Index and glossary of Sanskrit and other Indian terms in books of SABCL edition
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Index of Words
Index and glossary of Sanskrit and other Indian terms.
THEME/S
The SRI AUROBINDO BIRTH CENTENARY LIBRARY comprises all writings of Sri Aurobindo which were available at the time of publication. All his major works without exception have been included; there may be some manuscript writings and letters which still await discovery.
The scheme of arrangement of the Centenary Library is basically chronological, but other factors besides date of composition and publication have been given consideration. Volumes 1 and 2 contain Sri Aurobindo's early political writings and speeches, from the periods 1893-1908 and 1909-1910 respectively.1 Volume 3 consists of Sri Aurobindo's early cultural writings, the bulk of which were written by him at Baroda (1893-1906), but some of which date from before and after these years. In Volume 4 have been collected all of Sri Aurobindo's original writings in Bengali, most of which were first published in 1909 and 1910.
Volumes 5 through 9 comprise Sri Aurobindo's literary writings. Volume 5 contains his complete poetical works; Volumes 6 and 7 his plays (one of which is a translation) and short stories; Volume 8 his translations (excluding the play mentioned above and translations from the Indian scriptures) and Volume 9 his later writings on poetry and literature, including his letters on poetry, literature and art generally. Sri Aurobindo's poetic magnum opus, the epic Savitri, has been placed at the end of the Centenary Library in Volumes 28 and 29. To the latter volume his letters on this poem have been appended.
In Volumes 10 through 13 are published Sri Aurobindo's translations of and commentaries on the great Indian scriptures: the Veda, the Upanishads and the Gita. Most of the writings in these volumes first appeared in the monthly review Arya (19 14-1921). Volume 14 contains writings on Indian culture which are also from the Arya.
Volumes 15 and 18 through 21 comprise Sri Aurobindo's major prose writings. In Volume 15 are published his later social and political works: The Human Cycle, The Ideal of Human Unity and War and Self-Determination. The Life Divine, in which Sri Aurobindo's philosophical thought attains its highest expression, is published as Volumes 18 and 19 and his major work on Yoga, The Synthesis of Yoga, as Volumes 20 and 21 of the set. All of these important works first appeared in the Arya and were later revised by Sri Aurobindo to a greater or lesser degree prior to their publication in book-form. Shorter works published by Sri Aurobindo during his lifetime, in the Arya and elsewhere, have been placed in Volume 16. In Volume 17 the material is of two kinds: in Parts I to V various writings, mostly on Yoga, which were not published by Sri Aurobindo during his lifetime, are collected. Parts VI to XI of the volume might be called Sri Aurobindo “later cultural writings”. Here an assortment of writings on education and art, book reviews, notes, etc. have been brought together.
Next in order after The Synthesis of Yoga appear, in Volumes 22, 23 and 24, Sri Aurobindo's letters on Yoga, most of which were written between 1930 and 1938. Many of these letters were revised by Sri Aurobindo before being brought out in book-form; others have been selected and arranged by his disciples. Letters dealing with the Mother have been published in Volume 25 and letters and notes of an autobiographical nature in Volume 26. In the latter volume there is a section of letters dealing with both Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.2
It was originally intended to publish The Mother, which is considered by many to be one of the most important of Sri Aurobindo's works, in a volume of its own. This proved impossible because of its brevity. Therefore this book and Sri Aurobindo's translations from the Mother's Prières et Méditations were put together with the letters on the Mother to make Volume 25. In Volume 27 supplementary material which accumulated while the publication of the Centenary Library was in progress is published for the first time.
It is very important to note that Sri Aurobindo's consciousness underwent great. development between 1892, when he was a student of twenty writing The Harmony of Virtue, and 1950, when as a master of Yoga he put the finishing touches to Savitri. It is necessary to take this development into consideration when evaluating Sri Aurobindo's writings of different periods. It is essential that readers using the Index in this volume make such a relative evaluation of the materials to which they refer.
In 1937 Sri Aurobindo, writing to one of his disciples in reference to the disciple's review of his book The Ideal of the Karmayogin, stated:
You even assert that I have “thoroughly” revised the book and these articles are an index of my latest views on the burning problems of the day and there has been no change in my views in 27 years (which would surely be proof of a rather unprogressive mind). How do you get all that? My spiritual consciousness and knowledge at that time was as nothing to what it is now - how would the change leave my view of politics and life unmodified altogether?3
In another letter written apropos of a certain point in a series of articles which first appeared in the Arya, Sri Aurobindo stated, “... I have not yet allowed the publication of Rebirth and Karma because this had to be corrected and the deeper truth put in its place.”4 Further indication of this method of progress from truth to deeper truth may be found in the note prefixed to The Yoga and Its Objects (Volume 16, page 409) and the letter on the word “Overmind” published on page 369 of Volume 26. It is clear that Sri Aurobindo did not consider as absolutely final even those of his writings whose origin was “a source above the mind” and which were received and transmitted by a mind established in the perfect silence of Yoga—as were all of Sri Aurobindo's writings from 1908 onwards. Indeed we may suppose, taking into consideration the constant revision of Savitri to which reference is made on pages 727 to 732 of Volume 29, that, perhaps until the inevitable word of the highest Supermind had been given expression, there would still be something higher and more integral which remained to be said.
There are certain landmarks in Sri Aurobindo's inner life which are of some help in viewing his life-work in its proper perspective. Sri Aurobindo began his practice of Yoga in 1904. Everything which he wrote before that time may be said to be “mental”, that is, the creation of an intellect which had received the finest education the West had to offer and was in the process of mastering the wisdom of the East. In 1908 Sri Aurobindo had his first great Yogic experience (he had had several “preliminary experiences” previous to this), namely, the experience of Nirvana or, in Vedantic terms, of the silent spaceless and timeless Brahman. It is at this time that his mind entered the eternal silence out of which all his later writings and activities flowed. Referring to this experience Sri Aurobindo wrote once to a disciple:
As for calm and silence . .. ! got these things in 1908 .... Out of an absolute silence of the mind I edited the Bande Mataram for 4 months and wrote 6 volumes of the Arya, not to speak of all the letters and messages etc., etc. I have written since.5
Other experiences, including that of the cosmic consciousness and the omnipresent Divine, followed this first experience in rapid succession.
In 1910 Sri Aurobindo withdrew from the political field in order to devote himself to his Yogic sadhana in Pondicherry. The Mother has spoken of this year as being one of transition, providing a useful line to mark off the “earlier” and “later” periods of his life and work. The growth of Sri Aurobindo's consciousness between 1910 and 1950, when he withdrew from his body, was constant.
A second important factor to take into consideration while making an evaluation of Sri Aurobindo's writings has been touched upon briefly above. Most of the writings included in the Centenary Library were first published during the lifetime of Sri Aurobindo, the bulk of these originally in journals and a large number later also in book-form. Most of the works published as books received Sri Aurobindo's careful revision, but a significant number even of the more important writings never received the final touches he would have wanted to give them. Further, it is clear from the note on The Ideal of the Karmayogin quoted above that the many additions and changes (chiefly verbal and stylistic) which Sri Aurobindo was in the habit of making to all his published works, seemingly whenever he had a copy of one of them in his hands, do not make even revised editions indices of his “latest views”. Moreover, much of the material published in Volumes 3, 12, 17 and 27 has been reproduced, with little or no editing, from manuscripts which were never prepared by Sri Aurobindo for publication and many of which he, the perfectionist par excellence, would perhaps never have wanted to publish. We have included such writings in the Centenary Library because we feel that they have, besides great historical interest, a considerable intrinsic value. But for a proper relative evaluation of these and all of Sri Aurobindo's writings the facts of their composition and publication should be known. It would be worthwhile, then, for the interested reader to study the Bibliography on pages 19 to 44 of this volume and the Bibliographical Notes at the end of each of the volumes. These have been prepared from. all currently available data; however, as our researches continue, new information is being uncovered which may make a revised bibliography necessary in the future.
The Chronology (pages 6-15 of this volume) has been compiled using all primary source materials which have been gathered to date. Our biographical researches continue. No event for which there is inadequate documentary evidence has been included in the present Chronology. Note especially that only the very few spiritual experiences which Sri Aurobindo chose to speak or write about could be listed.
Although every care has been taken during the printing of the Centenary Library to ensure perfect accuracy, a number of errors, typographical or other, have crept into the texts. These, with the exception of minor and obvious typographical errors, have been listed in the Errata placed at the end of this volume.
SRI AUROBINDO was born in Calcutta on August 15, 1872. In 1879, at the age of seven, he was taken with his two elder brothers to England for education and lived there for fourteen years. Brought up at first in an English family at Manchester, he joined St. Paul's School in London in 1884 and in 1890 went from it with a senior classical scholarship to King's College, Cambridge, where he studied for two years. In 1890 he passed also the open competition for the Indian Civil Service, but at the end of two years of probation failed to present himself at the riding examination and was disqualified for the Service. At this time the Gaekwar of Baroda was in London. Aurobindo saw him, obtained an appointment in the Baroda Service and left England for India, arriving there in February, 1893.
Sri Aurobindo passed thirteen years, from 1893 to 1906, in the Baroda Service, first in the Revenue Department and in secretariate work for the Maharaja, afterwards as Professor of English and, finally, Vice-Principal in the Baroda College. These were years of self-culture, of literary activity—for much of the poetry afterwards published from Pondicherry was written at this time—and of preparation for his future work. In England he had received, according to his father's express instructions, an entirely occidental education without any contact with the culture of India and the East.1 At Baroda he made up the deficiency, learned Sanskrit and several modern Indian languages, assimilated the spirit of Indian civilisation and its forms past and present. A great part of the last years of this period was spent on leave in silent political activity, for he was debarred from public action by his position at Baroda. The outbreak of the agitation against the partition of Bengal in 1905 gave him the opportunity to give up the Baroda Service and join openly in the political movement. He left Baroda in 1906 and went to Calcutta as Principal of the newly-founded Bengal National College.
The political action of Sri Aurobindo covered eight years, from 1902 to 1910. During the first half of this period he worked behind the scenes, preparing with other co-workers the beginnings of the Swadeshi (Indian Sinn Fein) movement, till the agitation in Bengal furnished an opening for the public initiation of a more forward and direct political action than the moderate reformism which had till then been the creed of the Indian National Congress. In 1906 Sri Aurobindo came to Bengal with this purpose and joined the New Party, an advanced section small in numbers and not yet strong in influence, which had been recently formed in the Congress. The political theory of this party was a rather vague gospel of Non-cooperation; in action it had not yet gone farther than some ineffective clashes with the Moderate leaders at the annual Congress assembly behind the veil of secrecy of the “Subjects Committee”. Sri Aurobindo persuaded its chiefs in Bengal to come forward publicly as an All-India party with a definite and challenging programme, putting forward Tilak, the popular Maratha leader at its head, and to attack the then dominant Moderate (Reformist or Liberal) oligarchy of veteran politicians and capture from them the Congress and the country. This was the origin of the historic struggle between the Moderates and the Nationalists (called by their opponents Extremists) which in two years changed altogether the face of Indian politics.
The new-born Nationalist party put forward Swaraj (independence) as its goal as against the far-off Moderate hope of colonial self-government to be realised at a distant date of a century or -two by a slow progress of reform; it proposed as its means of execution a programme which resembled in spirit, though not in its details, the policy of Sinn Fein developed some years later and carried to a successful issue in Ireland. The principle of this new policy was self-help; it aimed on one side at an effective organisation of the forces of the nation and on the other professed a complete non-cooperation with the Government. Boycott of British and foreign goods and the fostering of Swadeshi industries to replace them, boycott of British law courts and the foundation of a system of Arbitration courts in their stead, boycott of Government universities and colleges and the creation of a network of National colleges and schools, the formation of societies of young men which would do the work of police and defence and, wherever necessary, a policy of passive resistance were among the immediate items of the programme. Sri Aurobindo hoped to capture the Congress and make it the directing centre of an organised national action, an informal State within the State, which would carry on the struggle for freedom till it was won. He persuaded the party to take up and finance as its recognised organ the newly-founded daily paper, Bande Mataram, of which he was at the time acting editor. The Bande Mataram, whose policy from the beginning of 1907 till its abrupt winding up in 1908 when Aurobindo was in prison was wholly directed by him, circulated almost immediately all over India. During its brief but momentous existence it changed the political thought of India which has ever since preserved fundamentally, even amidst its later developments, the stamp then imparted to it. But the struggle initiated on these lines, though vehement and eventful and full of importance for the future, did not last long at the time; for the country was still unripe for so bold a programme.
