On Education (Collected Works of The Mother Volume 12)

On Education

Collected Works of the Mother Volume 12

This volume is a compilation of the Mother’s articles, messages, letters and conversations on education. Three dramas, written for the annual dramatic performance of the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, are also included.

PART ONE. ARTICLES

The fifteen articles here were first published in the Bulletin of Physical Education (later renamed Bulletin of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education) between 1949 and 1955. The Mother wrote them in French and translated a few, entirely or in part, into English; in this volume, these translations have been retained. The original translations made by others have been revised or new translations made.

PART TWO. MESSAGES, LETTERS AND CONVERSATIONS

PART THREE. DRAMAS

The Mother wrote three dramas in French for the dramatic performance held annually on December 1 by the students and teachers of the Centre of Education. Towards the Future was produced in 1949, The Great Secret in 1954 and The Ascent to Truth in 1957. Each play was issued as a booklet immediately after its performance, with the text in both French and English. For this volume, the original translations have been revised. For The Great Secret, the Mother wrote the parts of the Statesman, the Artist and the Unknown Man; the parts of the four other characters were written, in consultation with the Mother, by those who played the roles. The parts of the Writer and the Athlete were written in English. A letter to the person who portrayed the Industrialist is included as an introduction to the drama.

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Notes on the Way (Collected Works of The Mother Volume 11)

Notes on the Way

Collected Works of the Mother Volume 11

During the years 1961 to 1973 the Mother had frequent conversations with one of her disciples about the experiences she was having at the time. She called these conversations, which were in French, l’Agenda.

Selected transcripts of the tape-recorded conversations were seen, approved and occasionally revised by the Mother for publication in the Bulletin of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education; they appeared regularly from February 1965 to April 1973 under the titles “Notes on the Way” and “A Propos”. The English translations that accompanied the French text in the Bulletin were sometimes read out to the Mother for approval; the same translations, with minor revisions, are published in this volume, number eleven of the Collected Works of the Mother.

The following introductory note preceded the first of the “Notes on the Way” conversations:

“We begin under this title to publish some fragments of conversations with the Mother. These reflections or experiences, these observations, which are very recent, are like landmarks on the way of Transformation: they were chosen not only because they illumine the work under way — a yoga of the body of which all the processes have to be established — but because they can be a sort of indication of the endeavour that has to be made.”

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Anandmath (Italian)

Anandmath

Anandamath, dello scrittore bengalese Bankim Chandra Chatterjee del secolo XIX, è il romanzo dell’insurrezione del popolo hindu contro il dominio dei Musulmani e Inglesi, avvenuta nella seconda metà del 1700. Gli Inglesi erano allora in fase ascendente per il pieno dominio dell’India. Il popolo soffriva la fame, subiva patenti vessazioni dai governanti, era costretto a pagare ingenti tasse, così si ribellò. Chi lo guidò furono degli illuminati Sannyasin – uomini e donne erranti che hanno rinunciato ai beni materiali per trovare Dio, secondo l’Induismo. Il Sannyasin viene a conoscere Dio dunque viene a conoscere il proprio vero Sé: la sua coscienza s’espande a tutto il creato e si fa carico del bene e male di esso. Egli è mosso dall’amore verso tutti gli esseri. Il Sannyasin del romanzo non è tuttavia un rinunciatario della vita materiale: si butta con tutto il cuore nell’azione anche cruenta per alleviare le sofferenze del popolo.

Bankim sa entrare nella psiche dei protagonisti, ne svela i moti interiori, così aggiungendo alla vividezza dei fatti esteriori, a volte impietosi, i colori dell’anima. E il lettore ne beneficia , in quanto non può esimersi dal confrontarli con le proprie pulsioni interiori.

Sri Aurobindo, il pioniere della libertà dell’India dal giogo britannico prima e del futuro glorioso dell’umanità poi, di ritorno dall’Inghilterra (nel 1893) scrisse degli articoli su Bankim, che testimoniamo dell’influenza su di lui, per la virtù letteraria e specificatamente per Anandamath, il suo spirito e fuoco rivoluzionario, di opposizione costi quel che costi alla schiavitù di stranieri. E per entrare più a fondo e presto in quello spirito egli tradusse buona parte del romanzo. Il canto Bande Mataram, parte del libro, divenne grazie a Sri Aurobindo il motto e grido di libertà del popolo indiano agli inizi del 1900, ben prima della liberazione.

The attached work is the Italian translation of book Anandamath by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, from the English version of Sri Aurobindo and his brother Barin, as issued by Auro-ebooks.

Book Details

Author: Bankim Chandra Chatterjee
Translation into Italian: Giancarlo Pedralli
Print Length: 120
Original source:
Submitted by: giancarlo PEDRALLI
Book format: Pdf
Language: Italian
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The English of Savitri Volume 11

The English of Savitri
volume 11

Like the previous volumes in the English of Savitri series, this one too is based on transcripts of classes held by the author at Savitri Bhavan, in this case from June 2013 to January 2014. The transcripts have been carefully revised and edited for conciseness and clarity, while aiming to preserve the informal atmosphere of the course. This Eleventh Volume covers Book Four, The Book of Birth and Quest, and Book Five, The Book of Love, of Sri Aurobindo’s epic, Savitri – A Legend and a Symbol. Each sentence of these cantos is examined closely, and explanations are given about vocabulary, sentence-structure and imagery. The aim is to assist understanding of the poem which the Mother has characterised as ‘the supreme revelation of Sri Aurobindo’s vision.’

