THE MOTHER: HER LIFE AND WORK (A Brief Outline) The Mother (Mirra Alfassa) was born in Paris on the 21st February, 1878. Her mother was Egyptian and her father was Turkish - both of them were perfect materialists. As a result, although she had inner experiences, including that of the divine presence, right from her childhood, she was in her external life an atheist until she entered into adulthood. In her early years, she had a good grounding in music (piano), painting and higher mathematics. By the age of eighteen, she had begun to feel an intense need to KNOW, but all that she learnt and studied would explain nothing. Her need to know led her into tw

PHILOSOPHY OF INDIAN PEDAGOGY I Presuppositions of Pedagogy All systems of pedagogy, Eastern or Western, have certain presuppositions which are derived from a larger canvas of human experience. These presuppositions include the following: Human growth takes place by means of a natural process, supported or aided by certain deliberate processes and methods; Human growth implies increasing self-consciousness, development of skills and faculties, and the capacities required to meet the challenges of life and of the cultural context in which one is required to meet the demands of the individual and collective life; At a d

About the Book Sri Aurobindo has significantly been described as adventure of consciousness. Even in his quest of India's freedom, during the first decade of the last century, he departed courageously from the orthodox and conservative path of the Moderates and infused in the country a new electric force of Nationalism. He chalked out a new path of Swadeshi, boycott, passive resistance, and national education, — the path that ultimately came to be adopted as the national programme during the subsequent period of the struggle. He even ventured to search for a spiritual force that could be applied to the political struggle so as to liberate the countr

-07_Sri Aurobindo^s Philosophy of Nationalism and Internationalism.htm SRI AUROBINDO'S PHILOSOPHY OF NATIONALISM AND INTERNATIONALISM I There is a sense of something mysterious, invisible and intangible when we think of the concept and reality of the nation. For it is difficult to seize the essentiality of the truth of nationality and nationalism. A nation may exist, and yet it may not be recognisable; it may take birth and grow, and yet be overpowered or overshadowed by larger aggregates such as empires or leagues. The development of a nation may take long periods of centuries for its destructive formation as in the case of France, Germany and India. It may develop in many direction

YOGA, SCIENCE, RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY We may begin with a preliminary elucidation of the three terms, science, religion and philosophy. Science may be defined as a quest of knowledge, which lays a special emphasis on detailed processes in order to arrive at utmost precision, and the distinguishing methods of this quest are those of impartial observation, experimentation by working on falsifiable hypothesis, verification in the light of crucial instances and establishment of conclusions which are repeatable and which are also modifiable in the light of advancing quest. Religion may also be looked upon as quest of knowledge, but the object is to rel

PHILOSOPHY AND YOGA OF SRI AUROBINDO Sri Aurobindo has significantly been described as adventure of consciousness. Even in his quest of India's freedom, during the first decade of the last century, he departed courageously from the orthodox and conservative path of the Moderates and infused in the country a new electric force of Nationalism. He chalked out a new path of Swadeshi, boycott, passive resistance, and national education, — the path that ultimately came to be adopted as the national programme during the subsequent period of the struggle. He even ventured to search for a spiritual force that could be applied to the political struggle so as to li

YOGA AND EDUCATION I The Meaning of Education and Yoga There is at present a need to clarify the meaning and aim of Education, just as it is necessary to clarify the meaning and aim of Yoga. Yoga is often identified exclusively with Hatha Yoga and thus its true psychological nature remains quite veiled. Similarly, Education is often identified with vocational training or with some kind of mental culture, but its fundamental nature of integral psychological process remains quite veiled. "Yoga", as Swami Vivekananda has said, "may be regarded as a means of compressing one's evolution into a single life or a few months or even a few hours of bodily existence." And

YOGA, RELIGION AND MORALITY While stressing the imperative need of Yogic education and of a radical change in the aims, methods and structure of education in the light of Yoga, it is necessary to point out that by Yoga — which is only one of the systems of Yoga — and that Yoga does not mean either religion or morality. Yoga is not a body of beliefs, dogmas or revelations which are to be believed in without verification. Yoga is an advancing Science, with its spirit of research, with its methods of experimentation and methods of verification and advance of knowledge. The knowledge that Yoga delivers at a certain stage is surpassable by a further resear

-06_Sri Aurobindo^s Philosophy of Indian Nationalism.htm SRI AUROBINDO'S PHILOSOPHY OF INDIAN NATIONALISM I A most luminous and revelatory exposition of philosophy of nationalism and of Indian nationalism is to be found in the writings of Sri Aurobindo. In fact, Sri Aurobindo's own life is a flaming example of Indian nationalism, not only in its uniqueness but also in its universality. If we study the history of Indian nationalism, we shall find that he stands out as the most heroic nationalist who formulated in the most inspiring terms the true aim of Indian nationalism, during the early period of nationalist struggle and accomplished the task of fixing it in the national consciousne

TOWARDS APPLIED PHILOSOPHY Among all intellectual disciplines, Philosophy is intrinsically concerned with the search of essential significance, which impels uncovering of layers of facts, physical and psychological, and determination of the distinction between appearance and reality. It also provides an impetus to the quest of comprehensive-ness as also of the ultimate reality that may exist, in the light of which relationships are understood and evaluated. And if we examine the dimension of significance, we shall find that there is in it an underlying sense of perception of the object and of the idea that signifies the object. Philosophical thinking is an expressi