Sri Aurobindo was prosecuted for sedition in 1907 and acquitted. Up till now an organiser and writer, he was obliged by this event and by the imprisonment or disappearance of other leaders to come forward as the acknowledged head of the party in Bengal and to appear on the platform for the first time as a speaker. He presided over the Nationalist Conference at Surat in 1907 where in the forceful clash of two equal parties the Congress was broken to pieces. In May, 1908, he was arrested in the Alipore Conspiracy Case as implicated in the doings of the revolutionary group led by his brother Barindra; but no evidence of any value could be established against him and in this case too he was acquitted. After a detention of one year as undertrial prisoner in the Alipore Jail, he came out in May, 1909, to find the party organisation broken, its leaders scattered by imprisonment, deportation or self-imposed exile and the party itself still existent but dumb and dispirited and incapable of any strenuous action. For almost a year he strove single-handed as the sole remaining leader of the Nationalists in India to revive the movement. He published at this time to aid his effort a weekly English paper, the Karmayogin, and a Bengali weekly, the Dharma. But at last he was compelled to recognise that the nation was not yet sufficiently trained to carry out his policy and programme. For a time he thought that the necessary training must first be given through a less advanced Home Rule movement or an agitation of passive resistance of the kind created by Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa. But he saw that the hour of these movements had not come and that he himself was not their destined leader. Moreover, since his twelve months' detention in the Alipore Jail, which had been spent entirely in practice of Yoga, his.inner spiritual life was pressing upon him for an exclusive concentration. He resolved therefore to withdraw from the political field, at least for a time.2
In February, 1910, he withdrew to a secret retirement at Chandernagore and in the beginning of April sailed for Pondicherry in French India. A third prosecution was launched against him at this moment for a signed article in the Karmayogin; in his absence it was pressed against the printer of the paper who was convicted, but the conviction was quashed on appeal in the High Court of Calcutta. For the third time a prosecution against him had failed. Sri Aurobindo had left Bengal with some intention of returning to the political field under more favourable circumstances; but very soon the magnitude of the spiritual work he had taken up appeared to him and he saw that it would need the exclusive concentration of all his energies. Eventually he cut off connection with politics, refused repeatedly to accept the Presidentship of the National Congress and went into a complete retirement. During all his stay at Pondicherry from 1910 onward he remained more and more exclusively devoted to his spiritual work and his sadhana.
In 1914 after four years of silent Yoga he began the publication of a philosophical monthly, the Arya. Most of his more important works, The Life Divine, The Synthesis of Yoga, Essays on the Gita, The Isha Upanishad, appeared serially in the Arya. These works embodied much of the inner knowledge that had come to him in his practice of Yoga. Others were concerned with the spirit and significance of Indian civilisation and culture (The Foundations of Indian Culture), the true meaning of the Vedas (The Secret of the Veda), the progress of human society (The Human Cycle), the nature and evolution of poetry (The Future Poetry), the possibility of the unification of the human race (The Ideal of Human Unity). At this time also he began to publish his poems, both those written in England and at Baroda and those, fewer in number, added during his period of political activity and in the first years of his residence at Pondicherry. The Arya ceased publication in 1921 after six years and a half of uninterrupted appearance.
Sri Aurobindo lived at first in retirement at Pondicherry with four or five disciples. Afterwards more and yet more began to come to him to follow his spiritual path and the number became so large that a community of sadhaks had to be formed for the maintenance and collective guidance of those who had left everything behind for the sake of a higher life. This was the foundation of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram which has less been created than grown around him as its centre.
Sri Aurobindo began his practice of Yoga in 1904. At first gathering into it the essential elements of spiritual experience that are gained by the paths of divine communion and spiritual realisation followed till now in India, he passed on in search of a more complete experience uniting and harmonising the two ends of existence, Spirit and Matter. Most ways of Yoga are paths to the Beyond leading to the Spirit and, in the end, away from life; Sri Aurobindo's rises to the Spirit to redescend with its gains bringing the light and power and bliss of the Spirit into life to transform it. Man's present existence in the material world is in this view or vision of things a life in the Ignorance with the Inconscient at its base, but even in its darkness and nescience there are involved the presence and possibilities of the Divine. The created world is not a mistake or a vanity and illusion to be cast aside by the soul returning to heaven or Nirvana, but the scene of a spiritual evolution by which out of this material inconscience is to be manifested progressively the Divine Consciousness in things. Mind is the highest term yet reached in the evolution, but it is not the highest of which it is capable. There is above it a Supermind or eternal Truth-Consciousness which is in its nature the self-aware and self-determining light and power of a Divine Knowledge. Mind is an ignorance seeking after Truth, but this is a self-existent Knowledge harmoniously manifesting the play of its forms and forces. It is only by the descent of this supermind that the perfection dreamed of by all that is highest in humanity can come. It is possible by opening to a greater divine consciousness to rise to this power of light and bliss, discover one's true self, remain in constant union with the Divine and bring down the supramental Force for the transformation of mind and life and body. To realise this possibility has been the dynamic aim of Sri Aurobindo's Yoga.
Sri Aurobindo left his body on December 5, 1950. The Mother carried on his work until November 17, 1973. Their work continues.
1872
August 15 Birth in Calcutta.
1872-1879
At first in Rangpur, East Bengal; later sent to the Loretto Convent School, Darjeeling.
1878
February 21 Birth of the Mother in Paris.
1879
Taken to England.
1879-1884
In Manchester (84, Shakespeare Street) in the charge of the Drewett family. Tutored at home by the Drewetts.
1884
September Admitted to St. Paul's School, London. Takes lodgings at 49, St. Stephen's Avenue, Shepherd's Bush, London.
1886
August Vacation in Keswick.
1887
August Vacation in Hastings. After returning from Hastings takes lodgings at 128, Cromwell Road, London.
1889
December Passes Matriculation from St. Paul's.
1890
July Admitted as a probationer to the Indian Civil Service.
October 11 Admitted on a scholarship to King's College, Cambridge.
While at Cambridge, joins the Indian Majlis, a student group; makes speeches advocating Indian freedom.
1891
August to April 1892 Works on “The Vigil of Thaliard”, a long ballad left unfinished.
1892
May Passes the first part of the Classical Tripos, in the First Class.
August Passes the Indian Civil Service final examination.
October Leaves Cambridge. Takes lodgings at 6, Burlington Road, London.
In London, takes part in the formation of a secret society called the “Lotus and Dagger”.
Has first “pre-yogic” experience, the mental experience of the Atman.
November Disqualified for the Indian Civil Service due to his failure to take the riding examination.
December Obtains employment in the service of the Maharaja Gaekwar of Baroda.
1893 January 12 Leaves England by the S.S. Carthage. Travels via Gibraltar, Port Said and Aden.
February 6 Arrives in India, landing at the Apollo Bunder, Bombay.
A “vast calm” descends upon him as he sets foot on Indian soil and remains for months afterwards.
February 18 Officially joins the Baroda State Service; his pay is retroactive to February 8, probable date of his arrival in Baroda.
His first work is in the Land Settlement Department.
During the first year of his stay in Baroda, has a vision of the Godhead surging up from within him when in danger of a carriage accident.
March-April Works at translations from the Mahabharata.
June 26 Contributes an article, “India and the British Parliament”, to the Indu Prakash, Bombay.
August 7 - March 5, 1894 Contributes a series of articles, New Lamps for Old, to the Indu Prakash.
1894
July 16 - August 27 Contributes a series of articles on Bankim Chandra Chatterji to the Indu Prakash.
1895
Publication of Songs to Myrtilla, a collection of poems.
1896
Probable year of publication of Urvasie, a narrative poem.
1897
Begins part-time work in the Baroda College as a lecturer in French.
1898
Appointed acting Professor of English in the College.
1899
Serves as acting Professor of English and lecturer in French.
June-July Writes Love and Death, a narrative poem.
July 22 Lecture at the Baroda College Social Gathering.
1900
Acting Professor of English in the College.
c. 1900
First political move: sends Jatindranath Banerji to Bengal as his lieutenant for the work of revolutionary organisation and propaganda.
1901
Chairman of the college debating society.
April 17 Transferred from the College to the Revenue Department, Baroda State.
April 30 Marriage to Mrinalini Bose, eldest daughter of Bhupal Chandra Bose, in Calcutta. Afterwards goes to Nainital with Mrinalini and his sister Sarojini.
1902
Works in the office of the Huzur Kamdar (aide to the Dewan, the chief administrative officer of the state).
April 28 On privilege leave until May 29.
Sri Aurobindo uses his leaves and vacations, especially from 1902 onwards, for the organisation of revolutionary action in Bengal.
December Meeting with Lokmanya Tilak at the Ahmedabad session of the Indian National Congress.
1902-1903
Contacts and joins a secret society in western India.
1903
January Recommences regular teaching at the Baroda College.
February 22 On leave for one month.
May-August Accompanies the Gaekwar on his tour of Kashmfr as his Private Secretary.
In Kashmir on Takht-e-Suleman has an experience of the vacant infinite.
1904
Works as Huzur Kamdar, often doing secretarial work for the Gaekwar.
September 28 Directed to leave the Huzur Kamdar's office and join the College full time.
December At the Bombay session of the Indian National Congress.
Begins the practice of Yoga.
1905
January Assumes the post of Vice-principal, Baroda College.
March 3 Becomes acting Principal of the College.
October 16 The Partition of Bengal becomes an “accomplished fact”.
Sri Aurobindo writes the pamphlets “No Compromise” and “Bhawani Mandir” during the agitation that precedes the Partition.
December At the Benares session of the Indian National Congress.
1906
February 19 Takes privilege leave; goes to Bengal.
March 11 Present at the formation of the National Council of Education in Calcutta.
March 12 Declaration of the Yugantar, a Bengali weekly. Sri Aurobindo writes some articles in the early numbers of this revolutionary journal and always exercises general control over it.
April 14 At the Barisal Conference. Afterwards, makes a political tour of East Bengal with Bepin Chandra Pal.
June Returns to Baroda.
June 19 Takes one year's leave without pay from Baroda College. Returns to Bengal.
August 6 Declaration of the Bande Mataram.
Sri Aurobindo joins the Bande Mataram as an assistant editor.
August 14 Opening of the Bengal National College, Calcutta, with Sri Aurobindo as its principal.
October 13 The Bande Mataram becomes a joint stock company at Sri Aurobindo's suggestion.
October-December Ill in Calcutta.
Around this time Sri Aurobindo assumes control of the policy of the Bande Mataram as well as of the Nationalist Party in Bengal.
December 11-14 In Deoghar for recuperation.
December At the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress.
1907
January-April In Deoghar.
January 28-February 12 Works on Prince of Edur, a dramatic romance.
April 12-23 The Doctrine of Passive Resistance serialised in the Bande Mataram.
June 2 First issue of the weekly edition of the Bande Mataram.
June 8 A warning is issued to the editor of the Bande Mataram by the British Government.
June 14 Leaves Calcutta for Khulna to found a national school.
June 30 - October 13 Publication of Perseus the Deliverer, a drama in the weekly Bande Mataram.
July 30 Search of the Bande Mataram office. Complaint lodged against Sri Aurobindo.
August 2 Resigns the principalship of the Bengal National College.
August 16 Arrested on the charge of sedition for writings which had appeared in the Bande Mataram; released on bail.
August 23 Speech to the students of the Bengal National College. After his acquittal in September, he rejoins the College as a professor.
