Affiliated to cosmic Space and Time
And paying here God’s debt to earth and man
A greater sonship was his divine right.
These are lines from the epic poetry of ‘Savitri’, penned by Sri Aurobindo. These lines alone appear the most appropriate, in this instance, to describe one of his magnitude and stature. In observation of Sri Aurobindo’s 141st Birth Anniversary on 15th August 2013, we dedicate two issues, July and August, to contemplate on Sri Aurobindo, his birth, his life and its meaning in the larger scheme of things. In this issue, we particularly pay some attention to the perception of two noted personalities on Sri Aurobindo.
One of them is Swami Shuddananda Bharati, who wrote ‘The Yoga of Sri Aurobindo’ and which book has been preserved for future generations in the Crypt of Civilisation in the USA, to be opened six thousand years hence. We present an excerpt of his writings in this issue. Swami Shuddhananda Bharati’s life spanned from 1897 to1990, twenty-five years of which he spent in silence in Pondicherry. He was awarded the highest Tamil literary award, Raja Rajan, from the Thanjavur Tamil University for his ‘Bharata Shakti’ which he wrote during this 25 years of silence in Pondicherry.
(from http://www.christianpiaget.ch/centre/anglais/Association/Shuddhananda _Bharati. .pdf).
The next personality is Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore met Sri Aurobindo twice. The first meeting was in 1907, after which he dedicated a poem, ’Namaskar’, to Sri Aurobindo,. We reproduce here the English translation by Kshitishchandra Sen as ‘Salutations’.
The second meeting took place in 1928, after 21 years, when Sri Aurobindo was already into seclusion and he made an exception to meet him as soon as he learnt that Tagore had halted in Pondicherry on his way to Europe. They met for only a few hours. After this meeting, Tagore wrote his tribute to Sri Aurobindo which too is re-produced in this edition. Here is a quote from the article, which explains it all, summarising the two momentous meetings of 1907 and 1928:
“Years ago I saw Aurobindo in the atmosphere of his earlier heroic youth and I sang to him,
"Aurobindo, accept the salutation from Rabindranath."
Today I saw him in a deeper atmosphere of a reticent richness of wisdom and again sang to him in silence,
"Aurobindo, accept the salutation from Rabindranath.”
As we sink into the sweetness of the experiences of Sri Aurobindo in two souls entrenched in an ardent quest for the Spirit, we may be able to hear a poignant whisper sounding in our own depths. If we pursue this whisper, it may reveal to us the secret of our contact with Sri Aurobindo, hero, visionary, master, guide and what all we may take him to be. There is something exceedingly special in finding this out, in knowing it, however we may choose to.
And paying here God’s debt to earth and man
A greater sonship was his divine right.
These are lines from the epic poetry of ‘Savitri’, penned by Sri Aurobindo. These lines alone appear the most appropriate, in this instance, to describe one of his magnitude and stature. In observation of Sri Aurobindo’s 141st Birth Anniversary on 15th August 2013, we dedicate two issues, July and August, to contemplate on Sri Aurobindo, his birth, his life and its meaning in the larger scheme of things. In this issue, we particularly pay some attention to the perception of two noted personalities on Sri Aurobindo.
One of them is Swami Shuddananda Bharati, who wrote ‘The Yoga of Sri Aurobindo’ and which book has been preserved for future generations in the Crypt of Civilisation in the USA, to be opened six thousand years hence. We present an excerpt of his writings in this issue. Swami Shuddhananda Bharati’s life spanned from 1897 to1990, twenty-five years of which he spent in silence in Pondicherry. He was awarded the highest Tamil literary award, Raja Rajan, from the Thanjavur Tamil University for his ‘Bharata Shakti’ which he wrote during this 25 years of silence in Pondicherry.
(from http://www.christianpiaget.ch/centre/anglais/Association/Shuddhananda _Bharati. .pdf).
The next personality is Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore met Sri Aurobindo twice. The first meeting was in 1907, after which he dedicated a poem, ’Namaskar’, to Sri Aurobindo,. We reproduce here the English translation by Kshitishchandra Sen as ‘Salutations’.
The second meeting took place in 1928, after 21 years, when Sri Aurobindo was already into seclusion and he made an exception to meet him as soon as he learnt that Tagore had halted in Pondicherry on his way to Europe. They met for only a few hours. After this meeting, Tagore wrote his tribute to Sri Aurobindo which too is re-produced in this edition. Here is a quote from the article, which explains it all, summarising the two momentous meetings of 1907 and 1928:
“Years ago I saw Aurobindo in the atmosphere of his earlier heroic youth and I sang to him,
"Aurobindo, accept the salutation from Rabindranath."
Today I saw him in a deeper atmosphere of a reticent richness of wisdom and again sang to him in silence,
"Aurobindo, accept the salutation from Rabindranath.”
As we sink into the sweetness of the experiences of Sri Aurobindo in two souls entrenched in an ardent quest for the Spirit, we may be able to hear a poignant whisper sounding in our own depths. If we pursue this whisper, it may reveal to us the secret of our contact with Sri Aurobindo, hero, visionary, master, guide and what all we may take him to be. There is something exceedingly special in finding this out, in knowing it, however we may choose to.
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