The Lives Divine

[Hyppolite's 1952 Logique et existence, a book Foucault regarded as "one of the great books of our time" was also a book on Hegel, centered on the question of a logic of the concept. It opened by rewriting Hegel's Phenomenology as a logic of silence, a logic of the ineffable. The Cambridge Companion to Foucault: Michel Foucault: Google Books by Gary Gutting - 1994]

[The idea of rewriting Hegel's Phenomenology became a passion but also one of those dreams every thinker has, knowing fully well that he cannot fulfil it. But such a 'regulative Idea' gives meaning to your being as a thinker... Aboni Ghose introduced me to the writings of Sri Aurobindo...He made me read Sri Aurobindo’s magnum opus, The Life Divine. I read perhaps the first six chapters, which impressed me a great deal by their profundity and large scope. I even made plans to write a book on metaphysics myself, with chapters on ‘matter’, ‘life’, ‘mind’, and so forth. -- J.N. Mohanty - Between Two Worlds, East and West: An Autobiography, Oxford, 2002 10:24 AM]

Puducherry, August 15, 2014

A world famous "questioning" disciple of Sri Aurobindo has accomplished a superhuman feat by rewriting the Master's magnum opus as "The Lives Divine" - a pentalogy. Due for release on August 15 coinciding with the Centenary of the original "The Life Divine" it marks the metamorphosis of the historian author to a full-fledged philosopher. "I was never ever a philosopher," the author quips in his blog post, echoing the famous words of Sri Aurobindo.

The author also plans to publish his first anthology of poems in spring next year which would be another "life" for him. After a couple of further somersaults that are up his sleeve, he might embark upon penning his intellectual autobiography that will evidently be titled as "My Lives."

The attractively bound five-volume set of "The Lives Divine" is eagerly awaited, but the high price is likely to dampen the spirits. Puducherry, being a free port and hub of South Asian trade, has been opted for the release of the book as the US economy is yet to come out of the prolonged recession. The Indian devotees of Sri Aurobindo, as customary, have deplored the publication while the westerners have greeted it, thus securing their complimentary copies. [TNM]