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Sri Aurobindo
(ILLUSTRereo)
Published on tlte occasion of
150'h Bjrth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda
Story Composition : Dr. Prema Nandakumar
lllustrations : Sunitha Vasu
Ramakrishna Math & Ramakrishna Mission
Belur Math
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The beauty of HimalaYas around
Darjeeling inspired his poetic heart.
Aurobindo with his sweet nature won many friends. Like most of
the
pupils in the school Aurobindo too became fluent in English
within a short
period.
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He made amazing
progress at school and won
Butterworth 2nd Prize in literature. He was found to
be exceptionally
good at history. Soon he mastered
English, French, ltalian and German literature. As their
father could not send enough money, the children
spent their days in want. For months they could not
Krishna Das Ghose took his three sons and
daughter Sarojini to England in 1879. He placed
them in care of Reverend Drewett in Manchester
and returned to lndia. After getting private education
for 5 years, Aurobindo was admitted to St'Paul's
School in London in 1884.
To find answers he became a member of a
'secret
society' named
"Lotus
and Dagger".
The youthful mind of Aurobindo now
turned to lndia. He wondered:
"How
can a tiny
country like Britain
rule a vast country
Each member
of the society toot oitnlo ,rol[
toward liberating
lndia from the British rule
He also delivered
speeches
in Cambridge,
in
an organization
called
,,lndian
Majlis,,.
Fortunately
Aurobindo
*-on u ,choluohf
oi-gTpounds per year
to
study at King's coilege, cambridge.
with this, he courd comprete
first
year
of honours examination.
During this period
he mastered
Greek and Latin languages.
Even in
his teens, he became famous
as a
scholar.
Then he appeared
for the tnOian- Cirii
Service (lCS)
examination.
Even though he
was qualified
in the exam, he decided against
joiningtheservice.
@
Because
he coutd ctearty
"""
ho*EritGhSGEE'iGi
oppressing
his motherland.
Then Maharaja of Baroda inter_
viewed him and offered him a
job
in Baroda
Civil Service.
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ts
is
lnspired
by their works, he too starled writing poetry
and
"ontriOrt"O=
many articles to a magazine called
,,lndu
prakaih,,.
ln
'1
901, he married Mrinalini Devi
She was good-natured
and faithful. Sh" *u, ul"o u
devotee to Sri Ramakrishna
paramahamsa
and Holy
Mother Sri Sarada Devi.
Afterwards,
Sri Aurobindo
decided to learn
yoga
from a teacher called Vishnu Bhaskar
Lele. When they sat for the first time
together facing each other, he was told
"Throw
away all the
unnecessary
thoughts
arising in your
mind
with sheer will-power."
Sri Aurobindo
could
achieve this uphill task
within three days. Then
his mind was filled with
unparalleled peace
and
silence.
This menial state continued throughout hG lifel
Aurobindo
continued his yoga practice
illl the end.
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-
lndian newspapers
proclaimed Swami
Vivekananda
as the saviour of Hinduism,
true representative
of Sanatana Dharma
(The Eternal Religion).
f f,"
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t AS3 is of great significance
to lndian cultural
,"nuirrun"".
ln this very
year, Sri Aurobindo
made his
homecoming
for his
great mission and Swami
Vive-
kananda *"nt to America to deliver his epoch making
"lndia is a countrY with a
great past. And it will reach
the same
greatness for
sure. But, we lndians
should
give-uP our laziness
and
get rid of our slavish
mind-set."
The Swami declared:
All th" n"*t
pertaining to Swami Vivekananda
received extensive
coverage across the globe'
Sri Aurobindo read those reports with enthusiasm
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N\\'I
ff" t*,nOuO
Ramakrishna
Mission
at Calcutta on
'1
st
1897. With these events Sri Aurobindo
was filled
optimism about lndia's future.
On homecoming,
Swamiji received an
enthusiastic
welcome across the length
and breadth of the lndian sub-continent'
ln this
poem he exPressed
the bliss of living in homeland
in a heart warming waY.
Mother Kali showed him some visions, in which
Indians were defeating the foreign forces.
ffi
Finally the awesome form of
Kali got transformed into
beautiful Goddess Savitri.
Mother Kali also bestowed upon him a vision in which future lndia
filled with prosperity,
coupled with Vedic culture flourishing all over.
After this vision Sri Aurobindo took plunge
into political
work in a
big way. He moved towards quitting
his
job
and stopping his yoga
practice
as well.
He took these steps consciously in order
to allocate his time for the political
strug-
gle. But these decisions are not suitable
for a happy married life.
F*
Srr"rS
th,s divine experience,
I am ready to
makJ any sacrifice.
Thirdly, I feel that lndia is not a
collection
of forests and meadows,
but a living
Mother endowed
with material
and spiritual
ft f ro"nOlf rp"nO tf,", all on my own
personal comforts
anO frappiness,
I consider
myself a thief' Secondly'
I want see God face to face.
