... interpretation here a "Hellenised" native of Arachosia, the Kandahār-area in antiquity, knowing Greek as well as the Indian language in which the original model came, just as for the Aramaic version there might be an Irānianised Arachosian knowing Aramaic and the Indian language. But Arachosia belongs broadly to the same region as Shāhbāzgarhī and Mānsehrā where quasi-Sanskrit was in vogue, and ...
... thereby reaching the English-speaking world as a whole. To do this was doubtless his providential task. But for poetry the fact of his English education was disastrous, since it deprived him of an Indian language, essential to an Indian poet, as Tagore understood. Since I don't think Sri Aurobindo was a poet in that sense, it perhaps does not greatly matter; his great contribution was made in the way it... might otherwise have done. As a poet I cannot. Forgive me, I have to be truthful. I may only be revealing my English obtuseness, but I do know my own language of poetry, though not your Indian language of philosophy. You have asked me to explain myself and I have, in all friendship tried to do so. I know that Raja Rao admires Savitri and so does Professor Gokak of Bangalore. I wish I found ...
... all, not a difficult subject. This would mean that instead of having one uniform teachinglearning material for the whole country, we should prepare the required material relevant to each modern Indian language. The direct method of teaching Sanskrit through Sanskrit need not necessarily eliminate reference to synonyms in one's own mother tongue or to the languages known to the learner. In any... and other policy statements that some States follow only a two-language formula, whereas in some other States a classical language like Sanskrit or Arabic is being studied in lieu of a modern Indian language. It is also pointed out that some boards or institutions permit European languages like French or German in place of Hindi. A question has also been raised if classical languages can be taught ...
... Statements Made in Biographies and Other Publications Autobiographical Notes Language Study at Baroda [When he arrived in India, Sri Aurobindo knew no Indian language except a smattering of Bengali, which was one of the subjects he had to study for the I.C.S. examination.] Bengali was not a subject for the competitive examination for the I.C.S. It was after ...
... "My private quarrel with Sri Aurobindo's technical abilities and philosophical system has nothing to do with the recognition of his importance as a guru. He is the only modern poet, in any Indian language, to have attempted the large philosophical poem.... I still find reason to complain of the nebulous images, and think that the iambic pentameter fashioned by Sri Aurobindo to be weak-spined for ...
... family would be expanded by a girl and another boy.) His father, ‘a thoroughly anglicized Bengali,’ demanded that English be exclusively spoken in his house and not a word in Bengali, the local Indian language. Consequently Aurobindo grew up speaking English as his mother tongue. Let us glance back at that period for a moment. A considerable part of India, ‘the jewel in the crown,’ was a British colony ...
... What ? She must have the poetic sense—when one has that, one can catch the poetic quality in any language. But is Bengali sound difficult (pronunciation apart) ? If one knows one other Indian language, it should rather be easy to pick up. P.S. Today a cousin of mine has written that a sworn enemy of mine reading Suryamukhi said astonished: [Bengali word] Qu'en dites-vous ? A ...
... impartial view of our culture, Sanskrit stands out prominently as a language that has in India a history of more than five thousand years and has even a distinction of being even today a pan-Indian language and also a living language, since it even now continues to grow and develop, absorb modern idioms and is vibrant in the air and atmosphere of Indian cultural life which is shared by the largest ...
... language of large parts of Northern India but also the official language of India. Page 41 Against this contention, it is argued that the study of Hindi, Sanskrit and additional Indian language is excessive and it is often recommended that it would be more useful if one of the three languages of India could be substituted by an international language, apart from English. In the innovative ...
... languages, there may be a few others that can be called secondary or subsidiary international languages according as they grow and acquire a higher status. Thus Russian, or an Asiatic, even an Indian language may attain that position, because of wide extension or inherent value of popularity or for some other reason. Indeed, a national language cultivated and enriched by its nationals can force itself ...
... passed the competitive examination that Sri Aurobindo as a probationer who had chosen Bengal as his province began to learn Bengali." He took Hindustani as optional. Sanskrit was the classical Indian language he chose: "I learnt Sanskrit by reading the Nala-Damayanti episode in the Mahabharata . . . with minute care several times." Actually, so well did he master the Sanskrit language that one day he ...
... remote, is a corruption formed by detrition and perversion of the original language into a Prakrit or the Prakrit of a Prakrit and so on to increasing stages of impurity. The superior purity of the Indian language is the reason of its being called the Sanscrit and not given any local name, its basis being universal and eternal; and it is always a rediscovery of the Sanscrit tongue as the primary language ...
... the lines of literary effort have received an unprecedented inspiration as a means for the expression of national genius. A remarkable degree of literary progress has been achieved in every Indian language. But apart from these regional languages, English was adopted all over the vast continent not only as a medium of instruction but also as a vehicle of literary expression by its most advanced ...
... "My private quarrel with Sri Aurobindo's technical abilities and philosophical system has nothing to do with the recognition of his importance as a guru. He is the only modern poet, in any Indian language, to have attempted the large philosophical poem.... I still find reason to complain of the nebulous images, and think the iambic pentameter fashioned by Sri Aurobindo to be weak-spined for most ...
... emotion (which then becomes psychic feeling) and sensation and action and everything else in us and preparing them to be divine movements. Page 103 The psychic being may be described in Indian language as the Purusha in the heart or the caitya puruṣa ; 2 but the inner or secret heart must be understood, hṛdaye guhāyām , not the outer vital-emotional centre. It is the true psychic entity ...
... perception and emotion (which then becomes psychic feeling) and sensation and action and everything else in us and preparing them to be divine movements. The psychic being may be described in Indian language as the Purusha in the heart or the Chaitya Purusha ; but the inner or secret heart must be understood, hṛdaye guhāyām* not the outer vital-emotional centre. *Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga ...
