Revolutionary to Yogi – The Statesman
Posted: November 25, 2019 at 1:42 am
Sri Aurobindo Ghose (1872- 1950) went to England for education when he was seven. His political life began there in his teens. Although he qualified in the ICS examination, he was not selected as he chose to abstain from the horseriding test. He secured a First in Classics and a Tripos at Cambridge in 1892. Returning to India in 1893, he joined the Baroda College as professor of English, and later became its principal. In 1902, he came in touch with Thakur Saheb who was then the leader of a secret Maharastra revolutionary group, and was thus initiated into the revolutionary movement. Participating in the protest against the partition of Bengal in 1905, Sri Aurobindo left Baroda College.
The next year, in 1906, he settled in Bengal and joined the newly started National College as its principal. In 1907, he gave a revolutionary turn to the apolitical organization Anushilan Samiti which was founded in 1902 by its president, Pramathanath Mitra, of which he was a Vice-President. He reorganized it and made Sister Nivedita its member. Under his direction young men, including his brother Barindra Ghose, were making bombs and guns. Sri Aurobindo was a follower of Tilak when the latter left the Congress in Surat and took to extremism. Tilak was no longer prominent in Indian politics after 1908 when he was sentenced to transportation for six years and sent to Mandalaya jail on a charge of sedition.
Meanwhile, Sri Aurobindo was appointed Assistant Editor by another extremist, Bipin Chandra Pal, in his English paper, Bande Mataram,. He soon took charge of the paper as Pal was eased out of it in 1907. Swami Vivekanandas brother, Bhupendranath and Barindra, who were also connected with the work of Bande Mataram, found Pal half-hearted. Pals faith in revolutionary idealism did not last long. In 1913, he pleaded for the continuation of the British connection in view of the immense possibilities of federal internationalism. Sri Aurobindo was accused of seditious writings in Bande Mataram and was accused of involvement in the Alipore bomb case in 1908. While in jail, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das fought for him in court and proved that he was not guilty.
He was in Alipore jail for a year as an undertrial and was acquitted for want of evidence but Barindra was sentenced to transportation for life. After his release he brought out the English weekly Karmayogin and the Bengali weekly Dharma. Now his connection with revolutionary activity was open and clear. A warrant of arrest was therefore issued against him in February 1910 for writing an article titled To My Countrymen. Realising his impending incarceration, he secretly left for his home town, the French Chandannagar, from where he moved to Pondicherry and spent the rest of his life there in a spiritual quest. Deshbandhu described Sri Aurobindo as the prophet of nationalism.
But where did he get so much power and inspiration from? Prof. Subodh Chandra Sengupta has the correct answer: It was Swami Vivekananda who introduced the cult of Shaktiworship, which was taken up by a succession of brilliant men, the first two being Aurobindo Ghose and Barindra Ghose, who might be called the joint authors of Bhawani Mandir. It was a political tract the idea of which was Barindras and the writing of Sri Aurobindos. It was displayed in the Alipore Conspiracy case. Initially, Sri Aurobindo wasnt perhaps acquainted with Swamijis writings but felt their impact, which was the fountain of Swamijis pervasive influence.
Going through his works subsequently and by dint of his interactions with Sister Nivedita and others, he became knowledgeable about Swamiji. His knowledge about Sri Ramakrishna was also remarkable. Though he didnt meet them, their lives and spiritual ideas took deep roots in his mind. He however met Sarada Devi in 1910 on a Sunday and paid his respect to her at the Udbodhan House in Baghbazar. His wife Mrinalini Devi was an initiated disciple of Sarada Devi. Both were worshipers of Kali. Mrinalini Devi was a well-known spiritual personality by her own right and had a following. She stayed all her life at Chandannagar. Sri Aurobindo claimed that he received three messages on a mystical plane from Sri Ramakrishna between 1908 and 1912.
By his own admission, Sri Ramakrishnas influence on the development of his spiritual life was profound. He said to a disciple: Remember also that we derive from Ramakrishna. For myself it was Ramakrishna who personally came and first turned me to this Yoga. He also claimed that Swamiji mystically communicated to him various instructions in meditation during his imprisonment for a year. He said: Vivekananda in Alipore jail gave me the foundations of that knowledge which is the basis of our Sadhana. Considering these two statements alone, if one presumes that he held Ramakrishna- Vivekananda as his Guru one would not be wrong. Those two spiritual phenomena in his life are ample reason to believe that Ramakrishna and Vivekananda were pathfinders in his mystical journey.
That his mind was suffused with their thoughts is evident from many of his religious and philosophical writings which exude their ideas eloquently. In an editorial piece of Dharma (26 Poush 1316) with the heading Sri Ramakrishna O Bhabishyat Bharat, he said with an absolute faith to show that Sri Ramakrishna was the highest manifestation of the power of God. He wrote: The man appeared as Sri Ramakrishna is the Antaryami Bhagawan. He had also written unequivocally, Satya-yuga arrived on earth by the touch of Sri Ramakrishnas feet; the world is dipped in joy in his touch; with his Advent, the gloom accumulated over centuries disappeared. He established Yuga-dharma, and was the sum total of all the earlier Avataras. Sri Aurobindo was convinced that Sri Ramakrishna gave to India the final message of Hinduism to the world.
