Then I have written my own book, Beyond Man: the Life and Work of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. The Dutch original of this book, Voorbij de mens, has been published in The Netherlands in 1995, my own English version has been published in India (for the Indian Subcontinent) in August last by HarperCollins Publishers India. 

An American edition of Beyond Man will be published by Paragon Press in the fall of next year. The editor responsible for the series in which it will be published by Paragon Press is John W. White. (The Russian translation is finished and its publication in Russia planned also for next year. Meanwhile, the book is being translated into French, German and Brazilian.) 
 
In the course of my visits to Europe I have given about 75 talks on Sri Aurobindo and the Mother to all kinds of audiences in The Netherlands, Belgium and France. When groups are visiting Auroville, I am often the person asked to address them. 

Georges Van Vrekhem 
Shakti 
Auroville 605101 India 

Beyond Man is being published by Paragon House in fall 1998 under the title Beyond the Human Species: the Life and Work of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother 

Review of Beyond Man, from The Awakening Ray, Jan/Feb 1998, p. 34-35. By Carel Thieme. 

IF any persons from India's political history, philosophical thought and spiritual greatness can be labeled as The Great Unknown, they are Sri Aurobindo and The Mother.  Few indeed know about Sri Aurobindo's role as one of the leaders of India's early independence movement; or of his theory of evolution beyond mankind; or of his and The Mother's occult action on world events.  Even less is their true mission known: to bring down on earth a higher level of consciousness, called by Sri Aurobindo "the Supermind", in order to make a divine life on earth possible.  For, says Sri Aurobindo, "Evolution is not finished; reason is not the last word nor the reasoning animal the supreme figure of Nature.  As man emerged out of the animal, so out of man the superman emerges." 

In August 1997, Harper Collins India released Beyond Man, The Life and Work of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother by Georges Van Vrekhem.  The book comes as an unexpected, agreeable and timely surprise, in this 125th year of Sri Aurobindo's birthday and the 50th anniversary of India's freedom, to which not only Sri Aurobindo but also The Mother have contributed so much. 

Georges Van Vrekhem, who lives in Auroville, has been working for six years on this book.  He quotes extensively both from the works of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother as well as from the writings by those who have been near to them.  The result is a hefty volume of over 500 pages.  But its story is gripping and will introduce the reader to the heart of the matter.  In fact, the book is so informative and thought -provoking that its length feels rather like a bonus than an ordeal.  It has clearly been the aim of the author to write an integral, catholic text about his subject, based on all the documents available. 

While reading, one starts to realize how much outward facts are determined 
by interventions from other levels of consciousness, for which those facts are only the external appearances and signs.  The writer has presented us the biographical material in this context, for instance when explaining Sri Aurobindo's and The Mother's occult action on world events.  The inclusion of interesting historical, philosophical and spiritual vistas drawn from other sources, has resulted in a richly embroidered tapestry as a background to the exceptional life of the Two-in-One, the "double--poled Avatar of the Supermind" as Van Vrekhem calls Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. 

The book reveals the golden thread running through the realization and fulfillment of the work of the double-poled Avatar.  Highlights are the explication of the descent of Sri Krishna in Sri Aurobindo's body on 24 November, 1926; the rationale behind the two World Wars; Sri Aurobindo's voluntary confrontation with Death; the manifestation of the Supermind on 29 February, 1956, when the aim of the avataric incarnation was fulfilled; and The Mother's ordeal while going still further and building the archetype of the supramental body. 

The author shows that Sri Aurobindo had progressed much farther in his Yoga than is commonly believed.  He stresses the relevance of the double-poled Avatar, the One Consciousness incarnated in two bodies, which e.g. made possible that one half of the incarnated Avatar (Sri Aurobindo) could consciously enter death because the other half (The Mother) would remain on earth.  He shows The Mother's acceptance, in her Love for mankind, to venture beyond every known limit for the realization of the supramental body, in an effort that will have shortened the material manifestation of the new species by thousands if not millions of years. 

In Beyond Man, the importance of the transitional being, called in French by The Mother "le surhomme" is stressed.  The Mother, announcing the descent of the consciousness of the 'surhomme' in January 1969, explains that, just as in every other great leap in evolution, this time too transitory beings or races will appear.  They, born like all of us from human parents, but manifesting a certain degree of a supramental consciousness, will in turn find the key for the creation of the supramental beings.  This important element in the evolution, first described by Sri Aurobindo in 'The Supramental Manifestation Upon Earth' and afterwards time and again elaborated upon by The Mother, has rarely been given due attention.  It is one of several illuminations in this important book. 

It is unavoidable in a book of this magnitude that some prevailing standpoints and opinions on the life and work of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother are being put into question.  But Van Vrekhem's comments are always restrained and worded in a language of moderation.  He clearly has been writing in a spirit of understanding, inclusion and construction.  His guiding idea seems to have been to consider all Aurobindonians as one family.  So doing, Beyond Man shuns no important point or argument, but it is never polemical. 

The publishers, Harper Collins Publishers India, have done a fine job and produced a beautiful book that lays lightly and comfortably in the hand. Still, most of the printing errors might have been' avoided if the proof-reading had been done with more care.  It even happens in a couple of sentences that some words have been omitted - and no, Sri Aurobindo did not marry in 1889, but in 1901 - but the book as a whole reads very fluently and pleasantly indeed.  The errors will surely be corrected when a second impression is issued - and we hope an index, indispensable for the really interested reader, will then also be included. 

Beyond Man is a standard work and a fount of information on the life and work of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother.  It is a must for all those who aspire to live in their Light. 

Comments about Beyond Man: the Life and Work of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother 

The book is so informative and thought-provoking that its length feels rather like a bonus than an ordeal. It has clearly been the aim of the author to write an integral catholic text about his subject, based on all the documents available. The inclusion of interesting historical, philosophical and spiritual vistas drawn from other sources has resulted in a richly embroidered tapestry as a background to the exceptional life of the Two-in-One, "the double-poled Avatar of the Supermind" as Van Vrekhem calls Sri Aurobindo and the Mother Beyond Man is a standard text and a fount of information on the life and work of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. 

     Carel Thieme, in Mother India  

I think this is one of the best books on the subject. It is simply written and the author is command over the source material is admirable. I don't think that anybody else has used the vast body of source material as effectively as he has. 

     M.V. Nadkarni, Secunderabad  

After studying the source materials, Van Vrekhem has been working for more than six years on this book. It is an impressive account, written with great profundity, erudition and knowledge of the hard to describe life and work of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. As a Christian, I am perplexed by all this, but whatever one may think of it,  the person who is looking for a penetrating knowledge of the life of both of them cannot do without this standard work. 

     Jenno Sijtsma, in De Zwolse Courant  

This book is a fitting ode to one of the greatest spiritual thinkers of our times. What makes it extremely valuable is the fact that it assembles documents which have never been presented before as a whole by other authors. 

     Short takes, in Sunday 

It is thrilling to be among the first to read a work that will be treasured throughout the ages. 

     Anie Nunnally, Marina del Rey, Ca.  
 

The book just gripped me as nothing else recently has done. 

    Dr. Ramesh Shah, prof. of English, Govt. Hamidia College, Bhopal  

Van Vrekhem has tried in "human language" to bring a very complex whole of experiences within the the readeris reach. Besides, the book is based on documents never before presented 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, in Bres  

A splendid book, richly documented and beautifully presented. 

     Marcel Messing, in Prana