Works of Sri Aurobindo

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The Life Divine


Publisher’s Note

 

The Life Divine first appeared serially in the monthly review Arya between August 1914 and January 1919. Each instalment was written immediately before its publication. In 1939 and 1940 Sri Aurobindo revised The Life Divine for book publication. The first volume of the revised version, consisting of the first twenty-seven chapters of the Arya text, along with a newly written twenty-eighth chapter, was published in November 1939. The revision of all but two of the Arya chapters was light. The second volume of the revised version was published in July 1940. The revision of this volume was extensive. Eight Arya chapters were discarded and seventeen considerably revised, while twelve new chapters were written. Volume I was reprinted in 1943 and 1947, Volume II in 1944. A one-volume edition was brought out in the United States in 1949. New editions were published in India in 1955, 1970 and 2001, and in the United States in 1990. The editions of 1970 and 1990 were reprinted many times.

The present edition has been checked against all editions published before 1950 and, when necessary, the author’s manuscripts.