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In his formative years, Aurobindo surmised that the oppression of Indian thought by the ruling British had deleterious effects on it. He thus became a revolutionary in Calcutta, working against the British rulers. Four years before Gandhi started political revolution in India, Sri Aurobindo had spent time in Alipore jail in the year 1910, charged with sedition and conspiracy. In the prison, Sri Aurobindo experienced the strength of his inner consciousness and emerged as a spiritual Yogi. His Ashram in Pondicherry has survived until today under the guidance of the spiritual Mother. It is intriguing as to how a boy, who was being groomed to become an ‘English Gentleman’ by his father (who seemed to loathe anything ‘Indian’) could transform into a revolutionary freedom fighter first, and then a premier world renowned Yogi, with his own brand of spirituality and philosophy. His life-changing experience, according to him, was a result of an inner consciousness that took shape long before it could be expressed to the outer world. This perhaps explains his intuitive affinity towards his motherland, the culture of which was foreign to him during his childhood. Formative Years Sri Aurobindo was the fourth child of Dr. Krishnadhan Ghose, a surgeon, who was a District Medical Officer at Khulna, East Bengal, and Swarnalatha Devi Ghose. He was originally named Aravinda Ackroyd. He was born on August 15, 1872 (that date was to become very significant in Indian history, seventy-five years later). At age five he was sent to Loretto Convent School in Darjeeling for two years. He then was sent to Manchester, England, to be home-schooled by the Dewett family until he was twelve years old. High school was finished in St. Paul’s School in Cambridge followed by two years of college at King’s College, Cambridge (1890-92).
His affinity for his motherland had been kept alive by a radical newspaper, The Bengalee, which published articles about maltreatment of Indians in the hands of Englishmen. The paper was committed to Indian independence from the British and this fanned the affinity Aravinda Ackroyd had for his motherland, and gave him a patriotic sense of belonging. He returned to India in 1893 with great anticipation. Upon reaching the shores of Bombay, he had an intense and profound spiritual experience, “a calm that lasted for several months” - as he would later recount. Parallel Course of Politics and Spirituality Aurobindo had already dropped the name Ackroyd and joined the service of Maharaja of Baroda. He taught English and French at Baroda College and later became Vice-President of the College. During his twelve year tenure in Baroda, Aurobindo learnt many Indian languages. He became fluent in Sanskrit, Marathi, Gujarati and Bengali. In April 1901 he married Mrinalini Bose, a pious Hindu, barely half his age. While at Baroda he wrote a series of literary works, translations and political commentaries which gave him the ability of raising the consciousness of Indians, both in the political and social circles. His own mental development seemed to have progressed along two prongs. He was having unexplained spiritual experiences, seemingly accidental that pushed him more and more towards spiritual quests of higher levels. These experiences were enhanced by his meetings with Sister Nivedita in 1902 and an experience of “the vacant Infinite” at the Sankarachaya hill in Kashmir in 1903. Mrinalini Bose, the young wife of Aurobindo had not been able to join in her husband’s spiritual journey, and their differences became more than just the differences in their ages, as he became more involved in politics and yoga. Five years after his marriage to her, he wrote to her saying that he was suffering from madness. He categorized his madness at three levels. First, was that he realized his talents and resources had to be used for one purpose only i.e. for God’s work. His second madness he describes as his quest to have a direct ‘Realization with God’. Thirdly, to him India was the Mother, the divine embodiment of sakti that propelled him towards politics. Politically Aurobindo was becoming more and more determined to help the cause of independence for Indians from the British. He was convinced that the Western influence on the Indian mind was an impediment for the Indian spiritual maturity. He moved to Bengal in 1906 to become the principal of Bengal National College. Here he joined secret political societies, and orchestrated an underground organization with printing of anti-British pamphlets. The same year he assisted Bipin Chandra Pal in founding the radical newspaper, Bande Mataram. Later, he took over the editorship of the newspaper and succeeded Bipin Chandra Pal as the leader of National Party in Bengal. He wrote several articles including the one called “The Doctrine of Passive Resistance,” that later became the main instrument of Gandhi in his freedom struggle to oust the British from India. For his article in Bande Mataram, he was arrested in 1907, on charges of sedition and then released on bail. Even in his development as a political revolutionary, Aurobindo went through several evolutions as well. First he was the secret revolutionary, advocating and preparing for an armed insurrection. Secondly, he undertook the task of convincing the nation that its citizens deserved and could attain independence. The country was in a state of forced subjugation, and thought that the British were too powerful and Indians too impotent to dream of independence. Moreover, Indians were under the impression that the lofty idea about independence was impractical, unattainable and almost an insane chimera. Lastly, Aurobindo had come a full circle when he wrote articles and assisted in organizing people to passively resist and practice non-cooperation. Aurobindo resigned from Bengal National College and became a leader of the nationalist movement, giving several speeches both in Bengal and Western India. In January of 1908 he met Vishnu Bhaskar Lele, a yogi in Baroda, who taught him the technique of silencing the mind and experiencing the timeless Brahman, a form of spiritual Realization. He was again arrested in 1908 in connection with Alipore conspiracy case and spent a year in jail, including in solitary confinement. He utilized his time in jail studying the Geeta, meditation and practice of yoga. After his acquittal, he started publications of two weeklies - Karmayoga in English and Dharma in Bengali. During his stay in Calcutta for a period of five years as a revolutionary leader, Aravinda Ghose tried to prove to the Indians that a politically oppressed population could not express its distinctive spiritual and cultural genius. |
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In the realm of
spirituality, Sri Aurobindo remains an enigmatic Indian personality and
philosopher. He is one of the giants of modern Indian spirituality, who
along with Vivekananda, Tagore, Gandhi and Radhakrishnan, was responsible
for putting forth Indian philosophy in a comprehensive modern context,
which then could be understood by the Western world at large. Sri
Aurobindo’s work is the least known of these five, but his teachings of
philosophy and spirituality have the wisdom and appeal for a longer
survival, similar to those of Vivekananda. Sri Aurobindo’s evolution of
consciousness was his life’s experience that he documented in series of
writings, in the process offering the world a critical and original
philosophical system.
While at college he
addressed the Indian student group called Indian Majlis and advocated freedom
for India from the British. His formative years had been spent with a culture
alien to India, educated by the Irish nuns of Darjeeling first, and then by the
ministers and dons of the Church of England. By the time he finished college he
could speak English and French fluently and also could read Greek, Latin and
Italian. He could manage to speak Bengali, his mother tongue, only a bit.