... yet. ( After Satprem's reading of the book, Mother asks that it be translated into the languages of India and mentions Bengali, Hindi, Oriya, and Tamil. ) ( To Sujata: ) You don't know an Indian language well enough to translate it? ( Sujata laughs ) And then the Nordic countries. Page 45 ...
... it as Tamil is by the South Indians or Hindi by the northerners, it is spoken by the south and the north, the west and the east of our sub-continent in a unifying nation-conscious manner as no Indian language is spoken. It is the language by which the political unity of our country has been historically formed, it is the language in which our whole battle for freedom has been fought, it is the language ...
... English also needs to be laid during the first 4-5 years of primary education. It is unfortunate that during the last several decades, Sanskrit has been downgraded, but its high status as a pan-Indian language and also as a language in which highest treasures of Indian systems of knowledge have been stored. The three greatest poets of India — Valmiki, Vyasa and Kalidasa have written in Sanskrit, ...
... all the lines of literary effort have received an unprecedented inspiration as a means for the expression of national genius. A remarkable degree of literary progress has been achieved in every Indian language. But apart from these regional languages, English was adopted all over the vast continent not only as a medium of instruction but also as a vehicle of literary expression by its most advanced writers ...
... From there he took a hackney-coach to go to the house of his father's lawyer friend Manomohan Ghose at Theatre Road. The coachman did not understand any English, and Beno could not then speak any Indian language, with the result that for hours they went up and down the street, till a kindly Brahmin priest, who was watching interestedly, asked Beno some questions and then directed the coachman and even ...
... is good for all Indians. I have the deepest respect for Indian languages and continue to study Sanskrit when I have time. The Sanskrit ought to be the national language of India. Blessings. 19 April 1971 On certain issues where You and Sri Aurobindo have given direct answers, we (Sri Aurobindo's Action) are also specific, as for instance... on the language issue where You... languages at a later stage. If more stress is laid upon Indian languages at present, then the natural tendency of the Indian mind will be to fall back upon the ancient literature, culture and religion. You know very well that we realise the value of ancient Indian things, but we are here to create something new, to bring down something that will be quite fresh for the earth. In this endeavour, if your mind... Languages To unite East and West, to give the best of one to the other and make a true synthesis, a university will be established for all kinds of studies. Our school will form a nucleus of that university. In our school I have put French as the medium of instruction. One of the reasons is that French is the cultural language of the world. The children can learn the Indian languages ...
... Hindi students were so apathetic. His letter ends:) It is said that you give no importance to the Indian languages. Do you want me to continue in spite of my students' apathy or can I give it up? Continue without hesitation. I have the deepest respect for Indian languages and continue to study Sanskrit when I have time. Amrita says that the situation of his Tamil class is... all Indians. About 1970 * The Sanskrit ought to be the national language of India. Blessings. 19 April 1971 * On certain issues where You and Sri Aurobindo have given direct answers, we (Sri Aurobindo's Action) are also specific, as for instance... on the language issue where You have said for the country that (1) the regional language should... students do not know sufficiently well any one language in which they could express their thoughts and feelings adequately and sensitively. Is this required or not, Mother? And if so, which language should they learn? Should it he a common or international language' or their vernacular? If only one language is known this is better. * (Languages to he studied in Auroville) ...
... trivial or monstrous sketches, caricatures or images of men. There is, however, one exception to this rule; every man can at his best moments cast out, create in some way or another—for in our Indian languages the word for creating is casting out, letting free out of one's own being—one living Page 407 creature & character,—himself. Milton has produced several bold & beautiful or fine outlines... creates all these characters & their inevitable actions & destinies. So it is with every divine creator,—with Homer, Shakespeare, Valmiki, Kalidasa. It is perfectly true that each has his own style of language & creation, his own preferred system or harmony of the poetic Art, just as the creator of this universe has fashioned it in a particular style & rhythm & on certain preferred & fixed canons, differing ...
... English, but also in the following Indian languages: Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. This scheme, involving the publication of 900 volumes, requires ample funds and an all-India organisation. The Bhavan is exerting its utmost to supply them. The objectives for which the Bhavan stands are the re- integration of the Indian culture in the light of modern... -------------------- 140 SRI AUROBINDO : SOME ASPECTS OF HIS VISION BY A. B. PURANI GENERAL EDITOR'S PREFACE THE Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan—that Institute of Indian Culture in Bombay—needed a Book University, a series of books which, if read, would serve the purpose of providing higher education. Particular emphasis, however, was to be put on such literature... flow through different linguistic channels, have a common urge and aspiration. Fittingly, the Book University's first venture is the Mahabharata, summarised by one of the greatest living Indians, C. Rajagopalachari; the second work is on a section of it, the Gita by H. V. Divatia, an eminent jurist and a student of philosophy. Centuries ago, it was proclaimed of the Mahabharata: " What ...
... AUROBINDO: What is wrong with it? Why do they find it vulgar or unrefined? Is it because it is sexual? NIRODBARAN: I don't know. SRI AUROBINDO: But I want to know. The word has been used in all Indian languages for a long time. If you say that such expressions should not be used, that is different. But how are they vulgar? Since when has Bengal become so puritan? It seems to be a Brahmo Samaj influence ...
... deepest respect for Indian languages and continue to study Sanskrit when I have time. * Page 60 The Sanskrit ought to be the national language of India. * Let the splendours of Bharat's past be reborn in the realisation of her imminent future with the help and blessings of her living soul. * what is the duty of every Indian today in the present... October 1969 * It is only India's soul who can unify the country. Externally the provinces of India are very different in character, tendencies, culture, as well as in language, and any attempt to unify them artificially could only have disastrous results. But her soul is one, intense in her aspiration towards the spiritual truth, the essential unity of the creation ...
