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<title>A Review of Sri Aurobindo's Life</title>

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<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center; line-height:150%;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">&nbsp;</p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center; line-height:150%;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">
<b
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><font size="4">A Review of Sri Aurobindo's Life</font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<div class=Section1>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:44.85pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><b><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>I PROPOSE
to speak to you on a very interesting subject – about Sri Aurobindo. You know
it is his centenary, that is to say, this August<span style='font-family:Tahoma'>¹</span>
he completes a hundred years of earthly existence: I say earthly advisedly
because although he has left his body he has not left earth's atmosphere. The
Mother assures us he will be there to see the work begun <span class=GramE>be</span>
completed. I will speak on a very peculiar aspect of Sri Aurobindo's life. Many
must have noticed it but I wish to draw your particular attention to it. Sri
Aurobindo's life is an extraordinary phenomenon. It is not that of an ordinary
human being. The life of an ordinary man follows a well-marked line of
development, almost a routine good for everybody. The pattern is <span
class=GramE>familiar,</span> you can even foresee and foretell the future – and
the destiny of a person. You start as a student, join a school, go up to the
college, after passing out you choose a profession, become an engineer or
doctor or businessman or something well-recognised like that, then you continue
to stick to the job you have chosen: you become a rich man or if you are
unfortunate a poor man, anyhow go through the experiences of the life allotted
to you, you become old, have children, grandchildren and then pass away; that
is the ordinary course of life. In Sri Aurobindo life has a different line,
movement and procedure. Strangely it consists of breaks, sudden unforeseen
turns almost cutting away the past altogether. And then what is to be noted is
that these breaks or turns are not imposed upon him but they are normally his
own conscious decisions out of his own deliberate will, except one or two, I
shall point out as I go on. <span class=GramE>These turns.</span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.75pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;</span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>¹</span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt'>15 <i>August </i>1972</span><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

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mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 9<o:p></o:p></span></p>

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<p class=MsoBodyText style='margin-top:0; line-height:150%; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>however</span>
may not be always a right-about-turn but anyhow, I may say, a right turn, a
turn to the right, always to the right – until the final ultimate Right is
reached.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>First
of all – let us begin from the very beginning. The very first step or turn he
took in his early childhood was in fact a complete about turn – the antipodes
of what he was and where he was. For, he was almost uprooted from his normal
surroundings and removed across far seas to a distant land. From out of an
Indian Bengali family he was thrown into the midst of a British Christian
family. He was made to forget his native language, his country's traditions,
his people's customs and <span class=GramE>manners,</span> he had to adopt an
altogether different mode of life and thinking, a thoroughly <span lang=EN-GB
style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Europeanised</span> style and manner. Naturally
being a baby this was an occasion, the earliest when he had not his choice, his
own deliberate decision but had to follow the choice of his father – the choice
perhaps of his secret soul and destiny. His father meant well, for he wanted
his children to be not only good but great according to his conception of
goodness and greatness. Now, in that epoch when the British were the masters of
India and we their slaves, in those days the ideal for a person of intelligence
and promise, the ideal of success was to become a high government official, a
district magistrate or a district judge; that was the highest ambition of an
Indian of that time and naturally Sri Aurobindo's parents and well-wishers
thought of Sri Aurobindo in that line, he would become a very famous district
magistrate or a Commissioner even, the highest position that an Indian could
achieve. So he had to appear at an examination for that purpose, it was called
– those glittering letters to Indian eyes: I.C.S. (Indian Civil Service). Now
here was the very first deliberate choice of his own, the first radical turn he
took – to cut himself away from the normally developing past. He turned away
from that line of growth and his life moved on to a different scale. His
parents and friends were mortified such a brilliant boy come to <span
class=SpellE>nought</span> but he had pushed away the past as another vision
allured him and he stuck to his decision.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Next
as you all know, he came to <st1:City><st1:place>Baroda</st1:place></st1:City>,
entered the State service – as Secretary to the Maharaja and professor of the
College. That life was also externally a very normal and ordinary life – an
obscure life, so to say, but he preferred obscurity<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

