Aurobindo Ghosh (Sri Aurobindo)

(August 15, 1872–December 5, 1950)

Sri Aurobindo was an Indian nationalist, scholar, poet, mystic, evolutionary philosopher, yogi and guru. He joined the early movement for the freedom of India from British rule.  However, he turned to explore spiritual realms of human existence and, as a consequence, developed a new path which he termed integral yoga. Appreciating his vision, Times Literary Supplement, London wrote: "In fact, he (Sri Aurobindo) is a new type of thinker, one who combines in his vision the alacrity of the West with the illumination of the East. To study his writings is to enlarge the boundaries of one's knowledge... He is a yogi who writes as though he were standing among the stars, with the constellations for his companions."

His conversion from political action to spirituality occurred while incarcerated for a year in the Alipur jail in Kolkata, India when he was inspired by his meditating on the Hindu scripture of the Bhagavad Gita. His was one of the important trials (The Alipore Bomb Case, 1908) in Indian nationalism movement. There were 49 accused and  206 witnesses. 400 documents were filed and 5000 exhibits were produced including bombs, revolvers and acid. The English judge, C.B. Beechcroft had been a student with Sri Aurobindo at Cambridge. The case for Sri Aurobindo was taken up by then a young barrister, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das. In his conclusion to the Judge he said: "... My appeal to you is this, that long after the controversy will be hushed in silence, long after this turmoil, this agitation will have ceased, long after he (Sri Aurobindo) is dead and gone, he will be looked upon as the poet of patriotism, as the prophet of nationalism and lover of humanity. Long after he is dead and gone, his words will be echoed and re-echoed, not only in India, but across distant seas and lands. Therefore, I say that the man in his position is not only standing before the bar of this Court, but before the bar of the High Court of History."  The trial lasted for one full year. Sri Aurobindo was acquitted.

Rabindrnatha Tagore paid a tribute to him in the following lines:

Rabindranath, O Aurobindo, bows to thee!
O friend, my country's friend, O Voice incarnate, free,
Of India's soul....
The fiery messenger that with the lamp of God Hath come...Rabindranath, O Aurobindo, bows to thee.
 

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