... instructions an entirely occidental, education without any contact with the culture of India and the East. 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. The outbreak of the agitation against the partition of Bengal in 1905 gave him the opportunity to give up the Baroda Service and join... Calcutta on August 15, 1872. At the age of seven, he was taken with his two elder brothers to England for education, and he lived there for fourteen years. In 1890 he passed the open competition for the Indian Civil Service, but as he had no intention of accepting service under the Government, he failed to appear at the riding examination and was disqualified. At this time the Gaekwar of Baroda was in London ...
... according to the rhythm is the law, arrangement, harmony, processes of the world it builds." And one of the greatest seed-sounds of the Word is the eternal syllable of the Veda: OM. "In the Indian languages they have this sound OM," said Mother, "which is a marvel. "I once saw it in Paris, at a time when I knew nothing about India, absolutely nothing except the usual rubbish. I didn't even know ...
... 2. Indian Literature: (a) Sanskrit and Tamil (b) Birth of modem Indian languages (c) Great literary masters: a detailed study of one of them. 3. Indian Art: (a) The aim of Indian art (b) An in-depth of one of the schools of Indian painting, dance, drama, sculpture or architecture (c) Folklore and folk dances (d) Indian arts and... mathematics or language, in science or literature, in home-science or physical culture, should have the necessary equipment which would enable them to transmit Indianness to the children and students who would be placed under their care. This does not mean that every teacher should be a specialist in Indian history but he should have at least a sound and authentic idea of Indian culture and of... Therefore, the aim should be to provide to teacher-trainees a bird's eye view of Indian history and some detailed idea of some of the great movements and events as also of inspiring biographies, not only of kings and queens, but also of our great builders of religion and spirituality, of philosophy and ethics, of language and literature, science and technology, of art, of music and dance and sculpture ...
... × Ten or twenty thousand (?) copies had been printed; the article was translated into all the Indian languages and sent in particular to all the members of the Indian Parliament. × Swaran Singh, minister of foreign affairs, who has... easy to say! But the American manufacturers. It's easy, they can say anything they like. They're expecting war here in about a week. But the Indians won't move unless they get hit on the head! Page 169 But it's the Indian government that said it—they're getting ready for it. They weren't ready [in March]. How odd. They weren't ready a month ago, and now they're suddenly ...
... Aurobindo's life and thought, in the several modern Indian languages and in Sanskrit is of considerable range and variety, and is also of high quality. It is however, beyond the scope of this bibliography to cover this extensive literature in about twenty Indian languages. But, certainly, outstanding among those who have made a mark in modern Indian poetry are Aurobindonians like Nishikanto in Bengali... Knowledge; Part Two: The Supreme Secret. Volume 14 — The Foundations of Indian Culture AND THE RENAISSANCE IN INDIA: Is India Civilised?; Page 819 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... Second Series (1951), Social Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo and the New Age (1965) Garratt, G. T. An Indian Commentary (1928) Ghose, Jyotish Chandra. Sri Aurobindo (1929) Ghose, Lotika. Indian Writers of English Verse (1933) Ghose, P. C. The Development of the Indian National Congress: 1892-1909 (1960) Ghose, Sisir Kumar. The Poetry of Sri Aurobindo (1969) Gokak ...
... from Bombay and which, wherever he settled down, occupied the main part of his living space. He learned several Indian languages: Gujarati, the local language in Baroda; Marathi, spoken in the Bombay Presidency; Hindi, a direct offspring of Sanskrit and then, as now, the main language of India except for the deep Dravidian South. He also learned Bengali, which should have been his mother tongue, as... modern literature of the regional languages was still in its infancy (except in Bengal) and the literary production in English was of poor quality. Far away now were the lush cultural pastures of Cambridge and London, where Aurobindo’s eldest brother, the poet Manmohan, had befriended Laurence Binyon, Stephen Philips and Oscar Wide, the last calling him ‘an Indian panther in evening brown.’ Small wonder... as he began needing it for his political activities; before long, he would be able to write articles and deliver speeches in Bengali. And he learned Sanskrit, the language that gave him access to the Mahabharata and the Ramayana , to the plays of Kalidasa, to the Upanishads and the Bhagavat Gita — to the age-old wisdom of India and its sanatana dharma , ‘the eternal religion’. Up until then ...
... Pondicherry in 1721 as the Councillor to the 1 Francois Martin and his widow were buried in Pondicherry. Page 153 Higher Council. There he met Jeanne Vincent who spoke several Indian languages. She was born Jeanne Albert, daughter of Dr. Jacques Albert, the Chief Medical Officer at the town's hospital. Her mother, Marie Main-former, was the offspring of a Hindu woman and a Portuguese... Dubash, 1 Ananda Ranga Pillai, the commercial agent of Dupleix, was in the habit of writing a Literally, Dubash means one who knows two languages, or an interpreter. In Pondicherry, the Dubash was the chief agent of the government to strike deals with Indian merchants. Page 154 diary. He began writing it from September 1736. 1 He was unfailing in the task. So thanks to his ...
