CONTENTS

 

Pre-Content

 

PART ONE

 

REMARKS ON HIS LIFE AND WORKS AND ON

HIS CONTEMPORARIES AND CONTEMPORARY EVENTS

 

Section One

Reminiscences and Remarks on Events in His Outer Life

 

His Life and Attempts to Write about It

His Name

Life in England, 1879 - 1893

Life in Baroda, 1893 - 1906

Political Career, 1906 - 1910

Outer Life in Pondicherry, 1910 - 1950

 

Section Two

General Remarks on His Life

 

Remarks on His Life in Pondicherry after 1926

His Temperament and Character

Heredity, Past Lives, Astrology

 

Section Three

Remarks on Himself as a Writer and on His Writings

 

On Himself as a Writer

Writing for Publication

On His Published Prose Writings

The Terminology of His Writings

 

Section Four

Remarks on Contemporaries and on Contemporary Problems

 

Remarks on Spiritual Figures in India

Remarks on European Writers on Occultism

Remarks on Public Figures in India

Remarks on Public Figures in Europe

Remarks on Indian Affairs, 1930 - 1946

Remarks on the World Situation, 1933 - 1949


 

PART TWO

 

HIS SADHANA OR PRACTICE OF YOGA

 

 

Section One

Sadhana before Coming to Pondicherry in 1910

 

Ordinary Life and Yoga

Early Experiences

The Realisation of January 1908

Experiences in Alipur Jail, 1908 - 1909

 

Section Two

Sadhana in Pondicherry, 1910 ­ 1950

 

The Early Years in Pondicherry, 1910 - 1926

The Realisation of 24 November 1926

The Sadhana of 1927 - 1929

General Remarks on the Sadhana of the 1930s

The Supramental Yoga and Other Spiritual Paths

Remarks on the Current State of the Sadhana, 1931 - 1947

 

Section Three

Some Aspects of the Sadhana in Pondicherry

 

Inner Vicissitudes and Difficulties

Unusual Experiences and States of Consciousness


 

PART THREE

 

THE LEADER AND THE GUIDE

 

Section One

The Guru and the Avatar

 

The Guru

The Question of Avatarhood

 

Section Two

Help and Guidance

 

Help from the Guide

Guidance through Correspondence

Sri Aurobindo's Force

Therapeutic Force and Healing

Lights, Visions, Dreams

Darshan

Contact with People Outside the Ashram


 

PART FOUR

 

THE PRACTICE OF YOGA IN THE ASHRAM AND OUTSIDE

 

Section One

The Practice of Yoga in the Ashram, 1926 ­ 1950

 

Entering Sri Aurobindo's Path

Admission, Staying, Departure

The Ashram and Its Atmosphere

Sadhana in the Ashram

Discipline in the Ashram

Rules in the Life of the Ashram

The Ashram and Religion

Human Relations and the Ashram

Work in the Ashram

Life and Death in the Ashram

Miscellaneous Matters

 

Section Two

The Practice of Yoga in the Ashram and the Outside World

 

The Ashram and the Outside World

Yoga Centres and Movements


 

PART FIVE

 

MANTRAS AND MESSAGES

 

Section One

Mantras

 

On Mantras

Mantras Written by Sri Aurobindo

 

Section Two

Messages

 

Messages Written for Special Occasions

 

 

NOTE ON THE TEXTS

Mantras Written by Sri Aurobindo

 

Sanskrit Mantras

 

 

 

OM anandamayi chaitanyamayi [satyamayi parame]1

circa 1927

*

1 Sri Aurobindo wrote this mantra around 1927 as one of several miscellaneous notations connected with Record of Yoga. See Record of Yoga, volume 11 of THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SRI AUROBINDO, page 1352. Note that he did not complete the transliteration in Latin script. The text was first published as a message in November 1955. Still later the Mother completed the transliteration in her own hand; see the facsimile below. —Ed.

 

 

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OM Tat Sat Jyotir Aravinda

 

 

OM Satyam Jnânam Jyotir Aravinda

 

 

circa 1927

 

*

 

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Let us meditate on the most auspicious (best) form of Savitri, on the Light of the Supreme which shall illumine us with the Truth.  

19 March 1933

*

 

 

21 August 1933

 

 

2 One of Sri Aurobindo's disciples wrote this quotation from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (1.3.28) in his notebook. Below it Sri Aurobindo wrote [] (tathastu): "So be it!" —Ed.

 

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English Mantras

 

 

 

In 1935 I asked for a mantra and you suggested that I could take any combination of your name with the Mother's and make of it a mantra. Accordingly I submitted the combination "OM Sri Mira Sri Arvindaya Namah" for your sanction, and you gave it. I have tried this combination for some time now, but I feel like asking for another combination of your names with some aspiration or prayer joined to them so that it might become a sort of constant aspiration or prayer in course of time, or at least so that it will demand Some concentration and not become something mechanical. besides, I feel that if you would kindly make a combination for me I shall have more faith in it.

 

I have written for you a brief prayer with the names in the form of a mantra. I hope it will help you to overcome your difficulty and get an inner foundation.

 

OM Sri Aurobindo Mira

Open my mind, my heart, my life

to your Light, your Love, your Power In all

things may I see the Divine       

16 July 1938

 

*

 

I feel very grateful for the mantra and the prayer. Especially the last line of the prayer — "In all things may I see the Divine" — has made me very glad since it expresses my very own deepest aspiration to which I have been partial for many years. Have I to consider the names and the prayer as one mantra?

18 July 1938

 

Yes.

 

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Let my Peace be always with you. Let your mind be calm and open; let your vital nature be calm and responsive; let your physical consciousness be a quiet and exact instrument, calm in action and in silence. Let there be my Light and Power and Peace upon you; let there be ever Power and Light and Peace.

 

*

 

 

 

In the night as in the day be always with me.

In sleep as in waking let me feel in me always the reality of your presence.

Let it sustain and make to grow in me Truth, consciousness and bliss constantly and at all times.

 

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