Biography.

Early life time.

Aurobindo Ghose was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata), Bengal Presidency, India on 15 August 1872 in a Bengali Kayastha family that was associated with the village of Konnagar in the Hoogly district. His father, Krishna Dhun Ghose, was then assistant surgeon of Rangpur in Bengal and later civil surgeon of Khulna, and a former member of the Brahmo Samaj religious reform movement who had become enamoured with the then-new idea of evolution while pursuing medical studies in Edinburgh. His mother was Swarnalata Devi, whose father was Shri Rajnarayan Bose, a leading figure in the Samaj. She had been sent to the more salubrious surroundings of Calcutta for Aurobindo's birth. Aurobindo had two elder siblings, Benoybhusan and Manmohan, a younger sister, Sarojini, and a younger brother, Barindrakumar (also referred to as Barin).  Young Aurobindo was brought up speaking English but used Hindustani to communicate with servants. Although his family were Bengali, his father believed British culture to be superior. He and his two elder siblings were sent to the English-speaking Loreto House boarding school in Darjeeling, in part to improve their language skills and in part to distance them from their mother, who had developed a mental illness soon after the birth of her first child. Darjeeling was a centre of British life in India and the school was run by Irish nuns, through which the boys would have been exposed to Christian religious teachings and symbolism.

England (1879–1893).

Krishna Dhun Ghose wanted his sons to enter the Indian Civil Service (ICS), an elite organisation comprising around 1000 people. To achieve this it was necessary that they study in England and so it was there that the entire family moved in 1879. The three brothers were placed in the care of the Reverend W. H. Drewett in Manchester. Drewett was a minister of the Congregational Church whom Krishna Dhun Ghose knew through his British friends at Rangapur.  The boys were taught Latin by Drewett and his wife. This was a prerequisite for admission to good English schools and, after two years, in 1881, the elder two siblings were enrolled at Manchester Grammar School. Aurobindo was considered too young for enrolment and he continued his studies with the Drewetts, learning history, Latin, French, geography and arithmetic. Although the Drewetts were told not to teach religion, the boys inevitably were exposed to Christian teachings and events, which generally bored Aurobindo and sometimes repulsed him. There was little contact with his father, who wrote only a few letters to his sons while they were in England, but what communication there was indicated that he was becoming less endeared to the British in India than he had been, on one occasion describing the British Raj as a "heartless government". Drewett emigrated to Australia in 1884, causing the boys to be uprooted as they went to live with Drewett's mother in London. In September of that year, Aurobindo and Manmohan joined St Paul's School there. He learned Greek and spent the last three years reading literature and English poetry, while he also acquired some familiarity with the German and Italian languages ; Peter Heehs resumes his linguistic abilities by stating that at "the turn of the century he knew at least twelve languages: English, French, and Bengali to speak, read, and write; Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit to read and write; Gujarati, Marathi, and Hindi to speak and read; and Italian, German, and Spanish to read." Being exposed to the evangelical structures of Drewett's mother developed in him a distaste for religion, and he considered himself at one point to be an atheist but later determined that he was agnostic. A blue plaque unveiled in 2007 commemorates Aurobindo's residence at 49 St Stephen's Avenue in Shepherd's Bush, London, from 1884 to 1887. The three brothers began living in spartan circumstances at the Liberal Club in South Kensington during 1887, their father having experienced some financial difficulties. The Club's secretary was James Cotton, brother of their father's friend in the Bengal ICS, Henry Cotton.  By 1889, Manmohan had determined to pursue a literary career and Benoybhusan had proved himself unequal to the standards necessary for ICS entrance. This meant that only Aurobindo might fulfill his father's aspirations but to do so when his father lacked money required that he studied hard for a scholarship. To become an ICS official, students were required to pass the competitive examination, as well as to study at an English university for two years under probation. Aurobindo secured a scholarship at King's College, Cambridge, under recommendation of Oscar Browning. He passed the written ICS examination after a few months, being ranked 11th out of 250 competitors. He spent the next two years at King's College. Aurobindo had no interest in the ICS and came late to the horse-riding practical exam purposefully to get himself disqualified for the service.  At this time, the Maharaja of Baroda, Sayajirao Gaekwad III, was travelling in England. Cotton secured for him a place in Baroda State Service and arranged for him to meet the prince. He left England for India, arriving there in February 1893. In India, Krishna Dhun Ghose, who was waiting to receive his son, was misinformed by his agents from Bombay (now Mumbai) that the ship on which Aurobindo had been travelling had sunk off the coast of Portugal. His father died upon hearing this news.

Baroda and Calcutta (1893–1910).

In Baroda, Aurobindo joined the state service in 1893, working first in the Survey and Settlements department, later moving to the Department of Revenue and then to the Secretariat, and much miscellaneous work like teaching grammar and assisting in writing speeches for the Maharaja of Gaekwad until 1897. In 1897 during his work in Baroda, he started working as a part-time French teacher at Baroda College (now Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda). He was later promoted to the post of vice-principal. At Baroda, Aurobindo self-studied Sanskrit and Bengali.  During his stay at Baroda, he had contributed to many articles to "Indu Prakash" and had spoken as a chairman of the Baroda college board. He started taking an active interest in the politics of India's independence struggle against British rule, working behind the scenes as his position in the Baroda state administration barred him from an overt political activity. He linked up with resistance groups in Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, while travelling to these states. He established contact with Lokmanya Tilak and Sister Nivedita.  Aurobindo often travelled between Baroda and Bengal, at first in a bid to re-establish links with his parent's families and other Bengali relatives, including his sister Sarojini and brother Barin, and later increased to establish resistance groups across the Presidency. He formally moved to Calcutta in 1906 after the announcement of the Partition of Bengal. In 1901, on a visit to Calcutta, he married 14-year-old Mrinalini, the daughter of Bhupal Chandra Bose, a senior official in government service. Aurobindo was 28 at that time. Mrinalini died seventeen years later in December 1918 during the influenza pandemic.  Aurobindo was influenced by studies on rebellion and revolutions against England in medieval France and the revolts in America and Italy. In his public activities he favoured non-co-operation and passive resistance; in private he took up secret revolutionary activity as a preparation for open revolt, in case that the passive revolt failed. In Bengal, with Barin's help, he established contacts with revolutionaries, inspiring radicals such as Bagha Jatin or Jatin Mukherjee and Surendranath Tagore. He helped establish a series of youth clubs, including the Anushilan Samiti of Calcutta in 1902.  Aurobindo attended the 1906 Congress meeting headed by Dadabhai Naoroji and participated as a councillor in forming the fourfold objectives of "Swaraj, Swadesh, Boycott, and national education". In 1907 at the Surat session of Congress where moderates and extremists had a major showdown, he led along with extremists along with Bal Gangadhar Tilak. The Congress split after this session. In 1907–1908 Aurobindo travelled extensively to Pune, Bombay and Baroda to firm up support for the nationalist cause, giving speeches and meeting with groups. He was arrested again in May 1908 in connection with the Alipore Bomb Case. He was acquitted in the ensuing trial, following the murder of chief prosecution witness Naren Goswami within jail premises which subsequently led to the case against him collapsing. Aurobindo was subsequently released after a year of isolated incarceration.  Once out of the prison he started two new publications, "Karmayogin" in English and "Dharma" in Bengali. He also delivered the hinting at the transformation of his focus to spiritual matters. The British persecution continued because of his writings in his new journals and in April 1910 Aurobindo moved to Pondicherry, where Britain's secret police monitored his activities.

Conversion from politics to spirituality.

In July 1905 then Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon, partitioned Bengal. This sparked an outburst of public anger against the British, leading to civil unrest and a nationalist campaign by groups of revolutionaries that included Aurobindo. In 1908, Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki attempted to kill Magistrate Kingsford, a judge known for handing down particularly severe sentences against nationalists. However, the bomb thrown at his horse carriage missed its target and instead landed in another carriage and killed two British women, the wife and daughter of barrister Pringle Kennedy. Aurobindo was also arrested on charges of planning and overseeing the attack and imprisoned in solitary confinement in Alipore Jail. The trial of the Alipore Bomb Case lasted for a year, but eventually, he was acquitted on 6 May 1909. His defence counsel was Chittaranjan Das.  During this period in the Jail, his view of life was radically changed due to spiritual experiences and realizations. Consequently, his aim went far beyond the service and liberation of the country.  Aurobindo said he was "visited" by Vivekananda in the Alipore Jail: "It is a fact that I was hearing constantly the voice of Vivekananda speaking to me for a fortnight in the jail in my solitary meditation and felt his presence."  In his autobiographical notes, Aurobindo said he felt a vast sense of calmness when he first came back to India. He could not explain this and continued to have various such experiences from time to time. He knew nothing of yoga at that time and started his practice of it without a teacher, except for some rules that he learned from Ganganath, a friend who was a disciple of Brahmananda. In 1907, Barin introduced Aurobindo to Vishnu Bhaskar Lele, a Maharashtrian yogi. Aurobindo was influenced by the guidance he got from the yogi, who had instructed Aurobindo to depend on an inner guide and any kind of external guru or guidance would not be required.  In 1910 Aurobindo withdrew himself from all political activities and went into hiding at Chandannagar in the house of Motilal Roy, while the British were trying to prosecute him for sedition on the basis of a signed article titled 'To My Countrymen', published in "Karmayogin". As Aurobindo disappeared from view, the warrant was held back and the prosecution postponed. Aurobindo manoeuvred the police into open action and a warrant was issued on 4 April 1910, but the warrant could not be executed because on that date he had reached Pondicherry, then a French colony. The warrant against Aurobindo was withdrawn.