... Head, Oriya Department of Modern Indian Languages 8c Literature Studies Faculty of Arts University of Delhi Delhi -110007 147.Pillai, N.N. Principal, Sardar Patel College of Communication & Management Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan K.G. Marg New Delhi - 110001 148.Pradhan, R.C. Member-Secretary Indian Council of Philosophical Research... Rastogi, KG. E -923 Saraswati Vihar New Delhi- 110034 158.RathiRekha 29 Sadhana Enclave New Delhi 110017 159.Ravindran Head, Tamil Department of Modern Indian Languages and Literature Studies Faculty of Arts University of Delhi Delhi - 110007 160.Roy, Sudipta Dutta 164 SFS Flats Hauz Khas, New Delhi -110016 ... 194.Tandon, Rajni 17 Link Road Jangpura Extension New Delhi Page 745 195. Tekchandani, Ravi Head, Sindhi Department of Modern Indian Languages & Literature Studies University of Delhi, Delhi -110007 196.Thakur, Anoop Executive Assistant National Open School A-38, Kailash Colony New Delhi -110048 ...
... in the Indian Universities in English as well as in Hindi. For translation into Hindi the Government had prepared an English-Hindi dictionary containing philosophical words, as a model for the Universities. I told him that Sri Aurobindo had used certain English words in special sense and that from time to time he had indicated equivalent words in Sanskrit and some other Indian languages. The officer ...
... entirely occidental education without any contact with the culture of India and the East. 3 At Baroda he made up the deficiency, learned Sanskrit and several modern Indian languages, Page 5 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... 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... London in [1884] 1 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 ...
... Origin and development of the modem Indian languages: Names of all modem Indian languages and famous authors and the works in these languages; g) The story of Arabic, Turkish and Persian in India: famous authors and famous works in these languages. Arrival and development of English in India: famous Indian authors and famous works of Indian authors in English. Part II... in Arabic and Persian; h) Bare outline of stories and dramas written in modem Indian languages; i) Indian authors in English: Rabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo. Class X The curriculum of class X will be devoted to Indian Art. Special reference to: a) Indian concept of Art; illustrations in Poetry, Music, Painting, Architecture and Sculpture;... Topic for deep study and reflection: "What is my role in the world?" 6. Reflection: (a) What is the aim. of learning languages? How to enrich knowledge of languages? (b) What is the essence of mathematics? (c) What is science? Is language a science? Is mathematics a science? Is history a science? Is geography a science? (d) What is the difference between ...
... A magnificent leonine personality — a writer educated from boyhood in England and using the English language like a mother-tongue in splendid poetry as well as prose - a scholar in Greek and Latin — at home in French, German and Italian, not to mention Sanskrit and other Indian languages — once a politician of profound constructive power — a gigantic philosophical intellect whose chief work.... him was: "Sir, have you seen God?" A crude question for the awed religionist and a naive one for the abstract thinker, but typically Indian in its approach to the Unknown. And typically Indian was the answer it evoked: "I see God more concretely than I see you." Indian mysticism begins to be understood as we start grasping its concreteness. When the sacred books of this land spoke, for instance... began to be sung, it has been dinned into Indian ears that the way of the inner life is not blind belief or vague speculation. We have to pierce the veil of earth's appearances and seize the hidden Beauty as no less real than the universe to which we are accustomed. To rest content with faith in God and in the Hereafter is far from enough from the Indian standpoint; it is equally insufficient to chop ...
... edge'—the wid, meaning 'to know' or 'to see' ... others opt for 'those whose knowledge is great,' or 'thorough knowledge.' " Veda, of course, means 'knowledge.' 'Vid' is currently used in Indian languages, with the meaning of 'specialized knowledge,' i.e. pakshi-vid, meaning 'an expert in bird knowledge.' I am inclined to think that Druid means: seekers of true knowledge. 'Dru' also aroused... through this Dravidian language that I came first to perceive what seems to me now the true law, origins and, as it were, the embryology of the Aryan tongues." That perception was the key to the discovery of the real connections of the ancient languages. He uncovered "a common mother-root, common word-families, common word-clans, kindred word nations or as we call them, language." Musing on the kinship... Sanskrit tongue." As he followed the clue which led him farther and farther, to other clues, he stumbled upon an Ancient Language,' a language older than any known form of Sanskrit. And he "plunged into the far more interesting research of the origins and laws of development of human language itself." The clues came to him from several sources. One was, of course, etheric writing (dkasha-lipi). Truth-audition ...
... literature turn vigorously to the study of Vedic poetics and prepare the ground for the creation once more of mantric poetry in Sanskrit and other Indian languages. ___________________________________________ ³ Sri Aurobindo: The Foundations of Indian Culture, Sri Aurobindo Library Edition, 1970, pp: 266-67 Page 80 ... Eastern languages of a truer understanding of the vedic idea and practice of mantra and even of the discovery of a new poetic creation that would embody a new mantric poetry. He has also suggested that, that, considering the past evolution of English poetry and considering the trends that are visible in greater poets like Whitman, Meredith, Carpenter, A.E. and Tagore, that language, too, may... may turn to the discovery of mantric poetry and even the expression of that poetry through the vehicle of the English language. It is also remarkable that Sri Aurobindo himself wrote his great epic savitri, which is the longest poem in English literature, to embody and to give full expression to mantric poetry in which the vedic poetics is fully illustrated. It is thus opportune that we ...
... In our schools we give education up to the fifth standard in the mother-tongue of the students; teaching the children through English is harmful. Some people object to the use of Indian languages, saying that our languages do not have an adequate vocabulary for teaching certain subjects. But our answer is simple: first experience it. The seventh standard in our national schools is equivalent to the... college student usually studies a single subject and for that purpose special emphasis is given to the use of the English language. In spite of that, English is not given primary importance in the syllabus of our system of National Education; it has the status of a second language. A student must be able to stand on his own. It is not the objective of National Education to make somebody else carry... way, we place special emphasis on creating a future Indian nation. In planning our system of National Education we have to take into account various other systems of education. Principal Paranjape may speak of mathematics alone, but surely that is not enough. The one thought that impels us to provide National Education is this: When will this Indian nation occupy a place in the company of other nations ...
