His enlightenment informed his philosophy his philosophy gave substance to his enlightenment and that combination has been rarely equalled, in this or any time.” And thus, in (Sri) Aurobindo, we have the first grand statement of an evolutionary spirituality that is an integration of the best of ancient wisdom and the brightest of modern knowledge…. He was the first great philosopher-sage to deeply grasp the nature and meaning of the modern idea of evolution. In the foreword to Greater Psychology, noted transpersonal thinker Ken Wilber writes: “(Sri) Aurobindo’s genius was not merely that he captured the profundity of India’s extraordinary spiritual heritage. The genius of Sri Aurobindo lies in the fact that he successfully reworks esoteric Indian spiritual thought in terms accessible to the modern thinker. Most of his major works, namely The Life Divine, The Synthesis of Yoga, Essays on the Gita, The Secret of the Veda, The Ideal of Human Unity, and The Human Cycle, were written simultaneously in the period 1914-1920 and serialised in a monthly philosophical review, The Arya. Sri Aurobindo’s vision, detailed in over 30 volumes, traces the human race’s evolution through anthropology, sociology, politics, psychology, culture, and religion. Thereafter Aurobindo Ghose, the fiery revolutionary, became Sri Aurobindo, the yogi, philosopher and master. It was a period of intense sadhana, when he had the experience of Krishna as the Immanent Divine. The year he spent in prison marked an important turning point. Sri Aurobindo was arrested and kept in solitary confinement. Immediately the police raided Manicktolla Gardens, a family property of Sri Aurobindo, where revolutionaries were undergoing training. In this charged atmosphere, two youths threw a bomb at a magistrate’s ![]() ![]() The British Government let loose repressive measures to crush resistance. At a historic session of the Indian National Congress in Surat, the party split and the nationalists led by Sri Aurobindo and Tilak held a separate meeting. Meanwhile, differences of policy were building up between the moderates and the nationalists. Sri Aurobindo was prosecuted for sedition in July 1907, but the charges could not be proved. Overnight, the paper became a mighty force in Indian politics. In 1906, the daily Bande Mataram was started and Sri Aurobindo became its chief editor. What began with writing articles about issues of national concern led to Sri Aurobindo’s assuming, along with Bal Gangadhar Tilak and others, leadership of the ‘extremist’ faction of the Congress that wanted radical action for the country’s freedom. His return to India also marked a phase of intense involvement with the nationalist movement. Sri Aurobindo thus represents a remarkable synthesis of Indian and Western traditions. Returning to India at 21, he learnt Sanskrit and modern Indian languages, thereby assimilating the spirit of Indian culture and civilisation. By the time he graduated from Cambridge, he was steeped in European culture. A brilliant scholar of Greek and Latin, Sri Aurobindo was also well-versed in French, German and Italian. According to his father’s wishes, he received an entirely Occidental education without any contact with Indian languages or culture. The scope and uniqueness of Sri Aurobindo’s work is mirrored in his unusual life experience.īorn Aurobindo Ackroyd Ghose in Kolkata, he was sent to England to study at age seven. Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950), regarded as one of India’s greatest philosopher-sages, formulated a scientific and spiritual vision of evolution that envisages a complete transformation of the world and the birth of a new spiritualised race. ![]() Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Yoga aims at a harmonised totality of spiritual realisation and experience While the evolution from mind to supermind is inevitable, human beings can participate in the process consciously and hasten the birth of a new race The task of giving a concrete form to Sri Aurobindo’s vision of a new humanity was entrusted to her The Mother was Sri Aurobindo’s spiritual collaborator.
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