philosopher, litterateur, and seer, Sri Aurobindo remains one of the brightest minds India has ever had. This book captures the evolution of his thought through excerpts from his political articles and speeches, essays, talks with and letters to disciples, and public messages—presented chronologically. It includes his views on Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose; his doubts about Gandhi’s method to attain freedom and insistence on Ahimsa; and his very distinctive contribution to the nascent Nationalist Movement. Both prophetic of the challenges to come India’s way post-Independence, and persuaded of her potential to overcome them, Sri Aurobindo’s vision of a new India melds the spiritual with the political.
More than sixty years after his passing, Sri Aurobindo’s penetrating insights on issues such as building on India’s cultural and spiritual foundations, a national agenda for education, Hindu–Muslim coexistence and the need to distinguish reason from a blind imitation of the West, continue to resonate.