SriSri , also transliterated as Shri or Shree or shre is a word of Sanskrit origin, used in the Indian subcontinent as polite form of address equivalent to the English "Mr." in written and spoken language, or as a title of veneration for deities .-Etymology:Sri has the root meaning of radiance, or...
Aurobindo (
Sri Ôrobindo) (15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950), born
Aurobindo Ghosh or
Ghose (
Ôrobindo Ghosh), was an
Indian nationalistIndian nationalism refers to the many underlying forces that molded the Indian independence movement, and strongly continue to influence the politics of India, as well as being the heart of many contrasting ideologies that have caused ethnic and religious conflict in Indian society...
, freedom fighter,
philosopherPhilosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
,
yogiA Yogi is a practitioner of Yoga. The word is also used to refer to ascetic practitioners of meditation in a number of South Asian Religions including Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.-Etymology:...
,
guruA guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
, and poet. He joined the
Indian movement for freedomThe term Indian independence movement encompasses a wide area of political organisations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending first British East India Company rule, and then British imperial authority, in parts of South Asia...
from
British ruleBritish Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
and for a duration became one of its most important leaders, before developing his own vision of human progress and
spiritual evolutionSpiritual evolution is the philosophical, theological, esoteric or spiritual idea that nature and human beings and/or human culture evolve, extending from the established cosmological pattern or ascent, or in accordance with certain pre-established potentials...
. He was also one of the famous Radical leader of India during the Indian National Movement.
The central theme of Sri Aurobindo's vision was the evolution of human life into life divine. He wrote: "Man is a transitional being. He is not final. The step from man to superman is the next approaching achievement in the earth evolution. It is inevitable because it is at once the intention of the inner spirit and the logic of nature's process."
Sri Aurobindo synthesized Eastern and Western philosophy, religion, literature, and psychology in writings. Aurobindo was the first Indian to create a
major literary corpusThe Collected Works of Sri Aurobindo were published by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in 1972, on occasion of Sri Aurobindo's centenary...
in English. His works include philosophy; poetry; translations of and commentaries on the Vedas,
UpanishadThe Upanishads are philosophical texts considered to be an early source of Hindu religion. More than 200 are known, of which the first dozen or so, the oldest and most important, are variously referred to as the principal, main or old Upanishads...
s, and the Gita; plays; literary, social, political, and historical criticism; devotional works; spiritual journals and three volumes of letters. His principal philosophical writings are
The Life Divine and
The Synthesis of Yoga, while his principal poetic work is
Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol.
Early life
Aurobindo Ghose was born into a
kayasthaKayastha or Kayasth or Kayeth is a caste or community of Hindus originating in India. Kayastha means "scribe" in Sanskrit, and has traditionally denoted members of the writer caste....
family in Calcutta, India. His father, Dr. Krishna Dhan Ghose, was District Surgeon of Rangapur,
BengalBengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
. His mother, Swarnalata Devi, was the daughter of
BrahmoA Brahmo is either an adherent of Brahmoism to the exclusion of all other religions, or a person with at least one Brahmo parent or guardian and who has never denied his faith...
religious and social reformer,
Rajnarayan BasuRajnarayan Basu was a writer and intellectual of the Bengal Renaissance. He was born in Boral in 24 Parganas and studied at the Hare School and Hindu College, both premier institutions in Kolkata, Bengal at the time. A monotheist at heart, Rajnarayan Basu converted to Brahmoism at the age of...
.
Aravinda means "lotus" in Sanskrit. Aurobindo spelled his name
Aravinda while in England, as
Aravind or
Arvind while in
BarodaVadodara formerly known as Baroda is the third most populated city in the Indian State of Gujarat . It is one of the four cities with the population of over 1 million...
, and as
Aurobindo when he moved to Bengal. The surname Ghose is pronounced, and usually written in English, as "
GhoshGhosh, is an Indian family surname found mostly amongst Bengali Hindus. The word Ghosh is possibly derived from Ghosha an ancient Indian female philosopher mentioned in the Vedas or from Emperor Ghosha of the Sunga Empire an ancient Indian kingdom....
", and Aurobindo's name often appears as
"Arabindo Ghosh" in English academic sources. Dr. Ghose chose the middle name Akroyd to honour his friend Annette Akroyd.
Aurobindo spent his first five years at Rangapur, where his father had been posted since October 1871. Dr. Ghose, who had previously lived in
BritainThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
and studied medicine at
King's College, AberdeenKing's College in Old Aberdeen, Scotland is a formerly independent university founded in 1495 and an integral part of the University of Aberdeen...
, was determined that his children should have an English education and upbringing free of any Indian influences. In 1877, he therefore sent the young Aurobindo and two elder siblings -
Manmohan GhoseManmohan Ghose was an Indian poet and one of the first from India to write poetry in English. He was the son of Dr Krishna Dhan Ghose and his wife, Swarnalata Basu...
and Benoybhusan Ghose - to the
Loreto ConventLoreto Convent is an English-medium high school in the town of Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. The school is run by Loreto Education Society of Darjeeling.The school is affiliated to the ICSE and ISC boards of Delhi.-History:...
school in
Darjeeling.
England
Aurobindo spent two years at Loreto convent. In 1879, Aurobindo and his two elder brothers were taken to
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, England for a European education. The brothers were placed in the care of a Rev. and Mrs. Drewett. Rev. Drewett was an Anglican clergyman whom Dr. Ghose knew through his British friends at Rangapur. The Drewetts tutored the Ghose brothers privately. The Drewetts had been asked to keep the tuitions completely secular and to make no mention of India or its culture.
In 1884, Aurobindo joined St Paul's School. Here he learned Greek and Latin, spending the last three years reading literature, especially English poetry. Dr. K.D. Ghose had aspired that his sons should pass the prestigious Indian Civil Service, but in 1889 it appeared that of the three brothers, only young Aurobindo had the chance of fulfilling his father's aspirations, his brothers having already decided their future careers. To become an ICS official, students were required to pass the difficult competitive examination, as well as study at an English university for two years under probation. With his limited financial resources, the only option Aurobindo had was to secure a scholarship at an English university, which he did by passing the scholarship examinations of
King's CollegeKing's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college's full name is "The King's College of our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge", but it is usually referred to simply as "King's" within the University....
,
Cambridge UniversityThe University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
. He stood first at the examination. He also passed the written examination of ICS after a few months, where he was ranked 11th out of 250 competitors. He spent the next two years at the King's College.
By the end of two years of probation, Aurobindo became convinced that he did not want to serve the British, he therefore failed to present himself at the horse riding examination for ICS, and was disqualified for the Service.
At this time, the
MaharajaMahārāja is a Sanskrit title for a "great king" or "high king". The female equivalent title Maharani denotes either the wife of a Maharaja or, in states where that was customary, a woman ruling in her own right. The widow of a Maharaja is known as a Rajamata...
of Baroda, Sayajirao Gaekwad III was travelling England. James Cotton, brother of Sir Henry Cotton, for some time Lt. Governor of Bengal and Secretary of the South Kensington Liberal Club, who knew Aurobindo and his father secured for him a service in Baroda State Service and arranged a meeting between him and the prince. He left England for India, arriving there in February, 1893. In India Aurobindo's father 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. Dr. Ghose who was by this time frail due to ill-health could not bear this shock and died.
Baroda
In Baroda, Aurobindo joined the state service, working first in the Survey and Settlements department, later moving to the Department of Revenue and then to the Secretariat, writing speeches for the
GaekwadThe Gaekwad or Gaikwad was a Maratha dynasty that ruled the princely state of Baroda in western India from the mid-18th century until 1947...
. At Baroda, Aurobindo engaged in a deep study of Indian culture, teaching himself
SanskritSanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
, Hindi and Bengali, all things that his education in England had withheld from him. Because of the lack of punctuality at work resulting from his preoccupation with these other pursuits, Aurobindo was transferred to the Baroda College as a teacher of French, where he became popular because of his unconventional teaching style. He was later promoted to the post of Vice-Principal.
He published the first of his collections of poetry,
The Rishi from Baroda.
He also started taking active interest in the politics of India's freedom struggle against British rule, working behind the scenes as his position at the
Baroda StateBaroda State was an Indian princely state in present-day Gujarat, ruled by the Gaekwad dynasty from its formation in 1721 until 1947 when it succeed to newly formed, India. With the city of Baroda as its capital, during the British Raj it was part of the Baroda Residency...
barred him from overt political activity. He linked up with resistance groups in
BengalBengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
and
Madhya PradeshMadhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....
, while travelling to these states. He established contact with Lokmanya Tilak and
Sister Nivedita- A benediction to Sister Nivedita by Swami Vivekananda Sister Nivedita ; ; , born as Margaret Elizabeth Noble, was a Scots-Irish social worker, author, teacher and disciple of Swami Vivekananda. She met Vivekananda in 1895 in London and travelled to Calcutta, India in 1898...
. He also arranged for the military training of Jatindra Nath Banerjee (
Niralamba SwamiThe period between 1871 and 1910 during the Indian freedom struggle saw the dramatic rise of two great Indian nationalists and freedom fighters. One was Aurobindo Ghosh and the other was Jatindra Nath Banerjee . But the metamorphosis of both these persons from great active freedom fighters to great...
) in the Baroda army and then dispatched him to organise the resistance groups in Bengal.
He was invited by K.G. Deshpande who was in charge of the weekly
Induprakash and a friend from his days in Cambridge to write about the political situation. Aurobindo started writing a series of impassioned articles under the title
New Lamps for the Old pouring vitriol on the
CongressThe Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
for its moderate policy. He wrote:
"Our actual enemy is not any force exterior to ourselves, but our own crying weaknesses, our cowardice, our selfishness, our hypocrisy, our purblind sentimentalism"
further adding:
"I say, of the Congress, then, this, - that its aims are mistaken, that the spirit in which it proceeds towards their accomplishment is not a spirit of sincerity and whole-heartedness, and that the methods it has chosen are not the right methods, and the leaders in whom it trusts, not the right sort of men to be leaders; - in brief, that we are at present the blind led, if not by the blind, at any rate by the one-eyed."
The Congress which practised more mild and moderate criticism itself, reacted in a way which frightened the editors of the paper who asked Aurobindo to write about cultural themes instead of Politics. Aurobindo lost interest in these writings and the series was discontinued. Aurobindo's activities in Baroda also included a regimen of yogic exercises and meditation, but these were minor in comparison to the work he would take up in his later life. By 1904 he was doing yogic practices for five-six hours everyday. He stated that after performing pranayama, he was able to memorize and reproduce 200 lines of poetry in half an hour, while earlier he was not even able to memorize a dozen lines. After the practice of pranayama, he was able to compose 200 lines worth of poetry in half an hour, while earlier he was only able to compose 200 lines in a month.
Calcutta
Aurobindo used to take many excursions to Bengal, at first in a bid to re-establish links with his parents' families and his other Bengali relatives, including his cousin Sarojini and brother Barin, and later increasingly in a bid to establish resistance groups across Bengal. But he formally shifted to Calcutta (now Kolkata) only in 1906 after the announcement of
Partition of BengalThe decision of the Partition of Bengal was announced on 19 July 1905 by the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon. The partition took effect on 16 October 1905...
. During his visit to Calcutta in 1901 he married Mrinalini, daughter of Bhupal Chandra Bose, a senior official in Government service. Aurobindo Ghose was then 28; the bride Mrinalini, 14. Marrying off daughters at a very young age was very common in 19th century Bengali families.
In Bengal with Barin's help he established contacts with revolutionaries, inspiring radicals like
Bagha JatinBagha Jatin , born Jatindranath Mukherjee was an Bengali revolutionary philosopher against British rule....
, Jatin Banerjee, Surendranath Tagore. He helped establish a series of youth clubs with the aim of imparting a martial and spiritual training to the youth of Bengal. He helped found the
Anushilan SamitiAnushilan Samiti was an armed anti-British organisation in Bengal and the principal secret revolutionary organisation operating in the region in the opening years of the 20th century. This association, like its offshoot the Jugantar, operated under the guise of suburban fitness club...
of Calcutta in 1902.
When the Partition of Bengal was announced, there was a public outpouring against the British rule in India. Aurobindo attended the
Benares-Etymology:The name Varanasi has its origin possibly from the names of the two rivers Varuna and Assi, for the old city lies in the north shores of the Ganga bounded by its two tributaries, the Varuna and the Asi, with the Ganges being to its south...
session of Congress in December 1905 as an observer, and witnessing the intensity of people's feelings decided to throw himself into the thick of politics. He joined the National Council of Education and met
Subodh Chandra MullickSubodh Chandra Mullick, Raja, was a nationalist in Calcutta during the British rule of India. He is notable for the substantial monetary contribution for the cause of education...
who quickly became a supporter of Aurobindo's views. Mullick donated a large sum to found a National College and stipulated that Aurobindo should become its first principal.
Aurobindo also started writing for
Bande MataramFor other uses of the term Bande Mataram, see Bande Mataram .The Bande Mataram was an English language newspaper founded in 1905 by Bipin Chandra Pal and later edited by Sri Aurobindo. It was first published on 6th August, 1906....
, as a consequence of which, his popularity as a leading voice of the hardline group soared. His arrest and acquittal for printing seditious material in Bande Mataram consolidated his position as the leader of aggressive nationalists. His call for complete political independence was considered extremely radical at the time and frequently caused friction in Congress. In 1907 at Surat session of Congress where moderates and hardliners had a major showdown, he led the hardliners along with
Bal Gangadhar TilakLokmanya Tilak –, was an Indian nationalist, teacher, social reformer and independence fighter who was the first popular leader of the Indian Independence Movement. The British colonial authorities derogatorily called the great leader "Father of the Indian unrest"...
