The First and Last Freedom by J. Krishnamurti

The First and Last Freedom

In The First and Last Freedom J. Krishnamurti cuts away symbols and false associations in the search for pure truth and perfect freedom. Through discussions on suffering, fear, gossip, sex and other topics, Krishnamurti’s quest becomes the readers, an undertaking of tremendous significance. A second part (“Questions and Answers”) consists of 38 named segments, taken from question-and-answer sessions between Krishnamurti and his audience; the segments broadly pertain to the topics covered in the book’s first part.


Book Details

Author: J. Krishnamurti
Print Length: 299
Publisher: HarperOne
Original source: www.Jiddu-Krishnamurti.net
Book format: Pdf, ePub, Kindle
Language: English
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Auroville: Sun-Word Rising by Savitra

Auroville: Sun-Word Rising

A Trust for the Earth

Few people today — even those who presently live in Auroville or serve on AVI Boards — know the actual history of Auroville’s emergence. And unfortunately, records of that unique era have largely been lost in time. Auroville: Sun-Word Rising, originally published by the Community of Auroville in 1980, was an honest attempt to chronicle that AV timeline when the Mother was still physically present as well as the period which followed Her passing. Based on extensive notes and documentation, the book strives to tell a truer story that needed to be told despite those who wished to silence it. For it fills in the missing links that can help us understand how Auroville arrived at where it is today. After all, if we don’t know our past, how can we understand our present, heal past wounds, cocreate a truer future?

The opening passages of this 3-Part work begin in America, tracking the author’s personal quest through the 1960s that eventually led him to the works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother… Which in turn led him to London where he began his odyssey, hitchhiking to India to meet the Mother. That meeting led him to stay on in India. And soon after, the Mother accepted him into the Ashram, then into Auroville where he joined that first wave of pioneers scattered like seeds on a barren red-clay plateau. Part 2 transitions through a tale of two Aurovilles: The Auroville rising forth under the Mother’s nurturing Presence. And the Auroville labouring to carry on its mission through the grief of Her passing and the unforeseen crises and conflicts that would follow Her passing.

For indeed, despite the obstacles and oppositions which that fledgling AV Community faced, it courageously laboured on, bringing new life to that arid plateau, establishing settlements, schools, farms and the beginning of a reforestation programme that would eventually transform a dying landscape into lush tropical forests. It would also evolve a home-grown decision-making process that would be severely challenged by outside forces following the Mother’s passing (as Parts 2 and 3 document). Those challenges would eventually lead to a Government intervention in 1980, followed by a Supreme Court Case and the eventual Auroville Foundation Act passed by Parliament in 1988. In this light, perhaps Auroville’s first decade reflects a microcosm of the pressing evolutionary challenges our species and planet face today.


Book Details

Author: Savitra
Print Length: 300 pages
Publisher: The Community of Auroville
Original source: Auroville Archives
Contributors: Gilles Guigan, Krishna V.
Book format: PDF, ePub, Kindle
Language: English


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AUROVILLE: The first six years 1968-1974 by Savitra

AUROVILLE: The first six years
1968-1974

“Auroville, the first 6 years – 1968-1974” written by Savitra is one of only two records of what was happening on the Auroville plateau during the first 6 years of its creation.


Book Details

Author: Savitra
Print Length: 102 pages
Publisher: Auropublications
Original source: Auroville Archives
Contributors: Gilles Guigan
Book format: PDF, ePub, Kindle
Language: English


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Wu Wei (Laotzu’s Tao) by Henri Borel

Wu Wei (Laotzu’s Tao)

Laotzu was more than likely the first scholar to have a vision of spiritual reality, somewhere around the 6th century B.C. At that time, his visions were a source of ridicule, misunderstanding and ostracism. Included in this volume are the explanation of Tao, according to Laotzu; and a study of his Wu Wei. A short history of Laotzu can be found within as well.

From the autor: The present study on Lao Tse’s ‘Wu Wei’ should not be considered in any way as a translation, even free, of that philosopher’s work. I have simply tried to render the essence of his wisdom in all its purity: I have here and there given a direct translation of the truths enunciated by him, but most of this work is the development, in a form elaborated by me, of some principles to which he confined himself for formulation.

Lao Tse’s is a tiny book and extremely simple at that: the author’s thought is condensed in a few words taken in their pure primitive sense, sometimes a very different sense than the one assumed in other works, in the works of Confucius for example, but those few words are the Gospel. Lao Tse’s work is not a philosophical treatise; it simply exposes the truths to which Lao Tse was led by his philosophy: only the quintessence of that philosophy is there, not the development of his system.

This small work is wholly penetrated by that essence, but is not a translation of Lao Tse. In his book there is none of the comparisons drawn by me from the landscape, the sea and the clouds; nowhere has he spoken of Art, also he has not specially dealt with Love. In dealing with these subjects, I have expressed the ideas and feelings deducing instinctively from Lao Tse’s profound philosophy, for one who has been long penetrated by it. It may be then that my study contains much more of myself than I imagine, but in that case also, it will be the expression of the thoughts and feelings awakened in me by the words of Lao Tse.