September 23 Acquitted.
After the Bande Mataram sedition case, Sri Aurobindo comes forward as the leader of the Nationalist Party in Bengal.
October Takes a house in Chukoo Khansama's Lane, Calcutta.
October 24 Goes to Deoghar.
December 7-9 At the Bengal Provincial Conference at Midnapore as the leader of the Nationalists.
December 8 Presides over a separate meeting of the Nationalists at Midnapore.
December 14 Meeting in College Square, Calcutta; delivers his first public speech.
December 15 Speech at a public meeting in Beadon Square, Calcutta.
December 21 Leaves Calcutta for Surat, the venue of the 1907 session of the Indian National Congress.
December 22 Addresses a meeting at Nagpur.
December 24-25 At Surat, presides over the conferences of Nationalist delegates.
December 26 First day of the Congress session at Surat.
December 27 Second day of the session: Sri Aurobindo gives the order that leads to the breaking of the Congress.
December 28 Presides over a meeting of the Nationalists.
December 31 Leaves Surat for Baroda.
1908
January In Baroda.
Meets Vishnu Bhaskar Lele, a Maharashtrian yogi. Following Lele's instructions, establishes complete silence of the mind, attaining to the experience of the Silent Brahman.
Gives three public speeches.
January 12, 13 Speeches at Poona.
January 15 “National Education” speech at Girgaum, Bombay.
January 19 “The Present Situation” speech before the Bombay National Union.
January 24 Speech at Nasik.
January 26 Speech at Dhulia. January 28, 29 Speeches at Amravati.
January 30, 31 Speeches at Nagpur.
February 1 Speech at Nagpur.
March 10 In Howrah at a public reception of Bepin Chandra Pal upon his release from jail.
April 8 Speaks at a meeting at Chetala.
April 10 “United Congress” speech at Panti's Math, Calcutta.
April 12 Speech at Baruipur.
April 18 “Palli Samiti” speech at Kishoregunj.
April 28 Changes his Calcutta lodgings from 23 Scotts Lane to 48 Grey Street (Navashakti Office).
May 2 Arrested as implicated in the terrorist activities of a group led by his brother Barindra. Taken to the lock-up at Lal Bazar, Calcutta.
Proceedings are instituted by the British Government to deport Sri Aurobindo, but are later abandoned.
May 5 Taken to Alipore Jail.
May 5, 1908 - May 6, 1909 Undertrial prisoner at Alipore. Spends his time reading the Gita and the Upanishads and in meditation and the practice of Yoga. Has the realisation of the Cosmic Consciousness and of the Divine (Sri Krishna) as all beings and in all that is.
May 19 Preliminary hearing in the Magistrate's Court begins.
August 19 Committed to the Court of Sessions.
October 19 Trial in the Sessions Court begins.
1909
March 4 Evidence concluded.
April 13 Arguments concluded.
April 14 Opinion of the Assessors. May 6 Acquitted and released.
After his release and until February 1910, Sri Aurobindo stays at 6 College Square, Calcutta.
May 14 Letter to the Bengalee, Calcutta.
May 30 Speech at Uttarpara.
June 13 Speech at Beadon Square, Calcutta.
June 19 First issue of the Karmayogin, a weekly review directed and mostly written by Sri Aurobindo.
June 19 Speech at Jhalakati, Barisal District.
June 23 Speech at Bakergunj, Barisal District.
June 26 Speech at Khulna.
June 27 “The Right of Association” speech at Howrah.
July 11 Speech at Kumartuli.
July 18 Speech at College Square, Calcutta.
July 31 “An Open Letter to My Countrymen” published in the Karmayogin following resumed efforts of the British Government to have him deported.
August 23 First issue of the Dharma, a Bengali weekly directed and mostly written by Sri Aurobindo.
September Leader of the Nationalists at the Bengal Provincial Conference at Hooghly.
September Attends a political conference at Sylhet.
October 9 - November 13 The Brain of India in the Karmayogin.
October 10 Speech at College Square, Calcutta.
October 13 “Swadeshi in Calcutta” speech.
October 18 Durga Stotra published in the Dharma.
November 20 - December 25 The National Value of Art in the Karmayogin.
December 25 “To My Countrymen” In the Karmayogin.
1910
February Leaves Calcutta for Chandernagore in French India.
February 12 - April 2 A System of National Education in the Karmayogin.
February 19 - March 5 Baji Prabhu in the Karmayogin.
March 26- April 2 “Chitrangada” in the Karmayogin.
March 31 Leaves Chandernagore for Calcutta.
April 1 Embarks for Pondicherry in French India by the S.S. Dupleix.
April 4 Arrival in Pondicherry; stays in the house of Shanker Chetty in Comty Chetty Street.
Although Sri Aurobindo changes his residence several times he does not leave Pondicherry.
April 4 A warrant issued charging Sri Aurobindo with sedition for the article “To My Countrymen” published in the Karmayogin on December 25, 1909.
October Moves to the house of Sunder Chetty on Rue de la Pavilion (Rue Suffren).
November 7 “To My Countrymen” found not seditious by the Calcutta High Court; warrant withdrawn.
November 7 Writes a letter to The Hindu, Madras (published in the November 13 issue), announcing his presence in Pondicherry and his retirement from active politics.
1911
April New lodgings taken on Rue St. Louis (“Raghavan House”).
July 20 A letter to The Hindu.
August 15 First celebration of Sri Aurobindo's birthday in Pondicherry.
1912
July 3 Letter to Motilal Roy.
Through his correspondence with Motilal and others Sri Aurobindo keeps in contact with the revolutionary movement in Bengal.
1913
April Change of residence to Rue de Mission Etrangère (Mission Street).
October Change of residence to Rue Franҫois Martin (the “Guest House”).
1914
March 29 First meeting of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo.
June 1 Decision to publish the Arya.
August 15 First issue of the Arya. First instalments of The Life Divine, The Synthesis of Yoga, The Secret of the Veda, The Isha Upanishad.
1915
Ahana and Other Poems published.
February 21 First celebration of the Mother's birthday at Pondicherry.
February 22 The Mother departs for France.
September 15 First instalment of The Ideal of Human Unity in the Arya.
October Vasavadutta, a dramatic romance, written.
1916
The Mother leaves France for Japan.
August 15 First instalments of Essays on the Gita and The Psychology of Social Development (later called The Human Cycle) in the Arya.
1917
December 15 First instalment of The Future Poetry in the Arya.
1918
January 15 Works at translations from Kalidasa's Kumarasambhavam (The Birth of the War God).
August 10 Letter on the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms published in the New India.
December First instalment of “Is India Civilised?” (first of the series of essays that make up The Foundations of Indian Culture) published in the Arya.
December 17 Death of Mrinalini Ghose in Calcutta.
1920
January 20 Letter to Joseph Baptista.
April 7 Letter to Barindra Kumar Ghose.
April 24 The Mother returns to Pondicherry from Japan.
August 15 First issue of the Standard Bearer, a monthly published from Chandernagore under the inspiration of Sri Aurobindo; his article “Ourselves” appears in this issue.
August 30 Letter to B. S. Munje declining the presidentship of the Nagpur Congress.
November 24 The Mother moves to the house on Rue Franҫois Martin where Sri Aurobindo is living.
1921
Publication in book form of lsha Upanishad and Kalidasa's “Seasons”.
January Love and Death published.
January 15 Last issue of the Arya.
1922
January The Mother takes charge of the management of Sri Aurobindo's household.
Regular evening talks and group meditations held from this year.
September-October Sri Aurobindo and the Mother move to 9, Rue de la Marine (south-west section of the present Ashram block).
1923
June 5 Meeting with C. R. Das.
1924
January The Century of Life published.
January Group meditation discontinued.
1925
Meeting with Lala Lajpat Rai and Purushottam Das Tandon.
1926
November 24 The Day of Siddhi (Victory Day): the descent of Krishna, the Overmind Godhead, into the physical.
The evening talks and all other direct contacts with Sri Aurobindo are discontinued. He retires completely into concentrated sadhana, but gives “Darshan” three times a year.
1927
February 8 Sri Aurobindo and the Mother move to the house on Rue Franҫois Martin (north-east section of the present Ashram block) where they remain for the rest of their lives.
1928
Publication of The Mother.
February 16 Meeting with Rabindranath Tagore.
1929
April Publication of Kalidasa.
1930-1938
The limited correspondence with disciples begun after Sri Aurobindo's retirement in 1926 assumes very large proportions during this period. Much of it has been collected and published as Letters on Yoga, Letters on the Mother, Letters on Poetry, Literature and Art, etc.
Throughout these years Sri Aurobindo works on his poetry, especially the epic Savitri.
1933
Publication of The Riddle of this World (extracts from letters).
1934
Publication of Six Poems of Sri Aurobindo.
1935
February Publication of Lights on Yoga (extracts from letters).
1936
April Publication of Bases of Yoga (extracts from letters).
1938
November 24 Accident to Sri Aurobindo's right leg.
Regular correspondence with the sadhaks stopped. Personal contact with a few sadhaks, his attendants, begins.
1939
April 24 Gives Darshan for the first time on this day; later it becomes a regular Darshan day.
1939-1940
Revision and publication in book form of The Life Divine. More writing of poetry.
1940
September 19 Joint declaration by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother in support of the Allies in World War II. From the time of the evacuation of Dunkirk Sri Aurobindo puts his spiritual force behind the Allied war effort.
1942
Publication of Collected Poems and Plays.
March 31 Sri Aurobindo's support of the Proposals of Sir Stafford Cripps, emissary of the British government, which offered to India self-government after the war and invited her assistance in the war effort.
1943
December 2 The Ashram school started.
1944
February 21 First issue of the Advent, “A Quarterly Dedicated to the Exposition of Sri Aurobindo's Vision of the Future”.
1946
Hymns to the Mystic Fire published.
1947
August 15 Liberation of India on Sri Aurobindo's 75th birthday. A message from Sri Aurobindo is broadcast by the. All India Radio.
1948
Publication of The Synthesis of Yoga, Part I.
1949
The Human Cycle published.
February 21 First issue of the Bulletin of Physical Education (now called the Bulletin of the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education) with Sri Aurobindo's “Message”.
Seven more articles written by Sri Aurobindo appear in subsequent issues.
February 21 First issue of the cultural review Mother India.
1950
Publication in book form of Part One of Savitri.
December 5 Mahasamadhi : Sri Aurobindo withdraws from his body.
December 9 Sri Aurobindo's body is placed in a vault in the courtyard of the Ashram.
1951
Publication of Parts Two and Three of Savitri.
April 24 A convention, presided over by the Mother for the inauguration of the Sri Aurobindo University Centre (presently called the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education).
1968
February 28 Foundation of Auroville.
1972
August 15 World-wide celebration of the birth centenary of Sri Aurobindo. Publication of his complete works in thirty volumes.
1973
November 17 The Mother's Mahasamadhi.
November 20 The Mother's body is placed in a separate chamber immediately above that of Sri Aurobindo.
Volume 1.
Bande Mataram, EARLY POLITICAL WRITINGS—I (1893- 1908) : New Lamps for Old; Bhawani Mandir; The Doctrine of Passive Resistance; editorials and comments from the Bande Mataram; Speeches.
Volume 2
Karmayogin, EARLY POLITICAL WRITINGS—TI (1909- 1910): Uttarpara Speech; The Ideal of the Karmayogin; An Open Letter to My Countrymen; other essays, notes and comments from the Karmayogin; Speeches.
Volume 3
The Harmony of Virtue, EARLY CULTURAL WRITINGS : The Harmony of Virtue; Bankim Chandra Chatterjee; The Sources of Poetry and Other Essays; Valmiki and Vyasa; Kalidasa; The Brain of India; Essays from the Karmayogin; Art and Literature; Passing Thoughts; Conversations of the Dead.
Volume 4
Writings in Bengali: Hymn to Durga; Poems; Stories; The Veda; The Upanishad s; The Puranas; The Gita; Dharma; Nationalism; Editorials from Dharma; Stories of Jail Life; Letters.