... student, and throughout his life, he was recognised for his mastery of the English language. Also, Cambridge made him into a classical scholar. Yet he did not become what his father wanted him to be: a member of the prestigious Indian Civil Service (I.C.S.), five thousand of whom ruled over three hundred million Indians. Having gradually turned into an opponent of the British colonial regime, Aravinda... secretary and was appointed professor of English and lecturer in French at Baroda College. He was now fully involved in the study of Sanskrit, his mother tongue Bengali and other Indian languages, as well as the Indian classics. He also grew more and more involved in the freedom struggle. As soon as he was offered an opportunity Aurobindo, as he now spelled his name, left Baroda for Calcutta, the... Pondicherry was entitled to two representatives. Richard, however, was also deeply interested in occultism and religion, and his main reason for having travelled to the South Indian town may well have been that he wanted to meet an Indian yogi. In this he had been extraordinarily lucky, for Aurobindo Ghose, the well-known freedom fighter turned yogi, had just arrived in Pondicherry, looking for a safe haven ...
... seeking expression in the literature of consciousness. Indian languages being more aesthetically and musically structured and comparatively better suited to express the psychic and spiritual insights of creative minds, it all depends on the extent of receptivity and sensitivity of the authors to the manifesting Spirit. Whereas European languages are prone to embody the more questing and active... harmonise them all in the language of a real aesthetic vision. Great literature blends a high intensity of rhythmic expression with an answering immensity of inner vision. The literature of the future must be expressive of the deepest soul of the individual as well as of the universal spirit in all things, and correspondingly evolve a language of its own, - a language that can aesthetically... alter the very frontiers of language; it would metamorphose it and use it as its most effective instrument. A fine example at hand of such language-commutation and its subtle transmutation in our own times is the usage of English by Sri Aurobindo. All these factors governing the growth of our creative consciousness are destined to bring about a new birth of language itself making it an effective ...
... getting exhausted, a kind of rejuvenation with the birth of a number of Indian languages and new religions Page 437 of Bhakti and submission to Divine Love and Will. We must examine these periods and arrive at our own impartial judgement of India's Indianness. In broad terms, it can be stated that Indian spirit and Indian temperament have manifested themselves, broadly speaking, on five lines:... inefficiency to deal with life. For a time, Indians submissively echoed Page 436 their new Western teachers and masters and considered these three words to be the formula of Indianness. The British could hardly understand the spirit of Indian art and dismissed it as something primitive. Fortunately, Europe discovered in due course that Indian art had remarkable power and beauty. But in... India the view that India could hardly be recognised as a civilised country, and, in their ignorance of the true account of Indian history, derided the Indian discovery of the Dharma, belittled the enormous developments of Indian systems of knowledge or Shastras, considered Indian sociology as an unintelligent basis of the rigid and oppressive caste system, and thought of India's political ability as ...
... while getting exhausted, a kind of rejuvenation with the birth of a number of Indian languages and new religions of Bhakti and submission to Divine Love and Will. We must examine these periods and arrive at our own impartial judgement of India's Indianness. In broad terms, it can be stated that Indian spirit and Indian temperament have manifested themselves, broadly speaking, on five lines: ... Indian Identity and Cultural Continuity Philosophy of Indianness An attempt to capture in conceptual grasp the meaning and content of Indianness is to plunge ourselves into the depths of Indian history and to discern those characteristics that are unique to India and which bring us to the understanding of the genius, spirit and soul of India. Geographically... unpracticality and inefficiency to deal with life. For a time, Indians submissively echoed their new Western teachers and masters and considered these three words to be the formula of Indianness. The British could hardly understand the spirit of Indian art and dismissed it as something primitive. Fortunately, Europe discovered in due course that Indian art had remarkable power and beauty. But in regard to other ...
... , mastery of Sanskrit as well as several modern Indian languages, and intense absorption of the culture of the Orient. A period of educationist activity followed. Soon he launched into politics and became an all-India figure as the leader of Bengal in the struggle against foreign rule. In eight years he changed the face of the Indian political scene: working with Tilak he fixed the idea... by birth, he was yet educated from his seventh to his twenty-first year in England, first at St. Paul's School, London, and then at King's College, Cambridge. Over and above using the English language as if it were his mother-tongue, he was a brilliant classical scholar who made his mark not only at Cambridge but also in the open competition for the I.C.S. by his record scoring in Greek... to materialise the gigantic scheme. It was her aim to offer free studies in every accepted branch of learning. A unique feature is the intention to teach the different nationals in their own languages. But this Centre would not be just one more educational institution added to the hundreds of others in India and elsewhere. It would always have the Aurobindonian world-vision as its background ...
... should be able to come back. It was really interesting ... ( Mother tries to recall the experience. ) There were even languages I had never heard: I've heard many European languages; in India, several Indian languages, chiefly Sanskrit; and then, Japanese. And there were languages I had never heard. It was all there. And there were sounds, certain sounds that come from all the way up, sounds ... (how... psychological level, on the level of thought, on the level of action, and also of languages, of expression. Two or three days ago (this is part of the same field), I saw a baby girl who was born in America just while we were having the meditation here of 4.5.67. That child was born in America (of an Indian mother and an Indian father; the father was here, the mother there), and they brought her to me:... the image and nothing behind! So how do you replace them? When it comes to languages, it's very interesting.... Those are things that come, stay for an hour or two, then go away; they are like lessons, things to be learned. And so, one day, there came the question of languages, of the different languages. Those languages were formed progressively (probably through usage, until, as you said, one day ...
