Kireet Joshi

Professor Kireet Joshi (b.1931), studied philosophy and law at the Bombay University. He was selected for Indian Administrative Service in 1955. He resigned from the service in 1956 in order to devote himself to the study and practice of the Integral Yoga of SriAurobindo and the Mother at Pondicherry.

From 1956-1976, he remained engaged in Yogic practice and intensive study of Sri Aurobindo's and Mother's works as also vast literature of Indian and Western Philosophy, history and culture. He was Registrar of the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, from 1958 to 1975, where he also taught integral philosophy, integral psychology and Indian culture. He also participated in radical experiments in education under the direct guidance of the Mother.

In 1976, Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi requested Professor Kireet Joshi to advise the government of India, particularly, to impart dimension of value-education to the entire system. He was appointed Education Advisor to the Government of India in 1976. Between 1976 and 1988, he was founder Member-Secretary of Indian Council of Philosophical Research (1981-89), Member-University Grants Commission (1981-1990) and the founder Member-Secretary of the Rashtriya Veda Vidya Prathishthan, Ujjain (National Foundation of Vedic Knowledge, (1087-1993)

He was also Member-Secretary for National Commission for Teachers (1983-1985). In 1999, he was appointed as Chairman of the Auroville Foundation (1999-2004). He was also Chairman of Indian Council of Philosophical Research (2000-2006).

Professor Kireetjoshi has also made valuable contribution to Unesco, and he was Vice-Chairman of Unesco Institute ofEducation at Hamburg (1987-1990), and Chairman of Unesco Committee of Education for International Understanding and Peace.

He has been an exponent of the philosophy of Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother and has authored several works connected with philosophy, yoga and value-oriented education. Extraction of knowledge from the Vedic Samhitas, Upanishads and the Gita as also study of Yoga as science and linking the Vedic Yoga with the entire tradition of Yoga upto Sri Aurobindo have been the central focus of his tireless research. This series on Synthesis of Yoga and allied themes is the result of his lifelong dedication to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.