ii - sri aurobindosri-aurobindo.in/workings/sa/04/writings_in_bengali_ben.pdf · library contains...
TRANSCRIPT
ii
VOLUME 4
SRI AUROBINDO BIRTH CENTENARY LIBRARY – DE LUXE EDITION © S r i A u r o b i n d o A s h r a m T r u s t 1 9 7 2 . P u b l i s h e d b y S r i A u r o b i n d o A s h r a m
Pondicherry . Pr inted a t the Sr i Aurobi ndo Ashram Press – P ondic herry – Indi a
P R I N T E D I N I N D I A
iii
Sri Aurobindo and his wife Mrinalini Devi – 1905
iv
N O T E
Volume 4 in the SRI AUROBINDO BIRTH CENTENARY LIBRARY contains Sri Aurobindo's original Bengali writings.
Sri Aurobindo started learning Bengali, his mother tongue, in England, as a probationer for the Indian Civil Service. After his return to India he began a serious study of the language with a view to acquiring proficiency in reading, writing and speaking. During his stay at Baroda he wrote some poetry in Bengali, attempting even a long poem called "Usha-Haran Kabya". A few lines from this work are reproduced here for the first time.
It is to this poem that his brother, Manmohan, himself a poet, refers in his letter to Rabindranath Tagore, dated October 24, 1894. We quote from it the following extract:
"Aurobinda is anxious to know what you think of his book of verses1, but I have explained to him how busy you are just now; and that you will write later when you have a little more leisure to do justice to his book. I myself think that he is possessed of considerable powers of language and a real literary gift, — but is lacking in stuff and matter, perhaps in warmth of temperament. But those pieces on Parnell2, consisting of fine philosophic reflection, show, I think, that he might do great things. Unfortunately he has directed (or rather misdirected) all his energies to writing Bengali poetry. He is at present engaged on an epic (inspired I believe by Michael Madhusudan) on the subject of Usha and Aniruddha."
He wrote several articles for the earlier issues of Yugantar, a Bengali revolutionary weekly started by his brother Barin and others under his guidance in March 1906. But not a single copy of this journal has so far been traced.
The earliest available Bengali writings of Sri Aurobindo besides "Usha-Haran Kabya" are the three letters to his wife Mrinalini Devi written between 1905 and 1907. These were produced as exhibits in the Alipore Conspiracy Case in 1908, and having attracted public notice were reproduced in various journals and in book-form soon afterwards.
After his acquittal in 1909 Sri Aurobindo started a Bengali weekly called Dharma, and wrote most of the editorial comments and leading 1 SONGS TO MYRTILLA published a year later, in 1895. ! Charles Stewart Parnell (1891) and Hie Jaeet (Centenary Volume 5, pp. 15, 11).
varticles for it until his withdrawal to Chandernagore in February 1910. Most of these leading articles were published in book-form in 1920 under the title Dharma O Jatiyata by Prabartak Publishing House, Chandernagore. In the present volume these articles are arranged under two sections, "Dharma" and "Jatiyata" (Religion and Nationalism). The editorial comments from Dharma are published here in a separate section for the first time.
Some of the articles on the Gita from Dharma were separately brought out in book-form in 1920 by the Prabartak Sangha under the title Gitar Bhumika.
Karakahini (Tales of Prison Life) was first serialised in nine parts in the Bengali monthly, Suprabhat in 1909-1910. This series remained incomplete as Sri Aurobindo left Bengal in 1910. The essay, "Karagriha O Swadhinata" (Prison and Freedom), was published in Bharati, a Bengali journal, about the same time. Karakahini came out in book-form in 1920 from Chandernagore.
In 1918 Sri Aurobindo wrote "Jagannather Rath" (the Chariot of Jagannath) fox Prabartak, a journal published from Chandernagore. The article was published in book-form in 1921 along with some others under the same title by the Prabartak Publishing House.
His letter to Barin, also known as "Letter from Pondicherry", written in 1920 was first published in Narayana, a journal edited by C. R. Das. It was also issued as a booklet in the same year and later along with "Letters to Mrinalini" under the title Sri Aurobinder Patra (Letters of Sri Aurobindo) by the Prabartak Publishing House.
A number of articles on the Vedas, Upanishads and other subjects found in Sri Aurobindo's manuscripts were first put together in book-form in 1955 under the title Vividha Rachana. In this volume they have been distributed in various sections.
The letters Sri Aurobindo wrote to some women disciples who did not know English were published as Patrawali in two parts, the first in 1951 and the second in 1959.
