Sri Aurobindo born Aurobindo Ghose on 15 August 1872 was not merely a thinker, a poet, or a freedom fighter — he was a yogi, a philosopher, and a visionary whose life became a bridge between the ancient wisdom of the East and the future aspirations of humanity.
Born in Calcutta and educated at Cambridge, he returned to India armed with the brilliance of Western knowledge yet drawn irresistibly to the soul of his motherland.
Aurobindo was born in Kolkata (then Calcutta), Bengal Presidency, British India. At the age of seven, he was sent to England for his education.
He studied at St. Paul’s School, London, and later at King’s College, Cambridge, excelling in classical languages and European literature. Though groomed for the Indian Civil Service, he rejected a life under British colonial rule and returned to India in 1893.
Pioneer of the Indian Independence Movement
As one of the pioneers of India’s struggle for freedom, his fiery words stirred the youth to rise:
“Life is life — whether in a cat, or dog, or man. The idea of difference is a human conception for man’s own advantage.”
Upon his return, Sri Aurobindo joined the Baroda State Service and began exploring Indian culture, languages, and spirituality. His political engagement grew stronger as he became involved in the Indian independence movement.
He emerged as a radical voice advocating complete independence (Purna Swaraj) from British rule—an idea considered extreme at the time.
In the early 1900s, Aurobindo became the editor of the nationalist newspaper Bande Mataram, which became a powerful platform for anti-colonial thought. His writings inspired thousands.
While imprisoned for his alleged involvement in a bomb plot against the British (the famous Alipore Bomb Case), Sri Aurobindo underwent a deep spiritual awakening.
From Man to Superman
In his solitary confinement, he turned inward, reading the Bhagavad Gita and meditating. One night, he experienced a profound vision of Lord Krishna, who assured him of divine protection. He later wrote:
“It was in the jail that God told me He was everywhere and in everything… that I should see Him in all men and things.”
This inner transformation marked his complete shift from a revolutionary to a yogi.
In 1910, leaving behind the turbulence of revolution, he withdrew to Pondicherry. There, in deep silence, he turned inward — discovering yoga not as a retreat from the world, but as an evolution of it.
His vision was vast: not the liberation of the individual alone, but the transformation of humanity itself. He called it Integral Yoga — a path where matter and spirit would unite, where the divine would no longer remain transcendent but descend into life itself.
“Man is a transitional being,” he wrote,
“He is not final. The step from man to superman is the next approaching achievement in the earth’s evolution.”
Aurobindo was also a poet of the Infinite. His epic Savitri, a river of over 23,000 lines, is not merely literature but a scripture of consciousness — a dialogue between the human soul and the eternal.
The Birth of Auroville
In 1914, Mirra Alfassa, a mystic from Paris, visited Pondicherry and met Sri Aurobindo. She immediately recognized him as the one she had seen in her dreams and inner visions.
He too saw in her a spiritual collaborator.
Their partnership became the foundation of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and the spiritual movement that would later birth Auroville. He once said:
“The Mother’s consciousness and mine are the same.”
The Mother (Mirra Alfassa), who carried his vision into living practice, building Auroville as a city of human unity.
Together, they dreamed of a future where spirituality and life are not divided, where the divine breath infuses every act, every thought, every creation.
Supramental Yoga
In the quiet of Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo worked unseen, writing words that carried light into centuries unborn. He spent his days immersed in writing, meditating, and carrying out what he called the Supramental Yoga—an evolution of consciousness beyond the mind.
His life was not just lived — it was sculpted as a prophecy:
A vision of man becoming more than man.
A whisper of evolution yet to come.
Legacy
Sri Aurobindo’s vast literary contributions include philosophical treatises, poetry, and commentaries on Indian scriptures. His magnum opus, “The Life Divine,” explores the evolution of consciousness and the ultimate purpose of human life.
Other significant works include “Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol,” an epic poem of profound spiritual significance, and “The Synthesis of Yoga,” a comprehensive guide to his method of spiritual practice.
Sri Aurobindo passed away on 5 December 1950. His samadhi (tomb) lies in the courtyard of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry.
His vision continues to inspire scholars, seekers, and change makers. The city of Auroville, founded in 1968 by The Mother, stands as a living experiment of his ideals—dedicated to human unity and transformation.
In essence: Sri Aurobindo’s journey was the story of a revolutionary who became a rishi, a poet who became a prophet, and a man who dared to dream of humanity’s divine future.
Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol
All grace and glory and all divinity
Were here collected in a single form;
All worshipped eyes looked through his from one face;
He bore all godheads in his grandiose limbs.
An oceanic spirit dwelt within;
Intolerant and invincible in joy
A flood of freedom and transcendent bliss
Into immortal lines of beauty rose.
In him the fourfold Being bore its crown
That wears the mystery of a nameless Name,
The universe writing its tremendous sense
In the inexhaustible meaning of a word.
In him the architect of the visible world,
At once the art and artist of his works,
Spirit and seer and thinker of things seen,
Virât, who lights his camp-fires in the suns
And the star-entangled ether is his hold,
Expressed himself with Matter for his speech:
Objects are his letters, forces are his words,
Events are the crowded history of his life,
And sea and land are the pages of his tale,
Matter is his means and his spiritual sign;
He hangs the thought upon a lash’s lift,
In the current of the blood makes flow the soul.