. The Congress split after this session. In 1907–1908 Aurobindo travelled extensively to
PunePune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...
, Bombay and Baroda to firm up support for the nationalist cause, giving speeches and meeting various groups. He was arrested again in May 1908 in connection with the Alipore Bomb Case. He was acquitted in the ensuing trial and 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 Uttarpara Speech s:Uttarpara Speech 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 signalling his retirement from politics, moved to Pondicherry.
Conversion from politics to spirituality
Aurobindo's conversion from political action to spirituality occurred gradually. Aurobindo had been influenced by
Bankim'sBankim Chandra Chattopadhyay was a famous Bengali writer, poet and journalist. He was the composer of India’s national song Vande Mataram, originally a Bengali and Sanskrit stotra personifying India as a mother goddess and inspiring the activists during the Indian Freedom Movement...
AnandamathAnandamath is a Bengali novel, written by Bankim Chandra Chatterji and published in 1882. Set in the background of the Sannyasi Rebellion in the late 18th century, it is considered one of the most important novels in the history of Bengali and Indian literature...
. In this novel, the story follows a monk who fights the soldiers of the
British East India CompanyThe East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
. When in Baroda, Aurobindo and Barin had considered the plan of a national uprising of nationalist sannyasis against the empire. Later when Aurobindo got involved with Congress and
Bande Mataram, Barin had continued to meet patriotic youngsters for recruitment for such a plan. In 1907, Barin introduced Aurobindo to Vishnu Bhaskar Lele, a
MaharashtrianMaharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...
yogiA Yogi is a practitioner of Yoga. The word is also used to refer to ascetic practitioners of meditation in a number of South Asian Religions including Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.-Etymology:...
.
Aurobindo had been engaged in yogic discipline for years, but disturbances to his progress following the recent events surrounding the Congress had put him in the need of consulting a yogi. After attending the
SuratSurat , also known as Suryapur, is the commercial capital city of the Indian state of Gujarat. Surat is India's Eighth most populous city and Ninth-most populous urban agglomeration. It is also administrative capital of Surat district and one of the fastest growing cities in India. The city proper...
session of the Congress in 1907, Aurobindo met Lele in Baroda. This meeting led him to retire for three days in seclusion where, following Lele's instruction, Aurobindo had his first major experience, called nirvana - a state of complete mental silence free of any thought or mental activity. Later, while awaiting trial as a prisoner in
AliporeAlipore is headquarters of South 24 Parganas district and a neighbourhood in South Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal.Alipore, Kolkata, not to be confused with Alipore, Gujarat, is one of the poshest and costliest localities in Kolkata, along with the area Ballygunge...
Central Jail in Calcutta Aurobindo had a number of mystical experiences. In his letters, Sri Aurobindo mentions that while in jail as under-trial, spirit of Swami Vivekananda visited him for two weeks and spoke about the higher planes of consciousness leading to supermind . Sri Aurobindo later said that while imprisoned he saw the convicts, jailers, policemen, the prison bars, the trees, the judge, the lawyers as different forms of one godhead,
KrishnaKrishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
.
The trial ("
Alipore Bomb CaseThe Alipore Bomb Case was an important court trial, during May 1908 to May 1909, in the history of the Indian Independence Movement. The trial involved more than 37 suspects, following a bomb attack, and was held in Alipore Sessions Court, in Calcutta, India, Judge C.P...
, 1908") lasted for one full year, but eventually Sri Aurobindo was acquitted. His Defence Counsel was Chiitaranjan Das. On acquittal, Sri Aurobindo was invited to deliver a speech at Uttarpara where he first spoke of some of his experiences in jail. Afterwards Aurobindo started two new weekly papers: the
Karmayogin in English and the
Dharma in Bengali. However, it appeared that the British government would not tolerate his nationalist program as then Viceroy and Governor-General of India Lord Minto wrote about him: "
I can only repeat that he is the most dangerous man we have to reckon with."
The British considered the possibilities of a retrial or deportation, but objections from Lord Minto, or the Bengal government at different instances prevented immediate execution of such plans.
When informed that he was sought again by the police, he was guided by an inner voice to the then French territory
ChandernagoreChandannagar, formerly known as Chandernagore or Chandernagar , is a small city and former French colony located north of Kolkata, in West Bengal, India. It is head quarters of a subdivision in Hooghly District. It is one of the 6 municipal corporations in West Bengal. It is a part of the area...
where he halted for a few days and later On April 4, 1910, to Pondicherry.
Pondicherry
In Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo completely dedicated himself to his spiritual and philosophical pursuits.
In 1914, after four years of concentrated yoga, Sri Aurobindo was proposed to express his vision in intellectual terms. This resulted in the launch of
Arya, a 64 page monthly review. For the next six and a half years this became the vehicle for most of his most important writings, which appeared in serialised form. These included
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. Many years later, Sri Aurobindo revised some of these works before they were published in book form.
It was about his prose writing of this period that Times Literary Supplement, London wrote on 8 July 1944, "Sri Aurobindo is the most significant and perhaps the most interesting.... He is a new type of thinker, one who combines in his vision the alacrity of the West with the illumination of the East.He is a yogi who writes as though he were standing among the stars, with the constellations for his companions."
For some time afterwards, Sri Aurobindo's main literary output was his voluminous correspondence with his disciples. His letters, most of which were written in the 1930s, numbered in the several thousands. 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, Sri Aurobindo 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,
SavitriSavitri: A Legend and a Symbol is an epic poem in blank verse by Sri Aurobindo, based upon a myth from the Mahabharata. Its central theme revolves around the transcendence of man as the consummation of terrestrial evolution, and the immergence of an immortal supramental gnostic race upon earth...
, an epic spiritual poem in blank verse of approximately 24,000 lines.
During World War II, he supported the allies, even donating money to the British Government, describing Hitler as a dark and oppressive force.
On August 15, 1947, on his 75th birthday, when India achieved political independence, a message was asked from Sri Aurobindo. In his message, which was read out on the All India Radio, Sri Aurobindo dwelt briefly on the five dreams he has cherished all his life and which, he noted, were on the way to being fulfilled. Sri Aurobindo died on December 5, 1950, after a short illness.
The Mother
Sri Aurobindo's close spiritual collaborator, Mirra Richard (b. Alfassa), came to be known as
The Mother simply because Sri Aurobindo started to call her by this name. On being asked by why he called her the Mother, Sri Aurobindo wrote an essay called
The Mother in order to shed light on the person of Mirra.
Mirra was born in
ParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
on February 21, 1878, to
TurkishTurkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
and
EgyptEgyptians are nation an ethnic group made up of Mediterranean North Africans, the indigenous people of Egypt.Egyptian identity is closely tied to geography. The population of Egypt is concentrated in the lower Nile Valley, the small strip of cultivable land stretching from the First Cataract to...
ian parents. Involved in the cultural and spiritual life of Paris, she counted among her friends
Alexandra David-NeelAlexandra David-Néel born Louise Eugénie Alexandrine Marie David was a Belgian-French explorer, spiritualist, Buddhist and writer, most known for her visit to Lhasa, Tibet, in 1924, when it was forbidden to foreigners...
