Sri Aurobindo was born of 15th August, 1872 in Calcutta. In 1879, at the age of seven, he was sent to England for education where he lived for fourteen years. He joined St.Paul’s school in London in 1884 and later went to King’s College Cambridge, where he studied for two years. He passed the open competition for the Indian Civil Service in 1890 but was disqualified after two years as he failed to present himself at the riding examination. He then left England for India in 1893 after obtaining an appointment in Baroda Service from the Gaekwar of Baroda.
During a brilliant academic career, he mastered not only English but also Greek, Latin, and French and also became familiar with German, Spanish, and Italian. 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 the State’s College. In 1901 he married Mrinalini Bose. Till 1906 he extensively studied Sanskrit and other Indian languages and assimilated the rich heritage of Indian Spiritual Culture.
The outbreak of the agitation against the partition of Bengal in 1905 gave him the opportunity to give up the Baroda service and join openly in the political movement. He left Baroda in 1906 and went to Calcutta as Principal of the newly-founded Bengal National College. He became a leader of the nationalist party and his editorials in the daily ‘Bande Mataram’, at once made him a well known figure throughout India. From 1908 to 1909, he was kept under detention by the British government. After profound inner experiences he ended his political career in 1910 and went to Pondichery in South India to develop the internal yoga.
Within a few years he achieved several fundamental spiritual realizations. The internal yoga is a way and method which enables man to further expand his consciousness to become aware of his soul and spiritual reality and then to go beyond the mental level into the experience of what Sri Aurobindo called ‘The Supramental’. It is a realization which finally leads to the lasting expression of peace, love, and human unity.
Sri Aurobindo’s spiritual collaborator known as Mother joined him in 1920. Sri Aurobindo and Mother founded the Ashram in 1926 to accommodate the growing number of people who became interested in the Internal Yoga. He affirms that all life is Yoga, which man has a greater destiny awaiting him and through a conscious aspiration he can evolve into a higher being.
For the last forty years of his life in Pondichery, he worked tirelessly for the realization of his vision of a divine life upon earth. He revealed his new message for humanity and its glorious future through his writings which reflect his genius as a scholar, writer, poet, literary critic, philosopher, social thinker, revolutionary, patriot, visionary, and yogi. His vision of life is presented in numerous works of prose and poetry, among which the best known are The Life Divine, The Synthesis of Yoga and Savitri.
Sri Aurobindo left his body on 5th December 1950. The following quotation given by the Mother is inscribed on the Samadhi: “To thee who hast been the material envelope of our Master, to thee our infinite gratitude. Before thee who has done so much for us, who hast worked, struggled, suffered, hoped, endured so much, before thee who has willed all, attempted all, prepared, achieved all for us, before thee we bow down and implore that we may never forget, even for a moment, all we owe to thee”.
