Part Two   On Literature   Sri Aurobindo wrote all the pieces in this part in Baroda between 1893 and 1906. He published the essays making up Bankim Chandra Chatterji in a newspaper in 1893 ­ 94. He published two of the essays on Kalidasa, "The Age of Kalidasa" and "The Seasons", in 1902 and 1909 respectively. He did not publish any of the pieces in the sections headed "On Poetry and Literature" and "On the Mahabharata".   Bankim Chandra Chatterji     I   His Youth and College Life   BANKIM Chandra Chattopadhyaya, the creator and king of Bengali prose, was a high-caste Brahman and the son of a distingu

Part Three   On Education   Sri Aurobindo wrote the pieces in this part at different times between 1899 and 1920. All of them except "Education" and "National Education" were published in periodicals shortly after they were written. Address at the Baroda College Social Gathering   IN ADDRESSING you on an occasion like the present, it is inevitable that the mind should dwell on one feature of this gathering above all others. Held as it is tow

At the Society's Chambers   Professor —Gentlemen, I believe we are here in full strength. It is gratifying to find so much enthusiasm still abroad for the dispassionate acquisition of knowledge. I trust it is not a short-lived fervour; I trust we shall not soon have to declare our society extinct from constitutional inability to form a quorum. Jurist —I believe this is a society for the discussion of all things discussable and the discovery of all things discoverable. Am I right in my supposition? Professor —Your definition is rather wide, but it may pass. What then? Jur

Dayananda The Man and His Work   AMONG the great company of remarkable figures that will appear to the eye of posterity at the head of the Indian Renascence, one stands out by himself with peculiar and solitary distinctness, one unique in his type as he is unique in his work. It is as if one were to walk for a long time amid a range of hills rising to a greater or lesser altitude, but all with sweeping contours, green-clad, flattering the eye even in their most bold and striking elevation. But amidst them all, one hill stands apart, piled up in sheer strength, a mass of bare and puissant granite, with verdure on its summit, a solitary p

Part Seven   Epistles / Letters From Abroad   Sri Aurobindo wrote the first three of these fictional letters in Bengal in 1910. They were published in 1920 ­ 22 without his editorial supervision; they are reproduced here from his manuscripts. He wrote the last three letters in Pondicherry in 1910 or 1911 but never published them; they are reproduced here from his manuscripts.     Epistles from Abroad   I   Dearly beloved, You, my alter ego, my second existence, now sitting comfortably at home and, doubtless, reading the romantic fiction

List of Illustrations   Following page 458 1. Nadir Shah Ordering a General Massacre, by Hakim Muhammad Khan 2. Engraving of The Vision of the Knight, by Raphael (original painting, generally known as Allegory, in The National Gallery, London)   Following page 584 3. Kalasamhara Shiva, Chola dynasty, c. 10th century (The Art Gallery, Thanjavur) 4. Sundaramurti, the Shaivite Saint, Chola dynasty, c. 11th century (Colombo Museum)   Following page 590 5. Princely Doorkeeper, Pallava dynasty, 7th ­ 8th centur

Things Seen in Symbols [1]   There are Four who are Beyond and they rule the mighty game of evolution. It is they who build the universe with their thoughts and imaginations. Vishnu or Virat put them in front each in turn, and they govern each a cycle. All the sons of immortality come forth from them and return to them, all the children of earth are their portions. One stands in front, the others incarnate to help him. They are God Himself in His fourfold manifestation. Once in each they come down together, -the chaturvyuha, Srikrishna, Balarama, Pradyumna, Aniruddha. __________   Sri

Message for National Education Week (1918)   NATIONAL Education is, next to Self-Government and along with it, the deepest and most immediate need of the country, and it is a matter of rejoicing for one to whom an earlier effort in that direction gave the first opportunity for identifying himself with the larger life and hope of the Nation, to see the idea, for a time submerged, moving so soon towards self-fulfilment. Home Rule and National Education are two inseparable ideals, and none who follows the one, can fail the other, unless he is entirely wanting either in sincerity or in vision

The Real Difficulty   The real difficulty is always in ourselves, not in our surroundings. There are three things necessary in order to make men invincible, Will, Disinterestedness and Faith. We may have a will to emancipate ourselves, but sufficient faith may be lacking. We may have faith in our ultimate emancipation, but the will to use the necessary means may be wanting. And even if there are will and faith, we may use them with a violent attachment to the fruit of our work or with passions of hatred, blind excitement or hasty forcefulness which may produce evil reactions. For this reason it is necessary, in a work of such magni

The Poetry of Kalidasa     A Proposed Work on Kalidasa   Chapter I. Kalidasa's surroundings. Chapter II. Kalidasa & his work. The Malavas -the three ages, Valmekie.. Vyasa.. Kalidasa.. materialism & sensuousness..] the historic method.. psychological principles of criticism.. variety of Kalidasa's work.. probable chronological succession of his works.  Chapter III. The Seasons. Chapter IV. The House of Raghu; its scope & outline; nature of the poem; descriptive epic of later Hindu civilisation; its limitations. Qualities of verse diction. Similes. Description. Sentiment; pathos and eloquence. Relative merits of later & earlier cantos. Comp