Tuesday, November 13, 2007

The adventure of consciousness and joy

Sri Aurobindo or The Adventure of Consciousness
Many of the westerners who have settled in Auroville came after reading an excellent introduction to what is really being attempted here, in the form of the book with the above named title. The book was written by (French) Satprem in the late nineteen-sixties at the request of the Mother. Its name is derived from a line in Sri Aurobindo's epic poem 'Savitri', referring to "the adventure of consciousness and joy".
In the intro it says:
In this century, so hurried, incoherent, full of riches which dominate us more than they serve, we have need of a true mastery, of that joy which comes of this mastery. But our psychology knows yet only the surfaces of being, and our imported orientalisms illumine some obscure depths which may perhaps be all right for the cross-legged sage, but not for the beleaguered men we are.
This book has been written from a Western point of view and for those who yearn for a truth of Life and not only a truth with eyes closed. It presents just one aspect of Sri Aurobindo, the most practical one. We only hope it will lead the reader to explore for himself Sri Aurobindo, and perhaps, with him, find the perfect harmony of East and West, of inner freedom and outer mastery.
And further on:
--- Now, Sri Aurobindo shows us how to make a double discovery of which we are in urgent need if we want not only to give outlet to our stifling chaos but to transform our world. For, following step by step with him his prodigious exploration - his technique of inner spaces, if one may venture to put it thus - we are led to the greatest discovery of all times, to the door of the Great Secret which must change the face of the world, namely, that consciousness is power.
The book has been widely translated. For more information, refer to the AVI Centre in your country, or go to http://sriaurobindoashram.org/home.htm www.auromere.com

No comments:

Post a Comment