Sri Aurobindo's Aesthetics* V. Raghavan ALTHOUGH Sri Aurobindo wrote extensively on the Gita, the Veda and the Upanishads, and on Yoga and philosophical subjects, and subjects of wider and more general interest like Civilisation and Culture, his creative work as a poet, his literary productions in the form of metrical trans-creations of Sanskrit poems and plays, and his critical writings in which he analysed poets and poetry and evaluated Vyasa, Valmiki and Kalidasa, and reviewed the whole panorama of the poetry of Europe from Homer to the recent moderns including the Indo-Anglians, mark him out pre-eminently as a poet with a full mastery and knowledge of the art and

Professor Suniti Kumar Chatterji, Shri V. V. Giri and Dr. Karan Singh (sitting) at the Inauguration of the National Seminar on 16 August 1972 Inauguration of the International Seminar on 5 December 1972 Left to right: Dr. Karan Singh (speaking); Prof. Nurul Hasan, Education Minister; Shrimati Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister; Prof. Arabinda Basu, Director of the Seminar At the release of Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Commemoration Stamp by Shri H. N. Bahuguna in Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Delhi Branch. Dr.Karan Singh examining the stamp; Sri H. N. Bahuguna and Sri Surendra Mohan Ghose looking on Sri Aurobindo: A Tribute

Sri Aurobindo and Human Unity* Amaury de Riencourt THE fundamental problem of human unity appears insoluble under The problem is all the more acute in that this implosion has increased tensions between many human groups rather than decreased them. The search for national and cultural identity, now threatened by the depersonalization caused by an anonymous industrial civilization, is prompting many to look back wistfully at the past in an attempt to find roots and a sense of personal destiny that are being stripped away by this convergence itself. The very elements that could have provided links with which to consolidate human unity are being thrown overboard since t

Auroville — A Model of Human Unity* Navajata AUNIQUE project drawing attention all over the world is "Auroville", a universal town of culture and research which is being established in South India, near Pondicherry. In Auroville men and women of all countries will be able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. Its purpose is to realise human unity. Auroville proposes to realise this unity in freedom and diversity — in multiplicity — and not in uniformity, a spiritual unity reflecting itself in a psychological unity of one family and one origin, but expressing itself in the diversities of life. When completed

Sri Aurobindo as Seer-Poet* Dilip Kumar Roy 'T'O be utterly sure of the evidence of Sri Aurobindo's greatness I have often of late cross-questioned myself: "What was the storm-sweep that uprooted you from your native soil of poetry and music, laughter and popularity, to be flung at his feet in eager self-surrender more than four decades ago ?" It is not a question easy to answer because, to quote Nive-dita, our deepest convictions often enough spring from data which can convince no one but ourselves. I can only say that in his presence I felt myself gripped by a silence, wonder and intense longing to lay my utter self at his feet and lie cradled in his indefinable Grac

APPENDIX I National Committee for the Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary, 1972 Patron President (Shri V. V. Giri) Chairman Prime Minister (Shrimati Indira Gandhi) Vice-Chairmen Education Minister (Dr. V. K. R. V. Rao; Shri Siddhartha Sankar Ray; Prof. Nurul Hasan) Lt.-Governor, Pondicherry (Shri B. D. Jatti) Shri Farouk Maricar Convener Dr. Karan Singh Members Shri Bishwanarayan Shastri, M.P. Dr. D. S. Kothari, Chairman, U.G.C. Shri Ganga Saran Sinha, M.P. Shri G. Parthasarathy, Vice-Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University Dr. Hare Krushna Mahtab Shri J. J. Bhabha Shri Kedar Nath Mookherjee

CHAPTER 21 A CHOICE OF GAMES I In an earlier chapter, the short-lived but psychically very potent effort at communion known as the Soup ceremony was described: its distant filiations with the Japanese Tea Ceremony, the evocation of a unique spiritual atmosphere in the Reception Room where it was held in the evenings, the mystic phenomenon of sharing and exchange, the rewarding experiences of some of the participating sadhaks, the gradual decline in the degree of consecration and dedication, the effect on the Mother of the one­sided exchange and her decision at last to withdraw her own personal participation in the ceremony - it was a marvellous lyric

CHAPTER 31 COMING OF THE CHILDREN II In the Ashram during the War years, especially after 1941, as if in answer to the violence and destruction outside, there were assembled day after day for the adoration of the Lord all the flowers of the Ashram gardens and as if in answer to the adult lunacies and horrors in the War theatres there, in the Ashram, more and more of the flowers of humanity - the children of the sadhaks and disciples - found a free atmosphere for integral growth. The War, for one thing, had forced the hands of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, and made them agree to the withdrawal of the earlier rule of exclusion of children from the Ashr

CHAPTER 57 SUPERMAN CONSCIOUSNESS I The Mother's New Year message for 1969 ("No words - acts ") had doubtless been decided upon in the last weeks of the previous year. During the small hours of the night preceding the dawn on 1 January, however, she had the experience of the descent of a new power of consciousness: In the night it came slowly and on waking up this morning, there was as though a golden dawn, and the atmosphere was so light. The body felt: "Well, it is truly, truly new." A golden light, transparent and... benevolent. "Benevolent" in the sense of a certainty - a harmonious certainty. She came to know later

CHAPTER 55 SADHANA OF THE BODY I The Mother was to all appearance confined to her rooms on the second floor of the Ashram, her movements were severely restricted, and the little she ate consisted mainly of fruits and vegetables mashed and made semi-liquid. And yet never had her consciousness been more wide-ranging or exercised more effective power than at this time. In 1965 she had tackled the virulence and violence of the anti-Hindi agitators when they turned against the Ashram on the night of 11 February; she had launched the stupendous Auroville project for invoking and safeguarding the Next Future; she had given the guidelines and provided the main