Book Details

Author: Henri Borel (Translated by Shyam Sunder Jhunjhunwala)
Print Length: 46
Publisher: Auro e-Books
Contributor: Krishna
Book format: Pdf, ePub, Mobi
Language: English
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The Sacred Thread: Hinduism in Its Continuity and Diversity by J. L. Brockington

The Sacred Thread

Hinduism in Its Continuity and Diversity

In a single book, which examines the history and development of Hindu religious experience and thought from its earliest records to modern times, it is inevitable that much has been left out in order to make the broad outlines clearer. What has been passed over in silence is just as much part of the rich fabric of Hinduism. For Hinduism has never been a unitary phenomenon. In particular, there has always been a fascinating interplay between its more religious and more speculative elements. As a religion Hinduism tends towards the philosophical in its emphasis on the importance of knowledge, while Hindu philosophy sees that knowledge as having essentially a religious purpose in the achievement of the goal.

The history of Hinduism stretches over a vast time-span, during most of which the existing political boundaries of the Indian sub-continent did not exist. Accordingly the term India is used in this book in a geographical sense as referring to the whole sub-continent, except in those parts of the last two chapters where recent political events are referred to. The names of areas are generally those of the modern states of the Indian Republic, which in many cases have reverted to older names (e.g. Tamilnad for Madras State and Karnataka for Mysore).


Book Details

Author: J. L. Brockington
Print Length: 232
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Book format: Pdf
Language: English
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Eckhart Tolle and Sri Aurobindo by A. S. Dalal

Eckhart Tolle and Sri Aurobindo

A. S. Dalal, a philosopher, psychotherapist, long-time devotee of Sri Aurobindo and inmate of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, provides here an in depth investigation and discussion of the similarities and differences between the teachings of Eckhart Tolle and Sri Aurobindo. Although nearly one-hundred years separate these two great spiritual teachers, who come out of disparate disciplines (Buddhist and Hindu), the author discovers an underling essence and truth which deepens and strengthens his own spiritual convictions and understandings. Through out his long life, the author has been exposed to multiple disciplines and the process of exploring Eckhart has brought him new insights and a greater integration that comes only when one expands beyond the narrow confines of the mind which can and too often do grow around any single discipline. This book provides a great opportunity for any seeker to push the limits of his own understanding and to reinvigorate his own quest.


Book Details

Author: A. S. Dalal
Print Length: 172
Publisher: Stone Hill Foundation
Contributors: Blindshiva
Book format: Pdf, ePub, Mobi
Language: English
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Awareness by Anthony de Mello

Awareness

a de Mello spirituality conference in his own words

In a captivating, worldwide ministry, Anthony de Mello touched thousands through his workshops, conferences and retreats on achieving peace and happiness through increased spiritual awareness. De Mello’s comprehensive course on the spiritual life is collected here for the first time as he presented it.


Book Details

Author: Anthony de Mello
Print Length: 85
Publisher: AN IMAGE BOOK
Original source: http://www.arvindguptatoys.com
Submitted by: Website Visitor
Book format: Pdf
Language: English
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The Philosophy of Consciousness: Hegel and Sri Aurobindo

The Philosophy of Consciousness: Hegel and Sri Aurobindo

The Philosophy of Consciousness:
Hegel and Sri Aurobindo

An investigation into the nature and evolution of consciousness through the lens of various philosophers, culminating with the experiential philosophy of Sri Aurobindo.

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Aphorisms

Sri Aurobindo Aphorisms

Aphorisms

In the aphorisms that make up this book, Sri Aurobindo gives pithy and pregnant expression to some of the key ideas of his philosophy and yoga.

Thoughts and Aphorisms was written around 1913. Ten aphorisms from the manuscript were published in the monthly review Arya in 1915 and 1916 as parts of what was later issued as Thoughts and Glimpses. But the bulk of the aphorisms — that is, those included in the Karma, Jnana and Bhakti sections of the present booklet — were never published during Sri Aurobindo’s lifetime. They first appeared in book form in 1958.

The seven “Additional Aphorisms” were first included in the edition of 1977; the last five were written in a separate manuscript notebook, apparently somewhat later than the others.

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Man After Man

Man after Man by Satprem

Man After Man by Satprem

“Man After Man” is a shortened book version of the 2.5 hour long interview with Satprem by David Montemurri, a film maker for Italian TV. It was filmed in 1981, in the Nilgiris, the Blue Mountains of southern India, where Satprem and his companion Sujata were living.

The production of the eBook was made possible by the ‘Flamme d’Altérité’ Association in collaboration with Auro-eBooks.

The interview, recorded more than 30 years ago, may appear to take place in an ‘outdated’ political and social context, but Satprem’s answers, of a rare lucidity and full of empathy, remain absolutely acute, powerful and pertinent. The main trend of the interview centers on the future of humanity, particularly: What will be Man after man?

“We erect around us the bronze walls of our infallible laws, which are only the temporary hallucinations of a terrestrial species on its way towards the Truth of the Earth.” – Satprem

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