Pondicherry (1910–1950).

In Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo dedicated himself to his spiritual and philosophical pursuits. In 1914, after four years of secluded yoga, he started a monthly philosophical magazine called "Arya". This ceased publication in 1921. Many years later, he revised some of these works before they were published in book form. Some of the book series derived out of this publication was "The Life Divine", "The Synthesis of Yoga", "Essays on The Gita", "The Secret of The Veda", "Hymns to the Mystic Fire", "The Upanishads", "The Renaissance in India", "War and Self-determination", "The Human Cycle", "The Ideal of Human Unity" and "The Future Poetry" were published in this magazine.  At the beginning of his stay at Pondicherry, there were few followers, but with time their numbers grew, resulting in the formation of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in 1926. From 1926 he started to sign himself as "Sri Aurobindo", "Sri" being commonly used as an honorific.  For some time afterwards, his main literary output was his voluminous correspondence with his disciples. His letters, most of which were written in the 1930s, numbered in the several thousand. Many were brief comments made in the margins of his disciple's notebooks in answer to their questions and reports of their spiritual practice—others extended to several pages of carefully composed explanations of practical aspects of his teachings. These were later collected and published in book form in three volumes of "Letters on Yoga".In the late 1930s, he resumed work on a poem he had started earlier—he continued to expand and revise this poem for the rest of his life. It became perhaps his greatest literary achievement, "Savitri", an epic spiritual poem in blank verse of approximately 24,000 lines.  Sri Aurobindo died on 5 December 1950. Around 60,000 people attended to see his body resting peacefully. Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and the President Rajendra Prasad praised him for his contribution to Yogic philosophy and the independence movement. National and international newspapers commemorated his death.

Mirra Alfassa (The Mother) and the development of the Ashram.

Sri Aurobindo's close spiritual collaborator, Mirra Alfassa (b. Alfassa), came to be known as "The Mother". She was a French national, born in Paris on 21 February 1878. In her 20s she studied occultism with Max Theon. Along with her husband, Paul Richard, she went to Pondicherry on 29 March 1914, and finally settled there in 1920. Sri Aurobindo considered her his spiritual equal and collaborator. After 24 November 1926, when Sri Aurobindo retired into seclusion, he left it to her to plan, build and run the ashram, the community of disciples which had gathered around them. Sometime later, when families with children joined the ashram, she established and supervised the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education with its experiments in the field of education. When he died in 1950, she continued their spiritual work, directed the ashram, and guided their disciples.

Philosophy and spiritual vision.

Introduction.

Sri Aurobindo's concept of the Integral Yoga system is described in his books, "The Synthesis of Yoga" and "The Life Divine". "The Life Divine" is a compilation of essays published serially in "Arya."  Sri Aurobindo argues that divine "Brahman" manifests as empirical reality through "līlā," or divine play. Instead of positing that the world we experience is an illusion ("māyā")"," Aurobindo argues that world can evolve and become a new world with new species, far above the human species just as human species have evolved after the animal species. As such he argued that the end goal of spiritual practice could not merely be a liberation from the world into Samadhi but would also be that of descent of the Divine into the world in order to transform it into a Divine existence. Thus, this constituted the purpose of Integral Yoga. Regarding the involution of consciousness in matter, he wrote that: "This descent, this sacrifice of the Purusha, the Divine Soul submitting itself to Force and Matter so that it may inform and illuminate them is the seed of redemption of this world of Inconscience and Ignorance."  Sri Aurobindo believed that Darwinism merely describes a phenomenon of the evolution of matter into life, but does not explain the reason behind it, while he finds life to be already present in matter, because all of existence is a manifestation of "Brahman". He argues that nature (which he interpreted as divine) has evolved life out of matter and the mind out of life. All of existence, he argues, is attempting to manifest to the level of the supermind – that evolution had a purpose. He stated that he found the task of understanding the nature of reality arduous and difficult to justify by immediate tangible results.

Supermind.

At the centre of Aurobindo's metaphysical system is the supermind, an intermediary power between the unmanifested Brahman and the manifested world. Aurobindo claims that the supermind is not completely alien to us and can be realized within ourselves as it is always present within mind since the latter is in reality identical with the former and contains it as a potentiality within itself. Aurobindo does not portray supermind as an original invention of his own but believes it can be found in the Vedas and that the Vedic Gods represent powers of the supermind In "The Integral Yoga" he declares that "By the supermind is meant the full Truth-Consciousness of the Divine Nature in which there can be no place for the principle of division and ignorance; it is always a full light and knowledge superior to all mental substance or mental movement." Supermind is a bridge between Sachchidananda and the lower manifestation and it is only through the supramental that mind, life and body can be spiritually transformed as opposed to through Sachchidananda The descent of supermind will mean the creation of a supramental race

Affinity with Western philosophy.

In his writings, talks, and letters Sri Aurobindo has referred to several European philosophers with whose basic concepts he was familiar, commenting on their ideas and discussing the question of affinity to his own line of thought. Thus he wrote a long essay on the Greek philosopher Heraclitus and mentioned especially Plato, Plotinus, Nietzsche and Bergson as thinkers in whom he was interested because of their more intuitive approach. On the other hand, he felt little attraction for the philosophy of Kant or Hegel. Several studies have shown a remarkable closeness to the evolutionary thought of Teilhard de Chardin, whom he did not know, whereas the latter came to know of Sri Aurobindo at a late stage. After reading some chapters of "The Life Divine", he is reported to have said that Sri Aurobindo's vision of evolution was basically the same as his own, though stated for Asian readers.  Several scholars have discovered significant similarities in the thought of Sri Aurobindo and Hegel. Steve Odin has discussed this subject comprehensively in a comparative study. Odin writes that Sri Aurobindo "has appropriated Hegel’s notion of an Absolute Spirit and employed it to radically restructure the architectonic framework of the ancient Hindu Vedanta system in contemporary terms." In his analysis Odin arrives at the conclusion that "both philosophers similarly envision world creation as the progressive self-manifestation and evolutionary ascent of a universal consciousness in its journey toward Self-realization." He points out that in contrast to the deterministic and continuous dialectal unfolding of Absolute Reason by the mechanism of thesis-antithesis-synthesis or affirmation-negation-integration, "Sri Aurobindo argues for a creative, emergent mode of evolution." In his résumé Odin states that Sri Aurobindo has overcome the ahistorical world-vision of traditional Hinduism and presented a concept which allows for a genuine advance and novelty.

Importance of the Upanishads.

Although Sri Aurobindo was familiar with the most important lines of thought in Western philosophy, he did not acknowledge their influence on his own writings. He wrote that his philosophy "was formed first by the study of the Upanishads and the Gita... They were the basis of my first practice of Yoga." With the help of his readings he tried to move on to actual experience, "and it was on this experience that later on I founded my philosophy, not on ideas themselves.”  He assumes that the seers of the Upanishads had basically the same approach and gives some details of his vision of the past in a long passage in "The Renaissance of India". "The Upanishads have been the acknowledged source of numerous profound philosophies and religions," he writes. Even Buddhism with all its developments was only a "restatement" from a new standpoint and with fresh terms. And, furthermore, the ideas of the Upanishads "can be rediscovered in much of the thought of Pythagoras and Plato and form the profound part of Neo-platonism and Gnosticism..." Finally, the larger part of German metaphysics "is little more in substance than an intellectual development of great realities more spiritually seen in this ancient teaching." When once he was asked by a disciple whether Plato got some of his ideas from Indian books, he responded that though something of the philosophy of India got through "by means of Pythagoras and others", he assumed that Plato got most of his ideas from intuition.  Sri Aurobindo's indebtedness to the Indian tradition also becomes obvious through his placing a large number of quotations from the Rig Veda, the Upanishads and the Bhagavadgita at the beginning of the chapters in "The Life Divine", showing the connection of his own thought to Veda and Vedanta.  The "Isha Upanishad" is considered to be one of the most important and more accessible writings of Sri Aurobindo. Before he published his final translation and analysis, he wrote ten incomplete commentaries. In a key passage he points out that the Brahman or Absolute is both the Stable and the Moving. "We must see it in eternal and immutable Spirit and in all the changing manifestations of universe and relativity." Sri Aurobindo's biographer K.R.S. Iyengar quotes R.S. Mugali as stating that Sri Aurobindo might have obtained in this Upanishad the thought-seed which later grew into "The Life Divine".

Synthesis and integration.