. She went to Pondicherry on March 29, 1914, finally settling there in 1920. Sri Aurobindo considered her his spiritual equal and collaborator. After November 24, 1926, when Sri Aurobindo retired into seclusion, he left it to her to plan, run and build the
Sri Aurobindo AshramThe Sri Aurobindo Ashram was founded by Sri Aurobindo on the 24 November 1926 . At the time there were no more than 24 disciples in the Ashram...
, the community of disciples that had gathered around them. Some time 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 Sri Aurobindo died in 1950, the Mother continued their spiritual work and directed the Ashram and guided their disciples.
Auroville
In the mid-1960s The Mother personally guided the founding of
AurovilleAuroville is an "experimental" township in Viluppuram district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, near Pondicherry in South India. It was founded in 1968 by Mirra Alfassa and designed by architect Roger Anger...
, an international township endorsed by
UNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
to further human unity near the town of Pondicherry, which was to be a place "where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities." It was inaugurated in 1968 in a ceremony in which representatives of 121 nations and all the states of India placed a handful of their soil in an urn near the center of the city. Auroville continues to develop and currently has approximately 2100 members from 43 countries, though the majority consists of Indians, French, and Germans.
Pondicherry
The Mother played an active role in the merger of the French pockets in India and, according to Sri Aurobindo's wish, helped to make Pondicherry a seat of cultural exchange between India and France.
The Mother stayed in Pondicherry until her death on November 17, 1973. Her later years, including her myriad of metaphysical and occult experiences, and her attempt at the transformation at the cellular level of her body, are captured in her 13-volume personal log known as
Mother's AgendaMother's Agenda - l'Agenda - is a massive 13 volume, 6,000 page, journal of The Mother's spiritual and physical experiences, recorded by Satprem over a period of 19 years, beginning with some fragments dating to 1951, and continuing in greater detail from 1960 to her passing in 1973...
.
Philosophy and spiritual vision
One of Sri Aurobindo's main philosophical achievements was to introduce the concept of evolution into
VedanticVedānta was originally a word used in Hindu philosophy as a synonym for that part of the Veda texts known also as the Upanishads. The name is a morphophonological form of Veda-anta = "Veda-end" = "the appendix to the Vedic hymns." It is also speculated that "Vedānta" means "the purpose or goal...
thought.
SamkhyaSamkhya, also Sankhya, Sāṃkhya, or Sāṅkhya is one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy and classical Indian philosophy. Sage Kapila is traditionally considered as the founder of the Samkhya school, although no historical verification is possible...
philosophy had already proposed such a notion centuries earlier, but Aurobindo rejected the
materialisticIn philosophy, the theory of materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter; that all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. In other words, matter is the only substance...
tendencies of both
DarwinismDarwinism is a set of movements and concepts related to ideas of transmutation of species or of evolution, including some ideas with no connection to the work of Charles Darwin....
and Samkhya, and proposed an
evolution of spiritSpiritual evolution is the philosophical, theological, esoteric or spiritual idea that nature and human beings and/or human culture evolve, extending from the established cosmological pattern or ascent, or in accordance with certain pre-established potentials...
along with that of matter, and that the evolution of matter was a result of the former.
He describes the limitation of the
MayavadaMayavada is a term used to pejoratively refer to the Advaita philosophy of Adi Shankara. It is not used by the followers of the Advaita philosophy to refer to themselves. It is generally used as a derogatory term, by some Dvaita schools...
of
Advaita VedantaAdvaita Vedanta is considered to be the most influential and most dominant sub-school of the Vedānta school of Hindu philosophy. Other major sub-schools of Vedānta are Dvaita and ; while the minor ones include Suddhadvaita, Dvaitadvaita and Achintya Bhedabheda...
, and solves the problem of the linkage between the ineffable
BrahmanIn Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...
or Absolute and the world of multiplicity by positing a hitherto unknown and unexplored level of consciousness, which he called
The Supermind*Supermind in philosophy of S.Aurobindo*Professor Supermind and Son a comic from the 1940s...
. The supermind is the active principle present in the transcendent Satchidananda as well in the roots of evolution: a unitary level of which our individual minds and bodies are minuscule subdivisions.
Sri Aurobindo rejected a major conception of Indian philosophy that says that the World is a Maya (illusion) and that living as a renunciate was the only way out. He says that it is possible, not only to transcend human nature but also to transform it and to live in the world as a free and evolved human being with a new consciousness and a new nature which could spontaneously perceive truth of things, and proceed in all matters on the basis of inner oneness, love and light.
Evolutionary philosophy
Sri Aurobindo argues that humankind is not the last rung in the evolutionary scale, but can
evolve spirituallySpiritual evolution is the philosophical, theological, esoteric or spiritual idea that nature and human beings and/or human culture evolve, extending from the established cosmological pattern or ascent, or in accordance with certain pre-established potentials...
beyond its current limitations to a state of spiritual and supramental existence. This evolutionary existence he called a "Divine life on Earth", characterized by a spiritualized, supramental, truth-consciousness-oriented humanity.
Process of creation and evolution
He speaks of two central movements in the process of creation: an
involution of consciousness from an original omnipresent Reality, manifesting a universe of forms, including matter; and an
evolution of those material forms in creation upward toward life, mind, and spirit, reconnecting to their spiritual source.
Involution
The process by which the Energy of creation emerged from a timeless, spaceless, ineffable, immutable Reality, Sri Aurobindo refers to as the Involution. In that process the Reality extended itself to Being/Existence (Sat), Consciousness, that generated a Force - (Chit); and Bliss (Ananda)-- self enjoyment in existing and being conscious. Through the action of a fourth dimension, Supermind (i.e. Truth Consciousness), the Force (Chit) of Sat-Chit-Ananda was divided into Knowledge and Will, eventually formulating as an invisible Energy that would become the source of creation. Through its own willful self-absorption of consciousness, the universe would begin as Inconscient material existence from out of that Energy.
Evolution
The process of existence emerging out of the Inconscient is referred as evolution. Initially, it emerges gradually in the stages of matter, life, and mind. First matter evolves from simple to complex forms, then life emerges in matter and evolves from simple to complex forms, finally mind emerges in life and evolves from rudimentary to higher forms of thought and reason. As each new principle emerges, the previous stages remain but are integrated into the higher principle. Humanity represents the stage of development of mind in complex material forms of life.