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mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 10<o:p></o:p></span></p>

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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-bottom:0'>for the
sake of his inner development and growth. Still he continued in that obscure
position that was practically what we call the life of a clerk. He continued it
for sometime, although sometime meant twelve years, the same length as his
previous stage. Then a moment came when he changed all that. Another
volte-face. If he continued he might have advanced, progressed in his career,
that is to say, become Principal of the College, even the <span class=SpellE>Dewan</span>
of Baroda, a very lofty position, a very lofty position indeed for an Indian,
become another R. C. Dutt. But he threw all that overboard, wiped off the
twelve years of his youthful life and came to <st1:place>Bengal</st1:place> as
a national leader, a leader of the new movement that wanted freedom for <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
freedom from the domination of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
He jumped into this dangerous life – the uncertain life of a servant of the
country, practically without a home, without resources of his own. He ran the
risk of being caught by the British, put into prison or shot or hanged even but
he chose that life. That was a great decision he took, a turn about entirely
changing the whole mode of his life. Eventually as a natural and inevitable
result of his political .activities he was arrested by the British and put into
prison. He had to pass a whole year in the prison. And this led to another
break from the past, ushering in quite another way of life. The course of his
life turned inward and moved from depth to depth.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>In
the prison one incident happened which is not known to many but extremely
important and of great consequence. I have mentioned it in my <i>Reminiscences.</i><span
style='font-family:Tahoma;mso-bidi-font-style:italic'>¹</span><i> </i>When we
were in prison we thought – we were the first batch of political prisoners
accused of conspiracy and practically of rebellion <i>against the established
government – so </i>we thought this was the end of our life's journey. One day
we will be taken out and shot: <span class=SpellE>court trial</span> and
justice was a make-believe and sham. Or if we were lucky enough we would be
exiled to the <span class=SpellE>Andamans</span> – the notorious <span
class=SpellE><i>kalapani</i></span><i>. </i>So a few of our leaders in the
prison who were elders to us thought of escape from the prison-make a dash,
break out, scale the walls, out in the open. There were <span class=SpellE>plannings</span>
with outside helpers. When the plan was a little matured, our elders thought of
consulting Sri Aurobindo. Without his Consent naturally nothing could be done.
For he was the one </p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>&nbsp;</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
class=GramE><span style='font-family:Tahoma'>¹</span> <span style='font-size:
10.0pt'>Sri Aurobindo Ashram</span><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>, </span><st1:City><st1:place><span
  style='font-size:10.0pt'>Pondicherry</span></st1:place></st1:City><span
style='font-size:10.0pt'>.</span></span><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;'>Page – 11<o:p></o:p></span></p>

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<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>leader and guide. So when
Sri Aurobindo was informed of the plan he said bluntly: I am not going to do
anything of the kind. I stand the trial. As a natural consequence the project
fell through and very fortunately for us. It is true he already knew the result
of the case, that is that he would be freed and nothing would happen to him.
Still at that time there was a suspense and we all were in doubt. This decision
of Sri Aurobindo was another, I may say, great turn of his life. If he had
accepted the prospect his life and destiny would have been different, we all
would have been massacred. In other words he saved his life for his spiritual
work.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.7pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>On
coming out he engaged himself again in the national work, the British were
truly perturbed and worried because they knew here was <i>the </i>man, the
source of all mischief. They did not know how to control and get at him. So
they thought of arresting him again and deport him, send him out of bounds –
outside India, to Burma or some such far off place. In the meanwhile he
continued to do his work as usual, editing two papers, seeing and advising
people, going out on lecturing tours etc. But it was time for the next break or
turn. One day-one night, that is to say – all of a sudden he said, he would go
to an unknown destination and literally he did so, dropped and left things as
they were and disappeared. People knew later on that he had gone to <st1:City><st1:place>Pondicherry</st1:place></st1:City>.
This time it was almost literally wiping out the past. He started an altogether
new life, inner and outer. Here started directly his climb to the Supramental.
Here too after a few years came an occasion when he had to take another radical
decision. One more turn to the right – to the more, yet more right.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
British could not tolerate his existence, his safe existence in India, even
though in (the then) French India. They felt themselves unsafe, for they felt
this man could do anything. As France was an ally to the British, there was an <i>entente
cordiale, </i>so they both came to an understanding and made a proposal to Sri
Aurobindo: France would gladly receive Sri Aurobindo in their midst, give him
safe shelter and quiet circumstances to pursue his spiritual life. France was
ready to offer Sri Aurobindo a house, a home in Algeria. Here too Sri Aurobindo
answered with a clear and definite No. He said he would stick to the place he
had chosen. Sri Aurobindo had some friends and com<span
class=SpellE>panions</span> 
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

