Poems and Plays

The reason why the most glorious and developed city like Troy was destroyed is a very subtle one and Sri Aurobindo explains it at length. If any part of society develops too much at the expense of others, then Nature has a tendency to bring it down so as to ensure a more holistic development.

In this talk we see the three key words that Greece talked most - destiny, gods and man. The whole humanity struggled to understand the meaning, significance and the connection of these three words.

This talk is the first of a series of talks based on Sri Aurobindo’s poem Ilion. Sri Aurobindo refers to this event as one of the four major events that have shaped humanity.

Sri Aurobindo immortalises this great Maratha hero through his unique poetic creativity giving us an example and an inspiration to emulate as well as the joy of tasting the essence of heroism.

The talk is based on Sri Aurobindo’s longer narrative poem ‘Love and Death’. The poem is written in blank verse while in Baroda around 1899 in the pre-yogic phase of Sri Aurobindo’s life. The poem relives the noble sentiment of human love climbing to its peak through the law of sacrifice in its wrestle with death and fate.