Sri Aurobindo’s systematic philosophical magnum opus — over 1,000 pages — developing his integral non-dualism: the involution of consciousness into matter, evolution as the gradual re-emergence of consciousness, and the “supramental” transformation as the next evolutionary step.
Originally serialised in his journal Arya (1914–1919) and substantially revised for the 1939–40 book edition issued by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry. Two books — Book One, “Omnipresent Reality and the Universe” (28 chapters); Book Two, “The Knowledge and the Ignorance — The Spiritual Evolution” (28 chapters in two parts).
First lines
The earliest preoccupation of man in his awakened thoughts and, as it seems, his inevitable and ultimate preoccupation,—for it survives the longest periods of scepticism and returns after every banishment,—is also the highest which his thought can envisage. It manifests itself in the divination of Godhead, the impulse towards perfection, the search after pure Truth and unmixed Bliss, the sense of a secret immortality.
Contents
The Human Aspiration
The Two Negations: The Materialist Denial
The Two Negations: The Refusal of the Ascetic
Reality Omnipresent
The Destiny of the Individual
Man in the Universe
The Ego and the Dualities
The Methods of Vedantic Knowledge
The Pure Existent
Conscious Force
Delight of Existence: The Problem
Delight of Existence: The Solution
The Divine Maya
The Supermind as Creator
Reception
Treated by Sri Aurobindo’s lineage (Auroville, the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry) and by serious students of modern Indian philosophy as the central work of 20th-century Indian philosophical synthesis. Indologists including Andrew Sartori and Peter Heehs have written substantial monographs treating Aurobindo as a major political-philosophical figure as well as a yogi. Outside specialist circles the book’s length and density have kept it less circulated than the secondary literature on it; even within Indian philosophy departments it is more often taught through The Synthesis of Yoga or Essays on the Gita.
Frequently asked
What is The Life Divine about?
It is Sri Aurobindo’s philosophical magnum opus, developing his integral non-dualism: the involution of consciousness into matter, evolution as the gradual re-emergence of consciousness, and the “supramental” transformation as the next evolutionary step.
When was it written?
It first appeared serially in Sri Aurobindo’s journal Arya between 1914 and 1919, and was substantially revised and issued in book form by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in 1939–40.
How is the book structured?
In two books across 56 chapters: Book One, “Omnipresent Reality and the Universe” (28 chapters), and Book Two, “The Knowledge and the Ignorance — The Spiritual Evolution” (28 chapters across two parts).