Sri Aurobindo

Essays in Philosophy and Yoga

Shorter Works. 1910 – 1950

Publisher’s Note

Essays in Philosophy and Yoga consists of short works in prose written by Sri Aurobindo between 1909 and 1950 and published during his lifetime. All but a few of them are concerned with aspects of spiritual philosophy, yoga, and related subjects. Short writings on the Veda, the Upanishads, Indian culture, political theory, education, and poetics have been placed in other volumes.

The title of the volume has been provided by the editors. It is adapted from the title of a proposed collection, “Essays in Yoga”, found in two of Sri Aurobindo’s notebooks. Since 1971 most of the contents of the volume have appeared under the editorial title The Supramental Manifestation and Other Writings.

The contents are arranged in five chronological parts. Part One consists of essays published in the Karmayogin in 1909 and 1910, Part Two of a long essay written around 1912 and published in 1921, Part Three of essays and other pieces published in the monthly review Arya between 1914 and 1921, Part Four of an essay published in the Standard Bearer in 1920, and Part Five of a series of essays published in the Bulletin of Physical Education in 1949 and 1950.

Many of the essays in Part Three were revised slightly by the author and published in small books between 1920 and 1941. The editors have retained the titles and arrangement of most of those books.

The texts of the pieces have been checked against the texts published in journals and books during Sri Aurobindo’s lifetime.