ESSAYS DIVINE AND HUMAN consists of short prose pieces written by Sri Aurobindo between 1910 and the late 1940s and not published before his passing in 1950. Most prose works written prior to 1910 on subjects other than politics are published in Early Cultural Writings, volume 1 of The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo. Most short prose works written after 1910 and published during his lifetime are included in Essays in Philosophy and Yoga, volume 13 of The Complete Works. Short writings on the Vedas, the Upanishads and other specialised subjects are included in the volumes devoted to those subjects. Most of the writings in the present volume deal with philosophy, yoga, and yogic psychology. The contents have been divided into four parts:
Part One. Essays Divine and Human. More or less complete essays, most of which were given titles and revised to some extent by the author. They have been grouped by period in five sections.
Part Two. From Man to Superman. Notes, drafts and fragments on yoga and yogic philosophy and psychology. Few of these pieces were revised; most are incomplete, several quite fragmentary. The editors have arranged them by subject on lines explained below.
Part Three. Notes and Fragments on Various Subjects. Miscellaneous pieces that received little or no revision by the author. They differ from the pieces in Part Two in dealing with subjects not directly related to yoga, philosophy or psychology.
Part Four. Thoughts and Aphorisms. A series of aphorisms, revised but never prepared for publication by the author.
Part One: Essays Divine and Human
The pieces in this part have been arranged by the editors in five chronological sections. Many of the sections or subsections correspond to organic divisions in the author’s work.
504Section One (circa 1911)
All but the first piece in this section were written in a single notebook, probably in 1911. “Certitudes” belongs roughly to the same period. Above “Man” Sri Aurobindo wrote a collective title: “Essays—”.
Certitudes. Circa 1911–13. The Sanskrit phrase at the end, a citation from the Bhagavad Gita (4.11), means “as men approach me, so I accept them to my love”.
Moksha. Circa 1911.
Man. Circa 1911. The Sanskrit phrase in the second paragraph, an altered citation from the Aitareya Upanishad (I.2.3), means “well-built, indeed”.
Philosophy. Circa 1911.
The Siddhis. Circa 1911.
The Psychology of Yoga. Circa 1911. Sri Aurobindo used this title again for a piece in Section Two that was written independently a year or two later and yet again as the general title of the first group of essays in Section Three.
Section Two (1910–1913)
Manuscripts of six of these essays—“The Sources of Poetry”, “The Interpretation of Scripture”, “On Original Thinking”, “The Balance of Justice”, “Social Reform” and “The Claims of Theosophy”—were typed in or around 1912 using the same typewriter and the same sort of paper. The other seven essays are related to the typed ones by subject or date or both.
Na Kinchidapi Chintayet. Possibly early 1910. The title is a quotation from the Bhagavad Gita (6.25): “One should not think of anything at all.”
The Sources of Poetry. Circa 1912.
The Interpretation of Scripture. Circa 1912.
On Original Thinking. Circa 1912. After the text of the principal version, the editors have placed the draft opening of another version, entitled in the manuscript “On the Importance of Original Thinking”. Above this title Sri Aurobindo wrote: “Essays—Human and Divine”. 505The editors have used a variant of this (see “The Silence behind Life” below) as the title of this part and of the volume as a whole.
The Balance of Justice. Circa 1912. This is a revised and enlarged version of “European Justice” (published in Early Cultural Writings), which probably was written in 1910.
Social Reform. Circa 1912. The first nine paragraphs were typewritten. Sri Aurobindo subsequently added five handwritten paragraphs to the last typed sheet. (These paragraphs are difficult to read and parts have been lost through mutilation of the manuscript.) The passage beginning “We are Hindus” was written separately and headed “For ‘Social Reform’ ”. Sri Aurobindo left no indication where he wanted it inserted. The editors have placed it at the end, separating it from the main text by a white space.
Hinduism and the Mission of India. Circa 1912. Editorial title. The first pages of the manuscript have been lost; the first surviving sentence lacks its beginning.
The Psychology of Yoga (regarding the title, see the note on “The Psychology of Yoga” in Section One). Circa 1912 (written around the same time as the pieces on Theosophy that follow).
The Claims of Theosophy. Circa 1910–12 (certainly written after January 1908, when Sri Aurobindo met V. B. Lele, the “member of the Theosophical Society who [gave] me spiritual help” mentioned in paragraph six). This article, like the others on Theosophy, was never published by Sri Aurobindo. However much he disagreed with some of the methods or doctrines of the Theosophical Society, he was well aware of the pioneering work done by this movement, which “with its comprehensive combinations of old and new beliefs and its appeal to ancient spiritual and psychic systems, has everywhere exercised an influence far beyond the circle of its professed adherents” (The Renaissance in India, CWSA vol. 20, p. 70). He assured a disciple who had been associated with the Theosophists: “I have nothing against it [the Theosophical Society] nor against any of the Theosophists, to all of whom I wish the best. I am not against them” (Talk with a disciple, 11 January 1926).
