Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghosh; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi and nationalist, who is noted for his participation in the movement for India's independence from British rule, he advocated for complete autonomy through his writings and political activity. Following his imprisonment and acquittal, he withdrew to Pondicherry to devote himself to spiritual practice, eventually formulating the path of Integral Yoga. His extensive literary output includes the treatises The Life Divine and The Synthesis of Yoga and the epic poem Savitri.
Aurobindo studied for the Indian Civil Service at King's College, in Cambridge, England from 1890 until his departure in 1892. After returning to India, he took up various civil service works under the Maharaja of the princely state of Baroda. He became increasingly involved in nationalist politics in the Indian National Congress and the nascent revolutionary movement in Bengal with the Anushilan Samiti. He was arrested in the aftermath of a number of bombings linked to the revolutionary group he was associated with. He faced charges in a public trial for treason in Alipore Conspiracy and then released, after which he moved to Pondicherry and developed a spiritual practice he called Integral Yoga. He wrote The Life Divine, which deals with the philosophical aspect of Integral Yoga and Synthesis of Yoga, which deals with the principles and methods of Integral Yoga. In 1926, he and Mirra Alfassa founded Sri Aurobindo Ashram.
Sri Aurobindo created a major literary corpus in English. His work synthesizes the histories of Eastern and Western philosophy, religion, literature, and psychology into a complex vision of the transition of humanity to divinity. His principal philosophical writings are The Life Divine and The Synthesis of Yoga, while his principal poetic work is Savitri: a Legend and a Symbol. He wrote translations and commentaries of the Vedas, Upanishads, and the Gita among others; plays; literary, social, political, and historical criticism; devotional works, as well as an extensive collection of correspondence. Several volumes of his conversations have also been recorded.
Early Life and Family Background
Aurobindo Ghosh was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata), Bengal Presidency, India on 15 August 1872 in a Bengali Kayastha family that was associated with the town of Konnagar in the Hooghly district of present-day West Bengal. His father, Krishna Dhun Ghosh, was an assistant surgeon in Rangpur and later a civil surgeon in Khulna. A former member of the Brahmo Samaj, he became fascinated with the new theory of evolution while studying medicine in Edinburgh. His mother Swarnalata Devi's father, Rajnarayan Bose, was a leading figure in the Brahmo Samaj. Swarnalata Devi was sent to Calcutta for Aurobindo's birth for its healthier environment. Aurobindo had two elder siblings, Benoybhusan and Manmohan, a younger sister, Sarojini, and a younger brother, Barindra Kumar (also referred to as Barin).
Aurobindo spoke English but used Hindustani to communicate with servants. Although his family was Bengali, his father believed British culture to be superior. He and his two elder siblings were sent to the English-speaking Loreto House boarding school in Darjeeling, in part to improve their language skills and in part to distance them from their mother, who had developed a mental illness soon after the birth of her first child. Darjeeling was a centre of Anglo-Indians in India, and the school was run by Irish nuns, through which the boys would have been exposed to Christian religious teachings and symbolism.
Education in England (1879–1893)
Krishna Dhun Ghose's intention was his sons to enter the Indian Civil Service (ICS), an elite organisation comprising around 1000 people. To achieve this, they needed to study in England, and so it was there that the entire family moved in 1879. The three brothers were sent in the care of the Reverend W. H. Drewett in Manchester. Drewett was a minister of the Congregational Church whom Krishna Dhun Ghose knew through his British friends at Rangpur.
The boys started to learn Latin by Drewett and his wife. This was a prerequisite for admission to good English schools, and after two years, in 1881, the elder two siblings were enrolled at Manchester Grammar School. Aurobindo was considered too young for enrollment, and he continued his studies with the Drewetts, learning history, Latin, French, geography, and arithmetic. Although the Drewetts were told not to teach religion, the boys inevitably were exposed to Christian teachings and events, which generally bored Aurobindo and sometimes repulsed him. There was little contact with his father, who wrote only a few letters to his sons while they were in England, but what communication there was indicated that he was becoming less endeared to the British in India than he had been, on one occasion describing the British colonial government as "heartless".
Drewett emigrated to Australia in 1884, causing the boys to be uprooted as they went to live with Drewett's mother in London. In September of that year, Aurobindo and Manmohan joined St Paul's School there. He learned Greek and spent the last three years reading literature and English poetry, while he also acquired some familiarity with the German and Italian languages; Peter Heehs summarised his linguistic abilities by stating that at "the turn of the century he knew at least twelve languages: English, French, and Bengali to speak, read, and write; Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit to read and write; Gujarati, Marathi, and Hindi to speak and read; and Italian, German, and Spanish to read." Being exposed to the evangelical strictures of Drewett's mother developed in him a distaste for religion, and he considered himself at one point to be an atheist but later determined that he was agnostic. A blue plaque unveiled in 2007 commemorates Aurobindo's residence at 49 St Stephen's Avenue in Shepherd's Bush, London, from 1884 to 1887. The three brothers began living in spartan circumstances at the Liberal Club in South Kensington during 1887, their father having experienced some financial difficulties. The club's secretary was James Cotton, brother of their father's friend in the Bengal ICS, Henry John Stedman Cotton.
By 1889, Manmohan had determined to pursue a literary career, and Benoybhusan had proved himself unequal to the standards necessary for ICS entrance. This meant that only Aurobindo might fulfill his father's aspirations, but to do so when his father lacked money required that he study hard for a scholarship. To become an ICS official, students were required to pass the competitive examination and study at an English university for two years under probation. Aurobindo secured a scholarship at King's College, Cambridge, under the recommendation of Oscar Browning. He passed the written ICS examination after a few months and ranked 11th out of 250 competitors. He spent the next two years at King's College. Aurobindo had no interest in the ICS and came to the horse-riding practical exam purposefully to disqualify him for the service.In 1891, Sri Aurobindo also felt that a period of great upheaval for his motherland was coming in which he was destined to play an important role. He began to learn Bengali and joined a secret society, romantically named 'Lotus and Dagger', where the members took an oath to work for India's freedom.
The Maharaja of Baroda, Sayajirao Gaekwad III, was travelling in England. Cotton secured Aurobindo a place in Baroda State Service and arranged for him to meet the prince. He left England for India, arriving there in February 1893. In India, Krishna Dhun Ghose, who was waiting to receive his son, was misinformed by his agents from Bombay (now Mumbai) that the ship on which Aurobindo had been travelling had sunk off the coast of Portugal. His father died upon hearing this news.
Career in Baroda and Political Involvement (1893–1910)
In Baroda, Aurobindo joined the state service in 1893, working first in the Survey and Settlements department, later moving to the Department of Revenue and then to the Secretariat, and much miscellaneous work like teaching grammar and assisting in writing speeches for the Maharaja of Gaekwad until 1897. In 1897, during his work in Baroda, he started working as a part-time French teacher at Baroda College (now Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda). He was later promoted to the post of vice-principal. At Baroda, Aurobindo self-studied Sanskrit and Bengali.