Guwahati: Sri Aurobindo was a multi-faceted personality who began his life as a student in England, came back as a teacher in Baroda, moved as a revolutionary leader to Calcutta and then went on to become the greatest philosopher of India in Pondicherry, observed Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi while attending the 150th birth anniversary of Sri Aurobindo at a function held in the city on 18 June.
Paying rich tributes to the great philosopher, revolutionary and Mahayogi, Governor Mukhi said that Sri Aurobindo was solely responsible for the social, cultural and spiritual regeneration that took place in India between 1857 to 1947. This great soul quitting his post in Baroda came to Calcutta as the principal of National College in Jadavpur (now Jadavpur University), where he became one of the prominent leaders of the Indian National Movement, added the Governor.
In 1910 Sri Aurobindo withdrew from politics and went to Pondicherry. So, the first part of Sri Aurobindo’s life had the message of spiritual nationalism, based on Mother India. He arrived in Pondicherry on 4 April 1910 and lived there for the rest of his life over the next forty years.
Sri Aurobindo developed a new spiritual path called Integral Yoga. In 1926, with the help of his spiritual collaborator The Mother, he founded Sri Aurobindo Ashram there. His vision of life is presented in numerous works which were published in 30 volumes, among the best known of which are The Life Divine, The Synthesis of Yoga, Essays on the Gita, Savitri, The Human Cycle, etc.
The Governor said that Sri Aurobindo was an exceptionally brilliant writer and an eminent poet whose epic-poem Savitri is the longest poem in the world, containing 23800 lines. Savitri became his major literary work. He continued to expand and perfect it until his last days. His first series of articles were published in a journal called Induprakash, in which he launched a frontal attack upon the moderate leadership of the Congress.
“We need to strive for achieving a higher spiritual life in order to live a better and meaningful life in the midst of the chaotic modern world. Translating the teachings and ideology of Sri Aurobindo would be our fitting tributes to him and the commemoration of his 150th birthday celebrations,” said the Governor expressing happiness to note that Sri Aurobindo Society has been striving to achieve all over the world through its more than 300 branches and centres a higher spiritual life for which Sri Aurobindo and The Mother worked relentlessly.
Governor terms Sri Aurobindo responsible for India’s social, cultural and spiritual regeneration