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mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;'>Page – 12<o:p></o:p></span></p>

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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:0;text-align:justify;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-bottom:0'>who also took shelter in the French territory. They
would have liked to accept the proposal to escape from the constant British
persecution. But Sri Aurobindo's decision came as a disappointment to them, but
they had to acquiesce. Now, at this distance of time we can see all the import
of his formidable decision half a century ago.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>There
was yet one more crisis, a great crisis – the fate of humanity and also his own
destiny, the fate of his work depended upon it. The world was nearing the
world-shaking war – the Second World War. It was the invasion of the asuric
forces upon earth to destroy humanity and human civilisation and prevent the
advent of that truth which Sri Aurobindo was preparing to bring down. Sri
Aurobindo opposed that mighty onrush with his will and divine strength. He
broke the hostile downward-speeding force by taking it into himself, even like
god Shiva who swallowed poison and <span class=SpellE>harboured</span> it in
his throat to release immortality for the Gods. The subtle attack left in him a
bruised body and to man a saved world. He followed up his action by a
whole-hearted support to the Allies in that war against those who were the
instruments of the Hostiles.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.2pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>We
come finally now to the last act, the last decision that he took of an almost
complete turn, a full cycle. It was his considerate deliberate decision to
move out of the physical material scene and take his station just in the
background from where he could move and direct things more effectively.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>I
have spoken of Sri Aurobindo's life as a series of radical turns that changed
the movement, the mode of life, almost radically every time the turn came. The
turn meant a break with the past and a moving into the future. We have a word
for this phenomenon of radical and unforeseen change. You know the word, it is <i>intervention.
</i>Intervention means, as the Mother has explained to us more than once, the
entry of a higher, a greater force from another world into the already existent
world. Into the familiar established mode of existence that runs on the routine
of some definite rules and regulations, the Law of the present, there drops all
on a sudden another mode of being and consciousness and force, a Higher Law
which obliterates or changes out of recognition the familiar</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>mode of living; it is thus
that one rises from level to level, moves out into wider ranges of being,
otherwise one stands still,<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;'>Page – 13<o:p></o:p></span></p>

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<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>remains for ever what he
is, stagnant, like an unchanging clod or at the most a repetitive animal. </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
higher the destiny, the higher also the source of intervention, that is to
say, more radical – more destructive yet more creative – destructive of the
past, creative of the future.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>I
have spoken of the passing away of Sri Aurobindo as a phenomenon of
intervention, a great decisive event in view of the work to be done. Even so we
may say that his birth too was an act of intervention, a deliberate divine
intervention. The world needed it, the time was ripe and the intervention happened
and that was his birth as an embodied human being – to which we offer our
salutation and obeisance today.</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
century salutes a divine birth and a death divine, ushering in a century of
diviner moment.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

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<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;'>Page – 14<o:p></o:p></span></p>

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  <p class=MsoNormal align=right style='text-align:right; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;color:blue'><a href="-01-Index"><span style='text-decoration:
none;text-underline:none'></span><span style='text-decoration:
none;text-underline:none'></span><span style='text-decoration:
none;text-underline:none'><a href="-00_-Content"><img border=0 width=70 height=19 id="_x0000_i1033"
src="_Jpeg%20image/set10_home_on.gif"></a></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>

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