Autobiographical Notes and Other Writings of Historical Interest

and Other Writings of Historical Interest

PART ONE: AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Section One: Life Sketches and Other Autobiographical Notes

Sri Aurobindo: A Life Sketch

Sri Aurobindo: A Life Sketch	5
Appendix: Letters on “Sri Aurobindo: A Life Sketch”	11

Incomplete Life Sketches

Incomplete Life Sketch in Outline Form, c. 1922	14
Fragmentary Life Sketch, c. 1928	15

Other Autobiographical Notes

A Day in Srinagar	16
Information Supplied to the King’s College Register	19

Section Two: Corrections of Statements Made in Biographies and Other Publications

Early Life in India and England, 1872 – 1893

Language Learning	25
At Manchester	26
School Studies	26
In London	27
Early Poetry	29
At Cambridge	29
The Riding Examination	30
Political Interests and Activities	31
The Meeting with the Maharaja of Baroda	33
Departure from England	34

Life in Baroda, 1893 – 1906

Service in Baroda State	37
Language Study at Baroda	43
Poetry Writing at Baroda	44
Meetings with His Grandfather at Deoghar	45

Political Life, 1893 – 1910

A General Note on Sri Aurobindo’s Political Life	47
The Indu Prakash Articles	67
Beginnings of the Revolutionary Movement	69
Attitude towards Violent Revolution	71
General Note (referring especially to the Alipur Case and Sri Aurobindo’s politics)	72
Sister Nivedita	73
Bhawani Mandir	74
The Indian National Congress: Moderates and Extremists	75
The Barisal Conference and the Start of the Yugantar	76
Principal of the Bengal National College	78
Start of the Bande Mataram	78
The Policy of the Bande Mataram	80
The Bande Mataram Sedition Case	81
The Surat Congress	82
The Alipore Bomb Case	84
The Open Letters of July and December 1909	86
The Karmayogin Case	87

The Departure from Calcutta, 1910

To Charu Chandra Dutt	88
To the Editor, Sunday Times	90
On an Article by Ramchandra Majumdar	92
To Pavitra (Philippe Barbier Saint Hilaire)	97

Life in Pondicherry, 1910 – 1950

Meeting with the Mother	102
The Arya	102
The Development of the Ashram	102
Support for the Allies	103
Muslims and the 1947 Partition of Bengal	104

Early Spiritual Development

First Turn towards Spiritual Seeking	106
Beginnings of Yoga at Baroda	106
Meeting with Vishnu Bhaskar Lele	109
Sadhana 1908 – 1909	110

Philosophy and Writings

Sources of His Philosophy	112
Perseus the Deliverer	113
Essays on the Gita	114
The Future Poetry	114
The Mother	115
Some Philosophical Topics	115

Appendix: Notes of Uncertain Origin

116

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	121
To His Grandfather	122
To His Sister	123
Extract from a Letter to His Brother	125
To His Uncle	138
To His Wife	145
To His Father-in-Law	147

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

To Lord Kimberley

149

Letters Written While Employed in the Princely State of Baroda, 1895 – 1906

To the Sar Suba, Baroda State	152
To Bhuban Babu	153
To an Officer of the Baroda State	153
Draft of a Reply to the Resident on the Curzon Circular	154
To the Dewan, on the Government’s Reply to the Letter on the Curzon Circular	158
To the Naib Dewan, on the Infant Marriage Bill	159
A Letter of Condolence	160
To R. C. Dutt	161
To the Principal, Baroda College	162
To the Dewan, on Rejoining the College	163
To the Maharaja	164
A Letter of Recommendation	165

Letters and Telegrams to Political and Professional Associates, 1906 – 1926

To Bipin Chandra Pal	166
A Letter of Acknowledgement	166
To Hemendra Prasad Ghose	167
To Aswinicoomar Banerji	167
To Dr. S. K. Mullick	168
Telegrams about a Planned Political Reception	168
Extract from a Letter to Parthasarathi Aiyangar	170
Note on a Forged Document	171
To Anandrao	172
To Motilal Roy	175
Draft of a Letter to Saurin Bose	251
To K. R. Appadurai	252
Fragmentary Draft Letter	253
To a Would-be Contributor to the Arya	254
To Joseph Baptista	254
To Balkrishna Shivaram Moonje	257
To Chittaranjan Das	260
To Shyamsundar Chakravarty	262

