Autobiographical Notes

and Other Writings of Historical Interest

CONTENTS

	PART ONE
	AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

	Section One
	Life Sketches and Other Autobiographical Notes

	Sri Aurobindo: A Life Sketch
		Sri Aurobindo: A Life Sketch
		Appendix: Letters on “Sri Aurobindo: A Life Sketch”

	Incomplete Life Sketches
		Incomplete Life Sketch in Outline Form, c. 1922
		Fragmentary Life Sketch, c. 1928

	Other Autobiographical Notes
		A Day in Srinagar
		Information Supplied to the King’s College Register

	Section Two
	Corrections of Statements Made in Biographies and Other Publications

	Early Life in India and England, 1872 – 1893
		Language Learning
		At Manchester
		School Studies
		In London
		Early Poetry
		At Cambridge
		The Riding Examination
		Political Interests and Activities
		The Meeting with the Maharaja of Baroda
		Departure from England

	Life in Baroda, 1893 – 1906
		Service in Baroda State
		Language Study at Baroda
		Poetry Writing at Baroda
		Meetings with His Grandfather at Deoghar

	Political Life, 1893 – 1910
		A General Note on Sri Aurobindo’s Political Life
		The Indu Prakash Articles
		Beginnings of the Revolutionary Movement
		Attitude towards Violent Revolution
		General Note (referring especially to the Alipur Case and Sri Aurobindo’s politics)
		Sister Nivedita
		Bhawani Mandir
		The Indian National Congress: Moderates and Extremists
		The Barisal Conference and the Start of the Yugantar
		Principal of the Bengal National College
		Start of the Bande Mataram
		The Policy of the Bande Mataram
		The Bande Mataram Sedition Case
		The Surat Congress
		The Alipore Bomb Case
		The Open Letters of July and December 1909
		The Karmayogin Case

	The Departure from Calcutta, 1910
		To Charu Chandra Dutt
		To the Editor, Sunday Times
		On an Article by Ramchandra Majumdar
		To Pavitra (Philippe Barbier Saint Hilaire)

	Life in Pondicherry, 1910 – 1950
		Meeting with the Mother
		The Arya
		The Development of the Ashram
		Support for the Allies
		Muslims and the 1947 Partition of Bengal

	Early Spiritual Development
		First Turn towards Spiritual Seeking
		Beginnings of Yoga at Baroda
		Meeting with Vishnu Bhaskar Lele
		Sadhana 1908 – 1909

	Philosophy and Writings
		Sources of His Philosophy
		Perseus the Deliverer
		Essays on the Gita
		The Future Poetry
		The Mother
		Some Philosophical Topics

	Appendix: Notes of Uncertain Origin

	PART TWO
	LETTERS OF HISTORICAL INTEREST

	Section One
	Letters on Personal, Practical and Political Matters,1890 – 1926

	Family Letters, 1890 – 1919
		Extract from a Letter to His Father
		To His Grandfather
		To His Sister
		Extract from a Letter to His Brother
		To His Uncle
		To His Wife
		To His Father-in-Law

	Letters Written as a Probationer in the Indian Civil Service, 1892
		To Lord Kimberley

	Letters Written While Employed in the Princely State of Baroda, 1895 – 1906
		To the Sar Suba, Baroda State
		To Bhuban Babu
		To an Officer of the Baroda State
		Draft of a Reply to the Resident on the Curzon Circular
		To the Dewan, on the Government’s Reply to the Letter on the Curzon Circular
		To the Naib Dewan, on the Infant Marriage Bill
		A Letter of Condolence
		To R. C. Dutt
		To the Principal, Baroda College
		To the Dewan, on Rejoining the College
		To the Maharaja
		A Letter of Recommendation

	Letters and Telegrams to Political and Professional Associates, 1906 – 1926
		To Bipin Chandra Pal
		A Letter of Acknowledgement
		To Hemendra Prasad Ghose
		To Aswinicoomar Banerji
		To Dr. S.K. Mullick
		Telegrams about a Planned Political Reception
		Extract from a Letter to Parthasarathi Aiyangar
		Note on a Forged Document
		To Anandrao
		To Motilal Roy
		Draft of a Letter to Saurin Bose
		To K. R. Appadurai
		Fragmentary Draft Letter
		To a Would-be Contributor to the Arya
		To Joseph Baptista
		To Balkrishna Shivaram Moonje
		To Chittaranjan Das
		To Shyamsundar Chakravarty

