Publisher’s Note

Record of Yoga is a diary of Sri Aurobindo’s yoga between 1909 and 1927. He kept it fairly regularly from 1912 to 1920, and also wrote a few entries in 1909, 1911 and 1927. At different times he gave this diary different names. “Record of Yoga” was the most typical and the editors have used it as the general title of the work.

During the years he kept the diary, Sri Aurobindo also wrote other materials relating to his practice of yoga. These include descriptions of the seven “chatusthayas” (groups of four elements), which are the basis of the yoga of the Record. These materials are published in the Introduction, in Parts Four and Five, and in the Appendix.

Sri Aurobindo wrote the diary and related materials by hand in various notebooks and on loose sheets of paper. He used a special terminology which included words from Sanskrit and other languages, as well as abbreviations, symbols and markings, some of which are difficult to represent in a printed book. The special terminology is explained in a separate glossary. The editors have tried to reproduce the details of the manuscripts as exactly as possible. Editorial problems arising from damage to the manuscripts, illegibility, etc. are indicated by means of the system explained in the Guide to Editorial Notation on the next page.

The text of the diary entries and related materials, transcribed and arranged by the editors, appears here for the first time as a book.