Similarly, his estimation about Swamiji was tremendous. He described him as a very lion among men. He said: The going forth of Vivekananda, marked out by the Master (Sri Ramakrishna) as the heroic soul destined to take the world between his two hands and change it, was the first visible sign to the world that India was awake not only to survive but to conquer. Sri Aurobindo was a prolific writer on the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita. His interpretations of these important scriptures were in the non-sectarian spirit of Sri Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. In a treatise on Isha Upanishad he reflected on Sri Ramakrishnas precept of non-difference (abhedatwa) between Brahman and Shakti. Sri Ramakrishna is specially conspicuous in his book The Life Divine. He used in it in the parables and analogies used by Sri Ramakrishna. Developing Sri Ramakrishnas teaching that everything is possible for God, Sri Aurobindo claims that the infinite is illimitably free, free to determine itself infinitely, free from all of its restraining effect of its own creations.
Again, as Sri Ramakrishna said God is both with and without form, so also Sri Aurobindo said that the Divine Being is at once Form and the Formless. There are numerous such instances in his works which he believed deserve allusions for the benefit of the seekers of Truth and God. According to Sri Aurobindo, all religions express one Truth in various ways and move by various paths to one goal. In the final analysis Vedanta propounds that the Infinite Reality is at once personal and impersonal, static and dynamic, with and without form, immanent and transcendent.
He affirmed the harmony of all religions precisely on the basis of this non-sectarian Vedantic worldview, faithfully following Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. The actual revolutionary activity of Sri Aurobindo spanned hardly four years. But his spiritual pursuit spanned four decades. Within this period he raised himself by intense sadhana to be an extraordinary yogi of distinctive character and epitome. Cutting across classes, communities and countries, he is now globally acceptable as a spiritual pathfinder for peace and harmony.
(The writer is with Ramakrishna Mission, Narendrapur)
See more here:
Revolutionary to Yogi - The Statesman
- INDORE: Free Press in association with Sri Aurobindo Institute of Medical Science honours The Corona Warriors - Free Press Journal - January 23rd, 2021
- Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu addresses the Officer Trainees attending at MCR HRD Institute, Hyderabad - India Education Diary - January 23rd, 2021
- Top 10 Must-read Books by Indian authors - The Statesman - January 23rd, 2021
- Theatre of the absurd - The Tribune India - January 3rd, 2021
- India at the Hague, from Savarkar to Jadhav - The Indian Express - January 3rd, 2021
- Average speed on Delhi roads dropped after rollback of lockdown - The Hindu - January 3rd, 2021
- Sri Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo Sadhana Peetham - October 11th, 2020
- Portraits of the persecuted - Deccan Herald - October 11th, 2020
- Modi Has Learnt Art of Good Governance from Shivaji & Sayaji, and Now World Leaders are Learning from... - News18 - October 11th, 2020
- Coronavirus | Indore remains worst hit in Madhya Pradesh with 3 more deaths - The Hindu - May 12th, 2020
- 4 COVID-19 patients 'recover' after plasma therapy in Indore - Business Insider India - May 12th, 2020
- Checkout the names of the containment zones in kolkata, west bengal - Business Insider India - May 12th, 2020
- Another Indore Doctor, Who Tested COVID-19 Positive 3 Days Ago, Dies At MP Hospital - Outlook India - April 11th, 2020
- Warrior chronicler of the country's bravehearts - The Tribune - April 2nd, 2020
- Let's understand Coronavirus in the light of Sri Aurobindo - News Intervention - March 28th, 2020
- Take steps to improve road safety: Bedi - The Hindu - March 9th, 2020
- MHRD Minister Promotes Grassroot Teaching Innovations by Felicitating More Than 1000 Teachers From all the State's UT's of India - THE WEEK - March 9th, 2020
- MHRD minister promotes grassroots teaching innovations - Times of India - March 9th, 2020
- A Power-Packed National Conference and National Award Ceremony for Innovative Teachers - Outlook India - March 9th, 2020
- Best pizzas in Delhi: 10 restaurants that serve the most authentic pizzas in the capital - GQ India - March 9th, 2020
- Six from city ace CAT exam, aim for IIMs - Times of India - January 11th, 2020
- International Yoga Festivalkicks off in Puducherry - The Hindu - January 11th, 2020
- A Hindu critique of Hindutva - The Hindu - December 28th, 2019
- The Uncertain Future of the World's Largest Secondhand Book Market - Atlas Obscura - November 25th, 2019
