This refers to the article, “The Sage and his idea of India” (April 13) by Anirban Ganguly. In his Uttarpara speech, Sri Aurobindo said, “When it is said that India shall rise, it is the Sanatana Dharma that shall rise, it is the Sanatana Dharma that shall be great.” However, the great sage himself explained what he meant by the terms Hindu, Santana and Dharma. He regarded Hinduism not as a religion, but as a civilisation. His concept of ‘Hindu’ was diametrically opposite to our popular idea of an institutional and ritualistic religion.
Aurobindo said, “There are two Hinduisms; one which takes its stand on the kitchen and seeks its paradise by cleaning the body; another which seeks god, not through the cooking pot and social convention, but in the soul. The latter is also Hinduism and is more enduring than the other.” Therefore, we must not confuse Sri Aurobindo’s concept of Hinduism which is beyond any institutional religion that we practise or that is beyond geographical boundaries. It can be identified only with the spiritual quest for divinity.