Part II    Essays on Amal Kiran     The Savant's Reading of Shakespeare   S. Viswanathan   G.Wilson Knight once designated his practice as that of 'interpretation' rather than 'criticism'. More recently, the idea of reading Shakespeare without offering 'readings' in the New Critical or other fashion, or, for that matter, 'interpretation', has been broached as the basis of their practice by two major critics, Helen Vendler writing on the Sonnets of Shakespeare and Stephen Booth on the plays [Russ McDonald, ed. Shakespeare Reread: The Texts in New Contexts (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1994), p. 25 and p. 43]. A

-047_PartV Extracts from Amal kiran's Works-The Grace of Sri Aurobindo The Grace of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother*   Some Reminiscences   There is a lot of "I" in these reminiscences. But that is an unavoidable accident. For, they are penned not because of the person to whom certain things occurred: they are penned because of these things themselves. And if the person has any significance it is that he serves to set off all the more the incalculable play of Grace from the Karmic Law of Deserved Returns.   * * *   It all goes back to the very beginning of my spiritual search. Something had awakened, of which I had never dreamt in my ultra-modern philosophy. And as a result I who had a

Bejewelled Craftsmanship: Tracing an Aurobindonian Influence in the Poetry of K.D. Sethna   Rita Nath Keshan   K.D. SETHNA was a poet and scholar of recognised merit even before he decided to settle down permanently in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry. The poet's indifference to his early work and his consequent prominence in the Aurobindonian School of Poetry have deterred critics from judging the shift in Sethna's poetic sensibility. Secondly, Sethna's assertion about his dual identity as poet and as disciple has quite often raised this issue. Was his spiritual training responsible for his poetry or did the poet in him gain access to the gr

Part VI Nirodbaran on Amal Kiran   Nirodbaran on Amal Kiran   Nirodbaran, the pre-eminent sadhak of Sri Aurobindo Ashram is Amal Kiran's friend of 70 years (and their friendship is still going strong!). Both Nirod and Amal were part of the "Poetry Department" of the Ashram of which Sri Aurobindo was the head! Both used poetry as a means of training their spiritual sensitivities. Whereas Nirod completed his well-deserved century last year (2003), Amal will do so on 25th November, this year. We have selected here some remarks of the former on the latter for this occasion.   * * *   The first selection is from a talk dated August 26, 19

Bhishma Pitamaha of Indian History-Tribute to a Pioneer   N.S. Rajaram   In a career sparuiing more than half a century and covering several fields, K.D. Sethna (Amal Kiran as Sri Aurobindo called him) has been a true pioneer. His work on ancient Indian history has been characterised by originality, by an approach that combines technical data from archaeology and other sources with a mastery of ancient literary works to reveal them in unexpected light. One of his major contributions has been the correlation of technical evidence from archaeology and other sources with literary accounts to help place ancient history and chronology on solid ground. In his

INTRODUCTION   Celebrating a Genius K.D. Sethna: The Man and His Work   Sachidananda Mohanty   I   The Moment   In an era of late capitalism, governed by commercial culture and TV sound bytes, it is hard to envision a place for the sublime in human affairs! How can we fathom human greatness when reputations are built and sullied hourly by cable television and Sunday tabloids?   How can we assess the real worth of an outstanding thinker who voluntarily embraces a life of isolation and self-effacement even while being engaged with the world? His centenary may come and go! It might evoke a mild curiosity among the lay public when attention is dra

A Clear Ray of Sri Aurobindo   Ananda Reddy   I KNEW hardly anything about Amal Kiran in those days - in 1958. I had just joined the Ashram School and I was slowly getting into the rhythm of Ashram life. One such important rhythm was the Balcony Darshan.   My room-mate and I used to wake up in the nick of time, brush our teeth quickly, and then we used to run, jog, fast-walk to the Balcony street. Most of the time we were well in time and we even had some time to sit down on the footpath below the Balcony. Only on a very few occasions did we catch the last glimpse of the Mother withdrawing from the Balcony because we were a bit too late

-041_PartIII Sri Aurobindo's Vision-Hemant Kapoor Sri Aurobindo and the Law of Contradiction Hemant Kapoor   Many years ago, K.D. Sethna, then a young man and an aspiring intellectual wrote to the Mother saying that Sri Aurobindo had been illogical in one of his writings. The Mother reported this to Sri Aurobindo saying, "This young man feels you are illogical." Perhaps Sri Aurobindo had laughed. Philosophy had been Sethna's subject as an undergraduate.   K.D. Sethna is completing a hundred years this November. Some time ago when I mentioned the above incident of his salad days to him he chuckled and as is his wont with me, merrily recounted the whole episode to me. Sethna's poetry thrills me

K.D. Sethna: The Creative Critic   Goutam Ghosal   RESEARCHERS of critical theories must remember that Sri Aurobindo has touched virtually on every critical issue. Because he has condensed his material, the purpose of the researcher would be to pick up the clues for detailed explanation of them. Unfortunately, most of the academic projects on Sri Aurobindo have ended up with long passages with insufficient and irrelevant commentaries on them. Some of the critical works of K.D. Sethna will teach us how we should go about investigating the Master's work in an academic way, which may also be an original way of expanding the condensed texts of Sri Aurob

-049_PartV Extracts from Amal kiran's Works-India the Secular State India the Secular State*   The Right Interpretation and the Wrong   India has been declared a Secular State and the advanced elements in the country are proud of this declaration - but in a rather vague way. Nobody seems to know what are the exact implications of secularity. And quite a number of people even doubt if, except in name, India is any more secular than Pakistan who has declared herself a Muslim State with the name of Allah an integral part of the constitution. The doubt is occasioned by the fact that most of our leaders and ministers openly encourage belief in a religious order of the world.   Even Nehru, socia