The higher development of mind in the mass of humanity is not yet a secure possession. Reason and intellect still do not dominate the life of most human beings; rather, mind tends to be turned to the purposes of the life principle, which is focused on self-preservation, self-assertion, and satisfaction of personal need and desire. But evolution does not cease with the establishment of reason and intellect; beyond mind are higher levels of a spiritual and supramental consciousness which in the nature of things must also emerge. This higher evolution is described as a dual movement; inward, away from the surface consciousness and into the depths, culminating in the realization of the Psychic Being (the personal evolving soul); and then upward to higher levels of spiritual mind Higher Mind, Illumined Mind, Intuitive Mind, and Overmind), culminating in the final stage of supramentalisation. Whereas these higher levels of consciousness have been attained in particular individuals, they must eventually emerge more universally as general stages in the evolution. When they do emerge, there will come the embodiment of a new species on earth that will be once again united in consciousness with Sachchidananda.
Brahman
A central tenet of Sri Aurobindo's philosophy is that the Truth of existence is an omnipresent
RealityIn philosophy, reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible...
that both transcends the manifested universe and is inherent in it. This Reality, referred to as
BrahmanIn Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...
, is an Absolute: it is not limited by any mental conception or duality, whether personal or impersonal, existent or nonexistent, formless or manifested in form, timeless or extended in time, spaceless or extended in space.
It is simultaneously all of these but is bound by none of them. It is at once the universe, each individual being and thing in the universe, and the Transcendent beyond the universe. In its highest manifested poise, its nature may be described as Sachchidananda—infinite existence, infinite consciousness, and infinite delight or bliss; a triune principle in which the three are united in a single Reality. In other words, it is a fully conscious and blissful infinite existence. The importance of this concept for humanity lies in its implication that Brahman is the deepest and secret Reality of humans, it is their true Self, and it is possible to recover this Reality of their being by removing the veil of ignorance that hides it from them and imprisons them in a false identification with an apparently divided and limited egoistic movement on the surface of the being. This is the metaphysical basis for Sri Aurobindo's
yogaIn the teachings of Sri Aurobindo, Integral yoga refers to the process of the union of all the parts of one's being with the Divine, and the transmutation of all of their jarring elements into a harmonious state of higher divine consciousness and existence.Sri...
, the discipline given to consciously unite humans' life with their essential Reality.
Triple transformation of the individual
Sri Aurobindo's argues that Man is born an ignorrant, divided, conflicted being; a product of the original inconscience (i.e. unconsciousness,) inherent in Matter that he evolved out of. As a result, he does not know the nature of Reality, including its source and purpose; his own nature, including the parts and integration of his being; what purpose he serves, and what his individual and spiritual potential is, amongst others. In addition, man experiences life through division and conflict, including his relationship with others, and his divided view of spirit and life.
To overcome these limitations, Man must embark on a process of self-discovery in which he uncovers his Divine nature. To that end, he undertakes a three-step process, which he calls the Triple Transformation.
(1)
Psychic Transformation -- The first of the three stages is a movement within, away from the surface of life, to the depths, culminating in the discovery of his psychic being (the evolving soul). From that experience, he sees the oneness and unity of creation, and the harmony of all opposites experienced in life.
(2)
Spiritual Transformation -- As a result of making the psychic change, his mind expands and he experiences knowledge not through the hard churning of thought, but through light, intuition, and revelation of knowledge, culminating in supramental perception. Light enters from the heights and begins to transmute various parts of his being.
(3)
Supramental transformation -- After making the psychic and spiritual change, he makes the supramental and most radical change. It is basically a complete transformation of the mind, the heart, the emotions, and the physical body.
Supramental existence
Sri Aurobindo's vision of the future includes the appearance of what may be called a new species, the
supramental*Supermind in philosophy of S.Aurobindo*Professor Supermind and Son a comic from the 1940s...
being, a divine being which would be as different and superior to present humanity as humanity is to the animal. It would have a consciousness different in kind than the mind of the human, a different status and quality and functioning. Even the physical form of this being would be different, more luminous and flexible and adaptable, entirely conscious and harmonious. Between this supramental being and humanity, there would be transitional beings, who would be human in birth and form, but whose consciousness would approach that of the supramental being. These transitional beings would appear prior to that of the full supramental being, and would constitute an intermediate stage in the Earth's evolution, through which the soul would pass in its growth towards its divine manifestation as the supramental being in the earth nature.
- Supermind (Integral thought)
Supermind in Sri Aurobindo's philosophy refers to the infinite unitary truth-consciousness or truth-idea simultaneously transcendent and immanent to planes of matter, life, and mind. Supermind is the dynamic form of satcitananda , and the necessary conduit, mediator or linkage between satcitananda...
Philosophy of social evolution
Sri Aurobindo's spiritual vision extended beyond the perfection and transformation of the individual; it included within its scope the evolution and transformation of human society. In both the individual and in society, the soul and spirit is at first hidden and occult. This, he argues, influences the direction and course of development from behind, but allowing nature to follow its gradual, zigzagging, and conflict-ridden course. Afterwards, as mind develops and becomes more dominant over obscure impulses and ego-centered drives of vital nature. This results in a more objective, enlightened perception and approach towards human existence and the potential developments that become possible. At the highest stage of mental development, he argues, a greater possibility and principle becomes apparent, which is spiritual and supramental in nature. At this point a true solution to humanity's problems becomes visible in the context of a radical transformation of human life into a form of divine existence.
Integral Yoga
In
The Synthesis of Yoga, and in his voluminous correspondence with his disciples collected under the title
Letters on Yoga, Sri Aurobindo laid out the psychological principles and practices of the
Integral YogaIn the teachings of Sri Aurobindo, Integral yoga refers to the process of the union of all the parts of one's being with the Divine, and the transmutation of all of their jarring elements into a harmonious state of higher divine consciousness and existence.Sri...
or Poorna Yoga. The aim of Integral yoga is to enable the individual who undertakes it the attainment of a conscious identity with the Divine, the true Self, and to transform the mind, life, and body so they would become fit instruments for a divine life on Earth.
In addition, Sri Aurobindo indicated that the aim of his yoga is the divinization of earth by bringing down what he called the
Supermind*Supermind in philosophy of S.Aurobindo*Professor Supermind and Son a comic from the 1940s...
, which is the Truth-consciousness. The particular method he suggested is the purification of all parts of the personality and their eventual surrender, which allows the Psychic Being to emerge, enabling the individual to become the supramental being by opening to and receiving the supramental Force. Such gnostic individuals would then become the basis of a new society, culminating in a divine life on Earth.
Analysis of Indian culture
In
Renaissance in India (earlier called
The Foundations of Indian Culture), Sri Aurobindo examines the nature of Indian civilization and culture. He looked at its central motivating tendencies and how these are expressed in its religion, spirituality, art, literature, and politics. The first section of the book provides a general defense of Indian culture from disparaging criticism due to the misunderstanding of a foreign perspective, and its possible destruction due to the aggressive expansion and infiltration of Western culture. This section is interesting in the light it sheds on the nature of both Eastern and Western civilizations, how they have developed over the centuries, how they have influenced each other throughout the ages, and the nature and significance of these exchanges in the recent period. The principle tenet of the exposition is that India has been and is one of the greatest civilizations of the world, one that stands apart from all others in its central emphasis, or rather its whole foundation, based on spirituality, and that on its survival depends the future of the human race—whether it shall be a spiritual outflowering of the divine in man, or a rational, economically driven, and mechanized association of peoples.