The original sources of all articles are indicated in the Table of Contents.
NOTE of compiller of this e-document: Pages 11, 192-193, 238-239, 352-353, 368-369 were not included because of their absence
vi Contents
HYMN TO DURGA (Dharma, No. 9, October, 1909) ................................................ 1 POETRY................................................................................................................................. 5
FROM USHA-HARAN KABYA ......................................................................................... 7
A DREAM (Suprabhat, 1909-1910) ............................................................................. 11
THE IDEAL OF FORGIVENESS (Dharma, No. 26, February, 1910)................................ 17 THE VEDA .......................................................................................................................... 19
THE SECRET OF THE VEDA (Vividha Rachana, 1955).................................................. 21
AGNI — THE DIVINE ENERGY (Vividha Rachana, 1955) ............................................ 26
THE RIG-VEDA (Vividha Rachana, 1955) .................................................................... 30 THE UPANISHADS ............................................................................................................ 41
THE UPANISHADS (Dharma, No. 15, December, 1909) .............................................. 43
THE INTEGRAL YOGA IN THE UPANISHADS (Vividha Rachana, 1955).......................... 45
THE ISHA UPANISHAD (1) (Vividha Rachana, 1955) ................................................... 47
THE ISHA UPANISHAD (2) (Vividha Rachana, 1955) ................................................... 49 THE PURANAS................................................................................................................... 51
THE PURANAS (Dharma, No. 17, December, 1909).................................................... 53 THE GITA............................................................................................................................ 55
THE DHARMA OF THE GITA (Dharma, No. 2, August, 1909)....................................... 57
SANNYASA AND TYAGA (Dharma, No. 3, September, 1909) ...................................... 60
THE VISION OF THE WORLD-SPIRIT (Dharma, No. 23, February, 1910) ........................................................................................................................... 63
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE GITA (Dharma, Nos. 7-24, 1909-1910)............................ 66 DHARMA .......................................................................................................................... 110
THE CHARIOT OF JAGANNATHA (Prabartak, 1918) ................................................... 113
THE THREE STAGES OF HUMAN SOCIETY (Vividha Rachana, 1955) .......................... 116
AHANKARA (Dharma, No. 5, September, 1909) ....................................................... 118
INTEGRALITY (Vividha Rachana, 1955) .................................................................... 120
HYMNS AND PRAYERS (Dharma, No. 24, February, 1910) ....................................... 121
OUR RELIGION {Dharma, No. 1, August, 1909)........................................................ 124
MAYA (Dharma, No. 3, August, 1909)..................................................................... 127
NIVRITTI (Dharma, No. 12, November, 1909).......................................................... 131
PRAKAMYA (Dharma, Nos, 17 and 18, 1909-1910).................................................. 133 NATIONALISM ................................................................................................................ 137
THE OLD AND THE NEW (Vividha Rachana, 1955).................................................... 139
THE PROBLEM OF THE PAST (Dharma, No. 6, September, 1909) .............................. 140
THE COUNTRY AND NATIONALISM (Dharma, No. 14, December, 1909) ......................................................................................................................... 146
THE TRUE MEANING OF FREEDOM (Dharma, No. 8, October, 1909) ........................ 148
A WORD ABOUT SOCIETY (Vividha Rachana, 1955)................................................. 150
vii
FRATERNITY (Dharma, No. 23, February, 1910) 151
INDIAN PAINTING (Dharma, No. 25, February, 1910)............................................... 154
HIROBUMI ITO (Dharma, No. 10, November, 1909) ................................................. 156
NATIONAL RESURGENCE (Dharma, No. 5, September, 1909)................................... 158
