Sri Aurobindo Ghose

Famous Indian Personalities - Everyone Should Know About

23-04-2021 • 6 mins

Aurobindo Ghosh was an Indian philosopher, yogi, and Indian nationalist. He is popular as Sri Aurobindo. Aurobindo Ghose was born in Calcutta on 15 August 1872. His father, Krishna Dhun Ghose was a doctor and a former member of Brahmo Samaj. And his mother Swarnalata Devi. Sri Aurobindo’s English proficiency was very fluent because of his schooling in  Darjeeling which was a center of British life in India back at that time.

His father wanted him to enter the Indian Civil Service so he was sent to England. He cleared the written exams but intentionally delayed the practical to get himself disqualified for the service. Upon returning to India in 1893, he joined Baroda State Service. That’s when he started taking an active interest in the politics of India's independence struggle against British rule. He started writing for the “Vande Mataram” newspaper and pleaded with people to join the independence movement. He organized several meetings and also got the support of other extremist leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal.

Sri Aurobindo was also involved in the controversy of the Alipore Bombing in 1908 but no hard evidence was found against him. Later he was sent to jail for writing in the press against the Britishers. In 1910 he moved to Pondicherry and withdrew himself from all political activities. In Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo performed secluded yoga and started a magazine named “Arya”. In parallel, he also worked on writing books like The Life Divine, The Synthesis of Yoga, Essays on The Gita, The Secret of The Veda, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, and more.

In 1930, he wrote a poem, “Savitri” which became his greatest literary achievement. With his increase of followers, he with the help of his spiritual collaborator, Mirra Alfassa, founded the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Sri Aurobindo Ghosh was one of the influential leaders who taught the importance of spiritual education.

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