Introduction If reprinting of books was a matter of felt needs, then arguably, no authorial venture by a follower of Sri Aurobindo would merit as much importance as The Indian Spirit and the World's Future by K. D. Sethna (Amal Kiran). The book was published by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram more than five decades back in 1953, after the passing of Sri Aurobindo. The essays that comprised the book then (and most are being retained in the present edition) were from the editorial contributions, either openly avowed or under the pen name 'Libra' to the fortnightly review Mother India that later became a monthly. The rationale for the publication that was offered

The Ideal Flag for India THE flutter of our flag on high is answered by a flutter of joy in every Indian heart. Our flag is the symbol or our fulfilment. It is intended to hold aloft in victory all that is most dear in our national life. With absolute devotion we stand under its happy flying sign, and wherever it beckons we are prepared to follow. But our love for it does not imply that the pattern it bears is completely satisfying. No matter what the pattern, it can count upon our allegiance. And yet we have the right to question whether those who have designed it have dipped their imagination sufficiently into the true heart of our land. The Flags that ar

Vivekananda and Our Spiritual Future WE who live in this day of India's reawakening to the Yogic secrets of her own past cannot but pay homage to the mighty figure of Vivekananda. Together with his guru, Rama-krishna, he was the most potent early shaper of the resurgence of our national genius. His also was a tremendous impact on the mind of the West. And yet, if we are to work for a complete spiritual fulfilment, we must see that Vivekananda's philosophy, though a golden torch of truth when compared to the conjectural ingenuities of metaphysicians who are not Yogis, falls short of what we may term the integral God-view and world-view. No more inspirin

THE INDIAN SPIRIT AND THE WORLD'S FUTURE THE INDIAN SPIRIT AND THE WORLD'S FUTURE K. D. Sethna (Amal Kiran) SRI AUROBINDO INSTITUTE OF RESEARCH IN SOCIAL SCIENCES SRI AUROBINDO SOCIETY, PONDICHERRY First Edition: October 1953 Second Impression: 2004 ISBN: 81-7060-227-0 ©Clear Ray Trust Published by Sri Aurobindo Institute of Research in Social Sciences, A Unit of Sri Aurobindo Society, Pondicherry Printed at Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry, India. Website: www.sriaurobindosociety.org.in Publisher 's Note

Our Real National Anthem OUT of all the fatuities with which modern India is infested, the most egregious is the long drawn-out discussion on the choice of a national anthem. The two songs that have been pitted against each other are really like two worlds apart and it is supreme lack of insight to set them up as equal candidates for election posing us a most perplexing problem. Once we understand, first, the prerequisites of the ideal national anthem and, secondly, the living associations and potencies of Bankim Chandra's Bande Mataram on the one hand and Tagore's Jana Gana Mana on the other, there cannot remain the slightest doubt that nothing except Bande Mat

The Significance of the English Language in India INDIA'S decision to remain a member of the Commonwealth in spite of being an independent sovereign Republic has given a new lease of life amongst us to the English language. Until recently English was apt to be regarded as the remnant of a foreign imposition, an inappropriate growth in the way of an authentic indigenous literature. Today it seems an appropriate and desirable link between us and the group of English-speaking nations with whom we have formed a voluntary association: it has become the medium of a larger existence in which we have elected to share. This is all to the good - es

17 Your experience of being transported to another time or life seems to be a happy mixture of present and past, the reminiscence of a contact with the Mother in a bygone life mingling with the memories and hopes relating to her Ashram of today. Your red sari in the vision is symbolic of the living expression you are seeking of your inmost heart - that "crimson-throbbing glow" (your fellow-Catholic Coventry Patmore's words) in which dreams of the Ideal bum and beat. Your meeting your brother William in this vision is not surprising, for behind his physical and mental limitations in the present life is his evolving soul which must have grown not only in spite of but also bec

1       You are a very brave and generous woman. Few people would undergo so cheerfully the trouble to which you have been put - and in the thick of it feel concerned about other people's needs. I am proud to have you as my friend - and I am proud also of your life's partner, who is inseparable from you in my thoughts, and who would not be so, either in my thoughts or in real life, if he did not respond in every fibre to the same ideals of courage and generosity.   Courage and generosity - these have been my own guiding stars too, though I cannot say I have succeeded so well in living according to their light. Of course, when I use these words I mean much more than p

8       I am deeply touched by the agony of your whole being at the murder of one who was markedly a devotee of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. The bewildered cry that has arisen from your heart and mind repeats a question that has been flung at the heavens century after century - a question all the more acute because we have had a living sense of the light and love with which the Divine has met us again and again.   I have been asked by many from Orissa: "Why has the Mother's Grace not saved this Oriya child of hers? Why was he not protected by her from those dacoits?" No perfect answer has ever been given to such perplexities. So you can't expect me to outshine the g

12 AN OLD CORRESPONDENCE ON SRI AUROBINDO BETWEEN K.M. MUNSHI AND K.D. SETHNA       Hamilton Villa, Nepean Sea Road, Bombay 7-9-51   Dear Mr. Munshi,   Thanks for sending me your speech on Sri Aurobindo. It is a good tribute, with genuine feeling and admiration behind it, and has some memorable phrases.   In one or two places there seems to have been a little hurry and therefore some carelessness. What you say about his poetry is perfectly true and well put, but by some mistake the quotations you have made are not from Sri Aurobindo's work but from mine! I feel very flattered by the unconscious compliment you have paid me.   I can't