A WORD OF GRATITUDE The former Managing Trustee of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, the late Shri Dyuman 'The Luminous One', a perfect worker, a great dreamer was very keen and enthusiastic about celebrating the centenary of Sri Aurobindo's return to India on February 6, 1993. In the words of Amal Kiran, "Absolute obedience, no less than utter love and whole-hearted service, was a marked characteristic of the unpretentious dedicated soul who left his slender yet lithe physical sheath to join his Adored Ones on August 19, 1992." On January 7, 1950 Shri Dyuman wrote in his diary: "Oh how nice it would be if I get myself completely and totally ident

What is there new that we have yet to accomplish? Love, for as yet we have only accomplished hatred and self- pleasing; Knowledge, for as yet we have only accomplished error and perception and conceiving; Bliss, for as yet we have only accomplished pleasure and pain and indifference; Power, for as yet we have only accomplished weakness and effort and a defeated victory; Life, for as yet we have only accomplished birth and growth and dying; Unity, for as yet we have only accomplished war and association. In a word, godhead; to remake ourselves in the divine image. — Sri Aurobindo   Sri Aurobindo with Tilak and other Nationalists. December

On the Congress platform he had stood up as a champion of left-wing thought and a fearless advocate of independence at a time when most of the leaders, with their tongues in their cheeks, would talk only of colonial self-government. He had undergone incarceration with perfect equanimity... when I came to Calcutta in 1913, Aurobindo was already a legendary figure. Rarely have I seen people speak of a leader with such rapturous enthusiasm and many were the anecdotes of this great man, some of them probably true, which travelled from mouth to mouth. — Subhas Chandra Bose, An Indian Pilgrim Political Life Life at Baroda was full, though the politic

A lonely freedom cannot satisfy A heart that has grown one with every heart: I am a deputy of the aspiring world, My spirit's liberty I ask for all. Sri Aurobindo, Savitri Spiritual Life — Experiences ...spiritual experiences interested Sri Aurobindo greatly, and he had had some himself. He was not quite inclined to the actual practice of yoga in his early days. His experiences began in England, perhaps in 1892, and from the moment he stepped on the shores of India they became more frequent and more intense. But he did not associate them with yoga about which he knew nothing at the time. When, after an absence of fourteen years, Sri

In these hard days, the whole country is like a dependent at our doors, I have thirty crores of brothers and sisters in this country many of them die of starvation, most of them are weakened by suffering and troubles and are somehow dragging on their existence. They must be helped. What do you say, will you be my wife sharing this Dharma with me? — Sri Aurobindo Personal and Family Life Sri Aurobindo's most intimate friend at Baroda was Lieutenant Madhavrao Jadhav, who was associated with him in his political ideas and helped him in later years, whenever possible, in his political work. Among his other friends were Khasirao Jadhav and Keshava Rao G. Des

Chronology of Events (1872-1908) 1872 August 15 - Birth in Calcutta. 1872-1879 At first in Rangpur, East Bengal; later sent to the Loretto Convent School, Darjeeling. 1879 Taken to England. 1879-1884 In Manchester (84, Shakespeare Street) in the charge of tile Drewett family. Tutored at home by the Drewetts. 1884 September - Admitted to St. Paul's School, London. Takes lodgings at 49, St. Stephen's Avenue, Shepherd's Bush, London. 1889 December - Passes Matriculation from St. Paul's. 1890 July - Admitted as a probationer to the Indian Civil Service. October 11 - Admitted on a scholarship to King's College, Cambridge. While at

A morn that seemed a new creation's front, Bringing a greater sunlight, happier skies, Came, burdened with a beauty moved and strange Out of the changeless origin of things. An ancient longing struck again new roots. — Sri Aurobindo, Savitri Arrival in India Sri Aurobindo returned to India in early February, 1893. Unfortunately his arrival in India was preceded by his father Dr. Krishnadhan's death in peculiarly tragic circumstances. Even as late as 2 December 1892, as may be inferred from his letter of that date to his brother-in-law Jogendra, Dr. Krishnadhan was feeling almost certain that his son Aurobindo would be entering the In

V   Yogic Visions -- Experiences -- Realisations   Realisations and Experiences   I DON'T say that these experiences are always of no value, but they are so mixed and confused that if one runs after them without any discrimination at all they end by either leading astray, sometimes tragically -astray, or by bringing one into a confused nowhere. That does, not mean that all such experiences are useless or without value. There are those that are sound as well those that are unsound; those that are helpful, in the true line, sometimes sign-posts, sometimes  stages on the way to realisation, sometimes stuff and material of the realisation. These naturally and rightly on

Yoga-Force   I   ALL the world, according to Science, is nothing but a play of Energy—a material Energy it used to be called, but it is now doubted whether Matter scientifically speaking, exists except as a phenomenon of Energy. All the world, according to Vedanta, is a play of a power of a spiritual entity, the power of an original consciousness, whether it be Maya or Shakti, and the result an illusion or real. In the world so far as man is concerned we are aware only of mind energy, life energy, energy in matter; but it is supposed that there is a spiritual energy or force also behind them from which they originate. All things, in either case, are the results of a Shakti, energ

VII   Difficulties of the Path   Difficulties and Ordeals   ALL who enter the spiritual path have to face the difficulties and ordeals of the path, those which rise from their own nature and those which come in from outside. The difficulties in the nature always rise again and again till you overcome them; they must be faced with both strength and patience. But the vital part is prone to depression when ordeals and difficulties rise. This is not peculiar to you, but comes to all sadhakas—it does not imply an unfitness for the sadhana or justify a sense of helplessness. But you must train yourself to overcome this reaction of depression calling in the Mother's Force to