Volume 5
Collected Poems, THE COMPLETE POETICAL WORKS : Short Poems; Sonnets; Longer Poems; On Quantitative Metre; Ilion; Poems in New Metres; Metrical Experiments.
Volume 6
Collected Plays AND SHORT STORIES, Part One : Perseus the Deliverer; Vasavadutta; Rodogune; Eric.
Volume 7
Collected Plays AND SHORT STORIES, Part Two : The Viziers of Bassora; Prince of Edur; The Maid in the Mill; The House of Brut; The Prince of Mathura; The Birth of Sin; Vikramonasie (The Hero and the Nymph). Short Stories : Idylls of the Occult : The Phantom Hour; The Door at Abelard; The Devil's Mastiff; The Golden Bird. Juvenilia.
Volume 8
Translations, FROM SANSKRIT AND OTHER LANGUAGES : From Sanskrit : passages from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Bhagavad Gita, Kalidasa; The Century of Life (The Nitishataka of Bhartrihari); etc. From Bengali : Songs of Bidyapati; Bonde Mataram (Hymn to the Mother); thirteen chapters from Anandamath (Bankim Chandra Chatterji's novel); etc. From Tamil : opening of the The Kural, etc. From Greek and Latin : opening of the Odyssey, etc.
Volume 9
The Future Poetry AND LETTERS ON POETRY, LITERATURE AND ART.
Volume 10
The Secret of the Veda : The Secret of the Veda; Selected Hymns; Hymns of the Atris; Other Hymns; Interpretation of the Veda; The Origins of Aryan Speech.
Volume 11
Hymns to the Mystic Fire : Foreword; The Doctrine of tire Mystics; Translations (Hymns to Agni from the Rig-veda translated in their esoteric sense); Supplement.
Volume 12
The Upanishads, TEXTS, TRANSLATIONS AND COMMENTARIES : Philosophy of the Upanishads; On Translating the Upanishads; The Upanishads; Early translations of some Vedantic texts; Supplement.
Volume 13
Essays on the Gita : First Series. Second Series, Part One : The Synthesis of Works, Love and Knowledge; Part Two : The Supreme Secret.
Volume 14
The Foundations of Indian Culture AND THE RENAISSANCE IN INDIA : Is India Civilised?; A Rationalistic Critic on Indian Culture; A Defence of Indian Culture (Religion and Spirituality, Indian Art, Indian Literature, Indian Polity); Indian Culture and External Influence; The Renaissance in India.
Volume 15
Social and Political Thought : The Human Cycle; The Ideal of Human Unity; War and Self-Determination.
Volume 16
The Supramental Manifestation AND OTHER WRITINGS : The Supramental Manifestation upon Earth; The Problem of Rebirth; Evolution; The Superman; Ideals and Progress; Heraclitus; Thoughts and Glimpses; Question of the Month from the Arya; The Yoga and Its Objects.
Volume 17
The Hour of God AND OTHER WRITINGS : The Hour of God; Evolution—Psychology—The Supermind; On Yoga; Thoughts and Aphorisms; Essays Divine and Human; Education and Art; Premises of Astrology; Reviews; Dayananda—Bankim—Tilak—Anda—Nammalwar; Historical Impressions; Notes from the Arya.
Volume 18
The Life Divine, BOOK ONE AND BOOK Two, PART ONE. Book One : Omnipresent Reality and the Universe; Book Two : The Knowledge and the Ignorance—The Spiritual Evolution; Part I : The Infinite Consciousness and the Ignorance.
Volume 19
The Life Divine, BOOK TWO, PART TWO: The Knowledge and the Spiritual Evolution.
Volume 20
The Synthesis of Yoga, PARTS ONE AND TWO: Introduction : The Conditions of the Synthesis; Part I : The Yoga of Divine Works; Part II : The Yoga of Integral Knowledge.
Volume 21
The Synthesis of Yoga, PARTS THREE AND FOUR. Part III : The Yoga of Divine Love; Part IV : The Yoga of Self-Perfection.
Volume 22
Letters on Yoga, PART ONE : The Supramental Evolution; Integral Yoga and Other Paths; Religion, Morality, Idealism and Yoga; Reason, Science and Yoga; Planes and Parts of the Being; The Divine and the Hostile Powers; The Purpose of Avatarhood; Rebirth; Fate and Freewill, Karma and Heredity, etc.
Volume 23
Letters on Yoga, PARTS TWO AND THREE. Part Two : The Object of lntegral Yoga; Synthetic Method and the Integral Yoga; Basic Requisites of the Path; The Foundation of Sadhana; Sadhana Through Work; Sadhana Through Meditation; Sadhana Through Love and Devotion; Human Relationships in Yoga; Sadhana in the Ashram and Outside; Part Three : Experiences and Realisations; Visions and Symbols; Experiences of the Inner and the Cosmic Consciousness.
Volume 24
Letters on Yoga, PART FOUR : The Triple Transformation—Psychic, Spiritual, Supramental; Transformation of the Mind; Transformation of the Vital; Transformation of the Physical; Transformation of the Subconscient and the Inconscient; Difficulties of the Path; Opposition of the Hostile Forces.
Volume 25
The Mother : WITH LETTERS ON THE MOTHER AND PRAYERS AND MEDITATIONS (translations from Prières et Meditations de la Mère).
Volume 26
On Himself, COMPILED FROM NOTES AND LETTERS : Part One: Sri Aurobindo on Himself : Life Before Pondicherry; Beginnings of Yoga; His Path and Other Paths; Sadhana for the Earth-Consciousness; The Master and the Guide; The Poet and the Critic; Reminiscences and Observations; Messages; Some Early Letters; Part Two: Sri Aurobindo on Himself and on the Mother : Leaders of Evolution; Identity of Their Consciousness; Difficulties of the Path-Finders; Helpers on the Way.
Volume 27
Supplement: Supplementary material arranged by volume.
Volume 28
Savitri—A LEGEND AND A SYMBOL, PART ONE: The Book of Beginnings; The Book of the Traveller of the Worlds; The Book of the Divine Mother.
Volume 29
Savitri—A LEGEND AND A SYMBOL, PARTS TWO AND THREE. Part Two : The Book of Birth and Quest; The Book of Love; The Book of Fate; The Book of Yoga; The Book of Death; Part Three : The Book of Eternal Night; The Book of the Double Twilight; The Book of Everlasting Day; Epilogue : The Return to Earth; Sri Aurobindo's Letters on Savitri.
Volume 30
Index and Glossary: Sri Aurobindo, a Life Sketch; Chronology; Contents of the Centenary Library; Bibliography; List of Essays, Speeches and Shorter Works; Title Index of Poems; Index; Glossary of Sanskrit Terms; etc.
This bibliography lists all of Sri Aurobindo's writings in English which have appeared in book form. It includes not only works that came out prior to the passing of Sri Aurobindo in December 1950 but also those reproduced from manuscripts or journals after that date. Books compiled from already published works have been omitted.
Although most of these titles have run into numerous editions, this bibliography gives information about the first edition only; subsequent editions are mentioned only if they included new material or if they were revised by the author.
Where necessary, cross-references are given; for example, in title-entry number 1 . After the War, the cross-reference (See 28, 100) refers to title-entry numbers 28 and 100 in this bibliography.
At the end of each entry is given the n umber of the Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library (SABCL) volume in which the work can now be found.
A list of the journals with which Sri Aurobindo was associated is added at the end of the bibliography.
1) After the War
Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, 1949
First published as an article in the Arya, August 1920.
Issued as a pamphlet in 1949. Included in War and Self-Determination since 1957 (See 28, 100).
SABCL: Social and Political Thought, Vol. 15
2) The Age of Kalidasa
Tagore & Co., Madras, 1921
Written during the Baroda period (1893-1906). First appeared in the Calcutta Review. Published in book form with Kalidasa's “Seasons” since 1929 under the title Kalidasa (See 35).
SABCL : The Harmony of Virtue, Vol. 3
3) Ahana and other Poems Printed at The Modern Press, Pondicherry, 1915
Includes 25 poems :Ahana, Invitation, Who, Miracles, Reminiscence, A Vision of Science, Immortal Love, A Tree, To the Sea, Revelation, Karma, Appeal, A Child's Imagination, The Sea at Night, The Vedantin's Prayer, Rebirth, The Triumph-Song of Trishuncou, Life and Death, Evening, Parabrahman, God, The Fear of Death, Seasons, The Rishi, In the Moonlight.
“Ahana”, a poem of 172 lines, is a revised and enlarged version of the last 160 lines of “The Descent of Ahana”, an earlier draft found among Sri Aurobindo's manuscripts. This version of 172 lines, further revised and enlarged to 520 lines, was published in Collected Poems and Plays, 1942 (See 13). SABCL Volume 5 includes two versions : the first draft “The Descent of Ahana” (p. 537) and the revised and enlarged “Ahana” of 520 lines (p. 523).
“Invitation” was composed in the Alipore Jail in 1908 or 1909 and first published in the weekly Karmayogin, November 6, 1909.
“Who” was first published in Karmayogin, November 13, 1909.
In SABCL “Karma” and “Appeal” appear in Volume 8.
SABCL : Collected Poems, Vol. 5
Translations, Vol. 8
4) Anandamath
BasumatiSahityaMandir, Calcutta (no date)
A translation of Bankim Chandra Chatterji's Bengali novel. The prologue and the first thirteen chapters of Part I were translated by Sri Aurobindo, the rest by his brother Barindra. The parts translated by Sri Aurobindo first appeared in the Karmayogin, intermittently between August 7, 1909 and February 12, 1910.
In SABCL only the prologue and the chapters translated by Sri Aurobindo are given in Volume 8.
SABCL : Translations, Vol. 8
5) BajiPrabhu
Arya Office, Pondicherry, 1922
First appeared in the Karmayogin between February 19 and March 5, 1910 (See 13).
SABCL: Collected Poems, Vol. 5
6) Bankim Chandra Chatterji
Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, 1954
First appeared in the InduPrakash, Bombay between July 16 and August 27, 1894, in seven instalments.
7) Bankim—Tilak—Dayananda
Arya Publishing House, Calcutta, 1940
Contents :
1) “BandeMataram”, a translation of the national song (in verse and prose), first appeared as part of the translation of Chapter IX of Anandamath in the Karmayogin, November 20, 1909.
2) “Rishi Bankim Chandra”, an essay, first appeared in the BandeMataram, April 16, 1907 and was later reprinted in Rishi Bankim Chandra (See 74).
3) “BalGangadharTilak'', an essay, first appeared as an introduction to BalGangadharTilak: His Writings and Speeches (Ganesh & Co., Madras, 1918).
4) “Dayananda : The Man and His Work” and “Dayananda and the Veda”, essays, first appeared in The Vedic Magazine, Lahore, in 1915 and 1916 respectively (See 16).
5) “The Men that Pass”, an essay on R. C. Dutt from the Karmayogin, December 4, 1909.
In SABCL “BandeMataram” appears in Volume 8 and the rest in Volume 17.
The Hour of God, Vol. 17
8) Bases of Yoga
Arya Publishing House, Calcutta, 1936
Extracts from letters to disciples arranged under various headings.
In SABCL mostly incorporated into Volumes 22, 23 and 24.
SABCL : Letters on Yoga-I, Vol. 22
SABCL : Letters on Yoga-II, Vol. 23
SABCL : Letters on Yoga-III, Vol. 24
9) The Birth of the War God
Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, 1952
Booklet. Reprinted from the Sri Aurobindo Circle, 1952.
Three translations of the first canto of Kalidasa's epic Kumarasambhavam.
The manuscript bears the date January 15, 1918.
SABCL includes an incomplete translation of Canto Two.
SABCL: Translations, Vol. 8
10) The Brain of India
Prabartak Publishing House, Calcutta, 1921
First published in four instalments in the Karmayogin, October 9 to November 13, 1909.
11) The Century of Life.
