Sri Aurobindo was born in Calcutta on August 15,1872. His
father, K.D.Ghose, was an atheist and a believer in the superior virtues of
Western culture. At the age of seven, Sri Aurobindo was packed off to England,
with strict instructions that he "should not be allowed to make the
acquaintance of any Indian or undergo any Indian influence." He studied at St.
Paul's School, London and later at King's College, Cambridge, where his
progress in Classics and modern languages was astonishing. He spent his spare
time in general reading, specially English and French Poetry, Literature, and
the History of ancient, medieval and modern Europe. He also learnt Italian,
some German and a little Spanish. In the Classical Tripos examinations, young
Aurobindo secured a First Division with distinction and bagged all the prizes
for Greek and Latin verses. On his father's wishes, he appeared for the Indian
Civil Services (I.C.S.) exam. and passed it - a very rare feat for an Indian of
the time-but not being interested in a life as an administrator, he failed to
appear for the "riding test", and was disqualified. Joking about it many years
later, Sri Aurobindo was to say, "I wonder what would have happened to me if I
had joined the Civil Service. I think they would have chucked me for laziness
and arrears of work."
In 1893, at the age of 21, Sri Aurobindo returned to India and joined the
Baroda State Service. He spent 15 years here, assuming progressively the
responsibilities of lecturer in French, Professor of English, Vice-Principal
and Acting Principal of the Baroda College. But more importantly, it was here
that the seeds of the future were planted in Sri Aurobindo, in the form of
three great awakenings - Indian Culture, Nationalism and Yoga. Sri Aurobindo
was a voracious reader and ventured, unaided, into the treasure-house of
Sanskrit Literature and into Bengali, Marathi and Gujarati. From here he
acquired his deep love and reverence for Indian Culture, its spiritual
profundity and established many-sided genius. He called it a process of
personal re-discovery "by natural attraction to Indian culture and ways of life
and temperamental feeling and preference for all that was Indian". As an
exercise in his learning, he translated into English several of the Bengali
Vaishnava poets, and portions of the Upanishads , the Gita, the Ramayana, the
Mahabharata, works of Kalidasa, Bhavabhuti, Bhartrihari and others.
The political situation in India when Sri Aurobindo came to Baroda, was one
where little resistance was offered to the British colonial powers. The Indian
National Congress, composed of "moderates" like Surendranath Banerjea, Dadabhai
Naoroji, Pherozeshah Mehta, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Mahadeo Govind Ranade,
believed in constitutional change and "steadfast loyalty to the Crown". Sri
Aurobindo believed that British rule in India was an alien imposition, that
India was a living entity with its law of becoming founded in the Spirit, that
this law had an inherent right to freedom and that it was possible for the
dormant mass to awaken to this truth and overthrow the British. In his words,
the threefold plan for his political agenda was, "a secret revolutionary
propaganda and organization of which the central object was the preparation of
an armed insurrection; secondly, a public propaganda intended to convert the
whole nation to the ideal of independance which was regarded by the vast
majority of Indians as unpractical and impossible...thirdly, an organization of
the people to carry on a public and united opposition and undermining of the
foreign rule through an increasing non-cooperation and passive resistance." To
these ends, he sought out the many splintered revolutionary groups in Bengal
and elsewhere with an eye to co-ordinating and uniting them and arranged for
them to be trained in the use of arms and in military guerrilla practices. He
sought out also and was himself sought by leaders on a national level and found
ready collaborators in Tilak, Bepin Pal, Lajpat Rai, Sister Nivedita, his
brother Barindra and many others. Thus was started the Nationalist movement in
India. He had Barindra start the revolutionary Bengali journal "Yugantar",
over which he exercised general control, while he co-edited with Bepin Pal the
English daily "Bande Mataram". "Bande Mataram" became the official organ
of the Nationalist party. It put forward India's political goal as complete
Independance, and the means to achieve this as Non-cooperation, Passive
Resistance, Swadeshi, Boycott and National Education. In August 1906 Sri
Aurobindo left the Baroda Service and joined the newly started National College
at Calcutta as its Principal.
Sri Aurobindo's life as a Yogi has close connections with his Nationalism. It
needs to be pointed out that in the early Nationalist movement, many of the
leaders were themselves either yogis or disciples of yogis. The nation was seen
as the Mother. Religious and anthropomorphic imagery was extensively used to
focus the aspirations of the people. This led to a resurgence and living
re-interpretation of Indian culture. It is not surprising, therefore, that to
be more effective in the service of the country, Sri Aurobindo turned to the
practice of pranayama and in 1907, secluded himself for a period of
three days with a Maharashtrian yogi, Vishnu Bhaskar Leie. At the end of this
period, he had the experience of the absolute Silence of the mind and of the
unreality of phenomena. Lele, at this point, was made by a Voice within him to
hand Sri Aurobindo over to the Divine within himself, enjoining an absolute
surrender to its Will.
