Works of Sri Aurobindo - An Overview: Recent Episodes
Dr. Alok Pandey
The last CWSA volume contains autobiographical notes, letters and other writings, and includes early personal letters, public statements and letters on national and world events, as well as on his ashram and system of yoga.
CWSA vol. 35 contains letters in which Sri Aurobindo referred to his life and works, his sadhana or practice of yoga, and the sadhana of members of his ashram.
The last CWSA volume contains autobiographical notes, letters and other writings, and includes early personal letters, public statements and letters on national and world events, as well as on his ashram and system of yoga.
This talk is a summary of CWSA 29. It includes letters on the Aim of Yoga, certain fundamentals of the practice of Integral Yoga such as surrender, equanimity, on the Guru in the Integral Yoga.
In this talk we take up the concluding part of CWSA 28 touching upon the Psychic being, faith and doubt, the chakras among other things.
This talk is based on CWSA 28 which is the first of the four volumes of Letters on Yoga.
Today’s talk is on the second and concluding part of CWSA 27 where which brings together Sri Aurobindo’s Letters on Poetry and Art.
In this work, Sri Aurobindo outlines the history of English poetry and explores the possibility of a spiritual poetry in the future. It was first published in a series of essays between 1917 and 1920; parts were later revised for publication as a book.
In War and Self-Determination, Sri Aurobindo writes on the sovereignty of nations in the aftermath of the First World War.
Five of the essays making up War and Self-Determination were published in the Arya between 1916 and 1920. In 1920 three of them—“The Passing of War?”, “The Unseen Power” and “Self-Determination”—along with a Foreword and a newly written essay, “The League of Nations”, were published as a book. In later editions the other two Arya essays, “1919” and “After the War”, were added by the editors.
In The Human Cycle, Sri Aurobindo traces the evolution of human society and suggests where it is headed.
Keys to the Practice
We touch upon Chapters 8 to 18 of the last part of the Synthesis of Yoga, ‘The Yoga of Self-Perfection’.
This talk continues with the ‘The Synthesis of Yoga’ (CWSA Vol 23-24) as part of the series on Writings of Sri Aurobindo.
Integral Knowledge.
This talk continues with the ‘The Synthesis of Yoga’ (CWSA Vol 23-24) as part of the series on Writings of Sri Aurobindo.
The Liberation through Works. This talk continues with the ‘The Synthesis of Yoga’ as part of the series on Writings of Sri Aurobindo.
Sacrifice and Equality.
This talk continues with the ‘The Synthesis of Yoga’ (CWSA Vol 23-24) as part of the series on Writings of Sri Aurobindo.
This talk continues with the ‘The Synthesis of Yoga’ (CWSA Vol 23-24) as part of the series on Writings of Sri Aurobindo.
Systems of Yoga and the Synthesis.
This talk continues with the ‘The Synthesis of Yoga’ (CWSA Vol 23-24) as part of the series on Writings of Sri Aurobindo.
In this talk we take up The Synthesis of Yoga (CWSA Vol 23) as part of the series on Writings of Sri Aurobindo. It will be a series of talks.
This talk is an overview of the Chapters 15-28 of Book 2, which are concluding this treatise.
This is a brief overview of The Life Divine, one of major books written by Sri Aurobindo.
Vol. 20 of the ‘Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo’ (CWSA) series consists of thirty-two essays, which were first published in the monthly journal Arya, with each essay written immediately before its publication.
They appeared as three series of essays and one single essay as follows:
– ‘The Renaissance in India’, Aug. – Nov. 1918;
– ‘Indian Culture and External Influence’, March 1919 ( a single essay);
– ‘Is India Civilised?’, Dec. 1918 – Feb. 1919;
– ‘A Defence of Indian Culture’, Feb. 1919 – Jan. 1921.
This is a second talk of the series on CWSA 19. We are looking at the aspects of the battle of life and the call to the Aryan fighter.
Essays on the Gita was first published in the monthly review Arya in two series. The first series, covering the first six chapters of the Gita, ran from August 1916 to July 1918. The second series, covering the last twelve chapters, ran from August 1918 to July 1920.
In this talk we read Sri Aurobindo’s translation of Isha Upanishad, in 18 shlokas, with a brief commentary.
Volume 16 of the Collected Works takes up a large number of hymns from the Rig Veda dedicated to the god Agni to prove beyond doubt the new theory of the Vedas as propounded by Sri Aurobindo. Hymns to the Mystic Fire also reveal to us the journey of the seers, their path and the goal. A selection of hymns dedicated to Agni and translated by Sri Aurobindo was first published in 1946. After addition of the later discovered materials, this selection now includes hymns of nearly 71 different Rishis from various Mandalas of the Rig Veda.