The Shama'a Publishing House, Madras, 1924
The Nitisliataka of Bhartrihari freely rendered into English verse.
The translation was completed by Sri Aurobindo during the early years of his stay in Pondicherry, although most of it was done earlier, a few pieces having been published in a magazine of the Baroda College in the 1890's. Some of the epigrams appeared in the Karmayogin, March 19, 1910 and in the Arya, December 1917 and November 1918.
12) Chitrangada
Booklet. Reprinted from Sri Aurobindo Circle, 1949.
Fragment of a poem which had been completed by Sri Aurobindo, but of which the original manuscript was lost. Only the opening passages, which had been published in the Karmayogin, March 26 and April 2, 1910, were preserved. These passages were reprinted in the Sri Aurobindo Circle, 1949, with minor revisions by the author.
13) Collected Poems and Plays
Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, 1942
Published in two volumes and arranged according to the date of composition.
Volume I, Contents :
1890-1902 : Songs to Myrtilla (See 81), Urvasie (See 93), Love and Death (See 51).
1895-1908 : Poems : Ahana and Other Poems, .excluding “Ahana” (See 3), Perseus the Deliverer (See 65).
Volume II, Contents :
1895-1908 : Translation : Viktamorvasie (See 97).
1902-1915 : BajiPrabhou (See 5); Nine Poems : “The Mother of Dreams”, composed in Alipore Jail in 1908 or 1909 and first published in the Modern Review, July 1909; “An Image”, “The Birth of Sin”, “Epiphany”, first published in the Karmayogin, November 20, December 11 and 18, 1909 respectively; “To R”, first published in the Modern Review, April 1910; “The Rakshasas”, “Kama”, “The Mahatmas”, first published in the Standard Bearer, November 14 and 28 and December 12, 1920; “Ahana” (revised and enlarged version of 520 lines; . See 3).
Translations : The Century of Life (See 11), “Hymn to the Mother” (“BandeMataram”; See 7); “Vidula”, originally appeared under the title “The Mother to Her Son” in the weekly BandeMataram, June 9, 1907; Songs of the Sea (See 79).
1930 : Six Poems (See 78); “Transformation” and other poems, first published in 1941 under the title Poems (See 67).
Translations : “Mother India”, “Mahalakshmi”.
Appendix I : Essay : “On Quantitative Metre”; Poems : “Ocean Oneness”, “Trance of Waiting”, “Flame-Wind”, “The River”, “Journey's End”, “The Dream Boat”, “Soul in the Ignorance”, “The Witness and the Wheel”, “Descent”, “The Lost Boat”, “Renewal”, “Soul's Scene”, “Ascent( I ) : The Silence”, (2) : “Beyond the Silence”; “The Tiger and the Deer”, “Ilion” (the opening passages of the epic; See 33).
Appendix II : Bibliography.
Collected Plays I, Vol. 6
Collected Plays II, Vol. 7
14) Conversations of the Dead
Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, 1951
Originally written in 1909 or 1910 for the Karmayogin; only two of the pieces were published in the journal : “Dinshah—Perizade” and “Turiu—Uriu”, February 12 and 19, 1910 respectively. The others were first published by the Standard Bearer: “Mazzini—Cavour—Garibaldi”, November 7, 1920, “Shivaji—Jai Singh”, December 26, 1 920, “Littleton—Percival”, May 29 and June 5, 1923.
SABCL: The Harmony of Virtue, Vol. 3
15) Correspondence with Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, Series I in 1954, Series II in 1959 Combined edition in 1969
Sri Aurobindo's replies to a disciple's questions on matters relating to Yoga, poetry, medicine etc. The disciple's questions are given.
In SABCL some of Sri Aurobindo's replies appear in Volumes 9, 22, 23, 24 and 26.
SABCL : The Future Poetry, Vol. 9
Letters on Yoga I, Vol. 22
Letters on Yoga II, Vol. 23
Letters on Yoga III, Vol. 24
On Himself, Vol. 26
16) Dayananda: the Man and His Work
GurukulaVishvavidyalaya, Kangri, 1920
A reprint of two articles which first appeared in The Vedic Magazine, Lahore, in 19 15 and 1916.
The second article, “Dayananda and the Veda'', was reprinted in 1920 by the Tract Publishing Society (Arya Kumar Sabha, Calcutta).
The two were reissued together in 1939 as Swami DayanandSaraswati (See 87) and later included in Bankim—Tilak—Dayananda (See 7).
SABCL : The Hour of God, Vol. 17
17) The Doctrine of Passive Resistance
Arya Publishing House, Calcutta, 1948
A series of articles from the daily BandeMataram, April 11 to 23, 1907, and an article “The Morality of Boycott” written for the BandeMataram but not published in that journal; it was produced as an exhibit in the Alipore Bomb Case (May 1908).
SABCL : BandeMataram, Vol. 1
18) Eight Upanishads
Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, 1953
Translations of the Isha, Kena, Katha, Mundaka, Mandukya, Prashna, Taittiriya and Aitareya Upanishads, with texts, and an essay “On Translating the Upanishads” as an introduction.
Isha : A translation was published in the Karmayogin, June 19, 1909; another translation with notes appeared in the Arya, August 15, 1914, followed by an analysis in subsequent issues. This later translation and analysis was published separately as Isha Upanishad in 1921 , a Second Edition, revised and enlarged, appeared in 1924 (See 34).
Kena : A translation was published in the Karmayogin, June 26, 1909; another translation with notes in the Arya, June 19 16, followed by a commentary in subsequent issues. This later translation and commentary were published as Kena Upanishad in 1952 (See 39). A revised version was issued in 1970.
Katha : Translation in the Karmayogin, July 3, 1909 and July 31 to August 28, 1909. Later came out as Katha Upanishad (See 38). Subsequently received partial revision.
Mundaka : Translation in the Karmayogin, February 5, 12 and 26, 19 10. A revised translation appeared in the Arya, November-Decembe1 1920.
Mandukya and Prashna : from manuscripts.
Taittiriya and Aitareya : from early Baroda manuscripts.
On Translating the Upanishads : from a Baroda manuscript.
The Karmayogin translations of the Isha, Kena and Mundaka were reprinted in Seven Upanishads by Ashtekar& Co., Poona in 1920.
SABCL : The Upanishads, Vol. 12
19) Elements of Yoga
Brief answers to elementary questions about Yoga, written between 193 and 1936.
In SABCL only some of these answers have been included.
SABCL : Letters on Yoga I, Vol. 22
The Mother, Vol. 25
20) Eric : A Dramatic Romance
Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, 1960
Written in Pondicherry in 1912 or 1913.
SABCL: Collected Plays, Vol. 6
21) Essays on the Gita
V. RamaswamySastrulu& Sons, Madras, First Series, 1922
Arya Publishing House, Calcutta, First Series in 1926, Second Series in 1928 Combined Edition :
Sri Aurobindo Library, New York, 1950
Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, Pondicherry, 1959
First published in the Arya in two series : First Series from August 1916 to July 1918, and Second Series from August 1918 to July 1920.
SABCL : Essays on the Gita, Vol. 13
22) Evolution
Barindra Kumar Ghosh, Calcutta, 1921
Three essays from the Arya: “Evolution”, August 1915; “The lnconscient”, September 1915; “Materialism”, October 1918.
SABCL : The Supramental Manifestation, Vol. 16
23) The Foundations of Indian Culture
Sri Aurobindo Library, New York, 1953
First appeared serially in the Arya under the titles : “Is India Civilised?”, December 1918 to February 1919, “A Rationalistic Critic on Indian Culture”, February 1919 to July 1919 and “A Defence of lndian Culture”, which was left incomplete, August 1919 to January 1921.
The Appendix, “Indian Culture and External Influence”, is an essay from the Arya, March 1919.
The original text was revised slightly by the author.
The sections on Indian art and Indian polity were published separately as The Significance of Indian Art (See 77) and The Spirit and Form of Indian Polity (See 83).
SABCL: The Foundations of Indian Culture, Vol. 14
24) The Future Poetry
First appeared serially in the Arya between December 1917 and July 1920. Practically a reprint of the text of the Arya, although a few new paragraphs were added by the author.
25) Heraclitus
Arya Publishing House, Calcutta, 1941
First published serially in the Arya, December 1916 to June 1917.
26) The Hour of God
Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, 1959
Essays and notes from Sri Aurobindo's manuscripts.
SABCL Volume 17 includes only the first three sections of this book.
27) The Human Cycle
First appeared serially in the Arya under the title The Psychology of Social Development from August 1916 to July 1918. These articles were revised by the author for their publication in book form under the title The Human Cycle.
Subsequently published together with The Ideal of Human Unity and War and Self-Determination (See 28).
SABCL : Social and Political Thought, Vol. 15
28) The Human Cycle—The Ideal of Human Unity—War and Self-Determination
Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, Pondicherry, 1962 Combined Edition (See 27, 30, 100)
29) Hymns to the Mystic Fire
Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, 1946
Second Edition, Enlarged, 1952
Most of the hymns to Agni from the Rig-veda, translated in their esoteric sense.
First Edition, Contents :
A foreword especially written for the book, and an excerpt from ”The Doctrine of the Mystics”, an essay which had first appeared in the Arya, September 1915, as the introduction to “The Hymns of the Atris”.
Hymns of Gritsamada. II. 1-10; Hymns of Bharadwaja, VI. 1-16; Hymns of Parasara, I . 65-73 : a revised version of “Parasara's Hymns to the Lord of Flame” first published in the Arya, February, June and July, 1920; Hymn of Paruchchhepa, I. 127.
Second Edition, Contents :
The foreword, all the hymns included in the First Edition, and the following additional material : Hymns to Agni, V. 1-28, taken from “The Hymns of the Atris” (Arya, October 19 15 to July 1916) but with the translations revised; translations of some more hymns of Mandalas I and IV, and some hymns of Mandalas III, VII, VIII and X, which were found among Sri Aurobindo's earlier and later manuscripts.
In SABCL Volume 11 , besides the hymns contained in the earlier editions, Suktas 59, 94 and 97 of the First Mandala (from the Arya, September 1917 and January 1920) and two more hitherto unpublished hymns, I . 14 and IV.40, are given. ”The Doctrine of the Mystics” has been given in its complete form. Some other studies found among Sri Aurobindo's manuscripts have been included as a supplement. After the publication of Volume 11 , some additional material (on two hymns, I. 74 and IV. 6) was discovered which is reproduced in Volume 27.
SABCL : Hymns to the Mystic Fire, Vol. 11
30) The Ideal of Human Unity
Sons of India Ltd., Madras, 1919
Second Edition, Revised :
Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, 1950
Sri Aurobindo Library, Inc., New York, . 1950
The First Edition was a reprint of the series of essays with the same title first published in the Arya, September 1915 to July 1918. It included a preface by Sri Aurobindo, a detailed synopsis of the chapters, and three appendices consisting of articles from the Arya.
The Second Edition was revised by the author before the Second World War, and a Postscript Chapter dealing with contemporary world conditions was added later in order to bring it up to date.
In the American Edition, the Postscript Chapter appears as the introduction. Subsequently published together with The Human Cycle and War and Self Determination (See 28).
In SABCL the preface to the First Edition is given in Volume 27.
31) The Ideal of the Karmayogin
Sadhana Press, Chandernagore, 1918
Second Edition, 1919
Revised Edition, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, 1937
Articles from the Karmayogin.
The First Edition contained only “The Ideal of the Karmayogin” and “Karmayoga”, both from the Karmayogin of June 19, 1909.
The Second Edition was enlarged to include the following Karmayogin articles : “In Either Case” (March 26, 1910), “The Awakening Soul of India” (June 26, 1909), “The Doctrine of Sacrifice” (July 24, 1909), “The Process of Evolutipn” (September 18, 1909); “The Strength of Stillness” (February 19, 1910), “The Three Purushas” (February 12, 1910), “The Stress of the Hidden Spirit” (February 26, 1910) and “The Greatness of the Individual” (July 24, 1909). The Second Edition also included two articles by Sister Nivedita taken from the Karmayogin of March 12, 1910.