Sisir Kumar Maitra, who was a leading exponent of Sri Aurobindo's Philosophy, has referred to the issue of external influences and written that Sri Aurobindo does not mention names, but "as one reads his books one cannot fail to notice how thorough is his grasp of the great Western philosophers of the present age..." Although he is Indian one should not "underrate the influence of Western thought upon him. This influence is there, very clearly visible, but Sri Aurobindo... has not allowed himself to be dominated by it. He has made full use of Western thought, but he has made use of it for the purpose of building up his own system..." Thus Maitra, like Steve Odin, sees Sri Aurobindo not only in the tradition and context of Indian, but also Western philosophy and assumes he may have adopted some elements from the latter for his synthesis.  R. Puligandla supports this viewpoint in his book "Fundamentals of Indian Philosophy". He describes Sri Aurobindo's philosophy as "an original synthesis of the Indian and Western traditions." "He integrates in a unique fashion the great social, political and scientific achievements of the modern West with the ancient and profound spiritual insights of Hinduism. The vision that powers the life divine of Aurobindo is none other than the Upanishadic vision of the unity of all existence."  Puligandla believes that the Western influence also becomes evident through Sri Aurobindo's critical position vis-à-vis Shankara and his assumption that the latter teaches through his Mayavada or Illusionism that the world is unreal and illusory. Puligandla objects, "nowhere does Shankara say that the world is unreal and illusory. Quite the contrary, through the concept of sublation he teaches that the world is neither real nor unreal. That this is indeed his teaching is further borne out by his distinction between lower and higher truths." Therefore, Puligandla concludes that "Aurobindo's characterization of Shankara's Vedanta as a world-negating philosophy is unfounded." He believes that Sri Aurobindo in his endeavour to synthesize Hindu and Western modes of thought has wrongly identified Shankara's Mayavada with the subjective idealism of George Berkeley, "which undoubtedly stands in sharp contrast to the realism of the Western philosophical tradition in general." Nonetheless, Puligandla believes that Sri Aurobindo was "a great philosopher-mystic" with a significant vision of man and the world.  Sri Aurobindo's critique of Shankara is supported by U. C. Dubey in his paper titled "Integralism: The Distinctive Feature of Sri Aurobindo’s Philosophy." He starts by summarizing what he considers to be Sri Aurobindo's most important contributions to philosophy and mentions at first his integral view of Reality. "The creative force or 'cit-śakti' is regarded by him as one with the Absolute. Thus there is no opposition between the Absolute and its creative force in his system." Next Dubey refers to Sri Aurobindo's conception of the supermind as the mediatory principle between the Absolute and the finite world and quotes S.K. Maitra stating that this conception "is the pivot round which the whole of Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy moves."  Dubey proceeds to analyse the approach of the Shankarites and believes that they follow an inadequate kind of logic that does not do justice to the challenge of tackling the problem of the Absolute, which cannot be known by finite reason. With the help of the finite reason, he says, "we are bound to determine the nature of reality as one or many, being or becoming. But Sri Aurobindo's Integral Advaitism reconciles all apparently different aspects of Existence in an all-embracing unity of the Absolute." Next, Dubey explains that for Sri Aurobindo there is a higher reason, the "logic of the infinite" in which his integralism is rooted, and expounds this concept by presenting some quotations from "The Life Divine". In concluding he notes critically "that Sri Aurobindo does not explain sufficiently the nature of the logic of the infinite." Nevertheless, "the way he proposes this logic is undoubtedly his unique contribution in the field of Absolutism."

Legacy.

Sri Aurobindo was an Indian nationalist but is best known for his philosophy on human evolution and Integral Yoga.

Influence.

His influence has been wide-ranging. In India, S. K. Maitra, Anilbaran Roy and D. P. Chattopadhyaya commented on Sri Aurobindo's work. Writers on esotericism and traditional wisdom, such as Mircea Eliade, Paul Brunton, and Rene Guenon, all saw him as an authentic representative of the Indian spiritual tradition. Though Rene Guenon thought Sri Aurobindo's thoughts were betrayed by some of his followers and that some works published under his name were not authentic, since not traditional.  Haridas Chaudhuri and Frederic Spiegelberg were among those who were inspired by Aurobindo, who worked on the newly formed American Academy of Asian Studies in San Francisco. Soon after, Chaudhuri and his wife Bina established the Cultural Integration Fellowship, from which later emerged the California Institute of Integral Studies.  Sri Aurobindo influenced Subhash Chandra Bose to take an initiative of dedicating to Indian National Movement full-time. Bose writes "The illustrious example of Arabindo Ghosh looms large before my vision. I feel that I am ready to make the sacrifice which that example demands of me."  Karlheinz Stockhausen was heavily inspired by Satprem's writings about Sri Aurobindo during a week in May 1968, a time at which the composer was undergoing a personal crisis and had found Sri Aurobindo's philosophies were relevant to his feelings. After this experience, Stockhausen's music took a completely different turn, focusing on mysticism, that was to continue until the end of his career.  Jean Gebser acknowledged Sri Aurobindo's influence on his work and referred to him several times in his writings. Thus, in "The Invisible Origin" he quotes a long passage from "The Synthesis of Yoga". Gebser believes that he was "in some way brought into the extremely powerful spiritual field of force radiating through Sri Aurobindo." In his title "Asia Smiles Differently" he reports about his visit to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and meeting with the Mother whom he calls an "exceptionally gifted person."  After meeting Sri Aurobindo in Pondicherry in 1915, the Danish author and artist Johannes Hohlenberg published one of the first Yoga titles in Europe and later on wrote two essays on Sri Aurobindo. He also published extracts from "The Life Divine" in Danish translation.  William Irwin Thompson travelled to Auroville in 1972, where he met "The Mother". Thompson has called Sri Aurobindo's teaching on spirituality a "radical anarchism" and a "post-religious approach" and regards their work as having "... reached back into the Goddess culture of prehistory, and, in Marshall McLuhan's terms, 'culturally retrieved' the archetypes of the shaman and "la sage femme"... " Thompson also writes that he experienced Shakti, or psychic power coming from The Mother on the night of her death in 1973.  Sri Aurobindo's ideas about the further evolution of human capabilities influenced the thinking of Michael Murphy – and indirectly, the human potential movement, through Murphy's writings.  The American philosopher Ken Wilber has called Sri Aurobindo "India's greatest modern philosopher sage" and has integrated some of his ideas into his philosophical vision. Wilber's interpretation of Aurobindo has been criticised by Rod Hemsell. New Age writer Andrew Harvey also looks to Sri Aurobindo as a major inspiration.

Followers.

The following authors, disciples and organisations trace their intellectual heritage back to, or have in some measure been influenced by, Sri Aurobindo and The Mother.

References.

Notes  Citations  Bibliography

Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, guru, poet, and nationalist. He joined the Indian movement for independence from British rule, for a while was one of its influential leaders and then became a spiritual reformer, introducing his visions on human progress and spiritual evolution.

Aurobindo Ghose (,, "Arabinda Ghosh"; * 15. August 1872 in Kolkata; † 5. Dezember 1950 in Puducherry) war ein indischer Politiker, Philosoph, Hindu-Mystiker, Yogi und Guru. Seine Briefe, Gedichte und philosophischen Schriften sind mit Sri Aurobindo unterschrieben und unter diesem Namen veröffentlicht. Er verbindet in seiner Person die humanistische Bildung und das Wissen des Westens mit den Weisheitslehren und spirituellen Traditionen Indiens.


List of Wetlands of International Importance (the "Ramsar List").

The List of Wetlands of International Importance included 2,331 Ramsar Sites in May 2018 covering over. The countries with most sites are the United Kingdom with 175 and Mexico with 142. And, the country with the greatest area of listed wetlands is Bolivia, with around.  The Ramsar Sites Information Service (RSIS) is a searchable database which provides information on each Ramsar Site.

International cooperation.

As of 2016 there are 18 Transboundary Ramsar Sites, and 15 Ramsar Regional Initiatives covering regions of the Mediterranean, Asia, Africa and South America.

International organization partners.

The Ramsar Convention works closely with six other organisations known as International Organization Partners (IOPs). These are: These organizations support the work of the Convention by providing expert technical advice, helping implement field studies, and providing financial support. The IOPs also participate regularly as observers in all meetings of the Conference of the Parties and as full members of the Scientific and Technical Review Panel.

Other partners.

The Convention collaborates with a network of partners:

Bodies established by the Convention.

This is the Convention's governing body consisting of all governments that have ratified the treaty. This ultimate authority reviews progress under the Convention, identifies new priorities, and sets work plans for members. The COP can also make amendments to the Convention, create expert advisory bodies, review progress reports by member nations, and collaborate with other international organizations and agreements.  The Standing Committee is the intersessional executive body which represents the COP between its triennial meetings, within the framework of the decisions made by the COP. The Contracting Parties that are members of the Standing Committee are elected by each meeting of the COP to serve for the three years until the next one.  The Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP)  The Scientific and Technical Review Panel provides scientific and technical guidance to the Conference of the Parties, the Standing Committee, and the Ramsar Secretariat.  The Secretariat carries out the day-to-day coordination of the Convention's activities. It is based at the headquarters of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Gland, Switzerland.  The implementation of the Ramsar Convention is a continuing partnership between the Contracting Parties, the Standing Committee, and the Convention Secretariat, with the advice of the subsidiary expert body, the Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP), and the support of the International Organization Partners (IOPs).  Martha Rojas Urrego is the sixth Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

World Wetlands Day.

