Bhupen Goswami 

 GUWAHATI :Sri Aurobindo was a multi-faceted personality who began his life as a student in England, came back as a teacher in Baroda, moved as revolutionary leader to Calcutta and then went on to become the greatest philosopher of this country in Pondicherry,’ observed Assam Governor Prof. Jagdish Mukhi while attending the 150th birth anniversary of the Great Revolutionary and Mahayogi Sri Aurobindo at a function held at Maligaon here today. Paying his rich tributes to Sri Aurobindo, the great philosopher, Governor Prof. Mukhi said that this great soul was solely responsible for the social, cultural and spiritual regeneration that took place in India between 1857 to 1947.

Speaking about the revolutionary changes in Sri Aurobindo, Prof. Mukhi said that this revolutionary leader quitting his post in Baroda came to Calcutta as the Principal of National College in Jadavpur now Jadavpur University, where he became one of the prominent leaders of the Indian National Movement. The Governor said that while he was in jail he had his first major spiritual experience which later changed his entire life. In 1910 he withdrew from politics and went to Pondicherry. So, the first part of Sri Aurobindo’s life had the message of Spiritual Nationalism, based on NATION and “Mother India”. He arrived Pondicherry on 4th April, 1910 and for long he did not moved out of Pondicherry. He lived there for the rest of his life over the next forty years. He developed a new spiritual path called the Integral Yoga. To him “All life is Yoga”, whose ultimate aim is to transform the life by the power of Supramental Consciousness. In 1926, with the help of his Spiritual Collaborator, ‘The Mother’, he founded Sri Aurobindo Ashram.

His vision of life is presented in numerous works which were published in 30 Volumes, among the best known of which are ‘The Life Divine’, ‘The Synthesis of Yoga’, ‘Essays on the Gita, ‘Savitri’ and ‘The Human Cycle’. Prof.Mukhi also said that according to Sri Aurobindo, man is not the end product of evolution. Man is simply an intermediate creature between the animal and the Divine. Man should rise above his present state of consciousness. His integral yoga brings together the 4 traditional Yogas of Hindu Philosophy and religious strivings- the Jnana Yoga, the Bhakti Yoga, the Karma Yoga, and Raja Yoga, the way of spiritual practices and inner development. The Governor said that Sri Aurobindo was an exceptionally brilliant writer and an eminent poet whose epic-poem Savitri is the longest poem in the world, containing 732 pages with 23800 lines, which has been described as A Legend and a Symbol. Savitri became his major literary work. He continued to expand and perfect it until his last days. His first series of articles were published in a journal called Induprakash, in which he launched a frontal attack upon the moderate leadership of the Congress. Prof. Mukhi said, “We need to strive for achieving a higher Spiritual life in order to live a better and meaningful life in the midst of chaotic modern world. Translating the teachings and ideology of Sri Aurobindo would be our fitting tributes to Sri Aurobindo and the commemoration of his 150th Birthday Celebrations.” The Governor expressed happiness to note that Sri Aurobindo Society has been striving to achieve all over the world through its more than 300 Branches and centres a higher spiritual life for which Sri Aurobindo and The Mother had worked relentlessly.

The present Auroville is the living example of World Union as envisioned by Sri Aurobindo. The programme which was organised by Sri Aurobindo Society, Assam State Branch, the was attended by the General Manager NF Railways Anshul Gupta, Assistant High Commissioner of Bangladesh Shah Mohammad Tanvir Monsur, Vice Chancellor of Rabindranath Tagore University Prof. Amalendu Chakraborty, Chairman Sri Aurobindo Society, Assam State Branch Dr.N.K.Bhattacharjee and a host of other dignitaries.