In SABCL some of the articles are given in Volume 2 and some in Volume 3.
SABCL: Karmayogin, Vol. 2
The Harmony of Virtue, Vol. 3
32) Ideals and Progress
Barindra Kumar Ghose, Calcutta, 1920
Revised Edition, Arya Publishing House, Calcutta, 1922
Five essays from the Arya : “On Ideals” (June 1916), “Yoga and Skill in Works” (July 1916), “Conservation and Progress” (May 1916) , “The Conservative Mind and Eastern Progress” (July 1916) and “Our Ideal” (August 1915).
SABCL : The Supramelital Manifestation, Vol. 16
33) Ilion
Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, 1957
An epic in quantitative hexametres, left incomplete. The manuscript seems to date from the Pondicherry period.
The five opening passages (lines 1 -371 ) of the poem were first recast for inclusion as an appendix in Collected Poems and Plays, 1942. The rest of Book One, Books Two to Eight, and fragments of Book Nine were in various stages of revision among Sri Aurobindo's papers and are published as they were found. An essay “On Quantitative Metre” (See 60) and a letter “An Answer to a Criticism” are included as appendices.
34) Isha Upanishad
Arya Publishing House, Calcutta, 1921
Revised and Enlarged Edition, 1924
Translation and Analysis. First appeared in the Arya, August 1914 to May 1915. An earlier translation had appeared in the Karmayogin, June 19, 1909.
SABCL: The Upanishads, Vol. 12
35) Kalidasa
AryaSahityaBhawan, Calcutta, 1929
Revised Edition, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, fondicherry, 1950
Reprint of The Age of Kalidasa (See 2) and Kalidasa's “Seasons” (See 37).
SABCL : The Harmony of Virtue, Vol . 3
36) Kalidasa (Second Series)
Second Edition, 1964
From Sri Aurobindo's Baroda manuscripts : “Hindu Drama”, “The Historical Method”, “On Translating Kalidasa” and the four studies making up “Kalidasa's Characters”.
“On Translating Kalidasa” and “Pururavas” (published as “The Character of the Hero”) appeared as Introduction and Appendix to Vikramonasie (See 97).
The First Edition included a fragmentary translation of Malavica and the King, dating from the Baroda period. The Second Edition, however, omitted this and substituted the translation of the first canto of Kumarasambhavam, The. Birth of the War God (See 9).
In SABCL “On Translating Kalidasa” has been given in Volume 3 and, in a more complete form, in Volume 27.
37) Kalidasa's “Seasons”
First appeared in three.issues of the Karmayogin, July 31 to August 14, 1909.
Parts of an early draft of the essay have been found among Sri Aurobindo's Baroda papers.
A revised version was included in Kalidasa, 1950 Edition (See 35).
38) Katha Upanishad
Ashtekar& Co., Poona, 1919
Revised Edition, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, 1952
The First Edition was a reprint of the translation from the Karmayogin, July 3 and July 31 to August 28, 1909.
A revised version was included in Eight Upanishads (See 18).
39) Kena Upanishad
Revised Edition, 1970
A translation of the Kena Upanishad first appeared in the Karmayogin, June 26, 1909. A new translation with a commentary appeared in the Arya, June 1915 to July 1916. This was published in book form in 1952 and later included in the Eight Upanishads (See 18).
A revised translation was found after 1952 and was issued as the Revised Edition in 1970.
SABCL : the Upanishads, Vol. 12
40) Last Poems
Forty-eight poems, mostly sonnets, composed between 1937 and 1944. A facsimile of each poem is given on the facing page. A few of these poems first appeared in The Advent, an Ashram quarterly.
41) Letters of Sri Aurobindo (First Series)
Sri Aurobindo Circle, Bombay, 1947
Extracts from letters to disciples. These letters as well as those of the other three series listed below were written mostly in the 1930's. The dates of most letters are given.
Subsequently incorporated in On Yoga II (See 63).
42) Letters of Sri Aurobindo (Second Series)
Sri Aurobindo Circle, Bombay, 1949
SABCL: Letters on Yoga I, Vol. 22
43)Letters of Sri Aurobindo (Third Series, On Poetry and Literature)
SABCL: The Future Poetry, Vol. 9
44) Letters of Sri Aurobindo (Fourth Series)
Sri Aurobindo Circle, Bombay, 1951
45) Letters of Sri Aurobindo on the Mother
Extracts from letters written mostly during the 1930's. The dates of most of the letters are given.
Published in 1953 with additional matter and in a slightly different form as Part III of Sri Aurobindo on Himself and on The Mother (See 84).
SABCL: The Mother, Vol. 25
46) Letters on “Savitri”
Letters to a disciple. Reprinted from Mother India.
Included in the 1954 Edition of Savitri (See 76).
SABCL : Savitri, Vol. 29
47) The Life Divine
Book One :Arya Publishing House, Calcutta, 1939
Book Two (in two parts) : 1940
Second. Edition, Revised : Book One, 1943; Book Two, 1944
Complete in one volume :
Sri Aurobindo Library, New York, 1949
Sri Aurobindo International University Centre, Pondicherry, 1955
India Library Society, New York, 1965
First published serially in the Arya from August 1914 to January 1919. The fifty-three chapters from the Arya, “thoroughly revised and enlarged” by the author, were subsequently issued in book form : Book One in 1939 and Book Two, in two parts, in 1940. In some later editions, Book One and Book Two were called Volume I and Volume II.
Book One consists of twenty-eight chapters, twenty-seven in the order in which they appeared in the Arya and an additional new chapter, “Supermind, Mind and the Overmind Maya”.
Book Two includes most of the remaining chapters from the Arya, completely recast and extensively enlarged : the titles of some chapters were changed, the order of many chapters rearranged, and many new chapters were added.
The Second Edition underwent further revision of a comparatively minor nature.
SABCL: The Life Divine I, Vol. 18
The Life Divine II, Vol. 19
48) Life—Literature—Yoga
Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged, 1967
Letters written during the 1930's.and 1940's. Reprinted from Mother India.
In SABCL most letters on poetry, literature, etc. are included in Section VI of Volume 26.
SABCL : On Himself, Vol. 26
49) Lights on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo Library, Howrah, 1935
Extracts from letters to disciples. The later printings included an appendix containing explanations by the author of some passages in the book.
50) Light to Superlight
Prabartak Publishers, Calcutta, 1972
Twenty-six letters from Sri Aurobindo, one to Anandarao and the rest to Motilal Roy, and, as an appendix, Sapta-Chatushtaya (incomplete).
In SABCL Volume 27, the letters, with editorial revisions, appear in the supplement to Volume 26 and Sapta-Chatushtaya (complete) in the supplement to Volume 17.
SABCL : Supplement, Vol. 27
51) Love and Death
The Shama'a Publishing House, AghoraMandir, Madras, 1921
A narrative poem written at Baroda, in June and July 1899.
Reprinted from the review Shama'a, January 1921 .
Later included in Collected Poems and Plays (See 13).
52) Man—Slave or Free?
First Edition [for private circulation] :
Prabartak Publishing House, Chandernagore, 1922
First [Trade] Edition :
Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicheiry, 1966
The 1922 Edition contained five essays from the Karmayogin : “Man – Slave or Free?” (June 26, 1909), “Yoga and Human Evolution” (July 3, 1909), “Yoga and Hypnotism” (July 17, 1909), “Fate and Free-Will” (January 29, 1910) and “The Principle of Evil” (February 26, 1910).
The 1966 Edition contained, in addition, “The Need in Nationalism” (published as “Ourselves” in the Karmayogin, June 19, 1909), “The Power that Uplifts” (Karmayogin, August 21 , 1909), and three “Historical Impressions” which had been written for the Karmayogin but were first published in the Standard Bearer: “Napoleon” (November 20, 1920) and “The French Revolution” (November 28 and December 5, 1920).
In SABCL the first five of the above essays are included in Section Seven of Volume 3; “The Need in Nationalism” appears under its original title “Ourselves” on page 11 and “The Power that Uplifts” on page 162 of Volume 2; “Historical Impressions” comes under Section X of Volume 17.
SABCL : Karmayogin, Vol. 2
53) The Mind of Light
E. P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1953
American Edition of The Supramental Manifestation upon Earth (See 86), published under this new title.
SABCL: The Supramental Manifestation, Vol. 16
54) More Lights on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, 1948
Extracts from letters.
In SABCL incorporated into Volumes 22, 23, 24.
55) More Poems
Poems from manuscripts, in three sections with an appendix. Section I : early poems including three sonnets from Sri Aurobindo's Baroda period; Section II : seventeen poems, eight being fragmentary or incomplete, from Sri Aurobindo's later writings, and one translation; Section III : seventeen sonnets; Appendix : metrical experiments, some dated 1934 to 1938.
56) The Mother
Arya Sahitya Bhawan, Calcutta, 1928
Parts of this book were written originally as letters to disciples.
SABCL : The Mother, Vol. 25
57) The National Value of Art
First appeared in the Karmayogin, November 20 to December 25, 1909
SABCL: The Hour of God, Vol. 17
58) The Need in Nationalism and other Essays
S. Ganesan, Triplicane, Madras, 1923
Five essays from the Karmayogin : “The Need in Nationalism” (published in the Karmayogin as “Ourselves”), “The Power that Uplifts”, “The Principle of Evil”, “Man - Slave or Free?” and “Fate and Free-Will”.
Of these, the last three had appeared in the 1922 Edition of “Man – Slave or Free?”; the remaining two were included in the 1966 Edition of that book (See 52).
In SABCL “The Need in Nationalism” appears under its original title “Ourselves” in Volume 2. The other essays are included in Volume 3.
59) On Nationalism (First Series)
Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, 1965
Thirty-four editorial articles from the BandeMataram, July 1907 to May 1908.
In SABCL only twenty-eight of these have been included in Volume 1; the rest are of doubtful authorship.
SABCL: Bande Mataram, Vol. 1
60) On Quantitative Metre
Reprinted from Collected Poems and Plays (See 13).
61) On the Veda
Sri Aurobindo International University Centre, Pondicherry, 1956
Writings from the Arya : “The Secret of the Veda” (August 1914 to July 1916), “Selected Hymns” (August 1914 to July 1915), “Hymns of the Atris” (August 1915 to December 1917), “Other Hymns” (published intermittently between August 1915 and January 1920). An incomplete essay from manuscripts, “The Origins of Aryan Speech”, is added as an appendix.
In SABCL On the Veda is published under the title The Secret of the Veda, Volume 10, with the following additions and alterations: in Part Three, translations of a number of hymns to lndra, found among Sri Aurobindo's manuscripts and later published in The Advent, have been included. A letter, “Interpretation of the Veda” has been appended. The hymns to Agni from “Other Hymns” and “The Doctrine of the Mystics” from “The Hymns of the Atris” have been shifted to Volume 11 .
SABCL : The Secret of the Veda, Vol. 10
Hymns to the Mystic Fire, Vol. 11
62) On Yoga I : The Synthesis of Yoga
Sri Aurobindo International University Centre, Pondicherry, 1955 (See 88)
SABCL: The Synthesis of Yoga I, Vols. 20
The Synthesis of Yoga II, Vols. 21
63) On Yoga II (in two tomes)
Sri Aurobindo International University Centre, Pondicherry, 1958
Letters on Yoga brought together under one title. Tome One was reprinted in an enlarged edition in August 1 969, with the subtitle Letters on Yoga.
The SABCL Edition of these letters is considerably enlarged and covers three volumes : 22, 23 and 24 (See 41 , 42, 44).
64) An Open Letter to His Countrymen
ManmohanGhose, Calcutta, 1909
First appeared as “An Open Letter to My Countrymen” in the Karmayogin, July 31 , 1909. Subsequently included in Speeches (See 82).
65) Perseus The Deliverer
Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, 1955
A drama.Written in Calcutta or Deoghar between 1906 and 1907. First appeared in the weekly BandeMataram, June 30, to October 13, 1907.
