Aurobindo
Aurobindo Ghose (15 August 1872–5 December 1950) was an Indian nationalist and freedom fighter, poet, philosopher, and yogi, who joined the movement for India’s freedom from British rule and became one of its leaders
(1905–10), before developing his own vision and philosophy of human progress and spiritual evolution. Moving from his native Bengal to Pondicherry to escape the British and take shelter under French rule, he became a true southern legend when he established the Aurobindo Ashram there.
Aurobindo was born in Calcutta on 15 August 1872. At the age of seven he was taken to England for education. There he studied at St. Paul’s School, London, and at King’s College, Cambridge. Returning to India in 1893, he worked for the next thirteen years in the princely state of Baroda in the service of the Maharaja and as a professor in Baroda College. During this period he also joined a revolutionary society and took a leading role in secret preparations for an uprising against the British Government in India.
In 1906, Aurobindo quit his post in Baroda and went to Calcutta, where he soon became one of the leaders of the nationalist movement. He was the first political leader in India to openly put forward, in his newspaper Bande Mataram, the idea of complete independence for the country. Prosecuted twice for sedition and once for conspiracy, he was released each time for lack of evidence.
Aurobindo started practising yoga while in Baroda. In 1908 he had the first of several fundamental spiritual realisations. In 1910 he withdrew from politics and went to Pondicherry to devote himself entirely to his inner spiritual life and work. During his forty years in Pondicherry he evolved a new method of spiritual practice, which he called the Integral Yoga. In 1926, with the help of his spiritual collaborator, the Mother, he founded the Aurobindo Ashram. Among his many writings are The Life Divine, The Synthesis of Yoga and Savitri.He began the publication of a philosophical monthly, the Arya in 1914. Most of his important works appeared serially in the Arya.
Others were concerned with the spirit and significance of Indian civilisation and cultureAurobindo lived at first in retirement at Pondicherry with four or five disciples. Afterwards more and more began to come to him to follow his spiritual path and the number became so large that a community of sadhakas had to be formed. This was the foundation of the Aurobindo Ashram.
The Mother
The Mother was born Mirra Alfassa in Paris on 21 February 1878. A pupil at the Academie Julian, she became an accomplished artist, and also excelled as a pianist and writer. Deeply interested in spiritual development, she founded a group of spiritual seekers in Paris and gave talks.
In 1914 the Mother voyaged to Pondicherry to meet Aurobindo, whom she recognised as the one who for many years had inwardly guided her spiritual development.
After travelling for a while, she rejoined Aurobindo in Pondicherry in April 1920. When the Ashram was formed, Aurobindo entrusted its full material and spiritual charge to the Mother. Under her guidance, which continued for nearly fifty years, the Ashram grew into a large, many-faceted spiritual community. In 1952 she established the Aurobindo International Centre of Education, and in 1968 an international township, Auroville. Aurobindo passed away on 5 December 1950, and the Mother on 17 November 1973.
The Aurobindo Ashram has grown, under the Mother’s guidance, from a small group of two dozen disciples into a large diversified community with almost 1200 members. Counting the 400 students of the Centre of Education and the hundreds of devotees who live nearby, the larger ashram community consists of more than 2000 people.In the sadhana or spiritual discipline at the Ashram, there are no obligatory practices, no rituals, no compulsory meditation or systematic instructions in yoga.
The sadhakas are left free to determine the course and pace of their sadhana in accordance with their own natures. But there must be a surrender to the Divine and an opening to the Divine Force so that it may work to transform your being.
The focus of community life is the Ashram main building, usually called simply “the Ashram”, which consists of an interconnected block of houses, including those in which Aurobindo and the Mother lived for most of their lives. At its centre, in a tree-shaded courtyard, lies the samadhi, a white-marble shrine where the bodies of Aurobindo and the Mother are laid to rest.
The Ashram provides its members with all they need for a decent and healthy life. Various departments have been organised to look after the basic requirements of food, clothing and shelter, as well as medical care. There are also libraries for study and facilities for a variety of cultural pursuits. The Ashram is administered by the Aurobindo Ashram Trust.