Satprem (1923 -2007) aka Bernard Enginger, a sailor and a Breton born in Paris. A member of the French Resistance. Satprem was arrested by the Gestapo when he was twenty and spent a year and half in concentration camps. Devastated he journey first to Upper Egypt, then to India, where he served in the French colonial government of Pondicherry. There he discovered Sri Aurobindo and Mother. Their Message - "Man is a transitional being" - struck a deep chord.
His first essay was dedicated to Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness a book that has led so many to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. His book, Evolution II translated from the French by Michel Danino is dedicated to the Souls of India:
"the millions souls of India
unknown to themselves
unknowing of their own Treasure
with my love infinite
In his book, Evolution II, he wondered after Man, who? But the question is: After Man, how?
(source: Evolution II - by Satprem - Translated by Michel Danino).
Satprem believed in the Hindu concept of reincarnation and asks:
"Which sadist God has decreed that we would have only one life to realize ourselves and through which colossal ignorance Islam and Christianity have decided that we shall go to Heaven or Hell, according to the deeds, bad or good, which we have committed in a single life?"
(source: Arise O'India - By Francois Gautier p. 10-11 ISBN 81-241-0518-9 Har-Anand Publications 2000).