The 2nd of February each year is World Wetlands Day, marking the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971. Established to raise awareness about the value of wetlands for humanity and the planet, WWD was celebrated for the first time in 1997 and has grown remarkably since then. In 2015 World Wetlands Day was celebrated in 59 countries.

History.

The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance – the "Ramsar Convention", was co-founded by Ezkandar Firouz (former environment minister of Iran), Luc Hoffmann of Tour du Valat research station in the Camargue in France, and Geoffrey Matthews of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust at Slimbridge in the late 1960s. The conference which adopted the terms of the agreement was held in the Iranian Caspian city of Ramsar on 2 February 1971.

The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands. It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands. It is named after the city of Ramsar in Iran, where the Convention was signed in 1971.

Die Ramsar-Konvention bezeichnet das "Übereinkommen über Feuchtgebiete, insbesondere als Lebensraum für Wasser- und Watvögel, von internationaler Bedeutung",. Es ist ein völkerrechtlicher Vertrag, dessen Ausarbeitung von der UNESCO angestoßen wurde.


History.

The dynastic turmoil caused by the death of Scotland's seven-year-old queen, Margaret, the Maid of Norway, left the covetous king Edward I of England with an irresistible opportunity to assert his authority over Scotland. By 1295, it was clear that Edward was bent on total subjugation of Scotland. In response, the Council of Twelve, which had taken over the government of Scotland temporarily, sought alliances wherever they could be found. Philippe IV declared England's possession of Gascony forfeit in 1293, bringing France and England close to war. Alliance with France was a clear course for Scotland to take. In October 1295, a Scottish embassy to Philippe agreed to the Treaty of Paris.  As with all subsequent renewals of what became the Auld Alliance, the treaty favoured France. The French were required to do no more than continue their struggle against the English in Gascony. However, the cost of any outright war between Scotland and England was to be borne entirely by the Scots. Nevertheless, Scotland, as remote and impoverished as it was, was now aligned to a major European power. Even if they were more symbolic than actual, the benefits of the alliance mattered greatly to Scotland.  In the short term however, the treaty proved to be no protection against Edward, whose swift and devastating invasion of Scotland in 1296 all but eradicated its independence. Furthermore, the cessation of hostilities between England and France in 1299, followed by the treaty of "perpetual peace and friendship," allowed Edward to devote all of his attention and forces to attacking the Scots. In the end, Scotland owed its eventual survival to the military acumen and inspiration of Robert the Bruce and the mistakes of Edward II, rather than to its bond with France.  In 1326, Robert the Bruce renewed the alliance with the Treaty of Corbeil. The motive for this renewal was precautionary: Neither realm seemed to have much to fear from England at the time. However, this changed after 1330, when Edward III set out to complete his conquest of Scotland and to reassert his power in France. For the first time, the Franco-Scottish alliance acquired a sense of emergency.  In 1346, Edward overwhelmed French forces at the Battle of Crécy. Two months later, David II of Scotland was captured at the Battle of Neville's Cross, during a botched invasion of Northern England. His 11-year absence as Edward's prisoner only increased the internal turmoil and power struggles of Scotland. David II was forced to make a deal with Edward III to gain his freedom. Even after his release in 1357, David spent most of the remaining years of his reign to further English interests in Scotland.  The accession of pro-French Robert II led to immediate renewal in 1371, with the embassy of the Bishop of Glasgow and the Lord of Galloway to France. The treaty was signed by Charles V at the Château de Vincennes on 30 June, and at Edinburgh Castle by Robert II on 28 October. The benefits to Scotland were mixed. In 1385, plans were drawn up for a Franco-Scottish invasion of England.This included dispatching a small French force to Scotland, for the first time. These plans were never acted on: The French invasion failed to materialise. The deteriorating relations between France and Scotland were summed up by the French Chronicler Jean Froissart when he "wished the King of France would make a truce with the English for two or three years and then march to Scotland and utterly destroy it".  However, necessity had driven the two kingdoms together and the need to resist aggressive new Lancastrian Kings kept the alliance together in the 15th century. In 1418, with France on the brink of surrendering to the forces of Henry V, the Dauphin, Charles VII, called on his Scottish allies for help. Between 1419 and 1424, as many as 15,000 Scottish troops were sent to France.  French and Scottish forces together won against the English at the Battle of Baugé in 1421. It marked the turning point of the Hundred Years War, but the victory was short-lived for Scotland. The Scots army was defeated at Verneuil in 1424. Despite this defeat, the Scots had given France a valuable breathing space, effectively ensuring the continued power of the French state.  In 1429, Scots came to the aid of Joan of Arc in her famous relief of Orléans. Scottish soldiers also served in the Garde Écossaise, the loyal bodyguard of the French crown. Many members of the Scottish expeditions to France chose to settle there. Some officers were granted lands and titles in France. In the 15th and 16th centuries, they became naturalised French subjects.  Through the rest of the 15th century, the alliance was formally renewed four times. The eventual victory of France in the Hundred Years War, combined with the turmoil in England following the Wars of the Roses, meant that the English threat was greatly reduced, thus rendering the alliance almost obsolete. But it did not stop the Auld Alliance from taking part in the war and attacking many of England's strongholds and possessions, such as Jersey to France and Berwick-On-Tweed to Scotland in exchange for helping to support the Lancastrians against the Yorkists during the war. The Yorkists won and managed to regain those lost possessions, but the allies continued to support the Lancastrians against Yorkist domination, including the last Lancastrian, Henry VII, victor in the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. As the 16th Century began, the marriage of Henry VII's eldest daughter, Margaret Tudor, to James IV of Scotland and his younger daughter, Mary Tudor to Louis XII of France, as a sign of peace from England, appeared to have finally ended the Franco-Scottish alliance for good.  It underwent a dramatic revival in 1512, when it was formally reviewed (as it was again in 1517 and 1548). Scotland still suffered badly following the death of James IV and most of his nobles at Flodden in 1513. Periodic Anglo-French and Anglo-Scottish conflict throughout the 15th century continued, but the certainties that had driven the Auld Alliance were disappearing. As Protestantism gained ground in Scotland, more and more people favoured closer links with England than with France.  In 1558, the alliance between the two kingdoms was revived with the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots to the future Francis II of France, but it lasted only until 1560. After Mary's exile to England in 1568, Scotland was transformed in to a Protestant nation by its new king, James VI, who was also heir to the English throne. His desire to form close ties with England meant that the alliance had outlived its usefulness. In the 1560s, after more than 250 years, formal treaties between Scotland and France were officially ended by the Treaty of Edinburgh. With the Scottish Reformation, Scotland was declared Protestant, and allied itself with Protestant England instead. During the Reformation, the Protestant Lords of the Congregation rejected the Auld Alliance and brokered English military support with their treaty of Berwick, aimed against the French Regent Mary of Guise. Two hundred Scottish soldiers were sent to Normandy in 1562 to aid the French Huguenots in their struggle against royal authority during the French Wars of Religion. The Garde Écossaise, however, continued to protect the kings of France until 1830, when Charles X of France abdicated.

Wider influence.

The alliance extended into the lives of the Scottish population in a number of ways, affecting architecture, law, the Scots language and cuisine, among other things. Scottish soldiers served within the French army; there were reciprocal dual nationality agreements; and France granted privileges to Scottish vintners. Many Scots studied at French universities, something which continued up until the Napoleonic Wars. David de Moravia, Bishop of Moray, helped found the Scots College of the University of Paris and among those who studied or taught at French Universities were: the poets John Barbour and George Buchanan; the historian Hector Boece; the founder of St Andrews University, Henry Wardlaw; the founder of Aberdeen University, William Elphinstone; the founder of the Advocates Library, George Mackenzie, and the noted translator of Rabelais, Sir Thomas Urquhart. Scottish castles built with French construction in mind include Bothwell and Kildrummy.

Legacy.

In a speech which he delivered in Edinburgh in June 1942, Charles de Gaulle described the alliance between Scotland and France as "the oldest alliance in the world". He also declared that: "In every combat where for five centuries the destiny of France was at stake, there were always men of Scotland to fight side by side with men of France, and what Frenchmen feel is that no people has ever been more generous than yours with its friendship." In 1995, celebrations were held in both countries marking the 700th anniversary of the beginning of the alliance. <br>  In 2011, the University of Manchester announced the planned publication of a paper by British historian Siobhan Talbott. After extensive research, Talbott concluded that the Auld Alliance had never been formally revoked and that it endured and thrived long after the Acts of Union in 1707 and the Entente Cordiale of 1906. The paper may be requested through Talbott's page at Keele University.

The Auld Alliance (Scots for "Old Alliance"; ; ) was an alliance made in 1295 between the kingdoms of Scotland and France for the purpose of controlling England's numerous invasions. The Scots word "auld", meaning "old", has become a partly affectionate term for the long-lasting association between the two countries, which ended with the signing of the Treaty of Edinburgh in 1560.

Die Auld Alliance (scots für „Altes Bündnis“) war ein Bündnis zwischen Schottland und Frankreich. Es dürfte wohl bis 1165 auf Wilhelm I. den Löwen zurückreichen; das erste schriftliche Zeugnis ist allerdings erst der Vertrag, der am 23. Oktober 1295 in Paris zur Regierungszeit von John Balliol und dem französischen König Philipp IV. unterzeichnet wurde.