	Open Letters Published in Newspapers, 1909 – 1925
		To the Editor of the Bengalee
		To the Editor of the Hindu
		To the Editor of the New India
		To the Editor of the Hindustan
		To the Editor of the Independent
		To the Editor of the Standard Bearer
		To the Editor of the Bombay Chronicle

	Section Two
	Early Letters on Yoga and the Spiritual Life, 1911 – 1928

	Extracts from Letters to the Mother and Paul Richard,
		To Paul Richard
		To the Mother and Paul Richard
		Draft of a Letter

	To People in India, 1914 – 1926
		To N. K. Gogte
		Draft of a Letter to Nolini Kanta Gupta
		To A. B. Purani
		To V. Chandrasekharam
		Extract from a Letter to K.N. Dixit
		To Ramchandran
		To and about V. Tirupati
		To Daulatram Sharma

	To Barindra Kumar Ghose and Others, 1922 – 1928
		To Barindra Kumar Ghose
		To Hrishikesh Kanjilal
		To Krishnashashi
		To Rajani Palit
		Draft Letters to and about Kumud Bandhu Bagchi

	To People in America, 1926 – 1927
		To Mr. and Mrs. Sharman
		To the Advance Distributing Company
		Draft of a Letter to C. E. Lefebvre
		To and about Anna Bogenholm Sloane

	Draft Letters, 1926 – 1928
		To an Unknown Person
		To and about Marie Potel

	Section Three
	Other Letters of Historical Interest on Yoga and Practical Life, 1921 – 1938

	On Yoga and Fund-raising for the Ashram, 1921 – 1938
		To and about Durgadas Shett
		To and about Punamchand M. Shah

	To and about Public Figures, 1930 – 1937
		Draft of a Letter to Maharani Chimnabai II
		On a Proposed Visit by Mahatma Gandhi
		To Dr. S. Radhakrishnan
		To and about Morarji Desai
		On a Proposed Visit by Jawaharlal Nehru
		To Birendra Kishore Roy Chowdhury

	PART THREE
	PUBLIC STATEMENTS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONSON INDIAN AND WORLD EVENTS, 1940–1950

	Section One
	Public Statements, Messages, Letters and Telegrams on Indian and World Events, 1940 – 1950

	On the Second World War, 1940 – 1943
		Contributions to Allied War Funds
		Notes about the War Fund Contributions
		On the War: An Unreleased Statement
		India and the War
		On the War: Private Letters That Were Made Public

	On Indian Independence, 1942 – 1947
		On the Cripps Proposal
		On the Wavell Plan
		On the Cabinet Mission Proposals
		The Fifteenth of August 1947

	On the Integration of the French Settlements in India, 1947 – 1950
		The Future Union (A Programme)
		On the Disturbances of 15 August 1947 in Pondicherry
		Letters to Surendra Mohan Ghosh
		Note on a Projet de loi

	Messages on Indian and World Events, 1948 – 1950
		On the Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi
		On the World Situation (July 1948)
		On Linguistic Provinces (Message to Andhra University)
		Letters Related to the Andhra University Award
		The Present Darkness (April 1950)
		On the Korean Conflict

	Section Two
	Private Letters to Public Figures and to the Editor of Mother India, 1948 – 1950
		To Surendra Mohan Ghosh
		To Kailas Nath Katju
		To K. M. Munshi

	Notes and Letters to the Editor of Mother India on Indian and World Events, 1949 – 1950
		On Pakistan
		On the Commonwealth and Secularism
		On the Unity Party
		On French India and on Pakistan
		On Cardinal Wyszynski, Catholicism and Communism
		On the Kashmir Problem
		On “New Year Thoughts”
		Rishis as Leaders
		On Military Action
		The Nehru-Liaquat Pact and After
		On the Communist Movement

	PART FOUR
	PUBLIC STATEMENTS AND NOTICES CONCERNINGSRI AUROBINDO’S ASHRAM AND YOGA, 1927 – 1949

	Section One
	Public Statements and Notices concerning the Ashram,1927 – 1937

	Public Statements about the Ashram, 1927 and 1934
		On the Ashram’s Finances (1927)
		On the Ashram (1934)

	Notices for Members of the Ashram, 1928 – 1937
		Notices of May 1928
		Notices of 1929 – 1937

	Section Two
	Public Statements about Sri Aurobindo’s Path of Yoga, 1934 and 1949
		Sri Aurobindo’s Teaching
		A Message to America

	NOTE ON THE TEXTS

Life in Pondicherry, 1910 1950

Meeting with the Mother

Fate had just then brought him into contact with a remarkable Frenchman and his wife, Paul and Mirra Richard. They had for years been in search of a Master. . . .