Science & Religion in Theosophy. Circa 1910–12. Heading in the manuscript: “Papers on Theosophy ⁄ II ⁄ Science & Religion in Theosophy”. (Although not so identified, “The Claims of Theosophy” evidently is the first of the papers.)
506Sat. Circa 1912.
Sachchidananda. Circa 1912–13.
The Silence behind Life. Circa 1912. Above the title Sri Aurobindo wrote: “Essays Divine and Human”. The editors have used this as the title of this part and of the volume as a whole.
Section Three (circa 1913)
The essays in this section form three groups, which were written in three notebooks in or around 1913. The titles of the first and third groups were given by Sri Aurobindo.
The Psychology of Yoga. Sri Aurobindo wrote this title inside the cover of the notebook used. On the front of the cover he wrote, and then cancelled, “Hints on Yoga”.
Purna Yoga. Editorial title. The three pieces are headed I, II, III in the manuscript.
Natural and Supernatural Man. This title is written on the cover of the notebook that contains all the pieces in this group.
Section Four (1914–1919)
The four essays making up this section were written independently during the period of publication of the monthly journal Arya (1914–21). They may have been meant for the journal, but were not published there. They have no relationship with each other except that of date.
The Beginning and the End. Circa 1915. Editorial title. In the manuscript this passage is followed by one that was published in the Arya in May 1915 under the title “Thoughts and Glimpses”. Subsequently this second passage was reproduced as three parts of the booklet Thoughts and Glimpses (published in Essays in Philosophy and Yoga).
The Hour of God. Circa 1918.
Beyond Good and Evil. Circa 1918. Editorial
The Divine Superman. Circa 1918.
Section Five (1927 and after)
The second, third and fourth essays in this section were written in the same notebook around 1930. The other two were written at roughly the same time.
The Law of the Way. Circa 1927. The manuscript is untitled; the editors have used a phrase from the last sentence as heading.
Man and the Supermind. Circa 1930. Sri Aurobindo returned to the theme “Man is a transitional being” again and again. See pieces 46, 50847, 53, 54, 77, 80, 81 and 82 of Part Two. The present essay is the last of several drafts.
The Involved and Evolving Godhead. Circa 1930. Written immediately after the preceding essay in the same notebook. An earlier draft, written around 1927, is published as piece 51 of Part Two.
The Evolution of Consciousness. Circa 1930. Untitled in the manuscript. The Greek sentence at the end of the third paragraph means “God is not but becomes.”
The Path. Circa 1930. This essay is one of several pieces written around 1930 on the supramental yoga. Three others are published as pieces 18, 157 and 159 of Part Two.
Part Two: From Man to Superman
The 171 notes, drafts and fragments that make up this part were written by Sri Aurobindo over the course of thirty-five years, from around 1912 to 1947, when failing eyesight obliged him to stop writing by hand.
None of the pieces were revised for publication by the author. It has sometimes been necessary for the editors to make judgments as to what his intentions were. In addition, some of the pieces, particularly those from the 1940s, are quite difficult to read. The editors have been able to decipher all but a few words; doubtful readings and illegible words are indicated in accordance with the Guide to Editorial Notation. Special problems are discussed in the reference volume.
These 171 pieces were never intended to form a single work. The compilation, arrangement and numbering is the responsibility of the editors. They have chosen to arrange the pieces by subject rather than date because a strict chronological arrangement, even if possible, would have resulted in thematic incoherence. A table in the reference volume shows the approximate chronological sequence of the pieces.
The material falls into three broad categories, which have been made the main sections of the compilation: philosophy (the principles of things), psychology (the study of consciousness), and yoga. The pieces in each section have been divided into subsections and sub-subsections.
A number of the pieces have headings in the manuscript. Some 509apparently were intended to be the titles of the essays or books that the pieces would have introduced. Since Sri Aurobindo frequently abandoned the pieces before the subject given in the title was reached, all headings have been omitted from the texts. They are given in the notes on individual pieces below. Some headings have been made the titles of subdivisions. One heading used twice by Sri Aurobindo, “From Man to Superman”, has been used as the title of this part.
Sri Aurobindo usually placed some sort of sign (asterisk, group of asterisks, bar, etc.) to mark his own division of pieces into sections. The editors have represented his sign uniformly by a single asterisk.
Notes on Individual Pieces in Part Two
ol li::marker {font-weight: bold;}Part Three: Notes and Fragments on Various Subjects
The pieces in this part were written between 1910 and the late 1940s. They have been arranged by subject.
517The Marbles of Time. 1910–14. Editorial title. Cancelled heading: “Marbles”.
