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” 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.
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.
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.
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 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
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.
The Bhagavad Gita, is a 700-verse scripture that is part of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. It contains a conversation between Pandava prince Arjuna and his guide Lord Krishna on a variety of theological and philosophical issues. Faced with a fratricidal war, a despondent Arjuna turns to his charioteer Krishna for counsel on the battlefield. Krishna, through the course of the Gita, imparts to Arjuna wisdom, the path to devotion, and the doctrine of selfless action.
eBook Bhagavad Gita by Sri Aurobindo presented here was compiled mainly from Sri Aurobindo’s Essays on the Gita. It first appeared in The Message of the Gita, edited by Anilbaran Roy, in 1938. Sri Aurobindo approved this book for publication; however, he made it clear in one of his letters that the translations in the Essays were “more explanatory than textually precise or cast in a literary style”. Many of them are paraphrases rather than strict translations. Sri Aurobindo also wrote that he did not wish extracts from the Essays “to go out as my translation of the Gita“. This should be borne in mind by the reader as he mattes use of this translation, which has been provided as a bridge between the Gita and Sri Aurobindo’s Essays.
Essays on the Gita by Sri Aurobindo – essays on the philosophy and method of self-discipline presented in the pre-eminent Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita. It was after reading these essays, in particular, that in the 1930s President Wilsons daughter went to Sri Aurobindo and devoted her life – receiving the name Nishtha via his vision in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram at Pondicherry.
Savitri by Sri Aurobindo – his major poetic work, an epic in blank verse. In Savitri, a legend from the Mahabharata becomes the symbol of the human soul’s spiritual destiny. In poetic language, Sri Aurobindo describes his vision of existence and explores the reason for ignorance, darkness, suffering and pain, the purpose of life on earth and the prospect of a glorious future for humanity. The writing of the epic extended over much of the later part of his life.