... made to know. 9 And in the Ashram School and in the University Centre, French has always been given an important place in the scheme of studies alongside of English, Sanskrit and the modern Indian languages. The Mother also contributed to the April 1955 number of the Bulletin a brief article on "The Problem of Woman" 10 . The most womanly of women, the incarnate Blessed Feminine indeed, the... of questions here!" Pupils young and old, neophytes in Yoga, seasoned sadhaks: the Playground in the evening in the post-gymnastics mood of relaxation: the ostensible aim, learning the French language, extracts from spiritual writings, unpredictable questions oral or written: and the Mother herself the synoptic centre - such was the layout, such were the ingredients, such the central illuminating ...
... blessings. 12 January 1961 I have the deepest respect for Indian languages and continue to study Sanskrit when I have time. The Sanskrit ought to be the national language of India. Blessings. 19 April 1971 Hindi is good only for those who belong to a Hindi-speaking province. Sanskrit is good for all Indians. On certain issues where You and Sri Aurobindo have given direct... answers, we (Sri Aurobindo's Action) are also specific, as for instance... on the language issue Page 375 where You have said for the country that (1) the regional language should be the medium of instruction, (2) Sanskrit should be the national language, and (3) English should be the international language. Are we correct in giving these replies to such questions? Yes. Blessings... all nations to be possible, each nation must first realise its own unity. 6) The language problem harasses India a good deal. What would be our correct attitude in this matter? Unity must be a living fact and not the imposition of an arbitrary rule. When India will be one, she will have spontaneously a language understood by all. 7) Education has normally become literacy and a social status ...
... went through the whole of the old-fashioned Hindu rites! People told us that he was a man vastly learned in Western lore and was now engaged diligently in learning Sanskrit and various modern Indian languages. Young as we were, we could not quite tally things. But we said often to ourselves that Bhupal Babu's little girl, Minu, was indeed a lucky wife. Her clever Page 150 ... 219 A nonAshram publication. Page 147 to me a laurel crown; it is guidance I need, as to what can be said and how. In the matter of very intimate experiences, human language is an inadequate medium of expression. My readers have probably heard of the great mystic of Sindh, Shah Latif. He has told a story, something like this, bearing on the point: "One day I was sitting... of the commentaries and thinking out the meaning in the usual way. I never, however, studied it with Sri Aurobindo. He discussed history and politics with me, read poetry and drama to me in many languages, but never attempted to teach me religion or philosophy. As I have mentioned already, he had given some spiritual instruction to a couple of friends in Baroda; but when, one day, I put him one or ...
... ess of this country in the early years of this century is probably known only to specialist students of Indian history. His contribution to political and social thought, to psychology, to the discovery of the real meaning of the Vedas, to the philological studies of Indian languages, his luminous interpretations of India's past, his epoch- making contributions to Yoga, and to philosophy ... the soul-culture of India as he has in his The Secret of the Veda and The Foundations of Indian Culture. His comprehensive writings on yoga, on the evolution of social and political institutions, on the desirability and possibility of a World Union, on literary criticism, his exegeses of Indian scriptural literature, his scintillating letters on a variety of life-problems, and his literary... seems to have persuaded the academics in Indian universities to take more than a peripheral interest in Sri Aurobindo. Some years ago C.D. Narasimhaiah, 6 the well-known literary scholar and critic, observed that in his The Future Poetry Sri Aurobindo had given certain clear guidelines which if followed would have led to the inauguration of an Indian school of literary criticism- Narasimhaiah ...
... independence in spirit by enthroning the Hindi language in its place. Prof. K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar, then teaching English in Lingaraj College, Belgaum, thought about the problem and was amazed that in spite of such worries, Indians went ahead embracing the language with greater vehemence: It is impossible to predict the future of English (the language and literature) of India. Hindi may eventually... appeared it was very clear that Goddess Saraswati's gift had not only struck deep roots in the Indian clime but had also put forth immensely rich foliage where a million flowers bloomed. The disciples were now convinced that an Indian could master the foreign language and even go a little beyond. An Indian could make it a deva bhasha, worthy of encapsulating scriptures. In 1947 Amal Kiran published... So he crowns English as the only language he finds "more suited to the deepest movements of the Indian soul than are any of the modern Indian languages." This is somewhat naive but understandable in one who has "no other speech open to me". In any case if we are going to question his premise, he will flash his enchanting smile at you and then where would you be but in the booth casting your vote for ...
... the people of India was language. The Sanskrit language was not only a strong unifying force; it was also a powerful educating one. In the words of the eminent historian, Suniti Kumar Chatterjee: "Sanskrit looms large behind all Indian languages, Aryan and non-Aryan. It is inseparable from Indian history and culture. Sanskrit is India. The progressive Unification of the Indian peoples into a single nation... very early period of Indian history, the Indian subcontinent had fully realised a very deep, though complex kind of organic unity at the back of all the apparent diversities and multiplicities of the land and the people. All these created a feeling that India was not just a geographical entity or a collection of people merely having the same religion and language. The Indian nation became a living... The Indian people had developed a sound political system, which ensured the participation of the whole community in all activities. It was based on the principle of an organic self -determining communal life. The subcontinent of India was also united on a sound cultural and spiritual basis. This unity was based on the geographical unity of India, the Sanskrit language, the religion ...