[Altered to:] . . . with a remarkable Frenchman and his wife, Paul Richard and she who is now known as Sri Mira Devi. They had for years been in search of a Master in whom they could recognize a World-Teacher. . . .

Mirra Richard was no less overwhelmed by this vision — this reality — of the new Man.

[Altered to:] Mira Devi who had already gone far in spiritual realisation and occult vision and experience, was no less overwhelmed by this vision . . .

The Arya

The magazine [Arya] was presumably not a financial success.

It was, in fact; it paid its way with a large surplus.

The Development of the Ashram

Sri Aurobindo thought that the time had come to establish in Pondicherry an "ashram", a rallying centre of aspiration and realization, the nucleus of a new community.

This is hardly the fact. There was no Asram at first, only a few people came to live near Sri Aurobindo and practise Yoga. It was only some time after the Mother came from Japan that it took

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the form of the Asram, more from the wish of the sadhaks who desired to entrust their whole inner and outer life to the Mother than from any intention or plan of hers or of Sri Aurobindo.

In the meantime, Mirra Richard, after her recent visit to France, returned to Pondicherry on the 24th April, 1920. The number of disciples now showed a tendency to increase rather rapidly and Sri Aurobindo decided to entrust Mirra, the Mother, with the task of organizing the "ashram" on a wider basis. . . .

The facts are In the meantime, the Mother, after a long stay in France and Japan, returned to Pondicherry on the 24th April, 1920. The number of disciples then showed a tendency to increase rather rapidly. When the Asram began to develop, it fell to the Mother to organise it; Sri Aurobindo soon retired into seclusion and the whole material and spiritual charge of it devolved on her.

[On a section of a biography in which the writer dwelt at length on the Mother.]

Section V of this Chapter is better omitted. Up till now Sri Aurobindo has prohibited any public propaganda of the idea of his personal divinity and that of the Mother or of certain aspects of the Asram life; these things have been kept private for the Asram itself, and its inmates and the disciples — especially anything in the English language. In later pages of the book all that can be fruitfully said about the life of the Asram and the position of the Mother in the eyes of the disciples and in their life has been said and that should be sufficient.

Support for the Allies

[A telegram was sent to the Secretary of the Viceroy.]

The only telegram to the Secretary of the Viceroy was one

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accompanying a donation of Rs.1000/ to the War Fund which was meant as a mark of Sri Aurobindo's adhesion to the cause of the Allies against the Axis. There was also a letter to the Governor of Madras forwarding another contribution along with a statement of his views about the war which was published. Besides this, other contributions were made direct to France. Later on, letters supporting the war were made public. As for the Cripps' offer, it was supported in a long telegram sent not to the Viceroy's Secretary but to Cripps himself after his broadcast in which he announced the offer.

[The telegram was a "political gesture".]

Sri Aurobindo does not know whether this can be described as a public political gesture. The interest of your chapters is historical and biographical rather than concerned with the present course of politics or any new intervention in it. At any rate Sri Aurobindo did not intend these notes as constituting any such public intervention or gesture.

Muslims and the 1947 Partition of Bengal

Muslims, the descendants of foreigners, favoured the partition of Bengal.

This would seem to indicate that all the Mohammedans in India are descendants of foreigners, but the idea of two nationalities in India is only a new-fangled notion invented by Jinnah for his purposes and contrary to the facts. More than 90% of the Indian Mussulmans are descendants of converted Hindus and belong as much to the Indian nation as the Hindus themselves. This process of conversion has continued all along; Jinnah is himself a descendant of a Hindu converted in fairly recent times named Jinnabhai and many of the most famous Mohammedan leaders have a similar origin.

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Assam had a majority of Muslims.

The majority in Assam is made up of the Hindus and the tribal peoples; in Assam proper the Mussulmans are only 20% of the population. The balance has been altered by the inclusion of Sylhet, a Bengali district in Assam, but even so the non-Mussulmans predominate. At present [1946] a Congress Government is in power in Assam elected by a large majority and Assam is vehemently refusing to be grouped with Mussulman Bengal in the new constitution.

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