Sri Aurobindo – Selected photos

Four years after publishing a book with selected photos of the Mother, we are happy to present the companion book with pictures of Sri Aurobindo. The basic concept of both publications is the same. We aim at giving access to the depth of spiritual vibration which radiates from Sri Aurobindo’s photos. We are not trying to provide a pictorial biography or satisfy intellectual curiosity. Therefore we have purposely refrained from using a chronological sequence to the pictures.

Many of Sri Aurobindo’s photos, which are now being sold, have been touched up or restored from the material that was available. Sometimes the expression of Sri Aurobindo is thereby distorted and not much is left of his original aura, which is the thing we are hunting for in this book. We have avoided as much as possible to repair or improve on the old negatives that we had as the base for this book. Whenever we had several versions of an old picture, we have chosen the less altered one.

There are four categories of pictures. The “historical” pictures of Sri Aurobindo’s youth in England and of his political period before his imprisonment; pictures of his prison-time in Alipore and his early stay in Pondicherry; the pictures taken by Cartier-Bresson within a period of just three days in April 1950; and pictures of his Mahasamadhi.

We had the great good fortune to receive a full set of negatives (there exist three or four such sets) of the Cartier-Bresson photographs; scanned them in Germany; and used them as one of the main materials for this publication. During his short stay in Pondicherry, Cartier-Bresson had not only taken pictures of Sri Aurobindo, but also of the daily Ashram life. Some of those pictures we have reproduced in this book, to let Sri Aurobindo appear in the context of the environment he lived in at that time.

A hint of the timeless planes in which Sri Aurobindo lived inwardly transpires from his physical expression. To capture this hint from beyond, and the message it carries, is what we are aiming at. We have had the courage to subordinate all other aspects and compose the material available in such a manner that it gives this element full freedom to manifest itself. The pictures are of a size and quality which will allow the reader to catch something of the profound impact of Sri Aurobindo’s physical appearance.

Sri Aurobindo – Selected photos is published by Mitra, Auroville. Hardbound, 200 pages. Price in India approximately Rs 1900, excluding packing and mailing charges. Available from bookshops in Pondicherry and Auroville and from the Auroville online store www.auroville.com.