Sri Aurobindo was one of the\n most extraordinary figures to appear on the historical stage in the\n early\n twentieth century. He is remembered today primarily as a revolutionary and\n a yogi, but Aurobindo\n Ghose refused to be circumscribed by such boundaries. \n Aurobindo was taken at an early age to England. Completely cut off from all\n things Indian, he\n received the perfect English education at St. Paul’s School and Cambridge\n University. Destined\n for a career in the Indian Civil Service, he cracked the entrance\n examination but declined to join.\n Returning home after a 14-year absence, while working for the Maharaja of\n Baroda, Aurobindo\n embarked on a covert parallel career—organizing revolutionary groups and\n writing anti-British\n propaganda. At the same time, he delved deep into India’s past and\n scriptures, and became a poet,\n dramatist, philosopher and Sanskritist. \n Later, he became one of India’s foremost social, political and cultural\n theorists. After a whirlwind\n political career of three years in Bengal—one of them as a guest of the\n Raj—Aurobindo stunned\n everyone, when, at the height of his political eminence, he withdrew to\n Pondicherry. Here, as\n Sri Aurobindo, he crafted Integral Yoga and created a rich legacy from\n which India can still learn. \n  Mystic Fire  is the first biography of Sri Aurobindo to\n have drawn upon the wealth of new information and documentation on his life\n and works that has become available over the last few years. This includes\n the previously unpublished writings of Sri Aurobindo himself, including his\n remarkable record of yoga.