Book excerpt: Sri Aurobindo’s magnum opus, The Life Divine, spans more than 1000 pages and covers the entire range of human aspiration and seeking. In the first chapter, M. P. Pandit addresses the question as to the relevance of studying Sri Aurobindo’s writings in today’s world. He goes on from there to describe the various theories of existence, the questions of devolution, involution and evolution as well as issues such as the question of rebirth and other worlds, the Sevenfold Ignorance and the triple transformation and the development of a gnostic society. The chapters each represent a lecture delivered by the author at the Sri Aurobindo Bhavan, Calcutta, India in January 1988 and have an easily grasped conversational tone, including relevant questions and answers.