Interpretation of the Vedas
One of the most significant contributions of Sri Aurobindo was his setting forth an esoteric meaning of the Vedas. The Vedas were considered by some to be composed by a barbaric culture worshiping violent Gods. Sri Aurobindo felt that this was due to non-grasping of vedic symbolism, both by Occidental and Oriental scholars.
Sri Aurobindo believed there was a hidden spiritual meaning in the Vedas. He viewed the Rig Veda as a spiritual text written in a symbolic language in which the outer meaning was concerned with ritualistic sacrifices to the gods, and the inner meaning, which was revealed only to initiates, was concerned with an inner spiritual knowledge and practice, the aim of which was to unite in consciousness with the Divine.
In this conception, Indra is the God of Mind lording over the Indriyas, that is, the senses (sight, touch, hearing, taste etc.). Vayu represents air, but in its esoteric sense means Prana, or the life force. So when the Rig Veda says "Call Indra and Vayu to drink Soma Rasa" the inner meaning is to use mind through the senses and life force to receive divine bliss (Soma means wine of Gods, but in several texts also means divine bliss, as in Right-handed Tantra). Agni, the God of the sacrificial fire in the outer sense, is the flame of the spiritual will to overcome the obstacles to unite with the Divine. So the sacrifice of the Vedas could mean sacrificing ones ego to the internal Agni, the spiritual fire.
Sri Aurobindo's theory of the inner spiritual significance of the Vedas originally appeared serially in the journal
Arya between 1914 and 1921, but was later published in book form as "The Secret of the Veda." Another book, "Hymns to the Mystic Fire", is Sri Aurobindo's translation of the spiritual sense of many of the verses of the Rig Veda.
Poetry
Sri Aurobindo not only expressed his spiritual thought and vision in intricate metaphysical reasoning and in phenomenological terms, but also in poetry. He started writing poetry as a young student, and continued until late in his life. The theme of his poetry changed with the projects that he undertook. It ranged from revolutionary homages to mystic philosophy. Sri Aurobindo wrote in
classicalClassics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
style.
Savitri
Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol is Sri Aurobindo's epic poem in 12 books, 24,000 lines about an individual who overcomes the ignorance, suffering, and death in the world through Her spiritual quest, setting the stage for the emergence of a new, Divine life on earth. It is loosely based on the ancient Indian tale of 'Savitri and Satyavan' from the
MahabharataThe Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
.
The Future Poetry
In Sri Aurobindo's theory of poetry, written under the title
The Future Poetry, he writes about the significance that art and culture have for the spiritual evolution of mankind. He believed that a new, deep, and intuitive poetry could be a powerful aid to the change of consciousness and the life required to achieve the spiritual destiny of mankind which he envisioned. Unlike philosophy or psychology, poetry could make the reality of the Spirit living to the imagination and reveal its beauty and delight and captivate the deeper soul of humanity to its acceptance. It is perhaps in Sri Aurobindo's own poetry, particularly in his epic poem
Savitri, that we find the fullest and most powerful statement of his spiritual thought and vision.
Followers of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother
The following authors/ organizations trace their intellectual heritage back to, or have in some measure been influenced by, The Mother and Sri Aurobindo.
- Sisir Kumar Maitra
Sisir Kumar Maitra was Head of the Department of Philosophy and Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Banaras Hindu University...
(1887-1963) was an academic philosopher who wrote widely on Sri Aurobindo and Western philosophy. He wrote the essay 'Sri Aurobindo and Spengler: Comparison between the Integral and the Pluralistic Philosophy of History' in the 1958 symposium compendium, 'The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo.'
- Sri Chinmoy
Chinmoy Kumar Ghose, also known as Sri Chinmoy was an Indian spiritual teacher, poet, artist and athlete who immigrated to the U.S. in 1964., the founder of the religious organization "Sri Chinmoy Centre Church, Inc." better known as "Sri Chinmoy Centre"...
(1931-2007) was an Indian spiritual teacher and philosopher who emigrated to the U.S. in 1964. An author, composer, artist and athlete, he was perhaps best known for holding public events on the theme of inner peace and world harmony (such as concerts, meditations, and races). In 1944, he joined his brothers and sisters at Sri Aurobindo's ashram. He has written many books about Sri Aurobindo.
- Nolini Kanta Gupta
Sri Nolini Kanta Gupta , revolutionary, linguist, scholar, critic, poet, philosopher and mystic, was the most senior of Sri Aurobindo's disciples. He was born in Faridpur, East Bengal, to a cultured and well-to-do family...
(1889 - 1983) was one of Sri Aurobindo's senior disciples, and wrote extensively on philosophy, mysticism, and spiritual evolution in the light of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother's teachings.
- Indra Sen
Indra Sen MA, LL.B., PH.D. was a devotee of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, psychologist, author, and educator, and the founder of Integral Psychology as an academic discipline....
(1903-1994) was another disciple of Sri Aurobindo who, although little-known in the West, was the first to articulate integral psychologyIntegral psychology is psychology that presents an all-encompassing holistic rather than an exclusivist or reductive approach. It includes both lower, ordinary, and spiritual or transcendent states of consciousness. Important writers in the field of integral psychology are Sri Aurobindo, Indra...
and integral philosophy, in the 1940s and 1950s. A compilation of his papers came out under the title, Integral Psychology in 1986.
- Ram Shankar Misra
Ram Shankar Misra was Professor of Comparative Religion in the Department of Philosophy, Banaras Hindu University.Among his published books is The Integral Advaitism of Sri Aurobindo , an important contribution to the philosophical teachings of Sri Aurobindo.-Links:*...
was a scholar of Indian religious and philosophical thought and author of The Integral Advaitism of Sri Aurobindo (publ. 1957), a philosophical commentary on Sri Aurobindo's work.
- Sri Anirvan
Anirvan or Sri Anirvan born Narendra Chandra Dhar was an Indian/Bengali/Hindu monk, writer, Vedic scholar and philosopher...
(1896-1978) translated "The Life Divine" in Bengali and "Savitri" into Bengali in "Divya Jeevan Prasanga", published by Sri Aurobindo Pathamandir,1948-51.
- Satprem
Satprem was a French author and an important disciple of The Mother.-Life and work:Satprem was born Bernard Enginger in Paris and had a seafaring childhood and youth in Brittany. During World War II he was a member of the French Resistance. He was arrested by the Gestapo in late 1943 and spent one...
(1923 - 2007) was a French author and an important disciple of The Mother who published Mother's Agenda (ed.1982), Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness (2000), On the Way to Supermanhood (2002) and more.
- Pavitra
Pavitra was one of the very early disciples of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. The name was one of Srimati Radharani's 1000 names. He was born Philippe Barbier Saint-Hilaire in Paris. In 1914 he graduated from the Ècole Polytechnique with a degree in Engineering...