Open Letters Published in Newspapers, 1909 – 1925

To the Editor of the ''Bengalee''	263
To the Editor of the ''Hindu''	264
To the Editor of the ''New India''	270
To the Editor of the ''Hindustan''	274
To the Editor of the ''Independent''	275
To the Editor of the ''Standard Bearer''	278
To the Editor of the ''Bombay Chronicle''	279

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

Extracts from Letters to the Mother and Paul Richard, 1911 – c. 1922

To Paul Richard	283
To the Mother and Paul Richard	285
Draft of a Letter	291

To People in India, 1914 – 1926

To N. K. Gogte	293
Draft of a Letter to Nolini Kanta Gupta	295
To A. B. Purani	296
To V. Chandrasekharam	298
Extract from a Letter to K.N. Dixit	301
To Ramchandran	302
To and about V. Tirupati	306
To Daulatram Sharma	328

To Barindra Kumar Ghose and Others, 1922 – 1928

To Barindra Kumar Ghose	332
To Hrishikesh Kanjilal	368
To Krishnashashi	370
To Rajani Palit	373
Draft Letters to and about Kumud Bandhu Bagchi	378

To People in America, 1926 – 1927

To Mr. and Mrs. Sharman	382
To the Advance Distributing Company	383
Draft of a Letter to C. E. Lefebvre	388
To and about Anna Bogenholm Sloane	389

Draft Letters, 1926 – 1928

To an Unknown Person	397
To and about Marie Potel	397

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	407
To and about Punamchand M. Shah	428

To and about Public Figures, 1930 – 1937

Draft of a Letter to Maharani Chimnabai II	440
On a Proposed Visit by Mahatma Gandhi	442
To Dr. S. Radhakrishnan	444
To and about Morarji Desai	445
On a Proposed Visit by Jawaharlal Nehru	447
To Birendra Kishore Roy Chowdhury	448

PART THREE: PUBLIC STATEMENTS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS ON 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	453
Notes about the War Fund Contributions	453
On the War: An Unreleased Statement	455
India and the War	462
On the War: Private Letters That Were Made Public	463

On Indian Independence, 1942 – 1947

On the Cripps Proposal	469
On the Wavell Plan	471
On the Cabinet Mission Proposals	472
The Fifteenth of August 1947	474

On the Integration of the French Settlements in India, 1947 – 1950

The Future Union (A Programme)	481
On the Disturbances of 15 August 1947 in Pondicherry	491
Letters to Surendra Mohan Ghosh	492
Note on a Projet de loi	495

Messages on Indian and World Events, 1948 – 1950

On the Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi	497
On the World Situation (July 1948)	498
On Linguistic Provinces (Message to Andhra University)	498
Letters Related to the Andhra University Award	504
The Present Darkness (April 1950)	506
On the Korean Conflict	507

Section Two: Private Letters to Public Figures and to the Editor of Mother India, 1948 – 1950

Private Letters to Public Figures, 1948 – 1950

To Surendra Mohan Ghosh	511
To Kailas Nath Katju	511
To K. M. Munshi	512

Notes and Letters to the Editor of Mother India on Indian and World Events, 1949 – 1950

On Pakistan	514
On the Commonwealth and Secularism	514
On the Unity Party	514
On French India and on Pakistan	515
On Cardinal Wyszynski, Catholicism and Communism	516
On the Kashmir Problem	517
On “New Year Thoughts”	520
Rishis as Leaders	520
On Military Action	521
The Nehru-Liaquat Pact and After	522
On the Communist Movement	523

PART FOUR: PUBLIC STATEMENTS AND NOTICES CONCERNING SRI 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)	529
On the Ashram (1934)	530

Notices for Members of the Ashram, 1928 – 1937

Notices of May 1928	532
Notices of 1929 – 1937	534

Section Two: Public Statements about Sri Aurobindo’s Path of Yoga, 1934 and 1949

Sri Aurobindo’s Teaching	547
A Message to America	551

Notes are paraphrased from the “Publisher's Note” and “Note on the Texts”.