Sri Aurobindo
Autobiographical Notes
and Other Writings of Historical Interest
Publisher’s Note
This volume consists of (1) notes in which Sri Aurobindo corrected statements made by biographers and other writers about his life and (2) various sorts of material written by him that are of historical importance. The historical material includes personal letters written before 1927 (as well as a few written after that date), public statements and letters on national and world events, and public statements about his ashram and system of yoga. Many of these writings appeared earlier in Sri Aurobindo on Himself and on the Mother (1953) and On Himself: Compiled from Notes and Letters (1972). These previously published writings, along with many others, appear here under the new title Autobiographical Notes and Other Writings of Historical Interest.
Sri Aurobindo alluded to his life and works not only in the notes included in this volume but also in some of the letters he wrote to disciples between 1927 and 1950. Such letters have been included in Letters on Himself and the Ashram, volume 35 of The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo.
The autobiographical notes, letters and other writings included in the present volume have been arranged by the editors in four parts. The texts of the constituent materials have been checked against all relevant manuscripts and printed texts.
The Note on the Texts at the end contains information on the people and historical events referred to in the texts.
On account of the documentary nature of the items making up this book, they have been transcribed verbatim, or as close to verbatim as possible. Problems of transcription are discussed on the next page.
Guide to Editorial Notation
Some of the contents of this book were transcribed from unrevised manuscripts or from handwritten or typed copies of lost originals. The texts published here are as far as possible verbatim transcripts of these materials. Problems encountered in reproducing them are indicated by means of the notation shown below.
Notation Textual Problem
[.....] Word(s) lost through damage to the manuscript.
[ ]1 Superfluous word(s), often duplicating what immediately precedes; a footnote shows the word(s) as they occur in the manuscript.
[? ] Word(s) omitted by the author that could not be supplied by the editors.
[word] Word(s) omitted by the author or lost through damage to the manuscript that are required by grammar or sense, and that could be supplied by the editors.
[?word] Doubtful reading.
[word]1 Emendation required by grammar or sense or correcting a factual slip; a footnote gives the manuscript reading. Documentary justifications for corrections of factual slips are given on pages 564–69.
wor[d] Letter(s) supplied by the editors.
[note] Textual situation requiring brief explanation. Longer explanations are provided in editorial footnotes, which are printed in italics followed by “– Ed. ” (All footnotes printed in roman type were written by Sri Aurobindo.)