Sri Aurobindo

Letters of Sri Aurobindo

Correspondence (1933-1967)

Letter ID: 85

Sri Aurobindo — Nahar, Prithwi Singh

1943 (?)

(In the course of his proofreading of The Life Divine, Prithwi Singh put a few questions to Sri Aurobindo regarding some rare or newly coined words.)

Dynamis

Dynamis is a Greek word, not current, so far as I know, in English; but the verb dunamai, I can, am able, from which it derives, has given a number of words to the English language including dynamise, dynamics, dynamic, dynamical, dyne (a unit of force), so that the word can be at once understood by all English readers. It means power, especially energetic power for energetic action. It is equivalent to the Sanskrit word, Shakti. Philosophically it can stand as the opposite word to status, Divine Status, Divine Dynamis.

Sri Aurobindo