Sri Aurobindo Ghosh.

Sri Aurobindo Ghosh. (1872-1950)


“Man is a transitional being. He is not final. The step from a man to
Superman is the next approaching achievement in the Earth Evolution.”

“The Spirit shall look out through Matter’s gaze
And the Matter shall reveal Spirit’s Face.”

Sri Aurobindo was born to Dr. Krishna Dhan Ghose, District Surgeon of Rangapur, Bengal and Swarnalata Devi, the daughter of Brahmo religious and social reformer, Rajnaray an Basu.
Aurobindo spent his first five years at Rangapur, where his father had been posted since October 1871. Dr. Ghose, who had previously lived in Britain and studied medicine was determined that his children should have an English education and upbringing free of any Indian influences. In 1877, he therefore sent the young Aurobindo and two elder siblings - Man Mohan and Benoybhusan - to the Loreto Convent School in Darjeeling

Aurobindo's education began in a Christian convent school in Darjeeling, and then, still a boy, he was sent to England for further schooling. He entered the University of Cambridge, where he became proficient in two classical and three modern European languages.

After returning to India in 1892, he took various administrative and professorial posts in Baroda and Calcutta, and then turned to his native culture and began the serious study of Yoga and Indian languages, including classical Sanskrit.

The years from 1902 to 1910 were stormy ones for Aurobindo, as he embarked on a course of action to free India from the British raj (rule). As a result of his political activities and revolutionary literary efforts, he was imprisoned in 1908.

Two years later he fled British India to refuge in the French colony of Pondicherry,
where he devoted himself for the rest of his life solely to the development of his unique philosophy. There he founded an ashram as an international cultural centre for spiritual development, attracting students from all over the world.

According to Aurobindo's theory of cosmic salvation, the paths to union with Brahman are two-way streets, or channels: enlightenment comes from above (thesis), while the spiritual mind (super mind) strives through yogic illumination to reach upward from below (antithesis). When these two forces blend, a Gnostic individual is created (synthesis). This yogic illumination transcends both reason and intuition and eventually leads to the freeing of the individual from the bonds of individuality, and, by extension, all mankind will eventually achieve moksha (liberation).

Thus, Aurobindo created a dialectic mode of salvation not only for the individual but for all mankind. His voluminous, complex, and sometimes chaotic literary output includes philosophical pondering, poetry, plays, and other works. Among his works are The Life Divine (1940), The Human Cycle (1949), The Ideal of Human Unity (1949), On the Veda (1956), Collected Poems and Plays (1942), Essays on the Gita (1928), The Synthesis of Yoga (1948), and Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol (1948).

He later withdrew from politics and settled in Pondicherry, then a French possession. There he established an ashram, or ashram, and achieved a high reputation as a sage. His followers saw him as the first incarnate manifestation of the super beings whose evolution he prophesied, and apparently he did not discourage this belief.

After his death, the leadership of the Aurobindo Ashram was assumed by Mira Richard, a Frenchwoman who had been one of his disciples.
Aurobindo Ashram affairs were efficiently handled by Meera.
Pandit Nehru on his visit to the Ashram was fascinated by her method of governing the affairs of Ashram.

After Aurobindo’s death in 1950, Meera continued to manage the
Ashram till her death in 1973.