Location.

Grafeneck is a castle-like property in Grafeneck, a part of the municipality of Gomadingen in Baden-Württemberg.

History.

Built around 1560, the Grafeneck Castle served as a hunting lodge for the Dukes of Württemberg. In the 19th century, it was used by the Forest Service. The Samaritan Foundation acquired it in 1928, setting up a handicapped home. In 1929, the charitable non-profit organisation Samariterstiftung established an asylum for disabled people. On 13. October 1939 Richard Alber, from 1938 to 1944 Landrat of district Münsingen, ordered that Schloss Grafeneck had to be cleared the next day. Four buses brought around 100 disabled men and few women from Grafeneck (together with 12 employees) to the monastery St. Elizabeth in Reute. All patients who were accommodated there survived Aktion T 4.

Modification of the building.

From October 1939 to January 1940 former samaritanian hospital was rebuilt into a killing area. Living and administration rooms were installed in the castle, as well as a registry office and a police office. A wooden hut with about 100 beds was built in the castle grounds, a parking space for the grey buses, a crematorium oven and a shed with facilities for gassing people. Moreover, staff were recruited from Stuttgart and Berlin: doctors, police officers, clerks, maintenance and transport personnel, economic and domestic staff, guards and funeral staff. Between October and December 1939, only 10 to 20 people were in the castle, but by 1940 there were already about 100 men and women there. The systematic murder under the T4 action started on 18 January 1940 in Grafeneck in a gas chamber camouflaged as a shower room, which was in a "garage": The prison doctor operated a manometer valve to allow carbon monoxide to enter the gas chamber. The steel cylinders required were supplied by Mannesmann, the filling was made by IG Farben in Ludwigshafen (BASF). The first murdered patients were from the mental hospital Eglfing-Haar in Bavaria. The victims came from 48 institutions for handicapped and mentally ill: 40 from almost all districts of Baden-Württemberg, six from Bavaria and one each from Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia.  On 13 December 1940 the last victims were burned in the crematory. Killings with gas were performed between January and December 1940. Afterwards, it was used to house children and mothers with babies who had fled from Allied bombing. In Grafeneck Castle were killed during the Nazi Euthanasieaktion (later Action T4) 10,654 disabled and sick people through lethal injections and gas. The French occupying forces returned the site in 1946/47 to the Samaritan Foundation or, who re-established it as a centre for disabled and mentally ill people which still operates to this day. In the fifties, the development of the cemetery began as a memorial. In 2005, the documentation center Grafeneck Memorial was finally built.  Documentation center Grafeneck The Grafeneck process presented in the summer of 1949, a total of 10,654 victims laid.

Offenders.

The people who worked here overtook partially important jobs in the Nazi concentration camps.

Doctors.

The T4-organisators Viktor Brack and Karl Brandt arranged, that the killing of ill people was to be made only by medical staff, because of a letter from Adolf Hitler (1. September). The service of the gas tap was the task of the doctors. However it could happen when the doctors were not present or for other reasons the gas tap was operated by non medical staff. All doctors from Grafeneck used code names for correspondence.  In Grafeneck worked as killing doctors:  Deputy Head of the Special Registry Office: Hermann Holzschuh, according Wögers leaving his successor ("Lemm")

The Grafeneck Euthanasia Centre () housed in Grafeneck Castle was one of Nazi Germany's killing centres as part of their forced euthanasia programme. Today, it is a memorial site dedicated to the victims of the state-authorised programme also referred to since as Action T4. At least 10,500 mentally and physically disabled people, predominantly from Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, were systematically killed during 1940. It was one of the first places in Nazi Germany where people were killed in large numbers in a gas chamber using carbon monoxide. This was actually the beginning of the Euthanasia Programme. Here was also settled the central office of "Charitable Ambulance Transport GmbH" (Gekrat), which was responsible for the transport of T4 and was headed by Reinhold Vorberg.

In der Tötungsanstalt Grafeneck bei Gomadingen im baden-württembergischen Landkreis Reutlingen wurden im Jahr 1940 im Rahmen der Krankenmorde in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus, der so genannten Aktion T4, systematisch 10.654 Menschen mit Behinderung, vor allem aus Bayern, Baden und Württemberg, aber auch aus Hessen und dem heutigen Nordrhein-Westfalen, ermordet.


History.

The town was founded in the spring of 1420 by Petr Hromádka of Jistebnice and Jan Bydlínský of Bydlín from the most radical wing of the Hussites, who soon became known as the Taborites. In the following years the town flourished as an egalitarian peasant commune. This spirit is celebrated in Smetana's "Song of Freedom", made famous in the English-speaking world by Paul Robeson's recording in Czech and English.  The historical part of the town is situated on the summit of an isolated hill separated from the surrounding country by the Lužnice river and by an extensive lake, to which the Hussites gave the biblical name of Jordan. This lake, founded 1492, is the oldest reservoir of its kind in Central Europe. The historical importance of the city of Tábor ceased only when it was captured by King George of Poděbrady in 1452.  Until 1918, the post town ""Tabor – Tábor"" was part of the Austrian monarchy (the Austrian side after the compromise of 1867), in the district with the same name, one of the 94 "Bezirkshauptmannschaften" in Bohemia.  A post office was opened in the railway station in 1895.

Geography.

The town is 437 m above sea level, the highest point is the Hýlačka observation tower and the lowest is the surface of the river. The area of the town is 62.22 km2. The historical old town is situated on a hill above the river, which was used for the protection of the city. In the middle of the city lies the Jordán reservoir, which was created in 1492. It was originally used for storage of water, but nowadays it is mainly used for recreation. It is the oldest reservoir in Central Europe.

Geology.

Tábor is located in the geomorphological area called the Tábor Uplands. On the east edge of the town, there is a rock formation called "Granátová skála". The rock is a deposit of red garnets that can be as large as hazelnuts. The majority of the rock was mined and used as construction material. There is also geological exposition along the river called "Geologická expozice Pod Klokoty".

Sights.

Though a large part of the ancient fortifications has been demolished, Tábor (or "Hradiště Hory Tábor", the castle of the Tábor Hill, as it was called in the Hussite period) still preserves many memorials of its past fame. In the centre of the city is Žižka Square. Only very narrow streets lead to it; this rendered the approach to the square more difficult in times of war. Under the houses and streets is a labyrinth of tunnels. The townspeople dug cellars under their houses and these were subsequently interconnected; an approximately 500 m-long section of the tunnel system is open to the public and is a part of the Hussite museum.  In the centre of the square there is a statue of Jan Žižka, the greatest of the Hussite leaders, the Dean Church of the Lord's Conversion on Mount Tabor, built in 1516 in the style of the Bohemian Renaissance, and the town hall, in connection with which a museum has been founded, which contains interesting relics of the Hussite period, such as the Altar Wings of Roudníky and farm carts which doubled as battle wagons. Major parts of the ancient fortifications and the ancient Kotnov tower and gate of Bechyně near the tower still exist.  Other sights:

Parks and nature.

Park Pod Kotnovem.

This park is placed next to Bechyňská gate and Kotnov tower – near the Old Town. Originally, it was an old cemetery but in the 19th century, it was converted into a park. Some of the gravestones remained here until present.

Husův park.

The park started to form in 1871, after the train station was built. It was not reconstructed until 1991, along with some other buildings in the surroundings. The ceremonial opening of the newly reconstructed park was in 1997. At one part of this park, there stands a big monument (headstone) called "Mistr Jan Hus" by Czech sculptor František Bílek. It was built in 1928. The headstone is built from a granite base with a bronze statue of Jan Hus on it (3 meters tall), and a bronze relief board with Hus's life events and also an imitation of Kozí Hrádek (the place where Hus preached). On the other side of the park, nearer to the train station, there is a fountain called Girl with a jug, made in 1920.

Park U Popraviště.

This park is the biggest park in Tábor. As the name suggests, the park is built around a former gallows, which was used during World War II. In 1942, 156 patriots were executed by the nationalists. For these victims, a monument was built (in 1945–1950), which includes a bronze board with lions and bronze relief board with figures. The rest of the park rose at the end of 20th century. It contains sculptures, fountains, tree alleys, benches, flower patches and a playground.

Botanical garden.

This botanical garden was founded in 1866, which makes it the second oldest in the Czech Republic. After its establishment, it was much bigger – about 3600 m. It belongs to the secondary school of agriculture, which is in front of it. It contains more than 4,000 different flowers and plants. The seeds from there are sent to more than 400 places in the world. Most of the garden is occupied by an arboretum. There is a small lake and a rock garden. The three glasshouses contains cacti, succulents, orchids, carnivorous plants and many other exotic plants. The entrance is for free, only the glasshouses are paid. During the year, special exhibitions of plants are organized.

Holečkovy sady.

This park was founded in the 1930s. This green ring around the historic core of Tábor is named after a famous writer and translator Josef Holeček. The look of the park is atypical. It is on a hill and it has many paths and stairs made from rocks, lined with large trees. Some smaller monuments are also there – a memorial to Josef Holeček, a white gazebo, cross and two small chapels.