A Theory of the Human Being. 1912–14.
A Cyclical Theory of Evolution. 1910–13. This piece probably was written around the same time as the preceding one. The opening page or pages (and so also the title) are missing.
A Misunderstanding of Continents. Circa 1918.
Towards Unification. Circa 1912. In the manuscript written beneath the heading: “Studies in the Mahabharat— ⁄ The Book of the Woman.” Evidently the passage printed here was meant to be an introduction to a discussion of the eleventh book of the Mahabharata, the Stri-Parva or Book of the Woman. Sri Aurobindo broke off work on the piece without reaching the proposed subject. The title has been supplied by the editors.
China, Japan and India. Circa 1912.
Renascent India. 1916–18. Editorial title.
Where We Stand in Literature. Circa 1916–18. Draft B was written after Draft A in the same notebook.
The Origin of Genius. 1910–14.
Poetic Genius. Circa 1912. Editorial title. In the manuscript the heading is “The Genius of Valmekie” (see the next piece).
The Voices of the Poets. Circa 1912. Editorial title. The text of this piece, like the preceding one, was written under the heading “The Genius of Valmekie”. There is no explicit mention of Valmiki in either piece.
Pensées. Circa 1912.
A Dream. 1910–14. Editorial title. Written under the heading “Srevian [?Srevina] ⁄ A Tale of Prehistoric Times—Preface.” This introductory fragment is all that exists of a proposed story.
The Beauty of a Crow’s Wings. 1910–12. Editorial title.
Science. 1914–21. Editorial title.
Religion. Circa 1927. Editorial title.
Reason and Society. Late 1930s or 1940s. Editorial title. The piece seems to be related to The Human Cycle. Published here for the first time.
Justice. Late 1940s. Editorial title.
518Part Four: Thoughts and Aphorisms
Thoughts and Aphorisms. In or around 1913, Sri Aurobindo wrote 552 aphorisms in a single notebook. In May 1915 and May 1916 he published ten of them in the monthly review Arya. (These ten have not been reproduced here. They form part of Thoughts and Glimpses, included in Essays in Philosophy and Yoga.) Of the 542 aphorisms that remain, two have been classed with the “Additional Aphorisms” (see below). This leaves 540 aphorisms forming the main series of Thoughts and Aphorisms.
In the notebook, the aphorisms were written in nine groupings, three of which are headed Jnana, three Karma and three Bhakti. The groupings occur in this order: Jnana, Karma, Bhakti, Karma, Jnana, Bhakti, Karma, Bhakti, Jnana. The editors have placed the three groupings of Jnana, the three groupings of Karma and the three groupings of Bhakti together. Sri Aurobindo numbered all the aphorisms in Jnana and Karma, none of those in Bhakti. Since it appears that he intended the numbers to form part of the text, the editors have placed a number before each aphorism. These numbers do not correspond to those in the manuscript because the three groupings of each section have been placed together and the unnumbered Bhakti section included.
Sri Aurobindo left indications in the manuscript that certain aphorisms were to be moved to a different part or position. For example, he seems to have wanted present aphorisms 240 and 241 to be placed after present aphorism 98. But since some of these manuscript indications are not clear, the editors have followed the original notebook order.
The manuscript, entirely handwritten, was revised once or twice by Sri Aurobindo. The original writing is mostly clear, but the revision is sometimes cramped and difficult to read.
“Additional Aphorisms”. The last two aphorisms (541–42) in the notebook containing the main series were not clearly intended for inclusion in the Karma, Jnana or Bhakti sections. The editors have placed them in a separate section along with five other aphorisms (543–47) that were written in a different notebook. The handwriting of these last five indicates that they were written somewhat later than 1913—possibly as late as 1919.
519Publishing History
Some of the material published in this volume was brought out in The Hour of God (Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo Ashram) in 1959. This booklet was reprinted in 1964, 1970 and 1973. In 1982 a new, reorganised edition was published. This was reprinted in 1986, 1991 and 1993.
Thoughts and Aphorisms was first published by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in 1958. A second impression of the first edition was issued the next year. New editions textually identical to the first came out in 1968 and 1971. The texts of the fourth (1977) and fifth (1982) editions each contained corrections of transcription errors. The fifth edition was reprinted in 1988, 1992 and 1996.
In 1971 the contents of the original edition of The Hour of God, along with Thoughts and Aphorisms and other material, were brought out as The Hour of God and Other Writings, volume 17 of the Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library.
In 1994 those parts of The Hour of God and Other Writings that had not been published during Sri Aurobindo’s lifetime, along with other material of the same nature that had not yet been published in a book, were brought out as Essays Divine and Human. The texts of all the pieces were checked against the manuscripts. The present volume is for the most part a reprint of that edition.