Today we start Collected Works of Sri Aurobindo Vol. 15, which comprises writings on and translations of the Rig Veda and some other Vedic Hymns, that were published in the monthly review Arya between 1914 and 1920. Today’s talk is primarily dealing with the myth of the Aryan invasion.
Sri Aurobindo’s writings on the Vedas span through a number of books. Three volumes – Vol 14 ‘Vedic and Philological Studies’, Vol 15 ‘The Secret of the Veda’, and Vol 16 ‘Hymns to the Mystic Fire’ – are completely dedicated to revealing to man the truths contained in the Vedas. We also find significant writings on the Vedas in the Vol 9 “Writings in Bengali and Sanskrit” as well as in Essays and Letters. The importance Sri Aurobindo gave to the Vedas can be understood by the fact that most of the quotations given at the beginning of His Magnum Opus The Life Divine are from the Vedas.
“Essays in Philosophy and Yoga” CWSA 13 consists of short works in prose written by Sri Aurobindo after 1909 and published during his lifetime. All but a few of them are concerned with aspects of spiritual philosophy, yoga, and related subjects. Short writings on the Veda, the Upanishads, Indian culture, political theory, education, and poetics have been placed in other volumes. The title of the volume has been provided by the editors. It is adapted from the title of a proposed collection, “Essays in Yoga”, found in two of Sri Aurobindo’s notebooks. Since 1971 most of the contents of the volume have appeared under the editorial title “The Supramental Manifestation and Other Writings”.
‘Essays Divine and Human’ (CWSA volume 12) is a marvellous collection of essays, short writings and mind-widening aphorisms. These are essays that Sri Aurobindo wrote after his arrival in Pondicherry in 1910 but which were not seen by him before publication. Another set of essays, also written in Pondicherry but which were seen by him before publication, became a part of CWSA 13 (‘Essays in Philosophy and Yoga’).
In this talk, we continue with the joint volume of The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo (CWSA) 10-11, which consists mainly of Sri Aurobindo’s Records and Notes that he kept during his individual practice. Today we touch upon the Yogic Sadhan and a few other automatic writings.
In this talk, we take up a joint volume CWSA 10 – 11, which consists mainly of Sri Aurobindo’s Records and Notes that he kept during his individual practice.
The second talk on Volume 9 of CWSA (The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo) “Writings in Bengali and Sanskrit” covers some Sanskrit writings, particularly Tantra Siddhi Prakaran and Sri Arvind Upanishad.
Today we look at the ninth volume of CWSA (The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo) “Writings in Bengali and Sanskrit”. In this talk, several Bengali writings are covered, and the rest will be taken up in part two.
In this talk, we cover some of the remaining writings from Collected Works of Sri Aurobindo, Vol. 8 ‘Karmayogin’.
Karmayogin was launched by Sri Aurobindo on the 19th June 1909 as a weekly review of National Religion, Literature, Science, Philosophy etc. six weeks after his acquittal from the Alipore trial case. It is well known that this period of one year during which Sri Aurobindo was kept in solitary confinement turned to be a period of rapid transformation for him. The revolutionary yogi of the Bande Mataram days was transformed into a Yoga-Siddha of the highest order. The imprisonment had released him completely from the prison of Ignorance. The person who went into the prison was the Editor of Bande Mataram. The person who came out was a Jivanmukta and Karmayogi. The name of the journal that he now launched was perfectly apt. The very first issue of the journal reproduced contents of his first speech delivered on the 30th May 1909 soon after his release from the Alipore Jail. He spoke as one who had seen God as indeed he had. The fire of Bande Mataram had entered a depth wherein it had become one with the Fire that we carry within our hearts as the secret godhead immanent in man. He spoke as one moved by God.
Bande Mataram is a title of a combined Volume 6-7 of the Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo (CWSA).
In this talk we take up the fifth volume of CWSA (The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo) “Translations”.
Sri Aurobindo’s translations are unique by how Master’s touch enriches existing masterpieces which had lost some of their shine through the ages. Not only does Sri Aurobindo brings them to us in the language we know, but also shows us the way to approach these marvellous works. The great beauty of Sri Aurobindo is that by his masterly touch he can turn base metal into the purest gold. Here he is touching gold itself and polishing and carving it into a beautiful ornament for the soul to relish.
In this talk we take up a part of the combined third and fourth volumes of CWSA (The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo) “Collected Plays and Stories”. This part is formed by three main plays, Viziers of Bassora, Rodogune, and Perseus the Deliverer.
In this English talk on Sri Aurobindo’s writings, we take up the second volume of CWSA (The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo) “Collected Poems”.
In this English talk on Sri Aurobindo’s writings, we take up the first volume of CWSA (The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo) “Early Cultural Writings”.
The first talk of this series gives us a general overview of Sri Aurobindo’s writings and the necessity of reading them.