Sri Aurobindo

The Hour of God

and other writings

Bibliographical note

I, II,III.. The writings in these three sections were collected from Sri Aurobindo's unrevised manuscripts. Under the title of the first article, The Hour of God, they were brought together in book-form in 1959. The same title has been given to this Volume No. XVII of the Centenary Edition.

IV. Thoughts and Aphorisms and Words of the Master are also from unrevised manuscripts. A few extracts culled from Sri Aurobindo's letters and published in the Standard Bearer in 1922 under the title Words of the Master have also been included here. THOUGHTS AND APHORISMS first appeared in book-form in 1958.

V. Except for The Real Difficulty which has been taken from the Standard Bearer (1920), the articles in this section too are from unrevised and incomplete manuscripts.

VI. A Preface on National Education appeared in the Arya in 1920 in two parts. A System of National Education and The National Value of Art were serialized in the Karmayogin in 1909-10. They have been in circulation in book-form since 1921 and 1922 respectively.

VII. Premises of Astrology are unrevised and incomplete notes. They are being published here for the first time.

VIII. These reviews of books and journals appeared in the Arya during 1914-20. In the book VIEWS AND REVIEWS which first appeared in 1941, five of these reviews were reprinted, viz. Hymns to the Goddess; South Indian Bronzes; God, the Invisible King; Rupam and About Astrology.

IX. Dayananda, Rishi Bankim Chandra, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and The Men That Pass appeared in book-form in 1940 under the title BANKIM- TILAK-DAYANANDA. The two articles on Dayananda were contributed to the Vedic Magazine in 1915 and 1916. Rishi Bankim Chandra was written for Bande Mataram in 1907. Bal Gangadhar Tilak appeared as Introduction to SPEECHES AND WRITINGS OF TILAK, 1918. The Men That Pass appeared in the Karmayogin-- 1909. A Great Mind, a Great Will was a message sent to New India on Tilak's passing away, at the request of Bipin Chandra Pal. Andal and Nammalwar are from the Arya (1915). They were written with the assistance of the Tamil poet Subramanya Bharathi.

X. Historical Impressions was originally written for the Karmayogin but first published in the Standard Bearer in 1920 and included in the book MAN-SLAVE OR FREE? in 1969.

Notes on Bergson are from unrevised manuscripts and were first included in the 1959 edition of The Hour of God.

XI., These notes are from the Arya (1914-20).