Sri Aurobindo felt that the main reason for the misery of man was his spiritual unconsciousness
After coming out of the jail, Aurobindo gave a speech in a spiritual conference in Utarpada near Kolkata, now famously referred to as the Utarpada speech in which he clearly explained experiences and insights gained during his stay in the jail.
He said, “Going to the jail and coming out of it were both a part of an existential plan. The purpose of jail life was to detach me from my strong attachment towards politics.” His speech also related the vision he had of Lord Krishna in which Krishna had said, “India’s main problem isn’t political; it’s spiritual. The prevailing foreign interference is simply a consequence of the spiritual cowardliness and lack of spiritual fervour. You’ll have to revive and re-establish the authentic spiritual values of Hindu wisdom in the world.”
It was his prison experience that propelled Aurobindo to take the bold decision to abandon politics in order to continue his spiritual journey.
The chief disciple of Swami Vivekananda, Bhagini Nivedita, had become Aurobindo’s political and spiritual assistant. She told him that the British were planning to re-arrest him and advised him to leave British India. It was Swami Vivekananda’s love for Aurobindo that manifested in Nivedita’s words. He got similar guidance from his inner self as well. Immediately, he left Bengal for the French colony of Pondicherry in South India via Chandranagar and arrived there on April 4, 1910.
In ancient times, the mystic Agastya Muni of North India had also made Pondicherry his last destination. It was from there that he had propounded Vedic culture in South India. In Ramayana, there is a beautiful description of how Ram had met Agastya Muni.
In its initial days, the Ashram was very poor and Aurobindo lived there with three other seekers. There was only one lamp there under which all the activities were carried out once it got dark.
In 1912, Aurobindo wrote a very poignant letter to his friend, Motilal Roy, which depicted the state of poverty in the Ashram. The letter read, “There is only half a rupee left, while six-seven people are here. Immediately, send us 50 rupees.”
In 1914, French couple Paul and Mirra Richards arrived in Pondicherry. Later the same Mirra Richards became known as the Mother. As soon as she saw Aurobindo, she realised that he was the same Yogi that she had been seeing in her visions throughout her life. Every Sunday, the Richards invited Aurobindo and his disciples for dinner. That was the only time in the week they would get to eat a full sumptuous meal and drink fine French wine.
Despite his high yogic state of consciousness, and unlike most Indian yogis, Aurobindo used to eat non-vegetarian food and drink alcohol. As he came from a Bengali family and grew up in the West, this was a normal practice for him. Ramakrishna and Vivekananda also came from Bengali families and used to eat fish regularly as a part of their diet.
Even today, fish is accepted as a part of the daily meal in Ramakrishna Ashram. A devotee of the South Indian enlightened master, Raman Maharshi, a contemporary of Sri Aurobindo, had complained to him about Aurobindo’s consumption of meat and wine. Raman had instead praised Aurobindo, “He was born in a Bengali family and grew up in the West, that’s why he has such eating habits. Don’t evaluate a yogi through his habits. Aurobindo is in a very high state of yoga.”
Later, Aurobindo, seeing that non-vegetarian food and alcohol was hindering his spiritual practice, quit both and turned vegetarian. Today all the Aurobindo Ashrams are fully vegetarian.
In 1920, the Mother divorced her husband and started to live permanently in the Ashram and took the full responsibility of running it. After this, Aurobindo confined himself in his room, while 24 November is celebrated as the siddhidiwas of Sri Aurobindo. It was on this day of 1926 that the supramind consciousness descended on him.
Aurobindo left his body on December 5th, 1950. He was buried four days later in the Ashram compound.
Aurobindo had refused the post of the president of the Indian National Congress in 1907 and later refused to become the first President of Independent India. Aurobindo felt that the main reason for the misery of man was his spiritual unconsciousness and made efforts throughout his life to uplift human consciousness and to make arrangements to descend the supramind consciousness to the earth.
In the last 24 years of his life, Aurobindo came out of his room to give darshan to his disciples only four times a year. The time he spent alone in his room is steeped in mystery. He says, “Meditation is for those who can come out of the society and the world, and travel the lonely journey towards the unknown. (Concluded)
(The author is a spiritual teacher.)