OUR HOPE (Dharma, No. 20, January, 1910)............................................................ 162
EAST AND WEST (Dharma, No. 22, January, 1910) .................................................. 165 GURU GOVINDSINGH.................................................................................................... 169
GURU GOVINDSINGH (Dharma, No. 8, October, 1909) ............................................. 171 EDITORIAL COMMENTS ............................................................................................... 173
EDITORIAL COMMENTS (Dharma, 1909-1910).......................................................... 175 TALES OF PRISON LIFE................................................................................................. 255
TALES OF PRISON LIFE (Suprabhat, 1909-1910) ....................................................... 257
PRISON AND FREEDOM (Bharati) ............................................................................... 298
THE ARYAN IDEAL AND THE THREE GUNAS (Suprabhat, 1909-1910)....................... 305
NEW BIRTH (Dharma, No, 2, August, 1909)............................................................. 312 LETTERS........................................................................................................................... 315
LETTERS TO MRINALINI (1905-1907) ........................................................................ 317
LETTER TO BARIN (1920) .......................................................................................... 327
LETTERS TO N. AND S. (Published, 1951 & 1959) .................................................... 337
viii
ix
1HYMN TO DURGA (Dharma, No. 9, October, 1909)
2
3
4
5
POETRY
6
7FROM USHA-HARAN KABYA
8
9
STORIES
10
11A DREAM (Suprabhat, 1909-1910)
12
13
14
15
16
17THE IDEAL OF FORGIVENESS (Dharma, No. 26, February, 1910)
18
19
THE VEDA
20
21THE SECRET OF THE VEDA (Vividha Rachana, 1955)
22
23
24
25
26AGNI — THE DIVINE ENERGY (Vividha Rachana, 1955)
27
28
29
30THE RIG-VEDA (Vividha Rachana, 1955)
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
THE UPANISHADS
42
43THE UPANISHADS (Dharma, No. 15, December, 1909)
44
45THE INTEGRAL YOGA IN THE UPANISHADS (Vividha Rachana, 1955)
46
47THE ISHA UPANISHAD (1) (Vividha Rachana, 1955)
48
49THE ISHA UPANISHAD (2) (Vividha Rachana, 1955)
50
51
THE PURANAS
52
53THE PURANAS (Dharma, No. 17, December, 1909)
THE
PUR
AN
AS
(Dha
rma,
No.
17,
Dec
embe
r, 19
09)
54
55
THE GITA
56
57THE DHARMA OF THE GITA (Dharma, No. 2, August, 1909)
58
59
60SANNYASA AND TYAGA (Dharma, No. 3, September, 1909)
61
62
63THE VISION OF THE WORLD-SPIRIT (Dharma, No. 23, February, 1910)
64
65
66AN INTRODUCTION TO THE GITA (Dharma, Nos. 7-24, 1909-1910)
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
DHARMA
111
112
113THE CHARIOT OF JAGANNATHA (Prabartak, 1918)
114
115
116THE THREE STAGES OF HUMAN SOCIETY (Vividha Rachana, 1955)
117
118AHANKARA (Dharma, No. 5, September, 1909)
119
120INTEGRALITY (Vividha Rachana, 1955)
121HYMNS AND PRAYERS (Dharma, No. 24, February, 1910)
122
123
124OUR RELIGION {Dharma, No. 1, August, 1909)
125
126
127MAYA (Dharma, No. 3, August, 1909)
128
129
130
131NIVRITTI (Dharma, No. 12, November, 1909)
132
133PRAKAMYA (Dharma, Nos, 17 and 18, 1909-1910)
134
135
136
137
NATIONALISM
138
139THE OLD AND THE NEW (Vividha Rachana, 1955)
140THE PROBLEM OF THE PAST (Dharma, No. 6, September, 1909)
141
142
143
144
145
146THE COUNTRY AND NATIONALISM (Dharma, No. 14, December, 1909)
147
148THE TRUE MEANING OF FREEDOM (Dharma, No. 8, October, 1909)
149
150A WORD ABOUT SOCIETY (Vividha Rachana, 1955)
151FRATERNITY (Dharma, No. 23, February, 1910)
152
153
154INDIAN PAINTING (Dharma, No. 25, February, 1910)
155
156HIROBUMI ITO (Dharma, No. 10, November, 1909)
157
158NATIONAL RESURGENCE (Dharma, No. 5, September, 1909)
159
160
161
162OUR HOPE (Dharma, No. 20, January, 1910)
163
164
165EAST AND WEST (Dharma, No. 22, January, 1910)
166
167
168
169
GURU GOVINDSINGH
170
171GURU GOVINDSINGH (Dharma, No. 8, October, 1909)
172
173
EDITORIAL COMMENTS
174
175EDITORIAL COMMENTS (Dharma, 1909-1910)
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
TALES OF PRISON LIFE
256
257TALES OF PRISON LIFE (Suprabhat, 1909-1910)
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298PRISON AND FREEDOM (Bharati)
299
300
301
302
303
304
305THE ARYAN IDEAL AND THE THREE GUNAS (Suprabhat, 1909-1910)
306
307
308
309
310
311
312NEW BIRTH (Dharma, No, 2, August, 1909)
313
314
315
LETTERS
316
317LETTERS TO MRINALINI (1905-1907)
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327LETTER TO BARIN (1920)
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337LETTERS TO N. AND S. (Published, 1951 & 1959)
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398