LITERARY LUMINARIES-28 Sri Aurobindo (15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950), Sri Aurobindo (15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950), born Aurobindo Ghose, was an Indian nationalist, philosopher, yogi, guru, and poet. He joined the Indian movement for independence from British rule, for a while became one of its influential leaders and then became a spiritual reformer, introducing his visions on human progress and spiritual evolution. Aurobindo studied for the Indian Civil Service at Kings College, Cambridge, England. After returning to India he took up various civil service works under the Maharaja of the princely state of Baroda and began to involve himself in politics. He was imprisoned by the British for writing articles against British rule in India. He was released when no evidence was provided. During his stay in the jail he had mystical and spiritual experiences, after which he moved to Pondicherry, leaving politics for spiritual work. During his stay in Pondicherry, Aurobindo developed a method of spiritual practice, which he called Integral Yoga. The central theme of his vision was the evolution of human life into a life divine. He believed in a spiritual realisation that not only liberated man but also transformed his nature, enabling a divine life on earth. In 1926, with the help of his spiritual collaborator, Mirra Alfassa (The Mother), he founded the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. He died on 5 December 1950 in Pondicherry. His main literary works are The Life Divine, which deals with theoretical aspects of Integral Yoga; Synthesis of Yoga, which deals with practical guidance to Integral Yoga; and Savitri, an epic poem which refers to a passage in the Mahabharata, where its characters actualise integral yoga in their lives. His works also include philosophy, poetry, translations and commentaries on the Vedas, Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. Philosophy and spiritual vision The one aim of [my] yoga is an inner self-development by which each one who follows it can in time discover the One Self in all and evolve a higher consciousness than the mental, a spiritual and supramental consciousness which will transform and divinize human nature. —Aurobindo, Sri Aurobindo’s Teaching. Written at the third person Aurobindo wrote that his philosophy was formed first by the study of the Upanishads and the Gita, as well as knowledge that flowed from above when I sat in meditation. Peter Heehs, an American historian, writes that examination of Aurobindos manuscripts bears out Aurobindos statement. He says that the influence of the Indian Vedantic tradition on Aurobindos thought was enormous. The other major component was ideas that Aurobindo encountered during his education, such as the theory of evolution. Yogic philosophy He described his form of yoga as integral yoga. According to him, most other forms of yoga are paths to beyond of human existence and towards reaching spirit as a final objective and away from normal life. Sri Aurobindos philosophy aims at ascending to the spirit and again descending to normal existence to transform it. According to Aurobindo, mind is the highest term reached in the path of evolution till now but has not yet reached its highest potency and calls current mind as an ignorance seeking truth, but he also states that even though the human being is treading in ignorance there is in every human being a possibility of divine manifestation. He states that there is a possibility to open oneself to higher divine consciousness which would reveal ones true self, remain in constant union of divine and bring down a higher force (which he names as superamental force) which would transform mind, life and body. To realise the above has been the main objectives of his yoga. Triple transformation of the individual He wrote that Man is born an ignorant, divided, conflicted being; a product of the original inconscience (i.e. unconsciousness) inherent in Matter that he evolved out of. As a result, he does not know the nature of Reality, including its source and purpose; his own nature, including the parts and integration of his being; what purpose he serves, and what his individual and spiritual potential is, amongst others. In addition, man experiences life through division and conflict, including his relationship with others, and his divided view of spirit and life. Influence His influence has been wide-ranging. In India, S. K. Maitra, Anilbaran Roy and D. P. Chattopadhyaya commented on Aurobindos work. Writers on esotericism and traditional wisdom, such as Mircea Eliade, Paul Brunton, and Rene Guenon, all saw him as an authentic representative of the Indian spiritual tradition. Haridas Chaudhuri and Frederic Spiegelberg[50] were among those who were inspired by Aurobindo, who worked on the newly formed American Academy of Asian Studies in San Francisco. Soon after, Chaudhuri and his wife Bina established the Cultural Integration Fellowship, from which later emerged the California Institute of Integral Studies. Karlheinz Stockhausen became heavily inspired by the writings of Satprem about Aurobindo during a week in May 1968, a time of which the composer was undergoing a personal crisis and had found Aurobindos philosophies were relevant to his feelings at the time. After this experience, Stockhausens music took a completely different turn, focusing on mysticism, that was to continue right up until the end of his career. William Irwin Thompson traveled to Auroville in 1972 and met the Mother.[53] Thompson has called Aurobindos teaching on spirituality a radical anarchism and a post-religious approach and regards their work as having ...reached back into the Goddess culture of prehistory, and, in Marshall McLuhan’s terms, culturally retrieved the archetypes of the shaman and la sage femme... Thompson also writes that he experienced Shakti, or psychic power coming from the Mother on the night of her death in 1973. Sri Aurobindos ideas about the further evolution of human capabilities influenced the thinking of Michael Murphy – and indirectly, the human potential movement, through Murphys writings. The American philosopher Ken Wilber has called Sri Aurobindo Indias greatest modern philosopher sage and has integrated some of his ideas into his philosophical vision. Wilbers interpretation of Aurobindo has been criticised by Rod Hemsell. New Age writer Critics N. R. Malkani says Aurobindos theory of creation is not true, as the theory talks about experiences and visions which are beyond normal human experiences. He says the theory is an intellectual response to a difficult problem and that Aurobindo uses the trait of unpredictability in theorising and discussing things not based upon truth of existence. Malkani says that awareness is already a reality and suggests there would be not need to examine the creative activity subjected to awareness. Wilber rejects the notion of different level of matter, life, mind, overmind, supermind proposed by Aurobindo in The Life Divine, and terms them as higher- or lower-nested holons and states there is only a fourfold reality. Adi Da finds that Aurobindos contributions were merely literary and cultural and had extended his political motivation into spirituality and human evolution Osho says that Aurobindo was a great scholar but was never realised and his personal ego had made him indirectly claim that he went beyond buddha and is said to have believed himself to be enlightened due to increasing number of followers. Literary works Aurobindo was one of the first Indians to create a literary corpus in English. Most of his works include translation of Indian scriptures and also on the yoga system and philosophy he had introduced The Life Divine The Life Divine is a combination of summarisation of the letters published in Arya and interpretation of Isha Upanishad and is one of Aurobindos major philosophical works. It tries to decipher the process of evolution and nature of reality and to give a metaphysical interpretation of upanishads along with his own experiences. It is divided into two parts, the first explaining nature of reality and the second part on knowledge and evolution. In the first part disseminating creation and the nature of reality, analysis about human aspiration and current system of spirituality, there repercussions in understanding of reality. proposes different levels of reality and in eventuality of Humans rising to these different levels of reality. Analysis the interplay of reality and the nature of human. and the second part describes evolution and knowledge, how the knowledge has been interpreted and the reason for the way it is. Finally hints of existence of a higher consciousness which would include all in reality and make sense of everything in reality, and calls this as a possible bringing down of Divine life on earth. Savitri Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol is his epic poem in 12 books, 24,000 lines. The poem refers to the story of Savitri and Satyavan from the Mahabharata. The characters go through an evolutionary process including bringing the divinity to earth, which spiritually transforms the earth.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 07:49:44 +0000
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