Category Archives: Books

The Nachiketa fire sacrifice

Posted on February 3, 2012 by

In a dialogue in the Katha Upanishad, Nachiketa asks Yama, the God of Death, to reveal the fire sacrifice that leads one to immortality. A disciple of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother may have experienced the Nachiketa fire sacrifice. Continue reading →

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The message of the Gita

Posted on August 25, 2011 by

The Bhagavad Gita is an inspiring scripture which people rely on for guidance and cite in support of their arguments. Unfortunately, its aphoristic quality and the backdrop of the war through which its message has been expounded makes it amenable to divergent interpretations. Pacifists tend to be distressed by the justification of war while the hawkish delight in it. The Gita’s enunciation of multiple spiritual paths provides leeway for commentators to selectively highlight the sections they prefer and ignore the rest of the book. Ethicists, for instance, may assume that the Gita preaches the performance of duty above everything. In this article, we examine Sri Aurobindo’s perspective on the Gita. Continue reading →

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Allusions in Savitri – part 2

Posted on August 11, 2011 by

This article continues a previous article “Allusions in Savitri” in which we discussed some allusions used by Sri Aurobindo in his epic poem Savitri. Sri Aurobindo had to evolve a new diction in English to describe his supernatural experiences and towards this end, he occasionally employed images, symbols and phrases from English Romantic poetry. Continue reading →

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Allusions in Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri

Posted on February 28, 2011 by

In his epic poem Savitri, Sri Aurobindo sought to convey many of the superconscient experiences that he and the Mother Mirra Alfassa underwent. In order to bring home the touch of the Ineffable to the reader, he employed a number of literary devices as part of the diction, including what are known as “allusions”. V.K.Gokak, a professor of English and Kannada literature, was able to uncover about 140 allusions to Romantic era poetry in Savitri. In this article, we cover a few of allusions that he discovered. Continue reading →

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Similarities between Sumerian Anki and Vedic Agni by Jean-Yves Lung

Posted on November 11, 2010 by

A previous blog post on Kundalini examined whether the notion of Kundalini may have existed in ancient Greek and other cultures. In consonance with that theme, this article by Jean-Yves Lung probes the similarities between the Vedic god Agni and the Sumerian god Enki. Jean-Yves Lung is a teacher-researcher living in Auroville since 1993. He teaches French, History and Sanskrit. This article originally appeared in June 2009 issue of Ritam, a bi-annual journal published by Sri Aurobindo International Institute for Educaitional Research (SAIIER) Continue reading →

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Summary of Savitri by Jyotipriya (Dr Judith Tyberg)

Posted on October 18, 2010 by

This is Jyotipriya’s summary of Sri Aurobindo’s epic poem Savitri. Jyotipriya aka Dr Judith Tyberg (1902-1980) was the founder and director of the Sri Aurobindo Center of Los Angeles. Savitri is an epic poem in blank verse of about 24000 lines, which narrates the spiritual journey undertaken by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother as part of their Integral Yoga. It details the varied occult worlds they witnessed, the states of consciousness they experienced, and the work of Supramental Transformation that they undertook in their life. Sri Aurobindo has rendered in accessible English verse many of the concepts found scattered across the numerous Vedas, Upanishads and Puranas. Continue reading →

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Developing one’s own spiritual atmosphere (Gita 3:17)

Posted on July 29, 2010 by

Those who live for Thee and in Thee may change their physical surroundings, their habits, climate, “milieu”, but everywhere they find the same atmosphere; they carry that atmosphere in themselves, in their thought constantly fixed on Thee. Everywhere they feel at home, for everywhere they are in Thy house. Continue reading →

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Hermeneutics: how to read holy scriptures

Posted on June 10, 2010 by

When men come across a book of true knowledge, each finds himself there, and at every new reading he discovers things that he did not see in it at first; it opens to him each time a new field of knowledge that had till then escaped him in it. But that is because it reaches layers of knowledge that were waiting for expression in the subconscious in him; the expression has now been given by somebody else and much better than he could himself have done it. But, once expressed, he immediately recognises it and feels that it is the truth. The knowledge that seems to come to you from outside is only an occasion for bringing out the knowledge that is within you Continue reading →

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Vidyas in the Upanishads – part 2

