprehensive and systematic than that of Tagore."¹——G. H. LANGLEY ( Sri Aurobindo: Indian Poet, Philosopher, Mystic " Royal India Pakistan Ceylon Society, David Marlowe Ltd., ) ". .1 have never known a philosopher so all-embracing in his metaphysical structure as Sri Aurobindo, none before him had the same vision.... " I can foresee the day when the teachings which are already malting headway of the greatest spiritual voice of India, Sri Aurobind

THE AUTHOR Born at Surat in 1893, 'Sri Ambubhai Purani had his early education in Bombay, from where he graduated on 1913. Together with his illustrious brother Sri Chhotubhai Purani, he pioneered the gymnastic movement in Gujarat. It was at this time that he came under the spell of Sri Aurobindo and yearned to seek the path of God-realization through Yoga, as preached by the great saint of Pondicherry. He migrated to Pondicherry in 1923 in order to practise Sadhana for Poorna Yoga at the feet of the Master. There he had the unique advantage of initiation in Yoga by Sri Aurobindo himself. He remained in the Ashram as a Sadhaka till his demise on December 11,1965.

SRI AUROBINDO: SOME ASPECTS OF HIS VISION Let noble thoughts come to us from every side. —Rigveda, I-89-i BHAVAN'S BOOK UNIVERSITY General Editors K. M. MUNSHI R. R. DIWAKAR -------------------- 140 SRI AUROBINDO : SOME ASPECTS OF HIS VISION BY A. B. PURANI GENERAL EDITOR'S PREFACE THE Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan—that Institute of Indian Culture in Bombay—needed a Book University, a series of books which, if read, would serve the purpose of providing higher education. Particular emphasis, however, was to be put on such literature as revealed the deeper impulsions of India. As a first step, it w

PART VI VEDA, UPANISHADS AND GITA [ NOTE : The series was begun with this subject : "the Veda, Upanishads and the Gita ", on the 4th of December 1961. It was the day on which Sri Aurobindo withdrew from the body. So, the series was begun with salutation to him in the words of the late C. R. Reddy, the Vice Chancellor of Andhra University. " In all humility and devotion I hail Sri Aurobindo as the sole sufficing genius of the age. He is more than the hero of the nation. He is amongst the saviours of humanity, who belong to all ages and all nations, the Sanatanas, who leaven our existence with their eternal presence, whether we are aware of it or

-10_Appendix ( Why The Way is Hidden).htm APPENDIX WHY THE WAY IS HIDDEN " The World lost its proper course, and the course it took only led it further astray. The World and the Way, being thus lost to each other, how could the men of the Way bring it again to the World ? And how could the World rise to an appreciation of the Way ? Since the Way had no means to make itself conspicuous in the World, and the World had no- means of rising to an appreciation of the Way then, though sagely men might not keep to the hills and forests, their virtue was hidden - hidden, but not because they themselves sought to hide it. The sages were under the compulsion of their times. When these conditi

PART V PSYCHOLOGY " While Tagore awakened the latent music in me, another Indian, Sri Aurobindo, brought me to religion. He opened the way to my religious consecration. Indeed, my debt to India is very great, and is due in part to Tagore and in part to Sri Aurobindo.'" Gabrid Mistme " Psychology is necessarily a subjective science and one must proceed in it from the knowledge of oneself to the knowledge of others."² Sri Aurobindo MODERN PSYCHOLOGY Plea for a new approach Man's awakening to the need of self-knowledge must have been due to various causes external as well as internal. It is possible that the round of animal desi

IV SOME CONTRIBUTION OF SRI AUROBINDO TO PSYCHOLOGY " Psychology is necessarily a subjective science and one must proceed in it from the knowledge of oneself to the knowledge of others. " —Sri Aurobindo " The material universe is only the facade of an immense building which has other structures behind it, and it is only if one knows the whole that one can have some knowledge of the truth of the material universe. There are vital, mental and spiritual ranges behind which give the material its significance. If earth is the only field of the spiritual evolution in Matter, (assuming that) then it must be a part of the total des

-06_Appendix ( Aesthesis Higher than Mental ).htm APPENDIX I AESTHESIS- HIGHER THAN MENTAL Aesthetic enjoyment and perception of beauty are generally limited by man's present consciousness, that is to say, by the mental, the vital and the physical fields of consciousness. Man has believed in the sovereignty of Reason, but he has found that even at best Reason is only an "enlightener and a minister", it is not the master The societies that tried to set up Reason as the governor of life found that it could not lead man to perfection and that even the order which Reason attempted to establish in the collective life was only provisional. Many more things than Reason are needed

PART II SRI AUROBINDO AND INDIAN CULTURAL RENAISSANCE When I think of the subject my mind goes back to the nineties of the last century and the first decade of our century The urge for political freedom was becoming irresistible. In my memory I still see my old uncle scolding my elder brother, the late Sri C. B. Purani, for holding nationalist views as against the philosophy of moderatism; his arguments were logically sound. The incident and the subsequent trend of events that followed brings home to us a great truth that the intellect is not always able to give correct guidance, especially in moments of individual or nati

APPENDIX I That Pondicherry ─ Again!¹ I went out from Pondicherry in 1947 when India was on the eve of securing her partitioned freedom. On my return journey in the month of July 1947, I became conscious of the fact that it was my return to a place where I had passed nearly twenty-five years at a stretch. The memory of my first visit in 1918 awoke in me all the old impressions vividly. I saw then that even at that early period Sri Aurobindo was for me the embodiment of the Supreme Consciousness. I mentally began to search for the exact time-moment when I had come to know him. Travelling far into the past I found it was in 1914 when I read a notice in the Bombay Chronicle a