(1894 - 1969) was one of the very early disciples of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. Born as Philippe Barbier Saint-Hilaire in Paris. Pavitra left some very interesting memoirs of his conversations with Sri Aurobindo and the Mother in 1925 and 1926, which were published as Conversations avec Pavitra.
Organisations and institutes
- Sri Aurobindo Centre for Advanced Research, located in Pondicherry, India, provides online advanced degree programmes (e.g., MA, M.Phil., and Ph.D.) in Sri Aurobindo Studies. It works in collaboration with Indira Gandhi National Open University which grants the degrees. It also publishes books related to the thought and vision of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, holds conferences, and sells CDs of talks by Ananda Reddy, its Director, on Sri Aurobindo's various major works.
- World Union - A non-profit, non-political organisation founded on 26 November 1958 in Pondicherry, fired by the Third Dream of Sri Aurobindo; also publishes a quarterly journal with the same title. A.B. Patel was the driving force and for many years, M.P. Pandit was the leading light.
- The Integral Life Foundation in Waterford, CT has published several books by Amal Kiran.
Journals
- Mother India
Mother India is the Sri Aurobindo Ashram's originally fortnightly, now monthly, cultural review. It was started in 1949, the founding editor being K. D. Sethna , who continues as editor for over fifty years.- History :...
is the Sri Aurobindo Ashram's originally fortnightly, now monthly, cultural review. It was started in 1949, the founding editor being K. D. Sethna (Amal Kiran), who continues as editor for over fifty years.
- Collaboration is a journal dedicated to the spiritual and evolutionary vision of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother
-Early life:Mirra Alfassa was born in Paris in 1878, of a Turkish Jewish father, Maurice, and an Egyptian Jewish mother, Mathilde. She had an elder brother named Matteo. The family migrated to France the year before she was born. For the first eight years of her life she lived at 62 boulevard...
. Content includes articles, essays, poetry, and art. Topics range across the theory and practice of Integral YogaIn the teachings of Sri Aurobindo, Integral yoga refers to the process of the union of all the parts of one's being with the Divine, and the transmutation of all of their jarring elements into a harmonious state of higher divine consciousness and existence.Sri...
, Sri Aurobindo's philosophy and metaphysics, developments in the international township of Auroville, activities of various centers and announcements and reports about various conferences related to the Integral Yoga.
Influence
Sri Aurobindo's influence has been wide-ranging. In India,
Gurusaday DuttGurusaday Dutt was a civil servant, politician, folklorist, and writer.-Early Life and education:He was the son of the Ramkrishna Dutt Chaudhuri and Anandamayee Debi...
ICS and Charu Chandra Dutt ICS were influenced by him. S. K. Maitra, Anilbaran Roy and
D. P. ChattopadhyayaFor the Marxist philosopher of the same name, see: Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya Debi Prasad Chattopadhyaya is the Founder/Chairman of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research, New Delhi...
commented on Sri Aurobindo's work. Writers on
esotericismEsotericism or Esoterism signifies the holding of esoteric opinions or beliefs, that is, ideas preserved or understood by a small group or those specially initiated, or of rare or unusual interest. The term derives from the Greek , a compound of : "within", thus "pertaining to the more inward",...
and traditional wisdom, such as
Mircea EliadeMircea Eliade was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religious studies that persist to this day...
,
Paul BruntonPaul Brunton was probably born as Hermann Hirsch of German Jewish origin. Later he changed his name to Raphael Hurst, and then Brunton Paul and finally Paul Brunton. He was a British philosopher, mystic, traveler, and guru...
, and
Rene GuenonRené Guénon , also known as Shaykh `Abd al-Wahid Yahya was a French author and intellectual who remains an influential figure in the domain of metaphysics, having written on topics ranging from metaphysics, sacred science and traditional studies to symbolism and initiation.In his writings, he...
, all saw him as an authentic representative of the Indian spiritual tradition.
Haridas ChaudhuriHaridas Chaudhuri , Bengali integral philosopher, was a correspondent with Sri Aurobindo and the founder of the California Institute of Integral Studies . He was born in Kolkata. He studied at the Scottish Church College and later at the University of Calcutta from where he earned his doctorate in...
and
Frederic SpiegelbergFrederic Spiegelberg was a Stanford University professor of religion. A friend of Paul Tillich, Martin Heidegger, and Carl Jung, he participated in Jung's Eranos symposia and lectured in Jung's institute in Zurich. Paul Tillich helped Spiegelberg escape Germany in 1937 after Spiegelberg was fired...
were among those who were inspired by Sri 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 StudiesCalifornia Institute of Integral Studies is a private institution of higher education founded in 1968 and based in San Francisco, California. It currently operates in three locations just south of the Civic Center district...
.
Karlheinz StockhausenKarlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
became heavily inspired by the writings of Satprem about Sri Aurobindo during a week in May 1968, a time of which the composer was undergoing a personal crisis and had found Aurobindos philosophies were relevant to his feelings at the time. After this experience, Stockhausen's music took a completely different turn, focusing on mysticism, that was to continue right up until the end of his career.
Sri Aurobindo's ideas about the further evolution of human capabilities influenced the thinking of
Michael MurphyMichael Murphy is the co-founder of the Esalen Institute, a key figure in the Human Potential Movement and author of both fiction and non-fiction books on topics related to extraordinary human potential.- Biography :...
– and indirectly, the
human potential movementThe Human Potential Movement arose out of the social and intellectual milieu of the 1960s and formed around the concept of cultivating extraordinary potential that its advocates believed to lie largely untapped in all people...
, through Murphy's writings. The American philosopher
Ken WilberKenneth Earl Wilber II is an American author who has written about mysticism, philosophy, ecology, and developmental psychology. His work formulates what he calls Integral Theory. In 1998, he founded the Integral Institute, for teaching and applications of Integral theory.-Biography:Ken Wilber was...
has been strongly influenced by Sri Aurobindo's thought, and has integrated some of its key ideas with other spiritual traditions and modern intellectual trends, although his interpretation has been criticised by
Rod HemsellRod Hemsell is an educator and author who lived in Auroville and at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram from 1968 to 1983. During this time he also travelled widely and spoke about Auroville and Sri Aurobindo's philosophy at centers and universities in India, as well as publishing articles and essays.In 1991...
and others.
New AgeThe New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
writer
Andrew HarveyAndrew Harvey is an author, religious scholar and teacher of mystic traditions, known primarily for his popular nonfiction books on spiritual or mystical themes, beginning with his 1983 A Journey in Ladakh...
also looks to Sri Aurobindo as a major inspiration. Cultural historian
William Irwin ThompsonWilliam Irwin Thompson is known primarily as a social philosopher and cultural critic, but he has also been writing and publishing poetry throughout his career and received the Oslo International Poetry Festival Award in 1986. He describes his writing and speaking style as "mind-jazz on ancient...
is also heavily influenced by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.