... was a poet and playwright, and Dilip, when still young, made a name for himself as a singer mainly of religious songs, after having studied mathematics and music in Cambridge. He spoke several Indian languages besides English, French and German. Among his acquaintances were Mohandas K. Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Romain Rolland, Bertrand Russell, Georges Duhamel and Subhas Chandra Bose. He would become... laboratories of Japan, before he went on his way to the monasteries of the lamas in Mongolia and afterwards to India.’ The journey to Mongolia, in the company of a Mongolian lama who taught him his language, took place in 1924. ‘And so I left [Japan]. We had to cross northern China to reach the monastery where only Tibetan lamas were living.’ He was there for nine months, passing the severe winter ‘well... numerous friends — thanks to my patrimony, musical gifts, social qualities and lastly the pathetic awe and esteem that people feel when you can talk glibly about continental culture in continental languages.’ But Sri Aurobindo’s refusal kept nagging him. Sri Aurobindo had said: ‘I can accept only those with whom yoga has become such a necessity that nothing else seems worthwhile. In your case it hasn’t ...
... their languages into India, have continued to live their lives according to their own traditions. It must be noted that one of the most powerful means of uniting the Indian people was language. And in this, one will notice that Sanskrit played a very important role. In the words of Chatterjee: "Sanskrit looms large behind all Indian languages, Aryan, and non-Aryan. It is inseparable from Indian history... illustration, the aim of Indian classical music is to bring the listener into contact with his own soul. Here one will notice that many of the well-known Indian classical musicians are not only Hindu but also Muslim. Thus Indian music has become one of the most powerful tools of cultural unification. Similarly in literature, the Urdu language is a beautiful language made up of different elements... elements from the languages of India. All this has been brought beautifully in this extract from the writings of Sri Aurobindo on the spirit and soul of India: "What was this ancient spirit and characteristic soul of India? European writers, struck by the general metaphysical bent of the Indian mind, by its strong religious instincts and religious idealism, by its other-worldliness ...
... year and nine months, - one hour every day! So don't expect to go to the end of Savitri in one hour. QUESTION AND ANSWERS Has Savitri been translated into many other languages, Indian languages? Not yet. In Bengali and in Hindi some portions have been translated. A poetess is working with me. She is translating it into Hindi. Is she able to maintain the qualities... cultural movement, you find that at times the power of the word has brought great revolutions in mankind. For instance, the Indian Freedom Movement was preceded by one such word-group, Bande Mataram (Hail to the Mother, Mother India). Now that cry came in 1872, long before the Indian National Movement was even launched - there was no political life at that time to speak of. In 1872, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee... charging the group of words with the capacity or the power to reproduce the condition of consciousness which the word-vibration represents. This idea of the power of the word is not peculiar to Indian classical attitude. I think the power of the word is not properly understood in modern times, because people think that a word which expresses a truth or a reality, is generally intellectual, practical ...
... Light and Laughter. It is an immensely enjoyable book and, according to the Publisher's Note, "it proved a best seller". It was so popular that it had soon to be translated into several Indian languages. I do not remember under what circumstances the Talks were arranged. The Hall of Harmony used to be packed to the full and Amal was again at his best. I happened to introduce him... omitted in academic studies, for instance, the War-poets, our Indian poets like Sarojini Naidu, Toru Dutt, Manmohan Ghose. He tried to inculcate in us the beauty of form, structure, rhythm. But alas the rhythmic beauty of English poetry was alien to my Bengali ears in spite of my composing lots of English poetry. I am afraid our Indian ears are not accustomed to it. Since I had a genuine love... Page 300 home after the Pranam, and spent some time on my poetic exercises which had been corrected by Sri Aurobindo. He would point out my mistakes in metre and rhythm, language and imagery. Chadwick too, who was an Englishman and also a poet, helped me initially. But he was the harder task-master of the two. Thus, two human gurus prepared my groundwork in poetic composition ...
... me, took its rise originally not from any analysis of the Sanscrit word-system, but from an observation of the relations of Tamil in its non-concretised element to the Greek, Latin & Northern Indian languages. At the same time it is on an analysis of the Sanscrit word-system that I have chiefly relied. I have omitted from that system most of its Vedic elements. The meanings of Vedic words are often... Vater , father , and the hasty conclusions they have drawn from it which have prevented a deeper scrutiny of the roots of language. An identity of words between various languages can never in itself lead to any fundamental discovery. It does not even prove that the languages thus agreeing are of a single stock. In many of the most common domestic terms Tamil and Sanscrit agree, but they are still... back to its parent mind-impression. For this reason we have to catch a primitive language when it is young or else find one which even in its maturity is more faithful than others to its primitive mould and preserves on its face much of its ancient history. Such a language is Sanscrit; it is, in fact, almost the only language which at all answers to our need. But a sound like dol is not & cannot be ...
... because his students were so apathetic. His letter ends: ) It is said that you give no importance to the Indian languages. Do you want me to continue in spite of my students' apathy or can I give it up? Continue without hesitation. I have the deepest respect for Indian languages and continue to study Sanskrit when I have time. Amrita says that the situation of his Tamil class is much... time passes without leaving any trace. Some of the best poets of Sanskrit and other Indian languages have sung of Radha and Krishna in such a way that it seems they speak of carnal desire and sexual cravings. There is something that says that it is not mere sex mania. Perhaps they could not get any other language to depict the contact with the Divine on the vital and physical planes and the total... for those who belong to a Hindi speaking province. Sanscrit is good for all Indians. About 1970 Page 326 ( Wrongly informed that Sri Aurobindo favoured Hindi as the national language of India, the disciple asked the Mother on what basis she had written: "The Sanskrit ought to be the national language of India." ) I said Sanscrit because Sri Aurobindo had told me so. Blessings ...
