Sir Aurobindo

The Spirit shall look out through Matter's gaze.

And Matter shall reveal the Spirit's face

Introduction

Aurobindo Ghosh was born in a Bengali Hindu family

in Calcutta (now Kolkata), West Bengal, India on 15 August
1872.

Aurobindo was an Indian nationalist, freedom fighter,

philosopher, yogi, guru and poet. He joined the Indian
movement for freedom from British rule, for a while became
one of its influential leaders and then turned into a spiritual
reformer, introducing his visions on human progress
and spiritual evolution .

Education:

Aurobindo studied for the Indian civil service at Kings

College, Cambridge

Political life:

After returning to India he took up various civil service works

under the Maharaja of Baroda and started to involve himself in
politics.

While in politics he was imprisoned by British Indiafor writing

articles against British rule. He was released when no evidence
was provided.

During his stay in the jail he reputedly had mystical and

spiritual experiences, after which he moved to Pondicherry,
leaving politics for spiritual work.

As yogi guru:

During his stay in Pondicherry, Aurobindo evolved a new

method of spiritual practice, which he called Integral Yoga.

The central theme of his vision was the evolution of human life
into a life divine.

He believed in a spiritual realisation that not only liberated

man but also transformed his nature, enabling a divine life on
earth.

In 1926, with the help of his spiritual collaborator, Mirra

Alfassa ("The Mother"), he founded the Sri Aurobindo Ashram.
He took Mahasamadhi on 5 December 1950.

He was the first Indian to create a major literary corpus in

English.

His main literary works are The Life Divine, which deals with
theoretical aspects of Integral Yoga; Synthesis of Yoga, which deals
with practical guidance to Integral Yoga; and Savitri, an epic
poem which refers to a place in the Mahabaratha, where its
characters actualise integral yoga in their lives. His works also
include philosophy, poetry, translations and commentaries on
theVedas, Upanishads and the Gita.

Education in England
In 1879, Aurobindo and his two elder brothers were taken
to Manchester, England for a European education.
The brothers were placed in the care of the Reverend W.H.
Drewett and his wife in London.
Drewett was an Anglican priest whom Ghose knew through his
British friends at Rangapur.
The Drewetts tutored the Ghose brothers privately; they were
asked to keep the tuition completely secular and to make no
mention of India or its culture.

Writings

Most of his important writings appeared in his journal The

Arya between 1914-20. These writings of Sri Aurobindo
were published later in the form of books with some
revisions.

They are: The Essays on the Gita; Synthesis of Yoga; The

Human Cycle; The Ideal of Human Unity; The Life Divine;
Two Volumes of Collected Poems: and Savitri.

Famous writings
The Life Divine
Synthesis of Yoga
Letters On Yoga
The Mother
Arya
Savitri

The Life Divine

The Life Divine in two books
The first book contains 28chapters, and the second book

consists of two parts.

Book 1 is entitled The Omnipresent Reality and The
Universe.
Here Sri Aurobindo describes how the Infinite
Consciousness, the omnipresent Reality (Brahman, the
Absolute) extended Itself through the power of Truth
Consciousness (Supermind) to become this universe of
forms. He also explains the origin and underlying nature
of the planes of creation, from matter to vital life to mind,
and on back to Spirit.
Morel:He can come to fulfill his aspiration when he
discovers his higher nature, i.e. his higher consciousness.

awards
1968 Jnanpith Award for collection of hismost

writings
Sri Aurobindo attained Mahasamadhi before the
Nobel Prize committee could implement its decision
to award him the prize for literature, the prize was
never awarded that year
long awaited recognition sails to him, rewards are
announced for unexpected works, his services are
sought for by the profession and the public at large

Followers

Champakla
Amal Kiran
Pavitra
Pranab
A.B Purani
D.k Roy
Satpream
Indra Sen
Kapali Shastri

P.SREENIVAS
NARENDRA