These days he is globally known as Sri Aurobindo of Pondicherry for Integral Yoga. He was born in a Kayastha family in Calcutta (now Kolkata) as Aurobindo Ghose on August 15, 1872. He was sent to England at the age of 7 in 1879 along with his two elder brothers to be trained to join the Indian Civil Service (ICS), an elite organisation, by his westernised father Dr Krishna Dhun Ghose. All the three brothers were placed in the care of the Reverend W H Drewett in Manchester.
From 1879 to 1884, Aurobindo studied at home and joined St Paul’s School in September 1884. In December 1889, he passed the Metric exam. He learnt Greek, Italian and German. In England at an early age Aurobindo took a firm decision to liberate his own nation. He joined the King’s College, Cambridge, with scholarship on October 11, 1990, to pursue ICS. Aurobindo passed the final ICS exam in August 1892. At the end of the probation, he was required to undergo a riding exam but the transformed nationalist convinced not to serve the British in India, opted out, leading to a declaration of result as failed in the ICS. He self-studied Sanskrit and Bengali. He did learn French as well.
Thanks to his father’s friend Sir Henry Cotton’s brother James Cotton, Aurobindo could meet the Maharaja of Baroda, Sayajirao Gaekwad III, in London and secured a job in Baroda State Service. Sir Cotton belonged to a distinguished family who served India for five generations. Sir Henry (1845-1915) was also the President of Indian National Congress in 1904.
Aurobindo left England for India, reached Apollo Bunder, Mumbai, on February 6, 1993, arrived at Baroda (now Vadodara) on February 8, 1893. He resumed his job in Revenue Department of Baroda State on February 18 but since the Maharaja had brought him from London, he was considered resuming the duty from February 8, 1893, at the age of 21 with a salary of Rs 200. Here he worked for thirteen-and-a-half years with various departments, including serving the Maharaja as his Personal Assistant, writing his speeches. He also worked as Professor of French and English as well as the Vice Principal and the Acting Principal of the Baroda College, resigning his job at the age of 35 to go back to Calcutta.
The revolutionary Aurobindo turned spiritual. He married Mrunalinidevi but she died on December 17, 1918, at the age of 32. Prof Aurobindo Ghose was very popular among his students, including K M Munshi, the Union Minister in Nehru Cabinet, Ambubhai Purani, the revolutionary freedom fighter, and Bhaikaka, who established the Charutar Vidya Mandal (CVM) in 1945 at Vallabh Vidyanagar.
After the partition of Bengal, Aurobindo returned to Calcutta. He became the guardian angel for the revolutionaries who were fighting for liberation from the clutches of the British. He was arrested and imprisoned for a year in Alipore Jail. CR Das, the Congress leader and Swarajist who was known as Deshbandhu, appeared for Aurobindo and got him acquitted on May 6, 1909.
Earlier Aurobindo attended the 1906 Congress meeting headed by Dadabhai Naoroji. In 1907, Aurobindo joined the Extremists led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak against the Moderates led by Sir Pherozeshah Mehta.
In May 1908, Aurobindo was arrested. But after his release from the Alipore Jail, he was a different man turning to spirituality. Though Aurobindo had been practising Yoga since 1905, his mission transformed after his release from the Alipore Jail.
Following his inner spiritual call, he decided to withdraw to a secret retirement at Chandernagor in February 1910. In the beginning of April, he sailed to Pondicherry in French India. Sri Aurobindo lived at first in retirement at Pondicherry with four or five disciples. During all his stay here from 1910 till December 5, 1950, the day he left his physical body, he remained more and more exclusively devoted to his spiritual work and his Sadhana.
After the death of Tilak in 1920, the Congress leaders Dr B S Munje and Dr K B Hedgewar, who established Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 1925, visited Aurobindo at Pondicherry with a request to be the President of the Congress, but he turned it down. He defined the revolutionary path as a non-violent one while writing to Dr Munje. He also believed that India and Pakistan would be united one day. He was nominated twice for Nobel Prize for Literature and Peace but was not awarded.
In Pondicherry Sri Aurobindo was joined by Mira the Mother who was born Mirra Alfassa in Paris in April 1920. When the Sri Aurobindo Ashram was formed in November 1926, Sri Aurobindo entrusted its full material and spiritual charge to the Mother. The Mother left her body on November 17, 1973. Sri Aurobindo is the best example of a violent revolutionary turning non-violent and spiritual later in his life. Personalities like Dr Karan Singh, Karsandas Luhar “Sundaram”, Kireet Joshi, Mallika Sarabhai and BV Doshi have been his ardent followers.
Next Column: Sardar Patel: The Founder of IAS
(The writer is a Socio-political Historian. E-mail: [email protected] )