The
Sri Aurobindo AshramThe Sri Aurobindo Ashram was founded by Sri Aurobindo on the 24 November 1926 . At the time there were no more than 24 disciples in the Ashram...
, the spiritual community that grew up around him and was organized and directed by the Mother, continues to operate with slightly more than 2000 members and a similar number of nonmembers who live nearby and are associated with the Ashram's activities. The experimental international city of
AurovilleAuroville is an "experimental" township in Viluppuram district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, near Pondicherry in South India. It was founded in 1968 by Mirra Alfassa and designed by architect Roger Anger...
, founded by the Mother and based on Sri Aurobindo's ideals, is located about 10 km from the Ashram; it has approximately 2000 members from around the world, and an international base of support groups called Auroville International.
Quotations
Partial bibliography
- Bases of Yoga, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin ISBN 0-941524-77-9
- Bhagavad Gita and Its Message, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin ISBN 0-941524-78-7
- Dictionary of Sri Aurobindo's Yoga, (compiled by M.P. Pandit), Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin ISBN 0-941524-74-4
- Essays on the Gita, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin ISBN 0-914955-18-7
- The Future Evolution of Man, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin ISBN 0-940985-55-1
- The Human Cycle: The Psychology of Social Development, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin ISBN 0-914955-44-6
- Hymns to the Mystic Fire, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin ISBN 0-914955-22-5
- The Ideal of Human Unity, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin ISBN 0-914955-43-8
- The Integral Yoga: Sri Aurobindo's Teaching and Method of Practice, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin ISBN 0-941524-76-0
- The Life Divine, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin ISBN 0-941524-61-2
- The Mind of Light, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin ISBN 0-940985-70-5
- The Mother, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin ISBN 0-941524-79-5
- Rebirth and Karma, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin ISBN 0-941524-63-9
- Savitri
Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol is an epic poem in blank verse by Sri Aurobindo, based upon a myth from the Mahabharata. Its central theme revolves around the transcendence of man as the consummation of terrestrial evolution, and the immergence of an immortal supramental gnostic race upon earth...
: A Legend and a Symbol, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin ISBN 0-941524-80-9
- Secret of the Veda, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin ISBN 0-914955-19-5
- Sri Aurobindo Primary Works Set 12 vol. US Edition, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin ISBN 0-941524-93-0
- Sri Aurobindo Selected Writings Software CD ROM, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin ISBN 0-914955-88-8
- The Synthesis of Yoga, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin ISBN 0-941524-65-5
- The Upanishads, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin ISBN 0-914955-23-3
- Vedic Symbolism, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin ISBN 0-941524-30-2
- The Essential Aurobindo - Writings of Sri Aurobindo ISBN 978-0-9701097-2-9
- The Powers Within, Lotus Press. ISBN 978-0-941524-96-4
- Human Cycle, Ideal of Human Unity, War and Self Determination by Aurobindo, Lotus Press. ISBN 81-7058-014-5
- Hour of God by Sri Aurobindo, Lotus Press. ISBN 81-7058-217-2
See also
- Arya (journal)
- Collected Works of Sri Aurobindo
The Collected Works of Sri Aurobindo were published by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in 1972, on occasion of Sri Aurobindo's centenary...
- Integral movement
- Integral psychology
Integral psychology is psychology that presents an all-encompassing holistic rather than an exclusivist or reductive approach. It includes both lower, ordinary, and spiritual or transcendent states of consciousness. Important writers in the field of integral psychology are Sri Aurobindo, Indra...
- Integral yoga
In the teachings of Sri Aurobindo, Integral yoga refers to the process of the union of all the parts of one's being with the Divine, and the transmutation of all of their jarring elements into a harmonious state of higher divine consciousness and existence.Sri...
- Sri Aurobindo Memorial School
Sri Aurobindo Memorial School is a school situated in Bangalore, India. It was established in 1962 and is located in the Banashankari II stage in Bangalore-560070.-Curriculum:...
- Indian English Literature
Indian English literature refers to the body of work by writers in India who write in the English language and whose native or co-native language could be one of the numerous languages of India. It is also associated with the works of members of the Indian diaspora, such as V.S...
- Indian Writing in English
Further reading
- Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar'
Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar was an Indian Hindi poet, essayist and academic, who is considered as one of the most important modern Hindi poets. He remerged as a poet of rebellion as a consequence of his nationalist poetry written in the days before Indian independence...
, Sri Aurobindo: Meri Drishti Mein, Lokbharti Prakashan, New Delhi, 2008.
- Kumari, Shyam, How they came to Sri Aurobindo and The Mother (4 volumes), Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry. Stories and experiences of Sri Aurobindo's and Mother's disciples.
- ____________ Vignettes of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother (3 volumes), Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry. Hundreds of brief stories of the Masters' interactions with their disciples in each volume.
- ____________ Musings on the Mother's Prayers and Meditations (3 volumes), Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry. The author's reflections on each of the Mother's published "Prayers and Meditations."
- Nahar, Sujata (Ed.) India's rebirth - A selection from Sri Aurobindo's writings, talks and speeches, 3rd edition, 2000, Hermanville, France: Institut de Recherches Évolutives. (http://www.voi.org/books).
- Satprem
Satprem was a French author and an important disciple of The Mother.-Life and work:Satprem was born Bernard Enginger in Paris and had a seafaring childhood and youth in Brittany. During World War II he was a member of the French Resistance. He was arrested by the Gestapo in late 1943 and spent one...
, Sri Aurobindo, or the Adventure of Consciousness 1968, Pondicherry, India: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press. Exposition of the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo and the techniques of Integral Yoga.
- van Vrekhem, Georges
Georges Van Vrekhem is a Flemish-speaking Belgian journalist, poet and playwright, who was the artistic manager of a professional theater company, the "Nederlands Toneel te Gent". He became acquainted with the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother in 1964. In 1970 he joined the Sri Aurobindo...
: Beyond Man - The Life and Work of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, HarperCollins Publishers India, New Delhi 1999, ISBN 81-7223-327-2.
- _________ Hitler and his God - The Background to the Hitler phenomenon, Rupa & Co, New Delhi 2006.
- _________The Mother - The Story of Her Life, HarperCollins Publishers India, New Delhi 2000, ISBN 81-7223-416-3
- _________ Overman – The intermediary between the human and the supramental being, Rupa & Co, New Delhi 2001, ISBN 81-7167-594-8.
- _________ Patterns of the Present – From The perspective of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, Rupa & Co, New Delhi 2001, ISBN 81-7167-768-1.
- Prithwindra Mukherjee
Prithwindra Mukherjee retired in 2003 from a career as a researcher in the Human and Social Sciences Department of the French National Centre of Scientific Research in Paris...
, Sri Aurobindo, "Biographies", Desclée de Brouwer, Paris, 2000
- Richard Kitaeff, "Sri Aurobindo", in Nouvelles Clés, n°62, pp. 58–61.
External links