Passing away of Ranajit Sarkar and K.D. Sethna

Editorial 15 August, 2011

We have chosen to name this anniversary number a special issue on the Social and Political Writings of Sri Aurobindo as the bulk of the papers, with a few exceptions, concentrates on this theme. Readers will find special interest in the article by Paul Richard on Sri Aurobindo, taken from his book The Dawn of Asia published by Ganesh & Co. of Madras in 1919. The article has been translated by Sri Aurobindo himself.

In the intervening period since our last publication in April, we have witnessed the passing away of two of Mother and Sri Aurobindo’s dear children – Ranajit Sarkar in far away Amsterdam and KD Sethna, better known to all as Amal Kiran. Ranajit Sarkar, too, was a product of the Ashram and was its inmate for a long time before he moved and settled in the Netherlands. Readers may remember the excellent series on the Urvashi theme he penned for Sraddha, in which he compared the works of Madhusudan Dutt, Tagore and Sri Aurobindo on that particular subject. A person of great erudition and learning and a man of admirable human qualities, Ranajit-da was most humble, modest and self-effacing. 

Amal Kiran, born in Nov 1904, passed away peacefully in the Ashram Nursing Home on 29 June at the ripe old age of 106. He lived a long and full life. He joined the Ashram in 1927 at the young age of 23 and was christened ‘Amal Kiran’ or the ‘Clear Ray’ by Sri Aurobindo himself. One of the foremost sadhaks, a literary stalwart and a multi-faceted genius, his publications covered more than 50 books spread over a variety of subjects, notably literature and literary criticism. His voluminous correspondence with Sri Aurobindo on Savitri can be rated as the high-water mark of what true literary analysis ought to be. Like his Guru, Amal Kiran, too, possessed a keen and a wonderful sense of humour. ‘Age could not wither him nor custom stale his infinite variety’.

Notes On Authors (Includes names of only those writers whose writings have not appeared in this journal before)

Ajai  R.  Singh M.D.   i s   a  Psychi a t r i s t   and Edi tor ,  Mens  Sana  Monogr aphs ,   (http://www.msmonographs.org) He has written extensively on issues related to psychiatry, philosophy, bioethical issues, medicine, and the pharmaceutical industry

Aparna Banerjee is Associate Professor in Philosophy at the University of Calcutta. She is the Author of the book Explanation and Understanding in the Social Sciences (2002). Her research papers on Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy have appeared in reputed Journals and Books. One such paper entitled ‘Yoga and Knowledge’ is due for publication in PHISPC, Centre for Studies in Civilisation, New Delhi. She has also completed a UGC research Project on the Indian Caste System in 2007.

Monica Gupta is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Elementary Education, Gargi College, University of Delhi. She is also the academic Coordinator (honorary), International Centre for Integral Studies, Gnostic Centre, New Delhi. She is deeply influenced by the life and works of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. She is in her research, teaching and personal practice engaged with Sri Aurobindo and the Mother’s vision of a future society and creation of new modes of knowing and being.

Neeltje Huppes was born in the Netherlands. An inner urge brought her to India and Pondicherry. She lived for 15 years in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Delhi Branch where she founded, together with Matthijs Cornelissen, a Research Centre for Integral Education, focusing mainly on teacher education. The urge for a more intense inner quest brought her back to Pondicherry where she is presently teaching in the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education. She wrote Psychic Education, a Workbook, New Delhi, 2001. She has lectured in India and abroad on various aspects of Integral Psychology. In February 2006 she opened together with Matthijs Cornelissen the Indian Psychology Institute.

Paul Antoine Richard was born on 17 June 1874 at Masillargues in Languedoc, Southern France. After finishing school, he enlisted in the army, and in October 1892 was sent to North Africa, where he served for four years. Richard received his law degree from the Academie de Lille in July 1908. Before long he became a barrister at the Paris Court of Appeals. In February 1910 he joined the Ligue de Defense et de Propagande Republicaine Raddicale et Radicale-Socialiste. It was probably this party that sent Richard to Pondicherry in March 1910 on an electioneering campaign on behalf of Paul Bluysen, a candidate from French India to the Chamber of Deputies in Paris. It was in 1914 that he met Sri Aurobindo for the first time. Paul Richard wrote a few books  some of which were Au Japon, To the Nations, The Lord of the Nations, The Scourge of Christ, The Dawn Over Asia, The Challenge of the Future,  To India: The Messages of the Himalayas (1921), New Asia (1922), Messages from the Future, The Eternal Wisdom, The Seven Steps to the New Age. In November 1920, he left Pondicherry and went to Chandernagore; then he became a sannyasi and spent some time in the Himalayas. In 1967 Paul Richard breathed his last.

