Essays Divine and Human

This book contains short prose pieces written by Sri Aurobindo between 1910 and 1950, but not published during his lifetime. The material consists largely or writings on philosophy, psychology and yoga. There are also some cultural writings and collection of saying entitled Thoughts and Aphorisms.

The contribution of evil to the good of the world & the harm sometimes done by the virtuous are distressing to the soul enamoured of good. Nevertheless be not distressed nor confounded, but study rather & calmly understand God’s ways with humanity.”

Essays Divine and Human consists of short prose pieces written by Sri Aurobindo after his arrival in Pondicherry in 1910 but not published before his passing in 1950. Short prose works written during the same period and published during his lifetime appear in Essays in Philosophy and Yoga, volume 13 of The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo.

There are indications in Sri Aurobindo’s Pondicherry note-books that he intended to bring out a collection of essays on yoga and other subjects. The headings written above two pieces, “Essays Divine and Human” and “Essays – Human and Divine”, seem to have been intended as possible titles for this proposed book. The editors have chosen the first of these to be the title of the present volume.

The material has been arranged in four parts:

I. Essasys Divine and Human – complete essays on yoga and related subjects, arranged in five chronological sections.

II. From Man to Superman: Notes and Fragments on Philosophy, Psychology and Yoga, arranged in three thematic sections.

III. Notes and Fragments on Various Subjects, arranged in five thematic sections.

IV. Thoughts and Aphorisms, as arranged by the author in three sections, with a section of addition aphorisms.

All the writings in this book have been reproduced from Sri Aurobindo’s manuscripts. He did not prepare any of them for publication and left many in an unfinished state. Simple editorial problems arising from illegibility, incomplete revision, etc. are indicated by means of the system explained in the Guide to Editorial Notation on the next page. More complex problems are discussed in the reference volume.