Thursday, October 06, 2005
The Life Divine
By Sri Aurobindo
Amazon.com
Editorial Reviews
About the Author: Educated from the childhood in England Ari Aurobindo was fluent in several languages and avoided appearing for his Indian Civil Service Test and joined the mainstream Independence Movement. In the year 1910 he decided to retire from active politics and withdrew to Pondichery for exclusive concentration his spiritual practice.In 1914, after four years of intense Yoga he launched a monthly philosophic review, Arya, in which most of his major works were serialised. These works embodied much of the inner knowledge that had come to him in his practice of Yoga. Having gathered all the essential truths of past spiritual experiences, he worked for a more complete method of Yoga that would transform human nature and divinise life. To this purpose he devoted the rest of his life.Sri Aurobindo left his body on 5 December 1950.
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Customer Reviews
October 6, 2005, Reviewer: savitriera - See all my reviews
It is a difficult read, no doubt, but this is one book which each and every educated person must read; doesn't matter if it takes a lifetime. If one reads three pages a day, it'll take one year to finish the book; that is the kind of patience the book demands, but it's worth it and extremely rewarding. Logistics overcome, comes the barrier of prejudice; several of them: India, Hindu, Ashram, Philosophy, Spirituality, New-Age etc. But what is needed is an absolutely open mind and the book becomes a pure Life's User Manual.
Amazon.com
Editorial Reviews
Book Description: The Life Divine explores for the Modern mind the great streams of Indian metaphysical thought, reconciling the truths behind each and from this synthesis extends in terms of consciousness the concept of evolution. The unfolding of Earth's and man's spiritual destiny is illuminated, pointing the way to a Divine Life on Earth.
About the Author: Educated from the childhood in England Ari Aurobindo was fluent in several languages and avoided appearing for his Indian Civil Service Test and joined the mainstream Independence Movement. In the year 1910 he decided to retire from active politics and withdrew to Pondichery for exclusive concentration his spiritual practice.In 1914, after four years of intense Yoga he launched a monthly philosophic review, Arya, in which most of his major works were serialised. These works embodied much of the inner knowledge that had come to him in his practice of Yoga. Having gathered all the essential truths of past spiritual experiences, he worked for a more complete method of Yoga that would transform human nature and divinise life. To this purpose he devoted the rest of his life.Sri Aurobindo left his body on 5 December 1950.
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Customer Reviews
A masterpiece meant for everyone
October 6, 2005, Reviewer: savitriera - See all my reviews
It is a difficult read, no doubt, but this is one book which each and every educated person must read; doesn't matter if it takes a lifetime. If one reads three pages a day, it'll take one year to finish the book; that is the kind of patience the book demands, but it's worth it and extremely rewarding. Logistics overcome, comes the barrier of prejudice; several of them: India, Hindu, Ashram, Philosophy, Spirituality, New-Age etc. But what is needed is an absolutely open mind and the book becomes a pure Life's User Manual.
The book itself is a Univeresity that breathes universality. During the course of reading, one gets attuned to many related areas and ideas by way of allusions and comparisions. It also solves progressively one's long-held doubts and discords. Besides, in whichever profession one is, it helps to improve on the practical aspects. Further, the poetic beauty of the text enhances the sheer pleasure of reading even while the insights gained expands one's sense of mundane existence. Two other booklets, "The Mother" and "The Mind of Light" or "The Supramental Manifestation upon Earth" are essential supplements, lest one's understanding of the author is prone to be lopsided.
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
The most original contribution of Sri Aurobindo
The Indian Express Your comment[s] on this article
In praise of Thomas Macaulay
He was not perfect, but don’t forget that he’s central to modern India
Click here to read the article Total comment[s]: 45 Post your comment
Sri Aurobindo
The fact that you have mentioned the epoch-making work of Sri Aurobindo on Vedic mysticism is of immense import, while debates on Macaulay or Jinnah are simply time-pass. It is the most original contribution of Sri Aurobindo to the modern knowledge systems and hence the primacy of Vedic discourse should incur our curiosity.
In praise of Thomas Macaulay
He was not perfect, but don’t forget that he’s central to modern India
Click here to read the article Total comment[s]: 45 Post your comment
Sri Aurobindo
The fact that you have mentioned the epoch-making work of Sri Aurobindo on Vedic mysticism is of immense import, while debates on Macaulay or Jinnah are simply time-pass. It is the most original contribution of Sri Aurobindo to the modern knowledge systems and hence the primacy of Vedic discourse should incur our curiosity.
Posted by: Tusar N. Mohapatra, India, 12-06-2005 at 1733 hours IST
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
The Meeting of the East and the West
The Meeting of the East and the West in Sri Aurobindo's Philosophy
by S.K. Maitra (1 customer review)
Publisher: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publications Department (1988)
ISBN: 8170580781
Average Customer Review: based on 1 review.
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My respectful gratitude to Dr Maitra, October 4, 2005
Reviewer:savitriera - See all my reviews
Publisher: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publications Department (1988)
ISBN: 8170580781
Average Customer Review: based on 1 review.
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
My respectful gratitude to Dr Maitra, October 4, 2005
Reviewer:savitriera - See all my reviews
This is, by far, the most outstanding primer to introduce the intricacies of Sri Aurobindo's insights to mainstream academicians in their language. Lucidity and brevity are the hallmarks of this philosophical commentary. Many find it easy to nurse the notion that western philosophy doesn't hold much value before the Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo. On the contrary, Dr Maitra delineates the elements of the western thought precisely to emphasize how essential it is, in order to decipher the voluminous writings of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother.
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Sri Aurobindo's influence
Sri Aurobindo's extensive mapping of consciousness and his life-long endeavour to fathom the overhead regions through poetry and yoga are seminal contributions. His emphasis on attainability of highest possible perfection through sheer human efforts and by mere aspiration is a great message of hope. Further, the adventure of consciousness is not aimed at isolated spiritual salvation. Rather, a harmonious collective living is the ultimate destination. By translating this ideal to practical terms, Sri Aurobindo draws an elaborate blueprint concerning the ideal of human unity leading to the establishment of a World-Union.
Sri Aurobindo comes at a very crucial moment in the history of thought when Marxist materialism, Nietzschean nihilism and Freudian vitalismwere popular and fashionable. Besides, phenomenology and existentialismhad their run along-side him. On the whole, along with the new-fangled science and Theosophy, these new philosophical formulations fermented enough confusion among the elite. In a way, the disparate positions arrived at in Western thought find their synthesis in Sri Aurobindo's philosophy. By aligning them with the ancient Indian wisdom, he comes up with an integral vision that breathes universality as well as contemporarity.
Thus, Kant's sublime, Hegel's absolute, Schopenhauer's will, Kierkegaard's passion, Marx's matter, Darwin's evolution, Nietzsche's overman,Bergson's élan vital, all find their due representation in Sri Aurobindo's grand exposition. His thought successfully overarchs cultural as well as religious chasms. S. K. Maitra and Haridas Chaudhuri are first among the academicians to discern the import of Sri Aurobindo's integral philosophy.D. P. Chattopadhyay wrote a seminal treatise juxtaposing Sri Aurobindo and Marx to examine their utopian prophecies. Wikipedia
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