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The Riddle of this World

From immemorial ages, from the time of the Greek mysteries and before, human beings have been facing the riddle of the Sphinx – the riddle of this world. And even in this age, the age of modern science, and digital technology, we have no choice – we either have to answer it or perish in nameless shadows.

Have you ever wanted to discover for yourself – directly, without premade, prefabricated answers given by others – the meaning of the Universe and the purpose of human existence? Have you ever wondered why there is so much insensitivity, foolishness and ignorance not just in the world but in yourself as well? Have you ever wondered why our greatest aspirations are almost invariably betrayed by our own natures or why apparent victory always carries the taste of incompleteness? In The Riddle of this World, Sri Aurobindo answers these questions for his disciples in terms that are highly relevant for us today. Today, as in the deepest past, the challenge for each human being is to discover the purpose of his own existence.

Tales of Prison Life

Sri Aurobindo was arrested for conspiracy on 5th May 1908 and spent one full year in Alipore jail while the British Government, in a protracted court-trial (which came to be known as “Alipore Bomb Case” ), tried to implicate him in various revolutionary activities. He was acquitted and released on 6th May 1909. Subsequently he wrote a series of articles in the Bengali journal “Suprabhat”, describing his life in prison and the courtroom. Sri Aurobindo made a brief mention in these articles of his spiritual experiences in Jail. Later he publicly spoke on the matter in the “Uttarpara Speech”.

Book Details

Author: Sri Aurobindo
Print Length: 97
Publisher: Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture
Book format: Pdf, ePub, mobi (Kindle)
Language: English
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Lights on Yoga

Lights on Yoga by Sri Aurobindo

Ebook Lights on Yoga by Sri Aurobindo is a collection of illuminating extracts from Sri Aurobindo’s letters to disciples. This booklet was first published in Sri Aurobindo’s lifetime in 1935 with the following note: “These are extracts from letters written by Sri Aurobindo to his disciples in answer to their queries. They have been put together and arranged so as to be of help to some aspirants for the understanding and practice of the Yoga.”

Elements of Yoga

Elements of Yoga by Sri Aurobindo is a compilation of Sri Aurobindo’s replies to elementary questions about Yoga raised by a disciple during the years 1933 to 1936. It was first published in 1953 and reissued in 1956. In 1991 the text was reproduced as the first part of Commentaries on “Elements of Yoga” by the Mother. Elements of Yoga is now being issued independently again in a second edition.

Conversations with Sri Aurobindo

“Conversations with Sri Aurobindo” is Pavitra’s personal diary where he was recording his meeting with Sri Aurobindo which were held from December 18, 1925 to November 20, 1926. Book starts from the description of the first meeting of Pavitra with Sri Aurobindo. Each entry of this unique diary revals new depths of wisdom and yogic experience which Sri Aurobindo shares with his disciple. Pavitra, a French engineer of the Polytechnic School, arrived at Pondicherry on the 17th of December, 1925, having come from a Mongolian lamasery where his spiritual search had driven him, after his having spent four years in Japan. He never left Pondicherry again, where he lived for forty-four years in the service of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. He left his body on May 16, 1969. These brief conversations were noted from memory, most of the time in French, except towards the end. Hence, they do not represent the exact words of the Master, but are as faithful a record as possible. Pavitra was then 31 years old.

The Supramental Manifestation upon Earth

Sri Aurobindo wrote these eight essays, his last prose writings, in 1949 and 1950 for publication in the quarterly Bulletin of Physical Education (at present called the Bulletin of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education). They reveal a vision which includes the perfection of the body as an instrument of the action of the spirit, the nature and structure of a divine body and the conditions and operations of its life on earth, the manifestation of a supramental truth-consciousness as the basis for a divine life upon earth, and the creation of a new humanity possessed of a mind of light.

Letters on Savitri

Sri Aurobindo’s letters on Savitri. These letters are published at the end of Savitri for their rare value as a great poet’s informal self-commentary. These letters had been published in 1954 Savitri edition but were omitted in the later publications. Here we publish them as a separate book.

The Mother

Book The Mother by Sri Aurobindo: These inspirational essays by Sri Aurobindo form a powerful statement of the true attitude to be taken by a sadhak of the integral Yoga: one of a complete and dynamic surrender to the Mother. They describe the triple movement of aspiration, rejection, and surrender, the conditions for a true faith and sincerity, the irresistible power of the Divine Mother’s grace, the need to reconquer the money-force for the Mother’s work, and the joy of a perfect instrumentality through selfless work, surmounting the demands of the ego. The final piece describes the four great powers and personalities of the Divine Mother.

Bases of Yoga

Bases of Yoga by Sri Aurobindo is a collection of 156 extracts from his letters to disciples, Sri Aurobindo explains the central principles and practices of his Integral Yoga.

There can be no firm foundation in sadhana without equality, samata. Whatever the unpleasantness of circumstances, however disagreeable the conduct of others, you must learn to receive them with a perfect calm and without any disturbing reaction. These things are the test of equality. It is easy to be calm and equal when things go well and people and circumstances are pleasant; it is when they are the opposite that the completeness of the calm, peace, equality can be tested, reinforced, made perfect.” – Sri Aurobindo

The Upanishads

Book The Upanishads by Sri Aurobindo contains his final translations of and commentaries on the Isha and Kena, his final translations of the Mundaka and Katha Upanishads, and a commentary on part of the Taittiriya Upanishad. Upanishads are the ancient treatises on spiritual truths as envisioned by the seers, sages and rishis of the civilization of India.

They are preceded by a chapter on the Upanishads from A Defence of Indian Culture. These works represent Sri Aurobindo‘s Upanishadic interpretation in its most mature and finished form. All were written after he settled in Pondicherry in 1910. Translations and commentaries written before that year, or left incomplete by the author, have not been included in this volume. They are available in other publications.