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The English of Savitri Volume 10

The English of Savitri
volume 10

Like the previous books in this series, this one too is based on transcripts of classes held by the author at Savitri Bhavan, in this case during 2012 and 2021. The transcripts have been carefully revised and edited for conciseness and clarity, while aiming to preserve the informal atmosphere of the course. This Tenth Volume covers Cantos Twelve to Fifteen of Book Two of Sri Aurobindo’s epic, Savitri – A Legend and a Symbol. Each sentence of these cantos is examined closely and explanations are given about vocabulary, sentence-structure and imagery. The aim is to assist understanding of the poem which the Mother has characterised as ‘the supreme revelation of Sri Aurobindo’s vision.’

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In Mother’s Land

This is a collection of poems that have been coming to be written down and shared in the years that I have been living in Auroville – the experimental ground for “human unity in diversity” which The Mother (Mirra Alfassa) created to welcome home Her children from India and across the world.

Book Details

Author: Anandi Zhang
Print Length: 142
Publisher: Our Home (OH), under Auroville Art Service
Book format: Pdf
Language: English
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The English of Savitri Volume 9

The English of Savitri
volume 9

This is the Ninth Volume of the English of Savitri series. Like the previous books in this series, this one too is based on transcripts of classes held by the author at Savitri Bhavan, in this case from March to September 2020. The transcripts have been carefully revised and edited for conciseness and clarity, while aiming to preserve the informal atmosphere of the course. This Ninth Volume covers Cantos Ten and Eleven of Book Two of Sri Aurobindo’s epic, Savitri – A Legend and a Symbol. Each sentence of these cantos is examined closely and explanations are given about vocabulary, sentence-structure and imagery. The aim is to assist understanding of the poem which the Mother has characterised as ‘the supreme revelation of Sri Aurobindo’s vision.’

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Poetic and…

The book “Poetic and…” is a collection of short poems that come from inspirations in daily life in and around Auroville. Readers in Auroville and beyond resonate with poems in the book, feeling that they describe their life experiences, inner journeys, and insights.

There are three sections in the book:
– Poetic and Playful
– Poetic and Pensive
– Poetic and Precious

A reader’s feedback:
I loved reading your book Poetic and… Each one of the thoughts resonates with me. Thank you for penning what I feel so frequently about such things.

Book Details

Author: Anandi Zhang
Print Length: 152
Publisher: Our Home (OH), under Auroville Art Service
Book format: Pdf
Language: English
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On Thoughts and Aphorisms (Collected Works of The Mother Volume 10)

On Thoughts and Aphorisms

Collected Works of the Mother Volume 10

The Mother’s commentaries on Sri Aurobindo’s Thoughts and Aphorisms were given over the twelve-year period from 1958 to 1970. The commentaries may be divided into four periods according to date, character and form.

  1. Aphorisms 1–12 (1958). Oral replies to questions submitted beforehand in writing by the students, teachers and sadhaks of the Ashram during the Mother’s Wednesday classes at the Ashram Playground.
  2. Aphorisms 13–68 (1960–61). Replies, mostly written, a few oral, to questions written to the Mother by a young instructor of the Ashram’s physical education department.
  3. Aphorisms 69–124 (1962–66). Oral replies to a disciple. During this period the Mother digressed more and more from direct commentary on the aphorisms and used the occasions to explain the experiences she was having at the time.
  4. Aphorisms 125–541 (1969–70). Brief written replies to questions asked by the instructor mentioned above.

Sri Aurobindo wrote these aphorisms around 1913 during the early part of his stay in Pondicherry. Never revised or published during his lifetime, they were first brought out in 1958 under the three headings established by the author: Jnana (Knowledge), Karma (Works) and Bhakti (Devotion).

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Evolution and the Earthly Destiny by Nolini Kanta Gupta

Evolution and the Earthly Destiny

This selection of essays, drawn from the manifold writings of Nolini Kanta Gupta, is dedicated to the youth of India, to those among her children who cherish in some part of their being an aspiration, a living flame of light that yearns towards an ever-growing perfection, a truth of being and becoming as yet vaguely surmised or only partially revealed.

Throughout the many and varied domains of the human adventure, seen here in the light of Sri Aurobindo’s vision of the future, there emerges the one eternal question and dominant theme of our seeking: man past and present, man individual and collective, but always and above all, the ultimate flowering of his life upon earth.

The essays cover five broad topics: Man and the evolution, India and her Swadharma, Education, Science and Philosophy, and Poetry and Mysticism.

Book Details

Author: Nolini Kanta Gupta
Print Length: 354 pages
Publisher: Sri Aurobindo Ashram
Submitted by: Avinash Tiwari
Book format: PDF, ePub, Kindle
Language: English Read more