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Kireet Joshi (born 1931) is appointed Chairman of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research and Vice-Chairman of the Maharishi Sandipani Rashtriya Veda Vidya Pratishthan, — both institutions working under Government of India. He was recently a member of the Indian delegation to the Commonwealth Ministers Conference held in Halifax in Canada, and he played a significant role in the recent conferences of UNESCO on higher education. Kireet is a member of a number of committees in the University Grants Commission, the National Council of Education Research and Training, and the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla.

Kireet is a student of Philosophy and Law, and although selected in 1955 for the topmost service of the Government of India, the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), he resigned in 1956 in order to devote himself completely to the study and practice of the Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry. It was here that he participated in numerous experiments that were being conducted at the Sri Aurobindo International Centre for Education under the direct guidance of the Mother. Kireet also taught philosophy, psychology and Indian culture. In 1968 when Auroville was founded, he took an active part in it.

In 1976, the Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, appointed Kireet as Education Advisor to the Government of India. During his tenure in the Government (1976-1988), one of the responsibilities assigned to him was related to Auroville, as difficulties had arisen and help was sought by the residents of Auroville. In 1980, and again in 1988, the Parliament of India enacted legislation in regard to Auroville, and the drafting of these items of legislation was assigned to Kireet. During the period 1980-82, issues concerning Auroville had come up in the High Court of Calcutta and in the Supreme Court of India, and it was largely due to the advice given by Kireet that the Supreme Court of India upheld the Government’s contention that the teaching of Sri Aurobindo does not constitute a religion, — a position that Sri Aurobindo and the Mother have repeatedly underlined in their writings.
It was a certain Navajata that attempted the business of the religion. As Satprem wrote: «His “Society” and finances were to rule over the Ashram and Auroville… for a while. He was to go so far as the Supreme Court of India in an attempt to have “the religion of Sri Aurobindo” proclaimed and acknowledged.» (Notebooks of an Apocalypse, vol. 1 - page 52).

During 1980-88, with the help of the International Advisory Council of Auroville (comprising the then Minister of External Affairs of India, Mr. J.R.D. Tata, Madame Zhivkova of Bulgaria and Mr. M’Bow, the then Director General of UNESCO), Kireet supported a number of activities of Auroville.

In January 1999, Kireet was nominated by the Government of India to be a member of the International Advisory Council of the Auroville Foundation, and three months later, he was made Chairman of the Foundation.


		KIREET JOSHI Kireet Joshi (born 1931) is appointed Chairman of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research and Vice-Chairman of the Maharishi Sandipani Rashtriya Veda Vidya Pratishthan, — both institutions working under Government of India. He was recently a member of the Indian delegation to the Commonwealth Ministers Conference held in Halifax in Canada, and he played a significant role in the recent conferences of UNESCO on higher education. Kireet is a member of a number of committees in the University Grants Commission, the National Council of Education Research and Training, and the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla. Kireet is a student of Philosophy and Law, and although selected in 1955 for the topmost service of the Government of India, the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), he resigned in 1956 in order to devote himself completely to the study and practice of the Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry. It was here that he participated in numerous experiments that were being conducted at the Sri Aurobindo International Centre for Education under the direct guidance of the Mother. Kireet also taught philosophy, psychology and Indian culture. In 1968 when Auroville was founded, he took an active part in it. In 1976, the Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, appointed Kireet as Education Advisor to the Government of India. During his tenure in the Government (1976-1988), one of the responsibilities assigned to him was related to Auroville, as difficulties had arisen and help was sought by the residents of Auroville. In 1980, and again in 1988, the Parliament of India enacted legislation in regard to Auroville, and the drafting of these items of legislation was assigned to Kireet. During the period 1980-82, issues concerning Auroville had come up in the High Court of Calcutta and in the Supreme Court of India, and it was largely due to the advice given by Kireet that the Supreme Court of India upheld the Government’s contention that the teaching of Sri Aurobindo does not constitute a religion, — a position that Sri Aurobindo and the Mother have repeatedly underlined in their writings. It was a certain Navajata that attempted the business of the religion. As Satprem wrote: «His “Society” and finances were to rule over the Ashram and Auroville… for a while. He was to go so far as the Supreme Court of India in an attempt to have “the religion of Sri Aurobindo” proclaimed and acknowledged.» (Notebooks of an Apocalypse, vol. 1 - page 52). During 1980-88, with the help of the International Advisory Council of Auroville (comprising the then Minister of External Affairs of India, Mr. J.R.D. Tata, Madame Zhivkova of Bulgaria and Mr. M’Bow, the then Director General of UNESCO), Kireet supported a number of activities of Auroville. In January 1999, Kireet was nominated by the Government of India to be a member of the International Advisory Council of the Auroville Foundation, and three months later, he was made Chairman of the Foundation.