In Sri Aurobindo's words, "I got three things from Lele: (1) Silent Brahmic
Consciousness with its infinite wideness - an experience which was concrete.
(2) Power to speak and write without using the mind. (3) The habit of putting
myself under the guidance of a Power higher than mind." From then on it was
this Higher Power that was to act through Sri Aurobindo, conducting political
action, teaching, writing, taking care of the various activities of his mundane
existence and guiding him through the steps of an incalculable Yoga.
It is to be noted that this Nirvanic experience is considered the goal and
final realization of many traditional yogas, but for Sri Aurobindo it was but
one poise of the soul's exploration of Reality, a basis for wider and more
powerful realizations. Moreover, it was for a greater power of action that he
undertook yoga, and as he was to write, "a solitary salvation leaving the world
to its fate was felt as almost distasteful." In 1908, Sri Aurobindo was
incarcerated for a year in Alipur Jail as a suspect in a bombing case. This
proved to be a period of intense sadhana and yielded a realization of a
different kind -that of the Divine Person, the Ishwara, as present in
all things. It was also at the prison that Sri Aurobindo had an experince of
the spirit of Vivekananda indicating and explaining to him a level of Spiritual
Consciousness that he was later to name the "Supermind". According to Sri
Aurobindo, the Supermind is the Creative Poise of Saccidananda, the
finitizing Dynamic Intelligence by which the Infinite manifests out of itself
this real and ordered Universe. The Descent of this Principle as a Power in the
terrestrial consciousness was seen as the key to a transformed Divine Life on
earth.
Sri Aurobindo spent the rest of his life mapping and effecting the process of
this Descent. Soon after his acquittal, he was to move to Chandernagore and
thence, to Pondicherry, where he set up his ashram. From 1914, for a period of
six years, he was to write all his major works in the pages of the Arya. This
included writings on Philosophy, Yoga, Indian Culture, Literature, Social and
Political Thought and Interpretations of traditional texts. In 1920, he was
permanently joined in his work by the Mother, in whom Sri Aurobindo recognized
the Incarnation of the Adya Shakti, the Consciousness-Force of the
Supreme. On the 24th November, 1926, Sri Aurobindo had a decisive experience
and retired into seclusion, leaving the ashram to the guidance of the Mother.
Regarding his work, he said "I am seeking to bring down the Supermind. I care
nothing for greatness or littleness in thehuman sense. I am seeking to bring
some principle of inner Truth, Light, Harmony, Peace into the
earth-consciousness..."
This retirement, however, did not mean that he became oblivious of external
developments. In his words, he "kept a close watch on all that was happening in
the world and in India and actively intervened whenever necessary, but solely
with a spiritual force and silent spiritual action..." Moreover, on two
occasions he broke his self-imposed silence on political matters, once to
recommend acceptance of the Cripps Proposal, which "provided an opportunity to
organize the freedom of India"; and again, during the Second World War, to
reveal that Hitler represented Titanic forces aimed at destroying human
civilization, to pledge himself on the side of the Allies and to encourage
India to join the war effort.
Asked to give a message to the people of India on the Day of Independance,
August 15,1947, Sri Aurobindo spoke of five ideals that he had conceived as a
youth, which at the time of conception had seemed impossible, but had now, in
fact, been fulfilled or were on the way to fulfillment. These were: the
unification and liberation of India; the resurgence and liberation of Asia and
her return to the great role she had previously played in the progress of human
civilization; a nobler life for mankind, resting outwardly on some form of
world union; India's gift to the race as a whole of her spiritual knowledge and
her means for the spiritualization of life; and finally the uplifting of
consciousness to a new level through the arrival of a new evolutionary stage in
the terrestrial development. Regarding the unification of India, Sri Aurobindo
deplored its division into India and Pakistan as a false partition, and
insisted categorically on its disappearance. "The partition of the country must
go-it is to be hoped by a slackening of tension, by a progressive understanding
of the need of peace and concord, by the constant necessity of common and
concerted action, even of an instrument of union for that purpose... But by
whatever means, the division must and will go. For without it the destiny of
India might be seriously impaired and even frustrated. But that must not be."
Observing that the Indian Independence Day coincided with his own birthday, he
noted " As a mystic I take this identification, not as a coincidence or
fortuitous accident, but as a sanction and seal of the Divine Power which
guides my steps on the work with which I began life."
Sri Aurobindo left his physical body on December 5th, 1950. For the interest of
the reader, it is necessary to mention that the Mother, who continued his work,
announced the Descent of the Supermind on February 29,1956. On April 24,1956
she gave this message:
"The manifestation of the Supramental upon earth is no more a promise but a
living fact, a reality. It is at work here, and one day will come when the most
blind, the most unconscious, even the most unwilling shall be obliged to
recognise it."