Philosophers, Intellectuals, Novelists and Musicians   Western Notions of the History of Philosophy   It is very strange that in books on philosophy by European writers, even in standard textbooks like Alfred Weber's History of Philosophy,1 there is no mention of any of the Indian philosophies. To the Western writer philosophy means only European philosophy ―they begin with the Greek Thales and Anaximander, as if human thinking began with them.   That is the old style European mind. It used to be the same in Art and other matters. Now Chinese and Japanese art is recognised and to a less degree the art of India, Pers

  Sri Aurobindo in Pondicherry Part One Poetry and Its Creation

On Poems Published in Ahana and Other Poems   On Two Translations of Revelation   The rendering of Revelation is even better than the two others, well inspired from beginning to end; the colouring is not quite the same as in my poem, but that is hardly avoidable in a poetic version in another language. To alter it, as you propose, would be to spoil it. There is no point in rendering literally "wind-blown locks", and it would be a pity to throw out , for it is just the touch needed to avoid the suggestion of a merely human figure. It is needed ―for readers are often dense. An Indian critic (very competent

Comments on Examples of Twenti Comments on Examples of Twentieth-Century Poetry   W. B. Yeats   DECTORA: No. Take this sword And cut the rope, for I go on with Forgael. . . . The sword is in the rope ― The rope's in two ―it falls into the sea, It whirls into the foam. O ancient worm, Dragon that loved the world and held us to it, You are broken, you are broken. The world drifts away, And I am left alone with my beloved, Who cannot put me from his sight for ever. We are alone for ever, and I laugh, Forgael, because you cannot put me from you. The mist has covered the heavens

Translation: Practice   Remarks on Some Translations   I do not think it is the ideas that make the distinction between European and Indian tongues ―it is the turn of the language. By taking over the English turn of language into Bengali one may very well fail to produce the effect of the original because this turn will seem outlandish in the new tongue, but one can always by giving a right turn of language more easily acceptable to the Bengali mind and ear make the idea as natural and effective as in the original; or even if the idea is strange to the Bengali mind one can by the turn of language acclimatise it, make it acceptable. The

The Poet and the Poem    Power of Expression and Spiritual Experience   All depends on the power of expression of the poet. A poet like Shakespeare or Shelley or Wordsworth though without spiritual experience may in an inspired moment become the medium of an expression of spiritual Truth which is beyond him and the expression, as it is not that of his own mind, may be very powerful and living, not merely aesthetically agreeable. On the other hand a poet with spiritual experience may be hampered by his medium or by his transcribing brain or by an insufficient mastery of language and rhythm and give an expression which may mean much to him but not

Overhead Poetry    Higher Mind and Poetic Intelligence   I mean by the Higher Mind a first plane of spiritual [consciousness] where one becomes constantly and closely aware of the Self, the One everywhere and knows and sees things habitually with that awareness; but it is still very much on the mind level although highly spiritual in its essential substance; and its instrumentation is through an elevated thought-power and comprehensive mental sight ―not illumined by any of the intenser upper lights but as if in a large strong and clear daylight. It acts as an intermediate state between the Truth-Light above and the human mind; c

Section Three   Beauty and Its Appreciation       General Remarks on Beauty   Beauty   Beauty is the way in which the physical expresses the Divine ― but the principle and law of Beauty is something inward and spiritual which expresses itself through the form. 23 August 1933 *   What is the meaning of Supramental Beauty? Is it the perception of the Divine as the All-Beautiful and All-Delight?   No, that you can get on any plane, and it becomes easy as soon as one is in contact with the higher Mind. Beauty is the special divine Manifestation in the physical as Truth

Guidance in Writing Prose Guidance in Writing Prose   Suggestions for Writing Good English   I wonder what to do in order to bring my essay up to the mark. Could you please make some suggestions?   I am afraid I can't make suggestions. Just now I am too busy with other and more strenuous things to be very fit for literary suggestions. I can only say generally avoid over-writing; let all your sentences be the vehicle of something worth saying and say it with a vivid precision neither defective nor excessive. Don't let either thought or speech trail or drag or circumvolute. Don't let the language be more abundant than the sense. Don't indulge