He thought to himself,
"l have
the
power to uPlift lndia. I am
crystal clear in mY conviction'
g
L-
During those days he had another vision. He saw
Vasudeva (Sri Krishna) in every object around him.
He said, "l walked under the tree which was in front
of my cell.
saw Sri Krishna himself in form of the tree, offering
me shade. The bars of the cell, that were confining
me were embodiment of Sri Krishna himself."
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An eminent lawyer, Desha bandhu
Chittaranjan Das defended
Sri Aurobindo during the trial.
He declared during course of arguments, "Long
after he is dead and
gone, his words will be echoed and re-echoed, not only in lndia, but
across distant seas and lands." Finally he was declared not guilty
and
was acquitted on 6th May, 1909.
The life in prison
brought a great change in Sri Aurobindo's thinking. Speaking at Uttarpaia on 30th May hi
said,
"The
vision of Vasudeva showed my future course of action.
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Meanwhile his wife Mrinalini was deeply
upset that her husband was in prison. .
Seeing him being imPrisoned
for months,
greatlY disturbed
her. One of her cousins.
Sudhira, used to take her to
Sri Ramakrishna Math.
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She would receive much consolation in
the spiritual atmosphere at the Math
She used to consider
her husband as God
himself.
o
6
9;
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JIrin"
"o*rt
of Sri Ramakrishna
Paramahamsa
and
Poured
out her heart
One day Mrinalini could meet
Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi,
Because of his
Political
Sri Aurobindo had to live
exchanged
letters.
work and frequent tours
away from her often but thel
After listening to her sad story Sri Sarada
Devi assured her thus:
"My
daughter, don't get disturbed.
Your husband is under the
protection
of God.
With Thakur Sri Ramakrishna's
blessings he will soon be
proved innocent. But he will not
lead a worldly life."
These kind words of assurance soothed Mrinalini's heart.
She started living with her father at Shillong.
She led a calm, God centred life. She installed
pictures of Mother Kali, Sri Ramakrishna, Sri
Sarada Devi and
Sri Aurobindo in
her shrine.
There, she used sing to her heart's content. At last
she received the news that her husband was proved
innocent and was acquitted.
{-
After sri Aurobindo was released, Mrinalini
joined him and they lived at
Kolkata
peacefully for about one year.
He silently left to a
place called Chandernagore to continue his yoga
practice without any hindrance.
informed Sri Aurobindo that, British
Government is
planning to arrest him
again.
,--r-'--l
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They were cordiallY received
by eminent Tamil poet Maha
kavi Subramania Bharati and
famous
patriot Srinivasachariar.
He travelled in a steamer
and landed in Pondi-
cherry on 4th April 1910
along with a comPanion
named Beloy Nag.
ln those days, Pondicherry was under French
rule. Hence Sri Aurobindo chose to settle
there. After staying a few weeks at Chander-
nagore, he shifted to Pondicherry incognito.
*:-:=*i-=--*- e
Then Sister Nivedita (disciPle
of Swami Vivekananda), whc
took active role in freedon
struggle
L
Together,
three of them decided
Hinduism
as well as other reliqions
of the world.
The aim of the magazine
was to irnpro*
,Ir.rb-
The_magazine
often quoted
tf,e saying;;
Sri Ramakrishna
and Swami VivetinaiOa.
Here is a quote
of Sri Ramakri.f.,
the good
and bad qualities
of others is wasting his time; for it is the
time spent not thinking
of the indwelling
Self o"r the Supreme Self.,,
Quote of Swami Vivekananda:
"The
soul of every man contains
God in potentiality."
ln their absence Sri Aurobindo
man-
aged the magazine single-handedly'
All these became very
pooL-Lar
"r'ret
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"'e'=
published as books n late:;ea's
Prr.Irtdfu'li*"RichardwerecompelledtoleavePondicherry
stayed in Japan for a few years and returned in 1920
He typed the articles
himself. He wrote
philosophy and ihe
problems of the mankind'
-^rc4-
' s sssais
're taught. A man can become
L 'e'Cne has to follow the
path of yoga to get rid
of one s ignorance
and evil ways to achieve this'
He wrote a brilliant
poem pleading Mother Durga
to bestow strength and freedom upon his fellov.
countrymen.
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vivekananda
was a soul of puissance
if ever there
was one, a very lion
amongmen,butthedefinitiveworkhehasleftbehindisquite
incommensurate
with our impression
of his creative
might and energy'
Weperceivehisinfluencestillworkinggigantically,weknownotwell
how,weknownotwellwhere,insomethingthatisnotyetformed'
something
leonine,
grand, intuitive'
upheaving
that has entered
the
soul of India and we say,
"Behold, vivekananda
still lives in the soul of
his Mother
[India]
and in the souls
of her children'"
Sri Aurobindo
Bal Cangadhar
Tilak Sister
Nivedita
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Ramakrishna
Mission,
Belur
Math
Sri Aurobindo
(Illustrated)
<10/-
.$'6
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