Posted on March 24, 2010 by

The Upanishads feature koans for contemplation called Vidyas(literally means knowledge). They are meant to trigger the mind into perceiving yet another facet of the Divine Reality thereby guiding the aspirant into deeper grades of meditation. In a previous post Vidyas in the Upanishads, five such Vidyas were covered: Bhuma, Prana, Shandilya, Madhu and Vaishvanara. The book Supreme Knowledge by Swami Brahmananda [3] lists an astounding 101 Vidyas drawn from the Upanishads. This post discusses a few Vidyas drawn from this book. Continue reading →

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PanchaTattva Dharana : contemplation on the five elements

Posted on March 23, 2010 by

This post supplements a previous post Videha Dharana : fixing the mind outside the body, which discussed a method called Videha Dharana as per Sri Anirvan. The method is drawn from the Upanishads and can also be called PanchaTattva Dharana or contemplation on the five (pancha) elements (tattva) – namely earth, water, air, fire, ether. There is a similar technique in the Tantra texts called Bhuta-Shuddhi which is also outlined here. Continue reading →

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Meditation techniques from the Yoga Upanishads

Posted on February 4, 2010 by

Out of the 108 Upanishads, there are 21 which are known as the Yoga Upanishads. These contain various methods of Dharana (i.e. one-pointed concentration). The book Dharana Darshan by Swami Nirajananda Saraswati of the Bihar School of Yoga discusses them in detail Continue reading →

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Videha Dharana : fixing the mind outside the body

Posted on December 14, 2009 by

As discussed in the post Taming the Monkey Mind, the mind in contemplation can focus its awareness on many different objects – be they gross or subtle, within the body or without. In this post, we will cover one more method called Videha Dharana(fixing the awareness outside the body) which has been briefly mentioned in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and elaborated by Sri Anirvan in his book Inner Yoga. As we see below, what is noteworthy is that Sri Anirvan’s description of the transformation bears resemblance to some changes in body consciousness that were noted in exchanges between Sri Aurobindo and his disciples. Continue reading →

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States of self-realization defined in the Gita

Posted on November 18, 2009 by

This post is a collection of some interesting terms from the Bhagavad Gita that denote various states of self-realization, along with explanatory text from the works of Sri Aurobindo. The terms covered are Vyavasaya-yukta Buddhi, Atmarati, Brahmi-sthithi, Nimitta-Matra, Brahma-Nirvana, Samahita, Samyatendriyah, Samsiddhi, Samam Brahma, Udasinavat, Krsna-vit, Brahma-bhuya and Madbhava. Continue reading →

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Gita Chapter 18, Verse 60-61: The illusion of free-will

Posted on November 1, 2009 by

The Bhagavad Gita in Chapter 18, verses 60-61 states that all creatures are mounted on the machine of Nature and act accordingly. This post explicates the meaning of these two verses. Continue reading →

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Links between Vedas, Upanishads, Tantra and Puranas

Posted on September 26, 2009 by

Sri Aurobindo and his disciples uncovered connections between the Vedas and the later scriptures such as Upanishads, Puranas and the Tantra by tracing the evolution of concepts, use of common verses and the underlying symbolism between these scriptures. This is a synopsis of their discoveries collated from a variety of sources. Continue reading →

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Vedic Vak: illustration of Para Vak

Posted on August 19, 2009 by

All great spiritual masters give instruction in silence. This silence is not absence of speech but a force-field emitted the Master which bathes the disciple and dissolves his/her questions. This eternal silence which vibrates from the Master is an example of the Para Vak discussed in the previous post Vedic Vak: four levels of sound. Continue reading →

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Illustrating Integral Psychology using the Gita

Posted on August 1, 2009 by

This post provides an illustration of Integral Psychology of Sri Aurobindo using the verses of the Bhagavad Gita ( Chapter 2, verses 62 and 63 )
Continue reading →

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Vedic Vak: four levels of sound

Posted on July 9, 2009 by

This is a simplified explanation of the Vedic theory of Sound (Vak) using some examples as well as the words of the Mother of the Aurobindo Ashram. Continue reading →

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Man shall not live by bread alone

Posted on May 27, 2009 by

The words of Christ: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4) have deep meaning to those who practice Yoga. The “word of God” here indicates that … Continue reading →

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Vidyas in the Upanishads

Posted on March 24, 2009 by

The Upanishads, besides delineating various spiritual experiences, also give a few hints on sādhana, i.e., paths of spiritual realization. These methods of sādhana are called vidyās. Continue reading →

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