- Odd-even scheme: Arvind Kejriwal to decide on extension of rule on Nov 18 - Business Today - November 15th, 2019
- Treating education as a public good - The Hindu - November 15th, 2019
- Five Indian students win Oxford Big Read Asia Prize, four from Nagpur - The Statesman - November 15th, 2019
- Frustration over Ayodhya verdict is not coming from Muslims but Left-illiberals - ThePrint - November 15th, 2019
- Top 5 of the day11 November 2019, Vacancies TRIFED, ISRO, South Central Railway, WBHRB and other organizations - Jagran Josh - November 15th, 2019
- Temple is a body, Ram an eternal ideal - Observer Research Foundation - November 15th, 2019
- Amruta Patil on forests and the making of her graphic novel 'Aranyaka' - Livemint - November 15th, 2019
- Tagore, Satyarthi And 8 Other Nobel Winners Who Have Made India Proud - The Indian Connection - Economic Times - October 20th, 2019
- Why is the Indian National Congress un-Indian? - PGurus - October 20th, 2019
- In the next five years our goal is to establish as the best private university in India: Sachin Gupta - Elets - September 30th, 2019
- Shopping for festive season in Delhi? Head to these exhibitions and pop-ups - Vogue India - September 30th, 2019
- Shakespeare was Anwars best companion in jail, he says - Business Insider - September 26th, 2019
- The Stage Is Set For Second Edition Of Pondy Lit Fest - Swarajya - September 26th, 2019
- Guiding Light: Rising Beyond Reason - Free Press Journal - September 26th, 2019
- Sri Aurobindo: An Eternal Birth (Part-2) - September 11th, 2019
- Sri Aurobindo Biography | Biography Online - July 18th, 2019
- Sri Aurobindo (Author of The Life Divine) - Goodreads - April 26th, 2019
- Sri Aurobindo Ashram The Mother - March 27th, 2019
- Sri Aurobindo Ashram Donations - February 1st, 2019
- Nirvana and Human Consciousness by SRI AUROBINDO | Next ... - December 23rd, 2018
- The Mother by Sri Aurobindo (free ebook) - Auro e-Books - December 23rd, 2018
- SRI AUROBINDO'S SAVITRI BY SHRADDHAVAN SSC 2018-10-28 BOOK 02 C 09 L 34-158 & C 10 L 1-192 P 234-243 - December 19th, 2018
- Sri Aurobindo - Auro e-Books: Free Yoga Books - November 21st, 2018
- Sri Aurobindo | Human Science | FANDOM powered by Wikia - November 3rd, 2018
- Sri Aurobindo - aurosociety.org - September 9th, 2018
- The Lives of Sri Aurobindo: Peter Heehs: 9780231140980 ... - September 7th, 2018
- Integral yoga - Wikipedia - September 4th, 2018
- The Life Divine: Sri Aurobindo: 9788170588450: Amazon.com ... - July 16th, 2018
- Sri Aurobindo Ashram - May 4th, 2018
- Sri Aurobindo - A Life Sketch - March 23rd, 2018
- Sri Aurobindo - Wikipedia - March 2nd, 2018
- The Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo ( Audio Book ) - January 5th, 2018
- Sri Aurobindo Society | Participate | Inner Quest - December 30th, 2017
- Shri Aurobindo | Indian philosopher and yogi | Britannica.com - December 10th, 2017
- Sri Aurobindo's Mantra - Morning Prayer December 5.12.2017 ... - December 10th, 2017
- Sri Aurobindo Quotes (Author of The Life Divine) - December 10th, 2017
- The Life Divine: Sri Aurobindo: 9788170588443: Amazon.com ... - November 24th, 2017
- sri aurobindo | eBay - October 17th, 2017
- Sri Aurobindo Biography - Famous People - October 17th, 2017
- HDFC Bank to train 15 lakh government teachers in 12 states - Times of India - August 27th, 2017
- Indic Chat With Gautam Chikermane - Swarajya - August 27th, 2017
- HDFC Bank to Train 15 lakh Government School Teachers in 12 States - BW Businessworld - August 27th, 2017
- Maintain status quo on girl's admission, says HC | Delhi NYOOOZ - NYOOOZ - August 27th, 2017
- HDFC Bank to train 15 lakh government school teachers in 12 states across India - Franchiseindia.com - August 27th, 2017
- Modi may join Auroville's golden jubilee fete - The Hindu - August 27th, 2017
- News Capsule - The Shillong Times - August 19th, 2017
- 'Why can't the government provide a higher income for farmers?' - The Hindu - August 19th, 2017
- The Birthday Is His, Still: How A Midnight's Child Celebrates 15 August - Swarajya - August 19th, 2017
- Sri Aurobindo Society | Sri Aurobindo & The Mother - August 16th, 2017
- Amidst the Euphoria of Independence, Is the Nation Ready to Converse With Sri Aurobindo? - The Wire - August 16th, 2017
- Vande Mataram: A song in search of a nation - Economic Times - August 16th, 2017
- PM Narendra Modi pays tribute to Sri Aurobindo on his 145th birth anniversary - Financial Express - August 16th, 2017
- This I-Day, travel back to days of freedom movement at Gorky Sadan - Millennium Post - August 16th, 2017
- Why can't the government provide a higher income for farmers, asks MS Swaminathan - The Hindu - August 16th, 2017
- Remembering Khudiram Bose: A Young Gun Who Died With a Smile - The Quint - August 16th, 2017
- Coming to a park near you - The New Indian Express - August 6th, 2017