Reproduced with the author's revisions and some additional passages in Collected Poems and Plays (See 13). In the 1955 edition two more scenes have been included which were not available for the earlier printings.
SABCL : Collected Plays, Vol. 6
66) The Phantom Hour
One of the short stories written under the general title “Idylls of the Occult”, during the early years of Sri Aurobindo's stay at Pondicherry, probably between 1910 and 1912.
SABCL : Collected Plays, Vol. 7
67) Poems
Government Central Press, Hyderabad, 1941
Contents : “Transformation”, “Nirvana”, “The Other Earths” (these three first appeared in the Calcutta Review of October 1934), “Thought the Paraclete”, “Moon of Two Hemispheres” and “Rose of God”. Included in Collected Poems and Plays (See 13) as “Transformation and Other Poems”.
68) Poems from Bengali
Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, 1956
Translations from NidhuBabu, Horu Thakur, Jnanadas and Chandidas, done in the early years of the author's stay at Baroda.
The first of the translations from Chandidas first appeared in Ahana and Other Poems (See 3), the second and third in Songs to Myrtilla (See 81).
All were included in Collected Poems and Plays (See 13).
69) Poems—Past and Present
Contents : “Musa Spiritus”, “Bride of the Fire”, “The Blue Bird”, “A God's Labour”, “Hell and Heaven”, “Kamadeva”, “Life”, “One Day—The Little More”.
The first four and the last of these poems were written in the late 1930's.
70) Prayers and Meditations of the Mother
Sri Aurobindo Library, Madras, 1941
Selections from the Mother's PrièresetMéditations, translated b y Sri Aurobindo.
71) The Problem of Rebirth
Essays from the Arya, reprinted with minor revisions by the author. Section I : “Rebirth” (November 1915), “The Reincarnating Soul” (December 1915), “Rebirth, Evolution, Heredity” (March 1919), “Rebirth and Soul Evolution” (April 1919), “The Significance of Rebirth” (May 1919), “The Ascending Unity” (June 1919), “Involution and Evolution” (July 1919), “Karma” (August 1919), “Karma and Freedom” (September 1919), “Karma, Will and Consequence” (October 1919), “Rebirth and Karma” (November 1919), “Karma and Justice” (December 1919). Section II: “The Foundation” (August 1920), “The Terrestrial Law” (September 1920), “Mind Nature and the Law of Karma” (October and November-December 1920). Section III: “The Higher Lines of Karma” (November-December 1920), “The Lines of Truth” (January 1921).
The Second Printing contained, as an. appendix, a letter by the author in reply to a question about this series of articles.
In SABCL “The Ascending Unity” and “Involution and Evolution” are given in Section III, the rest in Section II of Volume 16.
72) The Renaissance in India
Prabartak Publishing House, Chandernagore, 1920
Four essays from the Arya, August to November 1918.
SABCL : The Foundations of Indian Culture, Vol. 14
73) The Riddle of This World
Arya Publishing House, Calcutta, 1933
In SABCL, incorporated into Volumes 22, 23, and 24.
74) Rishi Bunkim Chandra
Prabartak Publishing House, Chandernagore, 1923
Translations in prose and verse of “BandeMataram” from the Karmayogin, November 20, 1909; an essay, “Rishi Bunkim Chandra”, from the BandeMataram, April 16, 1907; a poem, “Bunkim Chandra Chatterjee”, from Songs to Myrtilla (See 81). The translations and the essay were subsequently included in Bankim—Tilak—Dayananda (See 7).
In SABCL the translations appear in Section II of Volume 8, the essay in Section IX of Volume 17 and the poem in Section I of Volume 5.
75) Rodogune
Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, 1958
A tragedy.From Sri Aurobindo's Baroda period.
76) Savitri - A Legend and a Symbol
Part I, Sri Aurobindo- Ashram, Pondicherry, 1950
Parts II and III (in one volume), 1951
Complete in one volume, 1954
An epic poem. Sri Aurobindo worked on a poem entitled “Savitri” while at Baroda. The epic as it now stands took shape over the several decades of the author's stay in Pondicherry. The cantos of Part One (Books One to Three) were issued separately in fascicule and as instalments in various Ashram journals between 1946 and 1948. In 1950 “The Book of Fate” was issued in fascicule.
The 1954 Edition includes the author's 'Letters on Savitri' (See 46).
SABCL: Savitri I, Vol. 28
Savitri II, Vol. 29
77) The Significance of Indian Art
Reproduction of Chapters XII to XV of the series entitled “A Defence of Indian Culture” (See 23) first appeared in the Arya, January to April 1920.
In SABCL these chapters appear in Section III of Volume 14, under the title “Indian Art”.
78) Six Poems of Sri Aurobindo
Rameshwar & Co., Chandernagore, 1934
Contents : “The Bird of Fire”, “Trance”, “Shiva”, “The Life Heavens”, “Jivanmukta”, “In Horis Aeternum”, with notes from the author's correspondence and parallel translations in Bengali by different disciples of Sri Aurobindo.
Included in Collected Poems and Plays (See 13).
In SABCL the poems and the notes are included in Section VI of Volume 5.
79) Songs of the Sea
Ganesh & Co., Madras, 1923
A translation of C. R. Das's Bengali poems, Sagar Sangit, done by Sri Aurobindo at Pondicherry around 1912.
80) Songs of Vidyapati
Translations from the Maithili poet, written in Baroda.
81) Songs to Myrtilla
First Edition [for private circulation only]:
Lakshmi Vilas Printing Press, Baroda, 1895
Authorised [Trade] Edition:
Arya Publishing House, Calcutta, 1923
The 1923 edition contains twenty-one poems, all except five written between 1890 and 1892 while Sri Aurobindo was a student at Cambridge: “Songs to Myrtilla”, “O Coil, Coil”, “Goethe”, “The Lost Deliverer”, “Charles Stewart Parnell”, “Hic Jacet”, “Lines on Ireland”, “On a Satyr and Sleeping Love” (translation), “A Rose of Women” (translation), “Saraswati with the Lotus”, “Night by the Sea”, “The Lover's Complaint”, “Love in Sorrow”, “The Island Grave”, “Estelle”, “Radha's Complaint in Absence” (translation), “Radha's Appeal” (translation), “Bunkim Chandra Chatterji”, “Madhusudan Dutt”, “To the Cuckoo”, “Envoi”.
In SABCL the four translations noted above are included in Volume 8 : the first two appear without title as numbers I and II of the “Selected Poems of Chandidas” on pages 302 to 304; the last two, translations from Plato and Meleager respectively, appear on page 411 .
82) Speeches
Prabartak Publishing House, Calcutta, 1922
Contents of the First Edition:
Part I: “Advice to National College Students” (See 92) from Dawn, September 1907, “The Present Situation” (See 92), “Bande Mataram”, “United Congress”, “Baruipur Speech”, “Palli Samiti”; the first, third and fifth of these had been published in the Bande Mataram during 1908.
Part II: “Uttarpara Speech”, first published in the Karmayogin, June 19 and 26, 1909, issued separately in brochure form since 1919 (See 94); “Beadon Square Speech”, “Jhalakati Speech”, “The Right of Association”, “College Square Speech”, “Kumartuli Speech”, all published in the Karmayogin in 1909.
Appendix : “An Open Letter to My Countrymen” (See 64).
The 1969 Edition included as an appendix a second open letter “To My Countrymen” from the Karmayogin, December 25, 1909.
In SABCL all of these, and some additional speeches, are arranged chronologically in Volumes 1 and 2. The two open letters are included in Volume 2.
SABCL : Bande Mataram, Vol. 1
Karmayogin, Vol. 2
83) The Spirit and Form of Indian Polity
Arya Publishing House, Calcutta, 1942
Reprint, with minor revisions by the author, of Chapters XX to XXIII of “A Defence of Indian Culture”, from the Arya, October 1920 to January 1921.
In SABCL these chapters are included in Section III of Volume 14, under the title “Indian Polity”.
84) Sri Aurobindo on Himself and on the Mother
Sri Aurobindo International University Centre, Pondicherry, 1953
Compiled from notes and letters, mostly published in this book for the first time. Contents in three parts:
Part I: Sri Aurobindo on Himself. Part II: Sri Aurobindo on Himself and on the Mother. Part III: Sri Aurobindo on the Mother. Most letters of Part III were first published separately in 1951 under the title Letters of Sri Aurobindo on the Mother, (See 45); in addition some early letters of Sri Aurobindo, most of them to the Mother, are included in Part III.
In SABCL, Parts I and II, revised and considerably enlarged, comprise Volume 26; Part III has been enlarged and rearranged to form Part Two of Volume 25.
85) The Superman
Arya Publishing House, Calcutta, 1920
Three essays from the Arya: “The Superman” (April 1915), “All-Will and Free-Will” (March 1915) and “The Delight of Works” (August 1915). “The Superman” had earlier appeared in the Arya under the title “The Type of the Superman”.
86) The Supramental Manifestation upon Earth
The last of Sri Aurobindo's prose writings, reproduced from the quarterly Bulletin of Physical Education (presently called the Bulletin of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education), February 1949 to November 1950.
Reprinted in New York in 1953 as The Mind of Light (See 53).
87) Swami DayanandSaraswati
N. K. Kapadia, Bombay, 1939
Reprint of Dayananda: The Man and His Work (See 16), comprised of two articles which were subsequently included in Bankim - Tilak – Dayananda (See 7).
88) The Synthesis of Yoga
Part I – The Yoga of Divine Work :
Sri Aurobindo Library, Madras, 1948
Complete in one volume as On Yoga I – The Synthesis of Yoga:
The Synthesis of Yoga first appeared in the Arya serially, in seventy-two chapters together with five introductory chapters, from August 1914 to January 1921. The first eleven chapters were revised and enlarged and published as twelve chapters in book form in 1948 as The Synthesis of Yoga (Part I: The Yoga of Divine Works). Chapters VI to XII in their revised form first appeared serially in the quarterly Advent from August 1946 to April 1948. In 1950 The Yoga of Divine Works was published in an American edition with a glossary and an index.
In 1955, under the imprint of the Sri Aurobindo International University Centre Collection, the complete Synthesis of Yoga was published as On Yoga I: The Synthesis of Yoga. This edition contained the introduction, the twelve revised chapters of Part I and an unfinished thirteenth chapter found among Sri Aurobindo's manuscripts. Of the remaining three parts, Part II had undergone some revision before publication in book form, but Part III and Part IV were printed largely as they appeared in the Arya.
The SABCL edition is a reproduction, in two volumes, of the University Edition, On Yoga I: The Synthesis of Yoga.
SABCL : The Synthesis of Yoga I, Vol. 20
The Synthesis of Yoga II, Vol. 21
89) A System of National Education
An incomplete series of articles from the Karmayogin, February 12 to April 2, 1910. The first edition was unauthorised. In 1924 an authorised edition was issued with a note by the author.
90) Thoughts and Aphorisms
From unrevised manuscripts. A portion of the original work was revised and published as Thoughts and Glimpses (See 91).
91) Thoughts and Glimpses
First published in the Arya as “Aphorisms” and “Thoughts and Glimpses” between March 1915 and August 1917.
92) Two Lectures of Sriyut Aravinda Ghosh
G. P. Mundeshwar, Bombay, 1908
Includes “Advice to National College Students” from the Dawn, September 1907, and “The Present Situation” from the weekly Bande Mataram, February 23, 1908. Both were subsequently included in Speeches (See 82).
93) Urvasie: A Poem
First Edition [for private circulation]:
Lakshmi Vilas Press Co., Ltd., Baroda, no date (c. 1896)
Included, with some revisions, in Collected Poems and Plays (See 13).
94) Uttarpara Speech
Prabartak Publishing House, Chandernagore, 1919
Speech delivered at Uttarpara on May 30, 1909. Published in the Karmayogin, June 19 and 26, 1909.
Included in Speeches (See 82).
95) Vasavadutta
A dramatic romance.Written between October 18 and 30, 1915; revised in April 1916.
