CHAPTER 19 POWERS AND PERSONALITIES I Ever since the coming of Mirra, first on 29 March 1914 and after the absence of a few years on 24 April 1920, and all along the way of her gradual assumption of more and more responsibilities with regard to the welfare of the inmates in Sri Aurobindo's household, the question as to her true identity - her real personality - had been intriguing disciples and visitors alike. Was she but an aspirant Westerner seeking the Light in faraway Pondicherry? Was she a spiritual adept in her own right? Was she but one of Sri Aurobindo's disciples; or did she have a special status? It was of course obvious that she h

CHAPTER 29 ATTACK, DEFENCE AND COUNTER-ATTACK I The accident to Sri Aurobindo's leg having occurred on the eve of 24 November 1938, the scheduled Darshan on that day had to be abandoned as related earlier, and the next Darshan too could not be held on 21 February 1939. Then came the Darshan on 24 April, for by then Sri Aurobindo had recovered enough to stand the strain of sitting in the same posture for over an hour while before him flowed the procession of sadhaks and admirers. Except that he could not walk as freely as before, Sri Aurobindo was in good general health. Before the accident, he had had to spend most of his night

CHAPTER 38 READINGS AND DISCOURSES I For the New Year (1951), the Mother's message took the form of a simple and solemn affirmation of adhesion to the work which Sri Aurobindo had looked upon as his mission on the earth: Lord, we are upon earth to accomplish Thy work of transformation. It is our sole will, our sole preoccupation. Grant that it may be also our sole occupation and that all our actions may help us towards this single goal. The whole thrust was towards Transformation, not evasion, elimination or destruction. From imperfection to Perfection, from darkness to Light, from the human to the Divine! The months immediately

-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