Life of Sri Aurobindo

Life of Sri Aurobindo

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION (1958)

"No one can write about my life because it has not been on the surface for man to see," wrote Sri Aurobindo. On another occasion, when requested to give his consent to a disciple for helping a writer of his biography, he wrote in his inimitable way, "I do not want to be murdered by my own disciples in cold print."

How could one probe into such an inner life — infinitely rich not only in its human content of intellectual, emotional and volitional movements, but filled with many varied spiritual experiences which transcend the human consciousness? The move ment of ascent of consciousness from Mind to Supermind, from the human to the Divine, is accompanied in his case by a descent with that Light and Power into the human instrumentation, — mind, life and body. A Yogi's real life is his inner life, — in fact, that is his only real life.

Even from the external point of view the writing of Sri Aurobindo's life presents a very great difficulty due to his versatility. He was a professor, a scholar, a poet, a political leader, a journalist, a philosopher, a dramatist, an indologist, a psychologist, a literary critic, a translator, and an original interpreter of the Veda, the Upanishads and the Gita.

But there was a pressing reason which urged me to take up this task. In spite of his aversion to the writing of his biography, people who knew very little about him began to publish unauthorised books on his life and work. Some of them contained altogether fanciful accounts even of the incidents in his life. Among them may be mentioned, Mr. Kulkarni's biography in Marathi, Yogi Aurobindo Ghose, Girija Shankar Roy Chowdhury's so called life of Sri Aurobindo which appeared serially in the Bengali monthly, Udbodhan, and Hemchandra Das's story of the revolutionary movement in Bengal.

I had occasion to refer to Sri Aurobindo all the doubtful points of these books for correction or corroboration. This gave me the correct ground for his biography. I had been collecting materials myself since 1923.

The Baroda State service records of Sri Aurobindo were secured

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by me in 1944 through Shri D.B. Shukla's help and submitted to Sri Aurobindo. He corrected these in his own handwriting.

Subsequently, my visit to England in 1955 enabled me to gather materials about his early life there which I have incorporated in this book. (A fuller account is published in the small book Sri Aurobindo in England.)

There is a lot of authentic biographical material in his own letters and other writings which I have tried to put in chrono logical order. Where his own writing was not available, I have depended on contemporary evidence — mostly of those who . were participants in the events or movements of his life.

Certain portions selected from Sri Aurobindo on Himself and arranged in Part Four will give the reader some idea, in Sri Aurobindo's own words, of the work which he did for others and for the world by using his spiritual power under divine guidance. In this age of the atom bomb, which seems to drive humanity to peace through fear, the possibility and assurance of a dynamic use of spiritual power can open out a new and a more lasting way to peace and harmony.

And even with all these materials one can only indicate the landmarks of his inner life:

1. His meeting with Vishnu Bhaskar Leie and the experience of the Silent Brahman Consciousness that never afterwards left him.

2. His vivid experience of the omnipresent Narayana during his confinement in a solitary cell in Alipore jail.

3. His seclusion at Pondicherry and the crucial and significant fact of his meeting with the Mother.

4. The descent of the Higher Power on 24 November 1926.

As to the outer aspect of his life, the output of his literary work alone is staggering in its volume, variety and originality. His contribution to the political freedom of India can be properly felt by those who have lived through the stormy days of the partition of Bengal when the national spirit burst out like a volcano in the placid, flat ground of Indian politics. The voice of awakened India was first heard week by week and day by day in the fiery columns of the Bande Mataram and the Karmayogin. These papers breathed the lofty air of freedom charged with an ideal ism that raised politics to the heights of religious fervour and

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spirituality. It converted hundreds to a life of dedication to the cause of freedom of Mother India.

But over and above his solid contribution to literature and the struggle for freedom, he has given a loftier vision to the modem world — the vision of man's destiny of divine life on earth. This vision, accompanied by an active effort in collaboration with the Mother, has created, out of almost nothing, two institutions of international importance — the Ashram and the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, where the pattern of the new life envisaged in his conception of man's destiny on earth is being worked out. These activities, undertaken during his apparent retirement, have awakened, fostered and helped the deepest spiritual aspiration of thousands of men and women of all races and creeds.

It is hoped that this book will inspire the reader to realise the great ideal in his own life.

The form of the book may seem to some rather matter of fact. I believe that the narrative of Sri Aurobindo's life in his own words will be found inspiring. The only claim that the book can make is that it is authentic as far as events, dates, views and opinions are concerned. There are some repetitions in the book, which have been intentionally retained.

The help rendered by my friends Shri Krishnalal Bhatt and Shri Vishnuprasad in preparing the manuscript is gratefully acknowledged.

A.B. Purani

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PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

This is a revised and enlarged version of the first edition bringing the available information up to date. One more block index and glossary also have been added.

I hope the book will serve the purpose for which it is written.

4 March 1960

The Author

PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION

There are many ways of presenting a biography. Due to many external and internal causes this form has been chosen. It is gratifying to note that many people have liked the form and the book has served as a sourcebook. In this edition necessary additions have been made.

7 May 1964

The Author

PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION

This edition has been revised. Several factual corrections, some of them based upon material that has only recently come to light, have been introduced. The contents have been rearranged to follow stricter chronological lines. Because of these and other factors a certain amount of other alteration was necessary. References to the author's sources have been provided and a completely new section dealing with Sri Aurobindo's life from 1927 to 1950 has been added. Nevertheless, the book remains substantially what it was when last seen through the press by the author.

The editors would like to thank Smt. Anu Purani, without whose assistance this edition could not have been prepared.

9 March 1977

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No one can write about my life because it has not been on the surface for man to see.

Letter to a disciple

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Once when a disciple asked Sri Aurobindo's permission to help a Marathi biographer in his task, Sri Aurobindo wrote:

"I do not want to be murdered by my own disciples in cold print."

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The second fact is that I do not care a button about having my name in any blessed place. I was never ardent about fame even in my political days; I preferred to remain behind the cur tain, push people without their knowing it and get things done. It was the confounded British Government that spoiled my game by prosecuting me and forcing me to be publicly known as a "leader".

October 1934

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Q: What is the truth behind personality?

Sri Aurobindo: There are many personalities in man. But the true person is also there; it is the Eternal thrown out in time as the Cosmic and the individual for a particular purpose, use or work. This true person is all the time conscious of his identity with the Cosmic.

Evening Talks, 1 January 1939

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First of all, what matters in a spiritual man's life is not what he did or what he was outside to the view of the men of his time (that is what historicity or biography comes to, does it not?) but what he was and did within; it is only that that gives any value to his outer life at all. It is the inner life that gives to the

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outer any power it may have and the inner life of a spiritual man is something vast and full and, at least in the great figures, so crowded and teeming with significant things that no biographer 1872 or historian could ever hope to seize it all or tell it. 1872

Letters on Yoga

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God must be born on earth and be as man

That man being human may grow even as God,

Savitri, Book VII, Canto 6

If far he walks above mortality's head,

How shall the mortal reach that too high path?

Savitri, Book VII, Canto 6

In the unfolding process of the Self

Sometimes the inexpressible Mystery

Elects a human vessel of descent.

Savitri, Book I, Canto 4

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