96) Views and Reviews
Reprinted from the Arya. Part One (“The Question of the Month”): “The Needed Synthesis” (August 1914), “The Significance of 'Arya'” (September 1914), “On Meditation” (October 1914), “On Universal Consciousness” (January 1915). Part Two (Reviews): “Hymns to the Goddess” (May 1915), “South Indian Bronzes” (October 1915), “God the Invisible King” (July 1917), “Rupam” (April 1920), “About Astrology” (November 1917).
In SABCL all the articles of Part One are included in Section VII of Volume 16, except “The Significance of 'Arya'” which appears in Section XI of Volume 17. The reviews which make up Part Two are included in Section VIII of Volume 17.
97) Vikramorvasie (The Hero and the Nymph)
R. Chatterjee, Calcutta, 1911
A translation done by Sri Aurobindo at Baroda, of Kalidasa's Sanskrit drama. The 1952 edition included “On Translating Kalidasa” and “The Character of the Hero” (Pururavas) as Introduction and Appendix (See 36).
SABCL: Collected Plays, Vol. 7
98) The Viziers of Bassora
A dramatic romance written by Sri Aurobindo at Baroda and seized along with other manuscripts by the British police in May 1908 when he was arrested in the Alipore Bomb Case. The manuscripts were not recovered until 1951. The history of their loss and recovery is detailed in an appendix to the 1959 edition.
99) Vyasa and Valmiki
Essays, notes and translations from the author's Baroda period; Vyasa: “Notes on the Mahabharata”, “The Problem of the Mahabharata” and translations (done in 1893) from the SabhaParva and UdyogaParva of the Mahabharata. Valmiki: “The Genius of Valmiki” and translations from the Bala Kanda, Ayodhya Kanda and Aranya Kanda of the Ramayana.
100) War and Self - Determination
S. R. Murthy & Co., Madras, 1920
Third Edition, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, 1957
The First Edition contained three essays from the Arya: “The Passing of War” (April 1916); “The Unseen Power” (December 1918); “Self Determination” (September 1918); and a fourth, “A League of Nations”, written especially for the volume; with a foreword. In the Third Edition another Arya essay, “After the War” (August 1920), which had been issued in pamphlet form in 1949 (See 1), was included.
In 1962 War and Self-Determination was published along with The Human Cycle and The Ideal of Human Unity (See 28); in this edition yet another unpublished Arya article, “1919” (July 1919), was included.
(101) The Yoga and Its Objects
Sadhana Press, Chandernagore, 1921
Sri Aurobindo worked on an early version of this work sometime before 1913.
The 1968 edition included a note by Sri Aurobindo and an appendix containing explanations given by Sri Aurobindo apropos of some passages in the book.
lndu Prakash English-Marathi, Weekly, Bombay
Sri Aurobindo contributed two series of articles to this newspaper, which was edited by his Cambridge friend K. G. Deshpande. New Lamps for Old appeared in nine instalments from August 7, 1893 to March 5, 1894. This series was preceded by another political article, “India and the British Parliament” (June 26, 1893). The second series, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, written after the passing of the Bengali writer, appeared in seven instalments from July 16 to August 27, 1894.
Yugantar Bengali, Weekly, Calcutta
A revolutionary journal started by Sri Aurobindo's brother Barindra and others in March 1906. Sri Aurobindo wrote articles for some of the earlier issues of the paper, and always exercised general control over it. It ceased publication in May 1908.
Bande Mataram English, Daily/Weekly, Calcutta
A newspaper started on August 6, 1906 under the editorship of Bepin Chandra Pal. Sri Aurobindo became joint editor of the paper and before the end of 1906 assumed full control of its policy. He wrote many of its editorials and leading articles, and also some planned series including The Doctrine of Passive Resistance. It ceased publication in October 1908, six months after Sri Aurobindo was imprisoned in the Alipore Bomb Case. A weekly edition of Bande Mataram was published from June 1907 to September 1908, in which editorials and articles from the daily edition were reprinted. The play Perseus the Deliverer and the translation Vidula first appeared in this weekly edition.
Karmayogin English, Weekly, Calcutta
“A Weekly Review of National Religion, Literature, Science, Philosophy, etc.” Started on June 15, 1909 by Sri Aurobindo, who wrote practically all of its articles and editorial comments, and published in it a number of his poems and translations. When he left for Chandernagore in February 1910, he put the journal into the hands of Sister Nivedita. Writings by him continued to appear in it until it ceased publication on March 26, 1910.
Dharma Bengali, Weekly, Calcutta
Started on August 23, 1909 under the editorship of Sri Aurobindo, who wrote most of its articles and editorial comments himself. His connection with the journal ended when he left for Chandernagore in February 1910. Its last issue came out on March 28, 1910.
Arya English, Monthly, Pondicherry
A philosophical review started by Sri Aurobindo on August 15, 1914 and continued without interruption until January 1921 . The following declaration appeared on the inside cover page of each issue :
The Arya is a Review of pure philosophy. The object which it has set before itself is twofold :—
(1) A systematic study of the highest problems of existence;
(2) The formation of a vast Synthesis of knowledge, harmonising the diverse religious traditions of humanity occidental as well as oriental. Its method will be that of a realism, at once rational and transcendental—a realism consisting in the unification of intellectual and scientific disciplines with those of intuitive experience. This Review will also serve as an organ for the various groups and societies founded on its inspiration.
The Review will publish:—
Synthetic studies in speculative Philosophy. Translations and commentaries of ancient texts. Studies in Comparative Religion. Practical methods of inner culture and self development.
In the Arya appeared serially most of Sri Aurobindo's important prose writings : The Life Divine, The Synthesis of Yoga, The Secret of the Veda, Essays on the Gita, The Human Cycle, The Ideal of Human Unity, The Future Poetry (all of which were published later in book form, many in revised editions), as well as other series and separate essays.
The Standard Bearer English, Weekly, Chandernagore
Published by the Prabartak Samgha, a group working under the inspiration of Sri Aurobindo. Its first issue came out on August 15, 1920 with a contribution “Ourselves” by Sri Aurobindo. In later issues it published several articles, poems etc. by Sri Aurobindo, many of which had been written in 1909 and 1910 and intended for publication in the Karmayogin; Since 1915 the Prabartak Samgha has brought out a Bengali monthly, Prabartak. Sri Aurobindo's “Jagannather Rath” first appeared in this journal in 1918.
Sri Aurobindo occasionally contributed essays, poems etc. to periodicals other than those listed above including The Modern Review (Calcutta), The Calcutta Review, The Vedic Magazine (Lahore), Shama'a (Madras) and the Bengali reviews Suprabhat and Bharati.
The following is a list of journals published by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram or groups connected with it in which many unpublished letters, articles, poems etc. of Sri Aurobindo first appeared.
Sri Aurobindo Mandir Annual Calcutta since 1942
Bartika (Bengali) Quarterly, Calcutta, since 1942
The Advent Quarterly, Pondicherry (originally Madras), since 1944
Sri Aurobindo Circle Annual, Pondicherry (originally Bombay), since 1945
Bulletin of Physical Education (presently the Bulletin of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education) Quarterly, Pondicherry, since 1949, English-French Bilingual.
The eight articles which make up The Supramental Manifestation upon Earth were written by Sri Aurobindo for the Bulletin and published in it between February 21, 1949 and November 24, 1950.
Mother India Monthly, Pondicherry (originally a Bombay fortnightly), since 1949 ![Image Srinvantu Quarterly, Calcutta, since 1956
This index comprises references from all original prose writings of Sri Aurobindo, that is, most of the material in the following volumes of the Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library :
1) Bande Mataram
2) Karmayogin
3) The Harmony of Virtue
9) The Future Poetry
10) The Secret of the Veda
11) Hymns to the Mystic Fire
12) The Upanishads
13) Essays on the Gita
14) The Foundations of Indian Culture
15). Social and Political Thought
16) The Supramental Manifestation
17) The Hour of God
18-19) The Life Divine
20-21) The Synthesis of Yoga
22-24) Letters on Yoga
25) The Mother
26) On Himself
27) Supplement
Poems, other literary works, and translations have not been indexed; however some references from prose sections of the following volumes have been included :
5). Collected Poems
29) Savitri
The reader is advised to consult the Contents of the Centenary Library on pages 16-19 of this volume if he is not familiar with the material contained in the volumes listed above.
In the Introductory Note to this volume we have mentioned several factors which must be taken into consideration when making a relative evaluation of Sri Aurobindo's writings. The user of this index is urged to read that note and also to study the Bibliography on pages 19-44 of this volume and the Bibliographical Notes at the end of each of the volumes in order to acqullint himself-with the period and the nature of the material with which he is dealing. He should also take note of the context of the passage to which he refers, especially while consulting such books as The Life Divine, where Sri Aurobindo often presents at some length a position which is not his own.
In the index the volume number is printed in bold type, the page numbers in roman type. Thus the first reference (17: 27) is to page 27 of Volume 17, The Hour of God.
References are made to the subject treated per se. Thus while the whole of Volume 13, Essays on the Gita, deals with the Gita, only the pages of the book where the Gita has been discussed as a distinct entity have been listed under the main heading Gita; so also “Yoga” in The Synthesis of Yoga, “India” in The Foundations of Indan Culture, “Spiritual evolution” in The Life Divine, etc.
The index is structured according to the usual system : main heading, subheading and sub-subheading. Note that:
(1) Certain large or complex terms have, for convenience, been represented by two or more main headings distinguished from one another by superior figures (e.g. Ascent1 and Ascent2).
(2) References without subheadings fall into two main categories: (a) large general discussions of the subject, and (b) very brief but significant references.
(3) Subheadings are given only as a first indication and should not be considered as exhaustive statements of how the subject is treated on a given page.
(4 ) Certain subjects have been placed under broad generic main headings, e.g. “sun”,. under Symbol, specific symbols; “sonnet” under Poetry ; “Hindu-Mahomedan question” under Indian National Movement; etc.
(5) Literary works are placed under the author after other subheadings, if any.
Cross-references are given in bold type at the end of many entries. Here see also indicates an identity or close relationship between the terms in question, cf. (compare) a more indefinite relationship, and the asterisk (*) that at the designated main heading only are listed a number of related terms.
Scope of the Glossary
Most Sanskrit and modern Indian words and phrases contained in the SRI AUROBINDO BIRTH CENTENARY LIBRARY are included in this glossary. Omissions arc noted below :
1) Long passages which are translated or paraphrased where they occur and also words from these passages which are examined separately.
For example:
a) Many passages from the Rig-veda cited and analysed in Volume 10, The Secret of the Veda. (All of these passages are included in Appendix 3, List of Vedic Translations and Citations.)
b) Phrases and words ourring in the essay “On Translating Kalidasa” (Volume 3, pages 236-49 and Volume 27, pages 84-108).
c) Certain long passages from the Gita, Upanishads, etc. (All of these passages are listed in the Appendix to the Glossary.)
2) Words occurring in poetical works and translations.
3) Philological examples, such as those given in “The Origins of Aryan Speech” (Volume 10, pages 551 -81 and Volume 27, pages 163-79) and elsewhere.
4) Many proper names, e.g. most names of historical personages, names of less important mythological figures, most titles of texts, etc.
5) Words and phrases printed in devanāgari or Bengali script.
6). Adjectives and nouns which are formed from Sanskrit nouns but which are not themselves Sanskrit words, e.g. Pranic, Asurism.
Arrangement, Transliteration and Pronunciation
Words and phrases are listed alphabetically (English alphabet) letter-by-letter according to the standard internationally accepted system of transliteration. The scheme of this system is given on the following page.
The reader should note that many of the examples listed in the third column of the table give only an approximation of the Sanskrit sound, for example: r. ṝ , and lr, which are independent vowels properly pronounced without the aid of any other vowel ; the diphthongs e, ail, o, au; the cerebral nasal ṇ ; and ν**, which is never a fricative. Other examples could also be given. The pronunciation of Sanskrit is based on the quantitative, and not the accentual principle. Long and short vowels should be carefully distinguished.
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