Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo: A Life of Light and Liberation
Sri Aurobindo was born in Calcutta on 15 August 1872. At the age of seven, he was sent to England, where he studied at St. Paul’s School in London and later earned a Senior Classical Scholarship to King’s College, Cambridge.
An ardent reader from a young age, his favourite subjects included English and French literature, as well as European history. He was a brilliant scholar of Greek and Latin and possessed a rare mastery of the English language. Having learned French in childhood, he also acquired enough German, Italian, and Spanish to read in their original languages.
Returning to India in 1893, Sri Aurobindo spent thirteen years in the Baroda State service as an administrator and professor. These were years of intense self-culture, literary activity, and silent preparation for future political work. During this time, he studied the prevailing political condition of the country and immersed himself in India’s rich cultural and spiritual heritage. He mastered Sanskrit and learned several Indian languages, including Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Hindi, and later, Tamil.
In 1906, Sri Aurobindo moved to Bengal and openly joined India’s freedom movement. His daily newspaper, Bande Mataram, quickly became one of the most powerful voices of the Indian national movement.
In 1908, he was arrested in the Alipore Conspiracy Case, implicated through the activities of a revolutionary group led by his brother Barindra. During his one year of under-trial detention in jail, he spent most of his time practicing yoga. It was during this period that he had a series of profound spiritual experiences that changed the course of his life.
Though he continued his revolutionary work for some time, in 1910, responding to an inner spiritual call, Sri Aurobindo withdrew from active politics and moved to Pondicherry for exclusive focus on spiritual practice.
After four years of intense yogic discipline, he launched a monthly philosophical journal, Arya, in 1914, through which most of his major works were serialized. These writings reflected the deep inner knowledge that had come to him through yoga. Assimilating the essential truths of ancient spiritual paths, he developed a new and more complete system of yoga aimed at transforming human nature and divinizing life. To this great purpose, he devoted the rest of his life.
A prolific English poet, Sri Aurobindo’s creative range spanned romantic lyrics, sonnets, long narrative and dramatic poems, and two epics.
Sri Aurobindo left his body on 5 December 1950, leaving behind a legacy that continues to inspire seekers, scholars, and spiritual aspirants around the world.