Radharaman Chakrabarti  Formerly, Vice-Chancellor, Netaji Subhas Open University, Kolkata. Currently Project Director, UNESCO Programme on ‘International Understanding’ at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Golpark, Kolkata Shakuntala A. Singh Ph.D. is Principal, Reader and Head, Dept of Philosophy, K.G. Joshi College of Arts and N.G. Bedekar College of Commerce. She is also Deputy Editor of MSM. Her areas of interest are Indian philosophy, bio-ethics, logic, and the philosophy of science.

Index  To Authors  And Articles In Sraddha, August 2010 – April 2011

Authors

Alok Pandey Aug.’10, p.34, Feb.’11, p.17

Amal Kiran Apr.’11, p.15

Amalendu De Aug.’10, p.120

Anirvan, Srimat Nov.’10, p.11, Feb.’11, p.47

Anuradha Choudry Nov.’10, p.62

Arun Chatterjee Nov.’10, p.92

Asoka Ganguli Feb.’11, p.139

Dalal, AS Apr.’11, p. 139

Dasharathi Sengupta Aug.’10, p.103

Debashsish Banerji Aug.’10, p.67, Feb.’11, p.53, Apr.’11, p.18

Deshpande, RY Apr.’11, p.63

Kireet Joshi Aug.’10, p.14

Krishnaprem Feb.’11, p.11

Kundan Singh Aug.’10, p.128

Larry Seidlitz Nov.’10, p.120

Makarand Paranjape Feb.’11, p.73

Mathijs Cornelissen Feb.’11, p.118

Mother Feb.’11, p.7

Narad (Richard Eggenberger) Apr.’11, p.55

Pratyagatmananda Saraswati, Swami Aug.’10, p.10

Prema Nandakumar Aug.’10, p.41, Nov.’10, p.23, Feb.’11, p.39, Apr.’11, p.46

Prithwindra Mukherjee Nov.’10, p.134

Ramesh Chandra Pradhan Nov.’10, p.35

Ranajit Sarkar Aug.’10, p.168, Nov.’10, p.188, Feb.’11, p.14, Apr.’11, p.73

Richard Hartz Aug.’10, p.52, Apr.’11, p.98

Sachidananda Mohanty Nov.’10, p.165

Sampadananda Mishra Nov.’10, p.81S´

Sandeep Joshi Nov.’10, p.111

Sarnath Basu Nov.’10, p.17

Saurendranath Basu Aug.’10, p.181

Shraddhavan Nov.’10, p.174, Feb.’11, p.105

Sonia Dyne Aug.’10, p.95, Feb.’11, p.87

Sri Aurobindo Aug.’10, p.7, Nov.’10, p.7, Apr’11, p.7

Srinivasan, MS Nov.’10, p.152

Sunayana Panda Apr.’11, p.121

Tapan Banerjee Nov.’10, p.46

Usharanjan Chakraborty Feb.’11, p.131

Vladimir Iatsenko Apr.’11, p.24

Vrekhem, Georges van Aug.’10, p.142, Apr. ’11, p.126

Articles

Analytical Assessment of Death – Savitri Debate, An (Usharanjan Chakraborty) – Feb’11, p,131

Aswapati’s Yoga (Anirvan, Srimat) – Feb’11, p.47

Beyond Mind: A New Paradigm of Psychology…(Kundan Singh) – Aug.’10, p.128

Biographical Aspect of Savitri, A ( RY Deshpande) – Apr.’11, p.63

Bird-Image in Savitri, The (Ranajait Sarkar) – Apr.’11, p.73

Charles Darwin and Sri Aurobindo… (Tapan Banerjee) – Nov.’10, p.46

Country and Nationalism, The (Sri Aurobindo) – Aug.’10, p.7

Descent of Knowledge in Savitri, The (Sonia Dyne) – Feb.’11, p.87

Emotion and its Transformation (Larry Seidlitz) – Nov.’10, p.120

Epistemology of Perception (Sandeep Joshi) – Nov.’10, p.111

Everlasting Yes, The: Savitri, the Epic of Affirmation (Richard Hartz) – Apr.11, p.98

