Sri Aurobindo Ghose (1872-1950)

    Aurobindo Ghose was born on August 15, 1872, in a family having a completely western ambience. His parents were Krishnadhan Ghose and Rajnarayan Basu. His father was completely westernised in habits, ideas and ideals and wanted his sons to follow suit. However, he would not know that his son would become one of the leading revolutionary activists of India.

    Aurobindo was educated at an elite English school and college in England. He also qualified for the Indian Civil Service, a great honour for an Indian under the British rule. However, he deliberately skipped the mandatory horse riding test and was disqualified. During his stay in England he was educated in English, Latin and French as well as in English and European literature.

   In 1983, financial difficulties forced him back to his homeland. He started working at the Baroda state during the reign of Sayaji Rao, the then Gaekwad. He worked in various departments ranging from stamp and revenue, survey settlement, to acting as Gaekwad’s personal secretary. In 1900 he moved on from administration to education at the Baroda College. In all these vocations, Aurobindo excelled.

     However his political inclinations had started to show in his writings. He learned Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali and Sanskrit. Though he had spent nearly thirteen years in a foreign country, deprived of any contact with his motherland, yet in his attitude and mental make-up he remained thoroughly an Indian. Aurobindo began preparing for revolutionary activities during the years 1898-99. He regarded his country as his mother and stated that a son could not be in peace when his mother was being tortured in bondage.

   His first step towards the goal was to build up public opinion through writings. He undertook an intense study of Indian literature and relevant papers on India’s struggle for freedom. He started writing for the ‘Indu Prakash’ of Bombay. He later edited Bande Matarm, a paper with a large circulation. He also edited Dharma and Karma Yogin. His idea of patriotism had hardly any parallel. He asked the young men to develop dedication to the motherland through service, practical selflessness, obedience, scrupulousness, discipline, harmony, patience and forbearance. His teachings were a combination of the principles of western political philosophy and the immortal teachings of Vedantism, the supreme teachings of Indian philosophy.

   He moved to Calcutta and formed secret revolutionary societies to spread his ideals and campaigned through newspapers for the educated people. However, for the uneducated masses he started organising rallies to spread his message. The British Government realised the impact that Aurobindo’s mouthpiece, the Bande Matram was having and it was prosecuted. He, as its editor was charged with sedition but was acquitted for want of proof.

  Ghose was against terrorism, but the caning of the volunteers by the British resulted in a terrorist reaction. Aurobindo Ghose had some property in Manicktola Gardens in Calcutta where his brother had opened a centre for training revolutionaries. Here the study of Gita and other revolutionary literature, experiments in bomb making and meditation were all part of the training.

   After the accidental killing of two innocent British ladies instead of one of the Presidency Magistrates, the revolutionaries were arrested. Their hideout at Aurobindo Ghose’s Manicktola residence was raided. The police unearthed bombs, revolvers, ammunition and acid, and later arrested Aurobindo from his Grey Street Residence.

  Aurobindo was tried in court in the famous Alipore Bomb Trial. C.R. Das, the renowned barrister and later Congress leader defended Aurobindo and he was found to be not guilty and acquitted. After this incident, Aurobindo’s thoughts underwent a metamorphosis. He realised that the people had awakened. He decided to devote himself to the pursuit of higher learning and meditation-all part of the spiritualism – the strings of which he had felt in jail. He wanted to devote himself to the liberation of the whole human race. His vision beckoned him to the path of peace and love.

  Aurobindo went first to Chandannagar in Bengal and from there to Pondicherry, bidding adieu to active politics. Aurobindo was man of literary taste and in Pondicherry he came in contact with nationalist poets like Subramania Bharti. He composed his marathon epic ‘Savitri’ in which he prophesied the reign of an evolved man, who will exist on a higher level of consciousness. He wrote:

“On nature’s luminous tops,

On the spirits ground,

The Superman shall reign,

As a king of life.”

 

   Besides this monumental work, he wrote many poems, treatises on Vedas, literary criticism, etc. His letters are an important part of his literary writings, especially, the ones written to his wife Mrinalini, titled ‘Letters to Mrinalini’. These were highly philosophical and rich in descriptions of his spiritual experiences.

    Sri Aurobindo was a profile writer. He started editing and writing articles in a number of daily papers and journals at Baroda and Calcutta. At Pondicherry he started the publication of a philosophical monthly magazine named The Arya. His books of nationalism, his treatises on the Vedas and the Upanishads, his commentaries on the Bhagvad Gita, the great prose work like the Life Divine, The Superman Ideal of Human Unity, his literary criticism, pomes, translations of Bengali and Sanskrit plays and poems into English have made him a litterateur of the highest order.

    His intense spiritual journey – Sadhana – for the freedom and wellbeing of India, and upliftment of all humanity was very famous. The sage of Pondicherry came to be known as Sri Aurobindo to the world. He bequeathed the charge of his ashram in Pondicherry to the care of the Mother, Mira Richard, a French woman and died on December 5, 1950. He was laid to rest in mahasamadhi in December 9, 1950.

                    "Our country is God the Mother;

                     Speak not evil of her unless

                     thou canst do it with love and tenderness."

 

-Sri Aurobindo Ghose