Transport.

Tábor is a significant transport hub. It lies on the mainline railway linking Prague with České Budějovice and Linz and local branch lines to Bechyně and Pelhřimov. The town also lies on the European route E55 and it will be connected with Prague, České Budějovice and the Czech–Austrian border with a highway after the building of the planned D3 motorway is finished.

Sports.

After the 2018–19 season, the local football club FC MAS Táborsko was relegated into the third-level Bohemian Football League.  Tábor is also equipped with a winter stadium. The local ice hockey club, HC Tábor, plays in the third-level ice hockey league.  Other sport facilities in Tábor include a swimming pool and the Komora sports complex.

International relations.

Twin towns – Sister cities.

Tábor is twinned with:  Tábor is also part of the "Commonwealth of towns with hussite past and tradition," along with other 11 Czech and 6 German municipalities.

Tábor (; ) is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic, south of the capital Prague. It lies on the river Lužnice. The town's name translates to "camp" or "encampment" in Czech. The town gave its name to the Taborites, a radical wing of the Hussites.

Die südböhmische Stadt Tábor ( "Tabor", älter auch "Taber") liegt in der Südböhmischen Region der Tschechischen Republik und hat rund 35.000 Einwohner.


Etymology and origin.

The name pastrami comes from Romanian "pastramă", a declination of the Romanian verb "păstra" meaning "to conserve food, to keep something for a long duration" whose etymology is linked to the Turkish "pastırma", short for "pressed meat." Wind-dried beef had been made in Anatolia for centuries, and Byzantine dried meat is thought by some to be "one of the forerunners of the "pastirma" of modern Turkey".  Early references in English used the spelling "pastrama", closer to the Romanian "pastramă". Pastrami was introduced to the United States in a wave of Jewish immigration from Bessarabia and Romania in the second half of the 19th century. The modified "pastrami" spelling was probably introduced in imitation of the American English salami. Romanian Jews emigrated to New York as early as 1872. Among Jewish Romanians, goose breasts were commonly made into pastrami because they were inexpensive. Beef navel was cheaper than goose meat in America, so the Romanian Jews in America adapted their recipe and began to make the cheaper-alternative beef pastrami.  New York's Sussman Volk is generally credited with producing the first pastrami sandwich in the United States in 1887. Volk, a kosher butcher and New York immigrant from Lithuania, claimed he got the recipe from a Romanian friend in exchange for storing the friend's luggage while the friend returned to Romania. According to his descendant, Patricia Volk, he prepared pastrami according to the recipe and served it on sandwiches out of his butcher shop. The sandwich was so popular that Volk converted the butcher shop into a restaurant to sell pastrami sandwiches.

Preparation and serving.

New York pastrami is generally made from the navel end of the brisket. It is cured in brine, coated with a mix of spices such as garlic, coriander, black pepper, paprika, cloves, allspice, and mustard seed, and then smoked. Finally, the meat is steamed until the connective tissues within the meat break down into gelatin.  Greek immigrants to Salt Lake City in the early 1960s introduced a cheeseburger topped with pastrami and a special sauce. The pastrami cheeseburger has since remained a staple of local burger chains in Utah.

Pastrami (Romanian: "pastramă") is a meat product of Romanian origin usually made from beef brisket, and sometimes from lamb, or turkey. The raw meat is brined, partially dried, seasoned with herbs and spices, then smoked and steamed. Beef plate is the traditional cut of meat for making pastrami, although it is now common in the United States to see it made from beef brisket, beef round, and turkey. Like corned beef, pastrami was originally created as a way to preserve meat before refrigeration.

Pastrami bezeichnet ein geräuchertes und gewürztes Stück Fleisch, meist „rotes“ Fleisch (häufig das Schulterstück vom Rind, in den USA meistens Rinderbrust), das in dünnen Scheiben als Brot- oder Sandwichbelag verzehrt wird.


Method of operation.

Soft updates allow only asynchronous metadata writes that do not render the on-disk file system inconsistent, or that the only inconsistency that ever happens is a storage space leak (space marked allocated when not used by any file). It avoids having to do ordered synchronous metadata writes by temporarily "rolling back" any part of a metadata block that depends on another potentially non-flushed or partially rolled-back block when writing it.  In effect, blocks may be flushed at any time and the soft-update code will always provide the disk a consistent version of it (as long as it knows which blocks have physically been flushed). Recovery then simply becomes a matter of running a background walk of the file system when it is next mounted to garbage collect any allocated space that has been orphaned. This also permits the filesystem to selectively flush certain files without having to flush all metadata blocks or all of the records.  Data that is unlinked from the metadata dependency graph before writing it to disk has begun does not need to be written to disk at all. For example, creating a file, using it for a short period of time, and then deleting it may cause no disk activity at all.  Soft updates require periodic flushing of the metadata to nonvolatile storage.

Implementations.

FreeBSD supports soft updates for the UFS file system and they have been enabled by default during installation for many years. Soft updates are manually enabled or disabled during file system creation with an option to the newfs command. They can be disabled or enabled anytime thereafter with an option to the tunefs command. FreeBSD 9.0 introduced a journaling supplement to soft updates for the purpose of eliminating a background fsck for garbage collection after a crash. However, enabling journaling on a filesystem with soft updates disables the ability to make filesystem snapshots. This may cause issues when filesystems are dumped with the -L option, as snapshots are used to guarantee filesystem coherency during the dump.  OpenBSD supports soft updates for the FFS file system. Soft updates are enabled when the file system is mounted by exercising an option to the mount command.  NetBSD supported soft updates until the 6.0 release (2012) at which time it was deprecated in favor of WAPBL journaling.

Comparison to journaling file systems.

Neither journaling nor soft updates guarantees that no data will be lost, but they do make sure that the filesystem remains consistent.  An advantage of a file system with soft updates is that it can be mounted immediately after a crash, since there is no log replay.

Soft updates is an approach to maintaining file system meta-data integrity in the event of a crash or power outage. Soft updates work by tracking and enforcing dependencies among updates to file system meta-data. Soft updates are an alternative to the more commonly used approach of journaling file systems.

Unter versteht man eine Erweiterung für das Unix File System (UFS), die im Wesentlichen zwei Ziele verfolgt: Diese Funktionalität wird erreicht, indem ganze Blöcke von zu schreibenden Metadaten, beispielsweise für ein gesamtes Verzeichnis, im RAM gehalten, bearbeitet und in einer bestimmten Reihenfolge sortiert auf das Medium (bspw. die Festplatte) geschrieben werden.


Stone and rock types.

A variety of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks are used as structural and decorative dimension stone. These rock types are more commonly known as granite, limestone, marble, travertine, quartz-based stone (sandstone, quartzite) and slate. Other varieties of dimension stone that are normally considered to be special minor types include alabaster (massive gypsum), soapstone (massive talc), serpentine and various products fashioned from natural stone.  A variety of finishes can be applied to dimension stone to achieve diverse architectural and aesthetic effects. These finishes include, but are not limited to, the following. A polished finish gives the surface a high luster and strong reflection of incident light (almost mirror-like). A honed finish provides a smooth, satin-like ("eggshell"), nonreflective surface. More textured finishes include brush-hammered, sandblasted, and thermal. A brush-hammered finish, similar to a houndstooth pattern, creates a rough, but uniformly patterned surface with impact tools varying in coarseness. A sandblasted surface provides an irregular pitted surface by impacting sand or metal particles at high velocity against a stone surface. A thermal (or flamed) finish produces a textured, nonreflective surface with only a few reflections from cleavage faces, by applying a high-temperature flame. This finish may change the natural color of the stone depending on mineralogical composition, particularly with stones containing higher levels of iron.  The most easily accessible general (non-graphic) references are the latest Minerals Yearbook Chapter (production and foreign trade, with statistics), and the latest (Issue 31) Dimension Stone Advocate News (new "building green" developments and demand statistics); see below. The most comprehensive, graphic references are Natural Stone Database by Abraxas Verlag (www.natural-stone-database.com), "Dimension Stones of the World, Volumes I & II" (Marble Institute of America) and "Natural Stones Worldwide CD".

Major applications.