... parts of India and from man countries abroad, without any distinction of sex, race, creed or caste. Most of the Indian languages are taught, as also several foreign languages. The cultures of different nations are made accessible not merely intellectually in ideas principles and languages, but also vitally in habits and customs, in art under all forms - painting, sculpture, music dance, architecture... 2. the recourse to the lives, deeds and written words of great men of the past as a source of inspiration and a means of building up the moral character; 3. the study of the classical languages, Greek, Latin, and we may add Sanskrit, Persian and Chinese, for this conception of education is not limited to the West, - as an instrument of training the mind. This approach of education... physical, natural and human sciences, and engineering also, offer means of training the mind at least as complete and effective as the grammatical subtleties and literary graces of the classical languages. If we add to these reasons growing need for scientists and technicians, the gradual abandonment of the humanities will be easy to understand, The cry for a synthesis humanities ...
... was a poet and playwright, and Dilip, when still young, made a name for himself as a singer, mainly of religious songs, after having studied mathematics and music in Cambridge. Besides several Indian languages he spoke English, French and German. Among his acquaintances were Mohandas K. Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Romain Rolland, Bertrand Russell, Georges Duhamel and Subhas C. Bose. He would become... [sic] Richard, his wife, and a Miss Houdgson [sic]. He seems to have settled in the colony for an indeterminate time. As Mr. Richard has long been in rather steady contact with undesirable extremist Indian elements, his passage was reported to the Government of British India by the British police in several ports of the Extreme Orient where he stopped on his way to Pondicherry. Our neighbours [the British]... new English daily paper. It would be the organ of a new political party Tilak and others were intending to form. Another was Dr. Munje, who proposed that Sri Aurobindo take up the presidency of the Indian National Congress. Sri Aurobindo declined both offers politely. To Baptista he wrote: ‘Pondicherry is my place of retreat, my cave of tapasya …’ 9 And in his answer to Munje he said: ‘I am no ...
... alone; they Page 20 are attained even by other methods, methods of Hatha Yoga, methods of Tantra and even the methods of Karma Yoga, Jn ā na Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and others. In the Indian yogic language, these powers or accomplishments are famous eight accomplishments, aṣṭa siddhi. These siddhis are, first of all those of mahim ā (including garim ā ), laghim ā and anim ā These... be experienced as a portion — an ś a and a portion derived from a higher creative force, parā Page 27 prakriti, from a transcendental origin, Purushottama. In the philosophical language of India, this experience of the individual is that of a jiva, which has been described as a formation of Para Prakriti (parā prakritir jivabhutā) and a portion of Purushottama (mama eva an ... too of nearness and contact and mutual presence, s ā m ī pya, sālokya, Ananda of and mutual reflection' the thing that we call likeness, sādṛśya, and other wonderful things too for which language has as Page 49 yet no name. There is nothing which is beyond the reach of the God-lover or denied to him; for he is the favourite of the divine Lover and the self of the Beloved."17 ...
... peculiar to Raja Yoga alone; they are attained even by other methods, methods of Hatha Yoga, methods of Tantra, and even the methods of Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and others. In the Indian yogic language, these powers or accomplishments are famous eight accomplishments, aṣṭa siddhi. These siddhis are, first of all, those of mahimā (including garimā), laghimā and animā. These three... famous Indian saint, Narsi Mehta: It is ignorance to think or to feel that I am doer of action, similar to the ignorance that a dog has when it moves under a moving cart, that cart is moving because of its own movement (dog's movement). The yogic experience one can attain is that of the vision of the vast universe and principles which are involved in the vast world movement. In Indian philosophy... realities are found to be luminous and vibrating energetically and they are capable of pouring into our layers of being their own light and powers and thus transforming them. In a more philosophical language, yoga is, first, the process to become conscious of the fact that there is in us a veil of ignorance; secondly, it is a process of the employment of methods by which this veil of ignorance can be ...
... Latin. He "never studied Hindi, but his acquaintance with Sanskrit and other Indian languages made it easy for him to pick up Hindi without any regular study and to understand it when he read Hindi books or news-papers." An exceptional mastery of Sanskrit at once opened to him the immense treasure-house of the Indian heritage. He read the Upanishads, the Gita, the Puranas, the two great epics... strength must 90. Ibid. 91. Bankim still retains his claim to uncontested supremacy as an Indian novelist. No other novelist since has had the epic vastness of his canvas, the grandeur of his imaginative creation, and the stately dignity and magnificence of his diction. All Indian languages are indebted to him for inaugurating a new era in the world of fiction, even as they are indebted to... He saw the onrush of European goods into Indian markets, and tried to stem the tide by quickening what we would now call the Swadeshi spirit, long before any one else had thought of it. It was under his inspiration that a Hindu Mela or National Exhibition was started a full quarter of a century before the Indian National Congress thought of an Indian Industrial Exhibition.... A strong conservatism ...
... painfully felt in the body. ...Meanwhile we should prepare ourselves in India. Translations into the various Indian languages are needed. This takes a lot of time — certainly one year's work for one Agenda . Do we have the right people for Bengali, Hindi, Gujarati, etc.? An Indian team should be constituted. Also we must earn some money for our Mother's Institute, not only for subsidizing the... December 1, 1980 Page 179 The New Auroville. Let's meet at Hiva-Oa. December 10, 1980 (Letter to Micheline) Enclosed is the latest article of The Indian Express . So the Upper House of the Indian Parliament has debated about the Auroville decree — and all the opposition has shown itself. The masks are beginning to drop. The extent of the Plot is revealing itself. It... that the culprit was not Panditji (at least in my particular case) and this is precisely what was shown to me: a "white hand," very white, which did not resemble an Indian hand at all — moreover, it is hardly the way I see Indian tantrics. Well. But Sujata thought it was a little too much (I spare you the kind of hell I have been living for Page 260 three months — but in reality, it ...
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