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Sri Aurobindo |
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Sri Aurobindo has been considered one of the foremost philosophers of the 20th Century, but he was far more than just a philosopher. He was a political activist, a mystic, a spiritual leader, a poet, a yogi and a teacher. |
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Early Years in West |
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Sri Aurobindo was born in Calcutta on August 15, 1872 as Aurobindo AckroydGhose. When five years old, he was sent to LorettoConventSchool at Darjeeling. Two years later, in 1879, he was sent to Manchester.� In 1884 Sri Aurobindo shifted to London and was admitted to St. Paul's. The headmaster was so pleased with his mastery of Latin that he took it upon himself to teach him Greek. It is here that Sri Aurobindo plunged into the literature of the Western world and studied several languages - French, Italian, Spanish, Greek and Latin, and absorbed the best that Western culture had to offer him.In 1890, at the age of eighteen, Sri Aurobindo got admission into Cambridge with a scholarship. He studied the classics doing brilliantly and passed high in the First part of the Tripos. |
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To comply with the wish of his father, Sri Aurobindo also applied for the ICS while at Cambridge. Here too he did brilliantly. However, he also felt that a period of great upheaval for his motherland was coming in which he was destined to play a leading role. He began to learn Bengali and joined a secret society, with the romantic name of `Lotus and Dagger', where the members took an oath to work for India's freedom. Sri Aurobindo now looked for a way to disqualify himself from the ICS and did not appear for the horse-riding test |
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1893-1906 Baroda. |
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Sri Aurobindo sailed back to his country in 1893, at the age of twenty-one for service in the BarodaState. He worked in the survey and settlement dept., in the department of revenue, drafted the speeches of the Gaekwad and acted as Vice- Principal of BarodaCollege. The period of stay in Baroda, was significant in several ways for Sri Aurobindo. It was here that he started working for India's freedom, behind the scenes. He went to Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, contacted the secret groups working in this direction, and became a link between many of them. He established close contact with LokmanyaTilak and Sister Nivedita. He arranged for the military training of JatinBanerjee in the Baroda army and then sent him to organise the revolutionary work in Bengal |
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1906-1910 Bengal |
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Protest meetings were held all over the country and a mass agitation was launched in Bengal after Lord Curzon decided to partition Bengal. In June 1906 Sri Aurobindo took one year's leave without pay and went to Bengal to participate in the freedom movement. In 1907 Sri Aurobindo joined the newly established BengalNationalCollege, as its principal. Now Bipin Chandra Pal started the daily "BandeMataram" and Sri Aurobindo soon became its chief editor. Overnight, the paper became the organ of the Nationalist Movement and a mighty force in Indian Politics. The London Times complained that its articles reeked of sedition but were so cleverly worded that no action could be taken. An attempt was made to prosecute Sri Aurobindo for sedition in July 1907, but the charges could not be proved, and he was acquitted. In the meantime differences of policy and approach were building up between the moderates and the nationalists. A historic session of the Indian National Congress was held in Surat where it split in two and the nationalists led by Sri Aurobindo and Tilakheld a separate meeting. |
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The atmosphere in Bengal was tense. The British Government had let loose repressive measures to crush all resistance. The police carried out raids on a family property of Sri Aurobindo, where many revolutionaries were undergoing training. Sri Aurobindo was also arrested from his house. He was imprisoned and, for a long time, kept in a small cell in solitary confinement. After his release Sri Aurobindo re-entered the political field with a new vision and purpose. |
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1910-1950 Pondicherry |
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In 1910, Sri Aurobindo sailed for Pondicherry to start the most important chapter of his earthly life. Sri Aurobindo reached Pondicherry on 4th April 1910. He was then 38 years old. He was received by several revolutionaries of Pondicherry. In fact some of them had been waiting for an Uttarayogi, a yogi from the north. He started sadhna & meditation. On March 29th 1914 a young French woman, Mirra Richard, came to Pondicherry with her husband Paul Richard and met Sri Aurobindo for the first time on the physical plane. One has to say on the physical plane because Mirra was far on the path of spirituality and had already been inwardly in contact with a person whom she called Krishna, and who had been helping her and guiding her. When Mirra saw Sri Aurobindo she recognised in him the Krishna of her vision and knew that her place and work were with him in India. |
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In 1915, with the outbreak of the First World War, the Richards had to go back to France. Mirra went to Japan in 1916 and returned to Pondicherry in 1920, never to leave. On November 24, 1926, Sri Aurobindo installed Mirra as ?the Mother? of his spiritual endeavor, his collaborator and equal, and handed over to her the responsibility of the inner and outer life of the small group of sadhaks who had gathered around him. He then withdrew into seclusion, to concentrate on the next step of his Yoga. This was also the beginning of what has now grown into a spiritual community of nearly fifteen hundred persons, known as the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. The Ashram grew and expanded under the Mother's guidance. Though Sri Aurobindo had withdrawn physically he continued to guide the disciples inwardly and through letters. When the Second World War broke out, Sri Aurobindo and the Mother came out openly on the side of the Allies because Hitler represented the forces of darkness. He who had fought the British earlier now put his full support and spiritual help behind them for their victory. On 15th August 1947, India gained independence. On December 5, 1950, at the age of 78, Sri Aurobindo left his physical body. |
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Coins Issued in the Memory of Sri Aurobindo |
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Coins Issued: Rs 100, Rs 50, Rs 5, Rs 2 |
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Sri Aurobindo Proof Set |
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Main Page |
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