While common colors used in some of the major applications are listed below, there is an extraordinarily wide range of colours, available in thousands of patterns. These patterns are created by geological phenomena such as mineral grains, inclusions, veins, cavity fillings, blebs, and streaks. In addition, rocks and stones not normally classed as dimension stone are sometimes selected for these applications. These can include jade, agate, and jasper.  Stone (usually granite) countertops and bathroom vanities both involve a finished slab of stone, usually polished but sometimes with another finish (such as honed or sandblasted). Industry standard thicknesses in the United States are 3/4" (2 cm) and 1.25" (3 cm). Often 2 cm slabs will be laminated at the edge to create the appearance of a thicker edge profile. The slabs are cut to fit the top of the kitchen or bathroom cabinet, by measuring, templating or digital templating. Countertop slabs are commonly sawn from rough blocks of stone by reciprocating gangsaws using steel shot as abrasive. More modern technology utilizes diamond wire saws which use less water and energy. Multi-wire saws with as many as 60 wires can slab a block in less than two hours. The slabs are finished (i.e., polished, honed), then sealed with resin to fill micro-fissures and surface imperfections typically due to the loss of poorly bonded elements such as biotite. The fabricators shop cuts these slabs down to final size and finishes the edges with equipment such as hand-held routers, grinders, CNC equipment, or polishers. In 2008, concerns were raised regarding radon emissions from granite countertops; the National Safety Council states that the contributions of radon to inside air come from the soil and rock around the residence (69%), the outdoor air and the water supply (28%), and only 2.5% from all building materials-including granite countertops. A concerned homeowner can employ ASTM radon mitigation and removal techniques. The stone for countertops or vanities is usually granite, but often is marble (especially for vanity tops), and is sometimes limestone or slate. The majority of the stone for this application is produced in Brazil, Italy, and China. Tile is a thin modular stone unit, commonly 12 in. square (30.5 cm) and 3/8 in. (10 mm) deep. Other popular sizes are 15 in. square (38 cm), 18 in. square (46 cm), and 24 in. square (61 cm); these will usually be deeper than the 12 in. square. The majority of tile has a polished finish, but other finishes such as honed are becoming more common. Almost all stone tile is mass-produced by automated tile lines to identical size, finish, and close tolerances. Exceptions include slate flooring tile and special orders: tile with odd sizes or shapes, unusual finishes, or inlay work. In summary, the automated tile line is a complicated complex of cutting and calibrating machines, honing-polishing machines, edging machines that put on flat or rounded edges, and interconnecting conveyors to move the stone from the slab input to the final tile product. The stone for tiles is most commonly marble, but often is granite, and sometimes limestone, slate, or quartz-based stone. Common colors are white and light earth colors. Much of the stone for this application is produced in Italy and China.  Stone monuments include tombstones, grave markers or as mausoleums. After being gangsawed into big deep (up to wide and over 6 inches deep) slabs, smaller saws or guillotines (they break the granite and make the rough edges commonly seen on monuments) shape the monuments. The fronts and backs are usually polished. The individual monuments are then carved, shaped, and further defined by hand tools and sandblasting equipment. At this time, the stone for monuments is most commonly granite, sometimes marble (as in military cemeteries), and rarely others. Granite and quartz both demonstrate good durability, especially because rain is naturally acidic. (This is a natural consequence of the carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere, which generates a weak solution of carbonic acid in rainfall; further acidification of rainfall arises from oxides of sulphur and nitrogen due to anthropogenic emissions). (Limestone and sandstone were commonly chosen for monuments in the nineteenth century, but they are no widely longer used because of the rapid erosion rates due to dissolution of acid-vulnerable carbonates by acidic rainfall.) The most common monument colors for granite are gray, black, and mahogany; for marble, white is most popular. Today, the majority of the stone used in North America in this application is imported from countries such as India and China. This has depressed traditional North American monument centers such as Georgia and Quebec. There are a number of smaller applications for buildings and traffic-related uses. Building components include stone used as veneer, a non load-bearing facing of stone attached to a backing of an ornamental nature, although it also protects and insulates; and ashlar, a squared block of stone, often brick-sized, for facing of walls (primarily exterior). Other shapes include rectangular blocks used for stair treads, sills, and coping (coping is sometimes nonrectangular). The shapes subject to foot traffic will usually have an abrasive finish such as honed or sandblasted. The stone is mostly limestone, but often is quartz-based stone (sandstone), or even marble or granite. Roofing slate is a thin-split shingle-sized piece of slate, and when in place forms the most permanent kind of roof; slate is also used as countertops and flooring tile. Traffic-related stone is that which is used for curbing (vehicular) and flagstone (pedestrian). Curbing is thin stone slabs used along streets or highways to maintain the integrity of sidewalks and borders. Flagstone is a shallow naturally irregular-edged slab of stone, sometimes sawed into a rectangular shape, used as paving (almost always pedestrian). For curbing, the stone is almost always granite, and for flagstone the stone is almost always quartz-based stone (sandstone or quartzite).  There are several other applications resembling flagstone in using rough dimension (or crushed) stone, usually as quarried, sometimes made smaller (i.e. by a jackhammer), often simply put in place: dry stone and riprap.  The stone used in these applications usually has to have certain properties, or meet a standard specification. The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) has such specifications for granite, marble, limestone, quartz-based dimension stone (C616), slate (C629), travertine (C1527), and serpentine (C1526).

Production.

The major producers of dimension stone include Brazil, China, India, Italy, and Spain, and each have annual production levels of nine to over twenty-two million tons. Portugal produces 3 million tons of dimension stone each year.  According to the USGS, 2007 U.S. dimension stone production was 1.39 million tons valued at $275 million, compared to 1.33 million tons (revised) valued at $265 million in 2006. Of these, granite production was 453,000 tons valued at $106 million in 2007 and 428,000 tons valued at $105 million in 2006, and limestone was 493,000 tons valued at $93.3 million in 2007 and 559,000 tons valued at $96.1 million in 2006. The United States is at best a mid-level dimension stone producer on the world scene; Portugal produces twice as much dimension stone annually.  World comparison for dimension stone demand: The DSAN World Demand Index for (finished) Granite was 227 in 2006, 247 in 2007, and 249 in 2008, and the World Demand Index for (finished) Marble was 200 in 2006, 248 in 2007, and 272 in 2008. The DSAN World Demand for (finished) Granite Index showed a growth of 12% annually for the 2000-2008 period, compared to 14% annually for the 2000-2007 period, and compared to 15% annually for the 2000-2006 period. The DSAN World Demand for (finished) Marble Index showed a growth of 13.5% annually for the 2000-2008 period, compared to 14.0% annually for the 2000-2007 period, and compared to 12.5% annually for the 2000-2006 period. The indexes show world demand for granite has clearly been weakening since 2006, while the world demand for marble only weakened from 2007 to 2008. Other DSAN indexes for 2008 indicate that the 2000-2008 growth was down from the 2000-2007 growth.  The DSAN U.S. Ceramic Tile Demand Index shows a drop of 4.8% annually for the 2000-2007 period, compared to growth of 5.0% annually for the 2000-2006 period. The "traditional" major ceramic tile suppliers, Italy and Spain, have been losing markets to new entrants Brazil and China. The same thing has been happening with dimension stone with increasing supplies from Brazil, China and India.  In 2008, Chinese exports of granite countertops and marble tile increased from 2007, while those of Italy and Spain did not (see above, world demand) In early 2009, the Chinese Government has a hands-off policy towards its dimension stone industry.

"Building green" with dimension stone.

Green building or environmentally friendly construction with natural materials, is an idea that has been around for several decades. Energy price increases and the need for energy conservation when heating or cooling buildings have recently brought it to the fore. This resulted in the formation in 1993 of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), which has developed a building rating system called Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). Educational institutions (colleges, universities, grade, and high schools) are often requiring new buildings to be green, and a few jurisdictions (i.e., some cities) have some rules promoting green building. When "building green", dimension stone has a big advantage over steel, concrete, glazed glass and laminated plastics, whose productions are all energy intensive and create significant air and water pollution. As an entirely natural product, dimension stone also has an advantage over synthetic/artificial stone products, as well as composite and space-age materials. One LEED requirement provides that the dimension stone used in a green building be quarried within a radius of the building being constructed. This gives a clear advantage to domestic dimension stone, plus some quarried near the U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico. A current problem is how to consider stone quarried domestically, sent to China or Italy for finishing, and shipped back to be used in a project.  When demolishing a structure, dimension stone is 100% reusable and can be salvaged for new construction, used as paving or crushed for use as aggregates. There are also "green" methods of stone cleaning either in development or already in use, such as removing the black gypsum crusts that form on marble and limestone by applying sulfate-reducing bacteria to the crust to gasify it, breaking up the crust for easy removal. See DSAN for updates on "building green" and dimension stone recycling.  The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in America is re-examining and will most likely update its "Green Guides" used to regulate green advertising claims. The updating will emphasize green building, including the products it involves, such as dimension stone. When the new requirements are finalized, the FTC will go after firms that violate the new requirements, in order to establish legal precedents.  The Natural Stone Council has a library of information on building green with dimension stone, including life-cycle inventory data for each major dimension stone, giving the amount of energy, water, other inputs, and processing emissions, plus some best practice studies (see below). In addition, it has shown ways that dimension stone can contribute LEED points, such as using a light-colored dimension stone to reduce heat-island effects, using dimension stone's thermal mass to impact indoor ambient air temperature thereby increasing energy efficiency, and especially by reusing dimension stone rather sending it to the landfill.

Sustainability.

