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Sri Aurobindo for All Ages: A Biography
Book by Nirodbaran
241 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
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April 26, 2015
The Indian Sri (holy Mr.) Aurobindo (1872-1950) was a nationalism patriot with vision and passion, a giant of literature and poetry. Further more, he is also a master of yoga living and philosophy. He was regarded as a hero of his nation and one of the saviors of humanity. He was keen of intellect, tender of heart and holy of spirit.
I picked up this book of his biography while visiting his ashram in Pondicherry, India. Through the stories told by Nirodbaran, one of Sri Aurobindo’s disciples also his literary secretary, Sri Aurobindo’s life unfolds slowly, in a very proper order, and with thoughtful focuses. The writing is very easy to follow and the information used is creditable even some of spiritual events are not all “rational”. Overall, it is a good book for me to start to get to know this great man.
The book starts with his birth in 1872 and goes on to describe his family background and the early period of his childhood. Then it comes his time in England from1879 to 1893, from the age of 7 years old until the graduation from Cambridge University. The book continues to talk about his works at the state service and college in Baroda after he came back to India in 1893 companied by his thoughts on the nation and aspiration of doing yoga during that period of time. Exciting writing then explains his heavy involvement with the nationalist movement and Congress conflicts during 1906 to 1908. Then it talks about how his 1-year in jail changed his life direction and turned him toward the spiritual path with no return. The book tells how he settled in Pondicherry in 1910, progressed on his spiritual journey from a seeker to a great guide. The story ends at his death in 1950 but concluded with his message depicting his personal dreams to his country fellows on the birthday of an Independent India in 1947.
The writer explains very well how Sri Aurobindo’s life seems to be contradictory but actually very logical:
- He was educated and grew up in England, but felt home in India;
- He was fluent in French and Latin, but he took pain to learn Sanskrit and translated it into English;
- He has the mind of an European, but found God’ presence in a Hindu religious image;
- He refused to take the exam in London to get a government service job in India, but when he arrived in India, he accepted a state service job from a local lord;
- He called shrink from bloodshed in wars weakness, but he is a lover of humanity;
- He awoke the nation from British imperialism, but took his side on the British for both World War I and II;
- He fought for India’s complete independence from British control; but welcome Britain’s support to unite the military power of Hindus and Muslims in India;
- He entered yoga by the backdoor as he wanted to use the power of yoga to serve the country’s political aim;
- He recruited members for the revolution, but their training included weapons & bomb as well as Gita & meditation;
- He talked about being your own master not anyone’s slave, but he praised total surrender to God and be His instrument;
- His spiritual practice is described austere, but he preached never to withdraw from life, but conquest of life by the power of the Spirit; and
- He was married with an Indian woman, but laid beside a foreign woman (Mirra Alfassa) in his tomb.
The book recounts Sri Aurobindo’s achievements:
1. Awakening India for independence;
2. The idea of “passive resistance”, later influenced the world known Mahatma Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement;
3. All his writings and publications;
4. A ashram in Pondicherry, India, that was manifested by his teachings and modeling;
5. The idea of a society on earth, that was founded by collective consciousness, later influenced the establishing of Auroville;
6. Integral yoga, a new school of yoga practice and spiritual application;
7. An expectation of united and free India to be a great contribution to the world through spiritual practices; and
8. A vision of man’s next evolution (a further ascendance following so far the process of from stone to plant to animal to man) through humanity unity and collective consciousness. Upon then, the early life becomes the life divine, and the heaven and earth are one.
And his dreams:
1. India has united and free;
2. Asia has returned to her role in the progress of human civilization;
3. The unification of human races is under way;
4. The spiritual gift of India to the world has begun; and
5. A step in human’s next evolution has initiated.
My learning from the book is more about understanding his spiritual application that everyone has in him something divine, a chance of perfection and strength. Our task is to grow the soul in order to find that divine and develop it for a noble use. In other words, no one is a god, but each man has a god within him. The god within takes no account of all the difficulties and deficiencies. Once he is manifested, he forces his way out. The aim of yoga (meaning union with God) is to remove the lid of ignorance and the veil of separation. Based on surrender and equality, let all become one and to realize God in life.
He wrote: “I do not want tens of thousands of disciples. It will be enough if I can get one hundred complete men free from petty egoism. I do not want to be a guru. What I want is for someone, awakened by my touch or by that of another, to manifest from within his sleeping divinity and to realized the divine life.” Maybe I just need to be the one awakened by his touch and start my spiritual path.
So, I formulate my learning to his 2 simple applications:
1. Frist to devote some time everyday for meditation and self-culture and secondly, to use or create daily at least one opportunity of being helpful to others.
2. First to grow in knowledge till we cease to be disguises; then to grow in spiritual power and quality till we are fullness of the divine.
A great journey starts by a step…
I picked up this book of his biography while visiting his ashram in Pondicherry, India. Through the stories told by Nirodbaran, one of Sri Aurobindo’s disciples also his literary secretary, Sri Aurobindo’s life unfolds slowly, in a very proper order, and with thoughtful focuses. The writing is very easy to follow and the information used is creditable even some of spiritual events are not all “rational”. Overall, it is a good book for me to start to get to know this great man.
