To speak about Sri Aurobindo’s vision and work, one can begin by acknowledging the role of this great personality in the world’s history. Sri Aurobindo was Indian in origin and was educated in the West. He lived and acted in the period of the beginning of twentieth century. The significance of this historical period was an expression of the movement of ‘individuation’ and of the ‘nationalist era’ in the world as determined by Ranajit Guha. In Russia the working class’ armed revolt against bourgeois parliament was suppressed in February 1905. At the same period of time in India, leading the Indian Nationalists Party, Sri Aurobindo was completely involved in political activity for the independence of his country. The Swadeshi (‘swa’ – own, ‘Desh’ – country, land) movement was very active and had captured the hearts and progressive minds of the Indian people. ‘Bande Mataram,’ the organ of Nationalist Party was regularly publishing inspiring thoughts and visions of
Sri Aurobindo.

A deep and sacrificing love for the country was the foundation of the great patriotism expressed by Sri Aurobindo in his writings. In his essay ‘The morality of Boycott’ he described his feelings towards India, his great adoration which made him act as a dedicated and caring son of his Motherland:

“The feelings of almost physical delight in the touch of the mother soil, of the winds that flow from Indian seas, of the rivers that stream from Indian hills, in the hearing of Indian speech, music, poetry, in the familiar sights, sounds, habits, dress, manners of our Indian life, this is the physical root of this love. The pride in our past, the pain of our present, the passion for the future are its trunk and branches. Self-sacrifice and self-forgetfulness, great sacrifice, high endurance for the country are its fruit. And sap which keeps it alive is the realization of the Mother-hood of God in the country, the vision of the Mother, the knowledge of the Mother, the perpetual contemplation, adoration and service of the Mother.” (SABCL, Vol. 1, pp.125-26)

How unconditional and eternal his love was towards Bharat Mata – Mother-India! How real and deeply moving was the power of Sri Aurobindo’s dedication! This passage expresses all aspects of Sri Aurobindo’s vision about India, all his understanding of the spiritual meaning and heritage she carries. In a time of decline of Indian civilization he showed how Indian patriotism based on the past spiritual achievements could be transformed into a new form of Indian Nationalism.

Young Sri Aurobindo put one aim in front of his life – to free India from colonial regime by applying his Divine power – ‘brahmatej’. After having experience of the ‘peace of mind’ and fully accepting guidance of the Divine Will, Sri Aurobindo in Alipore jail had the vision of Sri Krishna. This experience was described by Sri Aurobindo in his Uttarpara Speech delivered on 30th May 1909 in Bengal:

“I walked under the branches of the tree in front of my cell, but it was not the tree, I knew it was Vasudeva, it was Srikrishna whom I saw standing there and holding over me his shade. I looked at the bars of my cell, the very grating that did duty for a door and again I saw Vasudeva. It was Narayana who was guarding and standing sentry of me.” (SABCL, Vol. 2, p. 4)

Sri Aurobindo was acquitted and under a Divine Adesh he departed to Pondicherry. There he immersed himself intensely in yoga-sadhana. Complete surrender to the Divine Will made young Yogi the instrument of the Supreme Lord. After that Sri Aurobindo’s work became the work of the Divine Consciousness.

Deeply studying the sacred texts of Upanishads, Bhagavat Gita and Vedas, and based on his own spiritual experiences Sri Aurobindo developed a new synthesis that he called Integral Yoga. He understood that Rishis in ancient India had discovered the Truth of existence; they had found the answers to the questions of very life, but had hidden their revelations in the symbols of mantric-poetry which preserved the knowledge for the future. This was essential because the humanity was neither ready nor had the sufficiently developed intellect to comprehend the Truth. The power of the spiritual discovery was so profound and strong that it deeply influenced even the collective life in Indian society. This influence manifested itself in the form of Chaturvarna system, the system of four Ashramas and even in the concept of Rasa. It helped to build strong and quite rigid structure of life with complete religious freedom to all members of the society.

Sri Aurobindo wrote several major works which had at their basis the eternal truths revealed in Vedic knowledge: ‘The Life Divine’, ‘The Synthesis of Yoga’, ‘The Human Cycle’, ‘The Foundations of Indian culture’ and many other philosophical works. He realized from the ancient knowledge and by his own experience that Universe is manifold reality which has different planes of existence and behind all this creation there is a Supreme Self, Atman, Transcendental Purusha, Absolute, Brahman. The creation itself made by the Lord for display of his wish and desire to manifest in the multiplicity on the terrestrial stage of lower hemisphere. Our Ancestors believed, and Sri Aurobindo writes about it in the ‘The Secret of the Veda’ that the manifested World is defined on three levels: Prithvi (Earth), Dyauh (Heaven) and Antariksha (space in between). Antariksha is the space where all sacrifice is taking place through the messenger and God Himself the Mighty Agni, who represents aspiration and purity. When Agni is kindled in the lower hemisphere and He has enough food in the form of aspiration and concentration (tapasya) He grows and reaches the Heaven; on the other side Heaven responds to the call. In the movement they meet – sacrifice has happened. Thus Agni is the only possibility for two hemispheres to unite in a harmony. The lower hemisphere includes a few layers of Subconscious Matter, Matter, Life and Mind. The higher hemisphere contains Higher Mind, Intuitive Mind and Overmind – plane where Gods are dwelling. Beyond those planes is Supermind (Brihad Dyauh).

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother managed to build a bridge between our plane of existence and the Supermind plane. They brought down Supramental consciousness to the Earth’s atmosphere in 1956, when Sri Aurobindo was not in the physical body anymore. This descent and working of Supermind is the basis of complete transformation that Integral Yoga demands. It is only as a result of the Supermind that an individual’s connection to the Supreme can become real and concrete without any necessity of a spiritual guru or teacher.

The Supreme Lord wishes to become conscious of himself in the mind, life and body of the human being. Therefore He has his agent - the Supreme Being in the human heart, psychic being which leads the individual towards the goal of transformation of the human nature, permanently having connection with the God Father. And of that realization Ananda, Bliss is born. The aspect of the psychic being which is evolving in our soul from life to life, collecting the data - essential experience, is a base of Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga. The concept of it was not developed by the ancient Rishis even though they referred to it as Vamana Purusha, of the size of the thumb in our hearts. Sri Aurobindo writes about spiritual guidance on the path of the Integral Yoga in The Synthesis of Yoga.

“As the Shastra of the Integral Yoga is the eternal Veda secret in the heart of every man, so its Supreme Guide and Teacher is the inner Guide, the World-Teacher, jagad-guru, secret within us. It is he who destroys our darkness by the resplendent light of his knowledge, that light becomes within us the increasing glory of his own self-revelation. He discloses progressively in us his own nature of freedom, bliss, love, power, immortal being. He sets above us his divine example as our ideal and transforms the lower existence into a reflection of that which it contemplates. By the in pouring of his own influence and presence into us he enables the individual being to attain to identity with the universal and transcendent.” (SABCL, Vol. 20, Part I,, p. 55)

The condition for the person who practices sadhana (inner spiritual work) is to become more and more conscious about the Divine present deep inside the heart. There are many ways of doing it; it can be done by effort or strict discipline. But the safest way is the way of surrender of all of one’s being to the Divine Mother through work, knowledge and love. Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Yoga is a method of self-perfection towards the divine nature by the surrender to the Divine Mother; one has to allow Her to do the work in oneself.

The development of Integral Yoga was the biggest achievement in Sri Aurobindo’s life, and all his sadhana was expressed in the book of luminous and incomparable poetry, ‘Savitri’. The vibration of the mantra and the rhythm of Savitri in the movement of reciting have a power to change the ignorant nature; it directs the light of the sound straight into the unconscious part of our being and transforms it. Sri Aurobindo’s poetry was coming from the higher planes of consciousness. He writes about it in Letters on poetry, literature and art:

“I am speaking here especially of the overhead planes where this is quite natural; for the Overmind, for instance, is ultimate source of intuition, illumination or heightened power of the planes immediately below it. It can lift them up into its own greater intensity or give out of its intensity to them or touch or combine their powers together with something of its own greater power.” (SABCL, Vol. 9, p. 294)

Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga is far from being religion in spite of ignorant human nature which always intends to worship a deity. Integral Yoga requires permanent conscious action of the individual towards psycho-spiritual perfection for the sake of the Divine manifestation on the Earth. Only this way the world can become more beautiful and free from ignorance, poverty and suffering.

Endnote:
Ranajit Guha (August 2002). Nationalism and the Trials of Becoming. Oracle, 24 (2), pp. 1-20.

Comments on Essay from Class Facilitator, Margaret Phanes

Dear Shakti,

You have tackled a very large subject with reasonable success. The essay explains well the contribution of Sri Aurobindo’s work and the importance of Savitri. The construction of your essay shows good organization. As you know, the subject you chose is not easy to generate the required length of content. Volumes could and have been written. There is discrimination and the right amount of economy to express key points with significant detail. In several places, I found insight and a strong synthesis. For instance, “After that Sri Aurobindo’s work became the work of the Divine Consciousness.” I also felt your use of quotes brought additional strength and an intense focus. Even in an essay of this length, the subject covers a lot of ground. Again, your discrimination chose the right amount of content and detail to present your thesis. Your conclusion was the right note for a summation.

One additional note, I would suggest you reread the piece for grammatical content. There are some missing adjectives and incorrect tenses that when corrected would bring a smoothness to the sentences.