“...I have been reading the book, and have been struck by the readability of this occult account. By the time the reader has read the first half of Van Vrekhem’s book...he or she will be getting into the even more fascinating, at times incredible denouement, its gathering momentum, its climax, and the sequel that shows us humanity as if poised on the crest of a giant wave.... A top quality of Georges Van Vrekhems’ book is truly its clarity. The story it tells is so easy to follow it flows without any block to the reader’s understanding.”–Claire Walker, Ph.D., The Journal of Religion and Psychical Research
“The book is so informative and thought-provoking that its length feels rather like a bonus than an ordeal. It has dearly been the aim of the author to write an integral catholic text about his subject, based on all of the ‘documents’ available...a standard text and a fount of information on the life and work of Sri Aurobindo.”–Carel Thieme, Mother India
“This book has gripped and deeply moved me from the first to the last page.... Van Vrekhem is a first-class writer. He tries in ordinary language to bring a complex whole of experiences within the reach of the reader. He has fully succeeded in this effort...”–Lambert de Kwant, Tattwa Bulletin
“Van Vrekhem has tried in ‘human language’ to
bring a very complex whole of experiences within the reader’s reach. Besides,
the book is based on documents which have never been presented before as
a whole by others and shows the history of this century in a new light....
Van Vrekhem makes a very interesting effort to formulate an occult process
in words, also because he does not recoil from interpreting developments
in recent history and discoveries in the field of quantum mechanics, significative
of great changes on the Earth.... This is, for those interested, an extremely
remarkable and dauntless book, in which the author succeeds in formulating
experiments and ideas with relation to the present human evolution.”–Simon
Vinkenoog, Bres
The book begins with Sri Aurobindo’s youth in England and his years in India as a freedom fighter against British colonial rule. This is followed by a description of the youth of Mirra Alfassa (The Mother) among the painters and artists in Paris and of her evolution into all accomplished occultist in Algeria. Both discovered their spiritual destiny, which brings them ultimately together, in Pondicherry. Around them disciples gathered into what would evolve into the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. There they worked together, towards the realization of their integral yoga and their lives’ mission: the establishment of the supramental consciousness upon Earth, the spiritual transformation of the world and the coming of a new species–beyond present humanity.
This book is based on documents which have never been presented before
as a whole by other authors. It gives a surprising look behind the scenes
of the history of this century. It presents a positive evaluation of the
crisis our Earth is subject to at this very moment and it opens a vertiginous
but hopeful perspective on the coming of a superhuman and a divine life
upon earth.
GEORGES VAN VREKHEM is a Flemish-speaking Belgian. He became
quite well known in his country as a poet and a playwright. For some time
he was the artistic manager of a professional theater company, The Netherlands
Toneel te Gent. He was first acquainted with the works of Sri Aurobindo
and The Mother in 1964. In 1970 he joined the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Ponticherry,
and in 1978 he became a member of Auroville, which he has made his home
since. He has translated several books of Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and
Satprem, as well as selected writings from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata
into Dutch. After a thirty-year study of the source material, he has worked
for six years on this impressive book. It was originally published as Beyond
Man in the Netherlands in 1995 and in English in Indian 1997. These
editions were widely acclaimed. It is being translated into French, German,
Italian, Portuguese and Russian.
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