The book starts with his birth in 1872 and goes on to describe his family background and the early period of his childhood. Then it comes his time in England from1879 to 1893, from the age of 7 years old until the graduation from Cambridge University. The book continues to talk about his works at the state service and college in Baroda after he came back to India in 1893 companied by his thoughts on the nation and aspiration of doing yoga during that period of time. Exciting writing then explains his heavy involvement with the nationalist movement and Congress conflicts during 1906 to 1908. Then it talks about how his 1-year in jail changed his life direction and turned him toward the spiritual path with no return. The book tells how he settled in Pondicherry in 1910, progressed on his spiritual journey from a seeker to a great guide. The story ends at his death in 1950 but concluded with his message depicting his personal dreams to his country fellows on the birthday of an Independent India in 1947.
The writer explains very well how Sri Aurobindo’s life seems to be contradictory but actually very logical:
- He was educated and grew up in England, but felt home in India;
- He was fluent in French and Latin, but he took pain to learn Sanskrit and translated it into English;
- He has the mind of an European, but found God’ presence in a Hindu religious image;
- He refused to take the exam in London to get a government service job in India, but when he arrived in India, he accepted a state service job from a local lord;
- He called shrink from bloodshed in wars weakness, but he is a lover of humanity;
- He awoke the nation from British imperialism, but took his side on the British for both World War I and II;
- He fought for India’s complete independence from British control; but welcome Britain’s support to unite the military power of Hindus and Muslims in India;
- He entered yoga by the backdoor as he wanted to use the power of yoga to serve the country’s political aim;
- He recruited members for the revolution, but their training included weapons & bomb as well as Gita & meditation;
- He talked about being your own master not anyone’s slave, but he praised total surrender to God and be His instrument;
- His spiritual practice is described austere, but he preached never to withdraw from life, but conquest of life by the power of the Spirit; and
- He was married with an Indian woman, but laid beside a foreign woman (Mirra Alfassa) in his tomb.
The book recounts Sri Aurobindo’s achievements:
1. Awakening India for independence;
2. The idea of “passive resistance”, later influenced the world known Mahatma Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement;
3. All his writings and publications;
4. A ashram in Pondicherry, India, that was manifested by his teachings and modeling;
5. The idea of a society on earth, that was founded by collective consciousness, later influenced the establishing of Auroville;
6. Integral yoga, a new school of yoga practice and spiritual application;
7. An expectation of united and free India to be a great contribution to the world through spiritual practices; and
8. A vision of man’s next evolution (a further ascendance following so far the process of from stone to plant to animal to man) through humanity unity and collective consciousness. Upon then, the early life becomes the life divine, and the heaven and earth are one.
And his dreams:
1. India has united and free;
2. Asia has returned to her role in the progress of human civilization;
3. The unification of human races is under way;
4. The spiritual gift of India to the world has begun; and
5. A step in human’s next evolution has initiated.
My learning from the book is more about understanding his spiritual application that everyone has in him something divine, a chance of perfection and strength. Our task is to grow the soul in order to find that divine and develop it for a noble use. In other words, no one is a god, but each man has a god within him. The god within takes no account of all the difficulties and deficiencies. Once he is manifested, he forces his way out. The aim of yoga (meaning union with God) is to remove the lid of ignorance and the veil of separation. Based on surrender and equality, let all become one and to realize God in life.
He wrote: “I do not want tens of thousands of disciples. It will be enough if I can get one hundred complete men free from petty egoism. I do not want to be a guru. What I want is for someone, awakened by my touch or by that of another, to manifest from within his sleeping divinity and to realized the divine life.” Maybe I just need to be the one awakened by his touch and start my spiritual path.
So, I formulate my learning to his 2 simple applications:
1. Frist to devote some time everyday for meditation and self-culture and secondly, to use or create daily at least one opportunity of being helpful to others.
2. First to grow in knowledge till we cease to be disguises; then to grow in spiritual power and quality till we are fullness of the divine.
A great journey starts by a step…
April 22, 2016
Bought this book during my stay at Auroville. I was mainly looking for some insight into what turned a firebrand nationalist - one of the key figures (if not the key figure) of the Swaraj Movement - just give all of it up and turn into an ascetic.
This book does provide a brief history of Sri Aurobindo, but always stops respectfully short of giving any real answers about the man, perhaps afraid that it might somehow tarnish the image of the great guru.
The writing is fluid. I did find myself wanting to skip some sections dealing solely with the ...supernatural, for want of a better word. But otherwise, I would recommend this to anyone who is either a) an Indian history nerd, or b) looking for some food for the soul.
This book does provide a brief history of Sri Aurobindo, but always stops respectfully short of giving any real answers about the man, perhaps afraid that it might somehow tarnish the image of the great guru.
The writing is fluid. I did find myself wanting to skip some sections dealing solely with the ...supernatural, for want of a better word. But otherwise, I would recommend this to anyone who is either a) an Indian history nerd, or b) looking for some food for the soul.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews