The Yoga of Sri Aurobindo - Part 10

This Part of Nolini Kanta Gupta's The Yoga of Sri Aurobindo series consisting of his most recent (1968) talks given to the members of the Ashram, is specially brought out to commemorate his eightieth birthday, 13 January 1969.

Dreamer and revolutionary, linguist, scholar, critic, poet, philosopher and man of deep spiritual realisation, Nolini Kanta Gupta stands foremost among the men of this century who are destined to leave their mark on generations to come. Born in 1889 of a cultured and well-to-do family in Bengal, he came early in his teens under the influence of Sri Aurobindo, the revolutionary par excellence, and 'a mighty prophet of Indian Nationalism' of the age. Leaving a brilliant academic career only half-finished and spurning the lure of a lucrative position under Government, he joined a small group of brilliant young men who working under the inspiration and guidance of Sri Aurobindo in the early years of the century became a terror to the British rule and paved the way for succeeding generations to win the country's freedom. After having spent a year in jail as an under-trial prisoner in the historic Alipore Bomb case, he was taken in hand by Sri Aurobindo and with him he remained ever since. After the Master's passing he has been continuing as a trustee and the Secretary of Sri Aurobindo Ashram.

His apprenticeship in writing commenced as a sub­editor of the two journals conducted by Sri Aurobindo in 1909 and 1910. He was taught Greek, Latin, French and Italian by the Master himself; and the knowledge he acquired then has borne ample fruit during the past half a century of almost incessant writing on a variety of themes. He has about 60 books to his credit, of which about 16 are in English and 44 in Bengali, not to speak of innumerable articles and poems in English, Bengali and French, scattered in the periodicals of the time. As an exponent of the revelations of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, he stands supreme. And his interests are as varied as are remarkable the clarity, succinctness, elegance, and originality of his thought. His early training in Sanskrit enabling him to cover the wide range of Sanskrit literature up to the Vedic and Upanishadic lore and in the classical languages of the West has given him a literary acumen which he has brilliantly employed in some of his most outstanding studies in modern and early Bengali literature.

As a critic of Tagore's works, he is recognised as an authority. His originality of thought and literary talents were recognised and commended by Rabindranath Tagore himself four decades ago. His monograph on the Poet was published on the occasion of his last centenary in 1961.

He is no inconsiderable a poet in the French language and he has been rendering into English almost all the talks and writings of The Mother from the original French. He is equally at home in English and in his mother-tongue Bengali; the latter he has particularly enriched