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Sri Aurobindo: Saga of a Great Indian Sage Wilfried Huchzermeyer
About Sri Aurobindo: Saga of a Great Indian SageThis biography of Sri Aurobindo examines all aspects of his life: his education and early political activities as well as the work he undertook after his arrival in Pondicherry. A brief introduction to Sri Aurobindo's main prose works, a description of his collaboration with the Mother, and an analysis of certain aspects of the Second World War are treated in various chapters. The author draws on the work of previous biographers as well as evaluating the most recent sources available, including the volumes of The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo that contain previously unpublished material. The book includes twenty-six pages of photographs. The author has also written a short biography of the Mother. REVIEWSince the publication of the first biography of Sri Aurobindo in English in 1911, a handsome mass of works on the subject has come up despite the formidable difficulty caused by the fact that Sri Aurobindo's was a life the true significance of which could not be measured by events marking the surface of his physical existence.
Notwithstanding any particular point of view, we see the author working out a narrative that is at once well documented and easy to read. The work may not justify the author's statement, "I intend to present Sri Aurobindo's life comprehensively and in detail," but he has done pleasant justice to each phase and aspect of Sri Aurobindo's life, citing such facts that are representative of them and passing from one to the next in a natural and instinctively sound glide. The work is presented in seventeen chapters – the last one being on Auroville – and each chapter has several sections. For example, Chapter Thirteen entitled "The Second World War" has a section on Winston Churchill. It contains the Mother's explanation to a sadhak who is baffled by Sri Aurobindo's and the Mother's occult support to Churchill, who had openly said that he had no intention of liquidating the British empire, meaning he was not for India's freedom. As reported by Nirodbaran in his Twelve Years with Sri Aurobindo, the Mother explained:
This is to illustrate the author's way of picking salient quotes to highlight some of Sri Aurobindo's actions at a supraphysical plane, though for the sake of the physical plane. The work contains, the seventeen chapters apart, more than forty photographs and also several appendices, consisting of Sri Aurobindo's comments on India, observations about Sri Aurobindo by a few renowned personages, the meaning of the symbols of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, and a precise chronology of events in the life of Sri Aurobindo. Also included are a glossary of important Sanskrit terms as well as a few English words "newly introduced by Sri Aurobindo" in the context of his yoga and a list of Sri Aurobindo's works and some of the important books and journals relevant to this colossal subject. Without a doubt Huchzermeyer's work is an excellent introduction to the life and vision of the Master. It should come as a bonanza for beginners. Manoj Das Shri Manoj Das is a well-known writer. Awarded the Padma Shri for his distinguished contribution to literature, he is also the recipient of the Saraswati Samman and Sahitya Akademi awards. December 2013 |