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 represents a synthesis of the teachings of both the West and the East. Not content simply with dissolution into a transcendental, other-worldly God-consciousness, nor with concentration on the outer life and its powers to the exclusion of anything other or higher, Sri Aurobindo has created the teachings of a Divine Life on Earth. This volume comprises all of Sri Aurobindo's shorter prose writings on Yoga and philosophy written after 1910 and published during his lifetime. The present edition differs from the first (Centenary) edition in several respects. The contents have been ordered to follow strictly the arrangement of the material as it was issued by Sri Aurobindo in his lifetime.
All religions face the challenge of explaining, in view of God's goodness, the existence of evil and suffering in the world. They must develop theories of the origin and the overcoming of evil and suffering. The explanations in Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism of evil and suffering and their origin, as well as these world religions' theories of how to overcome evil and suffering, differ from one another, but are also similar in many respects. The human person is always considered to be the origin of evil, and also to be the focus of aspirations to be able to overcome it. The conviction that evil and suffering are not original and can be overcome is characteristic of and common to the religions. The explanations of the origin of evil are closely related to the explanations of the continuation and propagation of evil in human persons, in nature, and in our technology and culture that have been developed in the religions - in Christianity, for example, as the doctrine of original sin. Finally, the world religions are concerned with how to cope with suffering and offer guidance for overcoming evil and suffering. Leading scholars of five world religions, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Hinduism, have created with this volume a first-hand source of information, which enables the reader to gain a better understanding of these religions' central teachings about the origin and the overcoming of evil and suffering.
This book aims primarily to help the reader become aware of the influence and action of the soul in life and then to describe and clarify the various states of consciousness that pertain to the experiences of the soul. The selections were chosen to provide the reader with a mental understanding and clarity that can help identify the movements and influences of the psychic being and grow more conscious of which factors are helpful and which harmful in fostering the awareness of one's soul . Finally, it aims to light the way beyond the initial discovery of the psychic being to an aspiration for the complete transformation of the external being, leading to a life governed only by the soul. This book, an expansion on the editor's previous compilation The Psychic Being, deals more extensively with the practical aspects of the subject.