Dimension stone is one of the most sustainable of the industrial minerals since it is created by separating it from the natural bedrock underlying all land on every continent. Dimension stone rates very well in terms of the criteria on the ASTM checklist for sustainability of building products: there are no toxic materials used in its processing, there are no direct greenhouse gas emissions during processing, the dust created is controlled, the water used is almost completely recycled (per OSHA/MSHA regulation), and it is a perpetual resource (virtually inexhaustible in a human time scale). Dimension stone in use can last many generations, even centuries, so the dimension stone manufacturers have not needed a product recycling program. However, there are practical qualifications to and constraints on that sustainability. The dimension stone color and pattern can be changed by weathering when it is very near the surface. The color and pattern can also be changed by proximity to an igneous rock body or by the presence of circulating groundwater charged with carbon dioxide (i.e., limestone, travertine, marble). On the other hand, changes in color and/or pattern can be positive. For example, there are at least 14 separately trade-named varieties of Carrara Marble with many patterns (or no patterns) ranging in shade from white to gray. The presence of faults or closely spaced joints can render the stone unusable. These faults and joints do not have to be at odd angles in the stone mass. Closely spaced, wrongly spaced, or nonparallel bedding planes can make the stone unusable, particularly if the bedding planes are planes of weakness. If part of the stone in one area is unusable, there will be another usable part of the stone elsewhere in the formation. A quarry is not a short-term project unless it encounters one of these constraints. Examples of big, old quarries operating for more than a century include the Barre (VT) granite quarry, the Georgia Marble quarry at Tate, several of the Carrara (Italy) marble quarries, and the Penrhyn (Wales) slate quarry. A quarry will produce dust, noise, and some water pollution, but these can be remedied without too much trouble. The landscape may also have to be restored if quarry waste is temporarily or permanently placed on adjacent land.

Recycling and reuse.

Recycling dimension stone can occur when structures are demolished, along with recycling timber and recycling construction aggregate in the form of concrete. The material most likely to be recycled is concrete, and this represents the largest volume of recycled construction material. Not too many structures incorporate dimension stone, and even fewer of them have dimension stone worth saving. Stone recycling is usually done by specialists that monitor local demolition activity, looking for stone-containing houses, buildings, bridge abutments, and other dimension stone structures scheduled for demolition. Particularly treasured are old hand-carved stone pieces with the chisel marks still on them, local stones no longer quarried or that are quarried in a different shade of color or appearance. There is no national or regional trade in reclaimed stone, so a large storage yard is required, since the recovered stone may not be quickly sold and reused. The recycled dimension stone is used in old stone buildings being renovated (to replace deteriorated stone pieces), in fireplace mantels, benches, veneer, or for landscaping (like for retaining walls). Related to stone recycling and stone reuse is the deconstruction and reconstruction of a stone building. The building is taken apart stone block by stone block and the location and orientation of each block is carefully noted. Any roofing slate and interior stone in place is catalogued and moved in the same fashion. After the blocks, slate, and other stone used have been transported to the new location, they are put back in place where and how they were originally, thus reassembling the building. This is typically very expensive and rare but valuable in terms of historic preservation.  Dimension stone is also reused. Buildings immediately spring to mind, but such things as the ornate stone walls, arches, stairways and balustrades alongside a boulevard can also be renovated and reused. Sometimes the old interior of the building is kept as is, after repair. Sometimes the old building is gutted, leaving only a shell or facade and the space inside reconfigured and modernized. The stone work will usually need attention too.  The old stone work may only need cleaning or sandblasting, but it may need more. Firstly, the building exterior (facade) needs to be inspected for unsafe conditions. Next, the building walls need to be inspected for water leakages. The most likely needs are mortar restoration (repointing), applying consolidants to the old stone, or replacing pieces of stone that are deteriorated (damaged) beyond the point of any repair. The repointing is the removal of existing damaged mortar from the outer portion of the joint between stone units and its replacement by new mortar matching the appearance of the old. The consolidants re-establish the original natural bonding between the stone particles that weathering has removed. Deteriorated pieces of stone work are replaced with pieces of stone that match the original as much as possible. Exterior dimension stone will often change color after exposure to weather over time. For example, Indiana Limestone will weather from a tan to an attractive light yellow. Interior dimension stone can sometimes change its shade a little over time too. For both, it may not be possible to find an exact match, even from the original quarry. Stone will often change its appearance from location to location in the same quarry. If the dimension stone renovationist is truly fortunate, the original builder put aside some spare pieces of the stone for future need.

Life-cycle assessment and best practices.

As in every economic sector, the construction industry's purchases of materials and services creates a whole chain of processes from raw material selecting in situ, removal from the earth, usually proceeding to cutting, finishing, or processing/manufacturing, then transport, and retailing. All of these activities have significant upstream (off-site) environmental impacts, whether in terms of energy and raw resource use or emissions to air, land, or water impacting living organisms or the Earth's surface (non-organic). Life cycle assessment is a method for estimating and comparing a range of environmental performance measures (e.g. global warming, acidification potential, toxicity, ozone depletion potentials) over the full life cycle of a product, a building assembly, or a whole building. As such, it provides a comprehensive means for evaluating and comparing products rather than prescriptive measures of individual product characteristics.  The ASTM has some relevant standards, particularly a guide on environmental life cycle assessment of building materials/products (E1991) that shows how to minimize the subjectivity that commonly mars and confuses environmental decision making. In particular, this guide describes the inventory analysis phase that requires data that is suitable for its intended purpose, thus covering data quality (such as completeness, reliability, accuracy, and credibility) as well as the allocation of the data (for multiple inputs and outputs), among other things. Results have to be on a common basis to allow a statistically significant comparison of alternative building product differences in the interpretation.  The Natural Stone Council (NSC) has commissioned some life-cycle inventory data for use in life cycle assessments. Almost 90% of the effort in doing a life cycle assessment involves getting reliable data. For example, the NSC has data that the Global warming potential for granite quarrying is 100 kg of carbon dioxide equivalents and for granite processing is 500 (same units); and the Global Warming Potential for limestone quarrying is 20 kg carbon dioxide equivalents while for limestone processing it is 80 (same units). The data on energy and water use include everything back to removal of overburden in the dimension stone quarry and upstream production of energy and fuels, and forward to packaging of finished dimension stone product or slabs for shipment and transport, or to moving scrap stone to storage or reclamation and to capturing and treatment of dust and waste water. The data is then placed in an impact category (i.e. changes to air, changes to water), characterized as to the contribution of the item to the impact compared to other items, and then the impact categories are assigned weights among themselves to show their relative importance.  The Natural Stone Council has also commissioned four Best Practices. One is on water consumption, treatment, and reuse while extracting and processing dimension stone, including dust mitigation, sludge management, and maximizing water recycling. Another is on site maintenance and quarry closure, including minimizing dust, noise, vibration and keeping the operation clean and tidy, both of which help in restoring the surface upon quarry closure. A third one is on solid waste management, including overburden, damaged stone unsaleable as product, sludge deposited from waste water, spent or spilled petroleum products, or metal scrap. The fourth one is on efficiently transporting stone to be finished as products, then transporting the products to consumers by centralizing freight management, consolidating small loads, choosing appropriate trucks, balancing and securing the load, and packaging with sustainable materials.

Selection and cleaning.

The selector of dimension stone begins by considering stone color and appearance, and how the stone will match its surroundings. In addition to many hundreds of different stones with different colors and patterns, each stone can change radically in color and appearance when a different finish is put on it. A polished finish accentuates the color and makes any pattern more vivid, and the rougher finishes (i.e. honed, thermal) lighten the color and make the patterns more subdued.  In addition to selecting a stone color and pattern, the suitability of its properties for the intended use must be considered. Stone being chosen for countertops or vanities should be nonabsorptive, resist stains, and be heat and impact resistant. Stone being used in tiles should be sealed in order to resist staining by spilled liquids. Stone being used for flooring, paving, or surfaces subject to foot or vehicular traffic ought to have a semiabrasive finish for slip resistance, such as bush-hammered or thermal. A glossy polished finish will be slick. Most flagstone surfaces are rough enough to be naturally slip-resistant.  Dimension stone requires some specialized methods for cleaning and maintenance. Abrasive cleaners should not be used on a polished stone finish because it will wear the polish off. Acidic cleaners can not be used on marble or limestone because it will remove (i.e. dissolve) the finish. Textured finishes (thermal, bush-hammered) can be treated with some mildly abrasive cleaners but not bleach or an acidic cleaner (if marble or limestone). Stains are another consideration; stains can be organic (food, grease, or oil) or metallic (iron, copper). Stains require some special removal techniques, such as the poultice method. A new method of cleaning stone on ancient buildings (medieval and renaissance) has been developed in Europe: sulfur-reducing bacteria are used on the black gypsum-containing crusts that form on such buildings to convert the sulfur to a gas that dissipates, thus destroying the crust while leaving the patina produced by aging on the underlying stone. This method is still in development and not yet commercially available.

Finishes.

The surface of a stone may be finished in a variety of ways. Below are some typical terms:  Categories:

Dimension stone is natural stone or rock that has been selected and finished (e.g., trimmed, cut, drilled, ground, or other) to specific sizes or shapes. Color, texture and pattern, and surface finish of the stone are also normal requirements. Another important selection criterion is durability: the time measure of the ability of dimension stone to endure and to maintain its essential and distinctive characteristics of strength, resistance to decay, and appearance.

Als Naturstein bezeichnet man ganz allgemein alle Gesteine, wie man sie in der Natur vorfindet, sofern man sie als wirtschaftliches Gut betrachtet oder erwirbt. Naturstein als gesägtes oder behauenes Produkt wird als Naturwerkstein bezeichnet, undimensionierter Naturstein als Bruchstein bzw. Brecherprodukt und als Feldstein.