Five Martyrs of Bengal (Amalendu De) – Aug.’10, p.120

Genius of Civilisation (MS Srininvasan) – Nov.’10, p.152

Love and Death (Debashish Banerji) – Feb.’11, p.53

Lexicon of an Infinite Mind (Narad – Richard Eggenberger) – Apr.’11, p.55

Modes and Aspects of Self in Hindu Philosophy… (Arun Chatterjee) – Nov.’10, p.92

Mother and Her Work, The (Sunayana Panda) – Apr.’11, p.121

Mother’s Savitri Translations, The (Shraddhavan) – Feb.’11, p.105

Nation and Beyond – Aspects of Sri Aurobindo’s Political Vision (Dasharathi Sengupta) – Aug.’10, p.103

Newness of Savitri: an Interpretation (Asoka Ganguli) – Feb.’11, p.139

On Savitri – A Talk to a Young Disciple (Mother) – Feb.’11, p.7

On Savitri (Sri Aurobindo) – Apr.’11, p.7

Onward She Passed… Rejection as Described in Savitri (Matthijs Cornelissen) – Feb.’11, p.18

Path of Nachiketa, The (Alok Pandey) – Aug.’10, p. 34

Psychic Being, The: A Gift of Grace (AS Dalal) – Apr.’11, p.139

Rabidranath and Sri Aurobindo… (Saurendranath Basu) – Aug.’10, p.181

Reflections on Jouissance as Ananda (Prithwindra Mukherjee) – Nov.’10, p.134

Reviving the Vedic Aryan (Anuradha Choudry) – Nov.’10, p.62

Sadhana and Sahitya: the Early Years in Pondicherry (Richard Hartz) – Aug.’10, p.52

Sanskrit: A Language of Integral Perfection (Sampadananda Mishra) – Nov.’10, p.81

Savitri (Krishnaprem) – Feb.’11, p.11

Savitri and Satyavan: the Path to Immortality (Vladimir Iatsenko) – Apr.’11, p.24

Savitri, Bk I, Canto I: The Symbol Dawn (Debashsish Banerji) – Apr.’11, p.18

Savitri, Bk VI, Canto II: The Way of Fate and …  (Makarand Paranjape) – Feb.’11, p.73

Savitri: The Song of The Infinite (Alok Pandey) – Feb.’11, p.17

Science and Religion (Georges van Vrekhem) – Aug.’10, p.42

‘Seer Deep-Hearted’: A Metrical Fragment.. (Shraddhavan) – Nov.’10, 174

Spirituality and the Crisis in Contemporary…  (Sachidananda Mohanty) – Nov.’10, p.165

Sri Aurobindo and the Bengal Renaissance (Debashsish Banerji) – Aug.’10, p.67

Sri Aurobindo and the Mystery of Death (Anirvan, Srimat) – Nov.’10, p.11

Sri Aurobindo and the Veda (Kireet Joshi) – Aug.’10, p.14

Sri Aurobindo, Namaste (Pratyagatmananda Swaraswati, Swami) – Aug.’10, p.10

Sri Aurobindo on ‘The Two Negations’… (RC Pradhan) – Nov.’10, p.35

Sri Aurobindo’s Concept of Freedom (Sonia Dyne) – Aug.’10, p.95

Sri Aurobindo’s Commentary on Kenopanishad (Sarnath Basu) – Nov.’10, p.17

Theme of Urvashi in the Indian Renaissance, The (Ranajit Sarkar)-  Aug.’10, p.168, Nov.’10, p.188

To Savitri, the Wonderful Epic (Ranajit Sarkar) – Feb.’11, p.14

Veda Vyasa’s Mahabharata in Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri (Prema Nandakumar) – Aug,’10, p.41, Nov.’10, p.23, Feb.’11, p.39, Apr.’11, p.46

What Arjuna saw: the Dark Side of the Force (Georges van Vrekhem) – Apr.’11, p.126

What Basically is Savitri? (Amal Kiran) – Apr.’11, p.15

What is the Significance of the Name ‘Arya’? (Sri Aurobindo) – Nov.’10, p.
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