Influences. Aurobindo was sent abroad in order to study to become an officer of the Indian Civil Service
Download 292.26 Kb. Pdf ko'rish
|
xudo va odam
|
1 ST Y EAR NALSAR U NIVERSITY O F L AW , J USTICE C ITY , H YDERABAD Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2279113 Aurobindo Ghose, (1872-1950), was born into a privileged family in Calcutta, India. His father was determined that his son should have an English upbringing, away from Indian influences. Aurobindo was sent abroad in order to study to become an officer of the Indian Civil Service. By the end of his stint abroad, Aurobindo became convinced that he did not want to serve the British who seemed to him to be cruel and oppressive. He shifted to Bengal and jumped into active politics after lord Curzon passed the partition order. In Bengal he established contacts with revolutionaries and became a leader of the hardliners. In 1908 he was arrested in connection with the Alipore Bomb Case. He was released after a year of isolated incarceration. After his release from prison he gave a famous speech, known as the Uttarpara speech. This speech gave a clear indication of his shift in focus from political to spiritual matters. He shifted to Pondicherry where completely dedicated himself to his spiritual and philosophical pursuits. On August 15, 1947, on his 75th birthday, India finally achieved political independence. Sri Aurobindo died on December 5, 1950, after a short illness. His contribution to the making of modern India cannot be underestimated. Every aspect of his life has had ramifications for the basic nature of India as a country ranging from the political to the spiritual. However there has been a curious neglect of this great character of Indian history by historians and scholars. Many expositions and commentaries on Sri Aurobindo's principal works have been written, especially on The Life Divine, but there has been a lack of the same sort of activity around his life . Most books on Sri Aurobindo are hagiographical, with little or no biographical information 1 . A turning point in the critical history of Aurobindo's writings occurred with the 1970-72 publication of the Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library .Brought out by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, this thirty-volume collected edition of Aurobindo's works made his writings much more accessible to readers, particularly Westerners, which served to intensify the critical attention prompted by the centenary of Aurobindo's birth in 1972. Most of the biographical writings on Sri Aurobindo have been written by his devotees and understandably have a devotional, laudatory slant about the facts of his life 2 . There are a number of books which 1 Puligandla, Ramakrishna, Review of “The Lives of Sri Aurobindo”, Choice (USA), Nov 2008 2 Ashcraft, W. Michael, Review of “The Lives of Sri Aurobindo”, Nova Religio, Nov 2010, Vol. 14, No. 2 Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2279113 detail his later spiritual life, but these again are mostly written by disciples and serve not so much as studies as uncritical expositions of his philosophy 3 . Although Aurobindo studies continue to be dominated by the appreciative commentary of his followers, since the 1970s he has received increasing attention from scholars in the field of Indian and comparative religious thought 4 . In fact real critical studies of Aurobindo are hard to come by. One of the most important books in this regard, is Peter Heeh’s “The Lives of Sri Aurobindo”. This book is important, not merely for the amount of back breaking, detailed research it provides, but also for the critical analysis that is central to it. It is a cold, dispassionate and academic assessment of the facts of Aurobindo’s life. However this book is banned in India. This is because of an injunction on its sale asked for by devotees of Aurobindo which was granted by the High Court in Orissa. According to Ramachandra Guha, in his article “Ban the ban”, published in The Telegraph, India on July 30, 2011: “ ..Heehs is gently sceptical of the claim that Aurobindo possessed supernatural powers. “To accept Sri Aurobindo as an avatar is necessarily a matter of faith,” he writes, adding that ‘matters of faith quickly become matters of dogma’. This understated, unexceptionable statement drove the dogmatic followers of Aurobindo bananas. Some devotees filed a case in the Orissa High Court, restraining the Indian publisher from circulating the book in India. Other devotees filed a case in a Tamil Nadu court, seeking the revocation of Peter Heehs’s visa and his extradition from this country.” All manner of angry rhetoric has been spouted against this book. Critics claim that it is full of errors, distortions and misrepresentations which can easily mislead readers not familiar with the larger body of documentation of Sri Aurobindo's life and writings 5 . But the book is generally accepted as the authoritative version of the facts of Aurobindo’s life by scholars, 3 Hartland-Swann, Review of “ Sri Aurobindo and the Soul Quest of Man ”, Philosophy, Vol. 28, No. 107 (Oct., 1953), pp. 359-36 4 Stephen H. Philips, Review of “The Essential Writings of Sri Aurobindo”, The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 58, No. 2 (May, 1999), pp. 548-549 5 A Critique of the book “The Lives of Sri Aurobindo” by Peter Heehs, http://www.thelivesofsriaurobindo.com/2008/10/introduction.html Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2279113 Indian or otherwise. These include intellectual stalwarts like Ramachandra Guha and Amiya P.Sen. The large corpus of works Aurobindo left behind seems to dissuade historians rather than attract them. There are various fragmentary articles about different aspects of his life and philosophy. However, reviews of his life in its totality have not been forthcoming. There has been no really comprehensive view of his life as a whole. But this does not really imply that he is a forgotten footnote in Indian history. Collections of Aurobindo’s works are as popular as ever, including his famous ‘The Life Divine’. The attendant literature, like introductions to his works, is also going strong. But there is an apparent lack of serious scholarship about his life, which, considering his wonderful life is a pity. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2279113 Aurobindo was a leading proponent of anti-British nationalism in India 6 . He was the first Indian leader to use the term ‘Independence’ instead of ‘Swaraj’. He demanded absolute freedom instead of mere self rule 7 . He strongly believed that without political freedom, social and economic freedom could not come about and in his words it would be “the very height of ignorance and futility to do so” 8 .Aurobindo believed spiritual and moral development was the true form of development 9 . He felt that India with its long history was ideally poised to lead the way in the spiritual growth of the world 10 . For this to be achieved freedom was necessary. Aurobindo’s conception of nation and nationalism was unique in the annals of India. Aurobindo's conception of nation was deeply influenced by the novel Ananda Math by Bankimchandra Chatterjee, in which a sanyasi revolts against the British 11 . The bedrock of Aurobindo’s nationalism was his concept of spiritual nationalism and divinity of the motherland 12 . Patriotism, to Aurobindo, thus, had a spiritual dimension. He believed that the nation is not just a geographical unit or a mass of human beings. To him, it was something more than a mere figment of peoples' imagination. According to Aurobindo, the nation, conceptually, was a mighty ‘shakti’ that was constituted on the basis of the strength or ‘shakti’ of the millions of units that constituted it 13 .Nation, to him, was a living entity which was essentially divine 14 . Consequently, nationalism was treated as being akin to a religion 15 . In a speech in Bombay, delivered in 1908, Aurobindo said: “Nationalism is not a mere political programme; Nationalism is a religion that has come from God; Nationalism is a creed which you shall have to 6 Chandra, Prakash, History of The Indian National Movement, Vikas Publishers. 7 Dash, Siddartha, “Sri Aurobindo- The Prophet of Indian Nationalism and Renaissance”, Orissa Review, Nov 2008 p.26. 8 Heehs, Peter, “The Idea of India”, Life Positive, April-June, 2004 9 Ghose, Aurobindo, The Renaissance In India, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, 1951 10 Bali, Devraj, Modern Indian Thought, Sterling Publishers, New Delhi, 1980 p.145 11 Krishna, B., Indian Freedom Struggle: The Pathfinders from Surendranath Banerjea to Gandhi, Manohar, New Delhi, 2002, pp 80-85. 12 Dash 26 13 Ghose, Aurobindo, Bhawani Mandir. 14 Ibid 15 Johnson, David L., “The Task of Relevance: Aurobindo's Synthesis of Religion and Politics”, Philosophy East and West, Vol. 23, No. 4 (Oct., 1973), pp. 509-510 Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2279113 live………. If you are going to be nationalist, if you are going to assent to this religion of nationalism, you must do it in the religious spirit. You must remember that you are the instrument of God.” There are however many critics of Aurobindo’s spiritual nationalism. In their view, spiritual nationalism is communalism in the garb of cultural revival. They point to the fact that India, under Aurobindo’s influence, India not only became more militant in its opposition to British rule, but that much of this militancy was derived from the growing sense of community and belligerent defence of religious tenets 16 . It is contended that the association of religion and nationalism in a multi-religious country like India was always a dangerous proposition. They also point to Aurobindo’s apprehensions that Hindus some day may have to fight Muslims and in that case they should be prepared for it 17 . They contend that Aurobindo’s ideas, in some small part, eventually culminated in Partition. Aurobindo’s defenders however contend that his conception of nationalism was derived from the Hindu Sanatana Dharma which to him meant an open and universal approach to life 18 . His philosophy of Integralism promoted tolerance for all religions and the idea of a united humanity 19 . His spirituality conceived of a world beyond narrow human religions. It is, perhaps, in this context that his true religious views must be understood. Furthermore, there are practical objections in painting Aurobindo as a communal thinker. Nationalism cannot afford to neglect anyone. Aurobindo wanted to bring all sections of life to the political mainstream including the tribals and the underclasses. It is hard to conceive that he would have marginalised any community at the cost of the national movement. 16 Majumdar, R.C , History of the Freedom Movement in India, Calcutta, 1963, II 17 Krishna 85 18 Ghose, Aurobindo, The Ideal of Human Unity, Shri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, 1972 19 Minor, Robert N., “Sri Aurobindo’s Integral View of other religions”, Religious Studies, Vol. 15, No. 3 (Sep., 1979), pp. 365-377 Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2279113 For several years Sri Aurobindo had always been spiritually inclined. He proclaimed the message of a national religious renaissance. This spiritual inclination would remain a constant throughout his life. This message was never worked out into a comprehensive programme like Gandhi who developed it into the programme of Satyagraha 20 . He did not have a political base and hence could not become a mass leader despite being one of the first Indian nationalists to proclaim its importance 21 . Starting from the year 1907, Aurobindo also became increasingly interested in yoga and meditation. Sri Aurobindo came across a teacher of meditation, Vishnu Shankar Lele or he as was known, Lele Maharaj. He taught Sri Aurobindo how to control thoughts and not let them enter into his mind. Sri Aurobindo followed his instructions to the letter and he succeeded in completely emptying the mind in three days and entered into a state of nirvana 22 . At this time, politics was still his main concern. However, his stint in jail in 1908, where he studied the Gita and experimented with mysticism, completely changed the course of his life 23 . He retired to Pondicherry where he built an ashram. Here he built his own philosophy of integral non-dualism and came to be known as a great mystic and saint 24 . One of his major ideas was the concept of evolution of humanity into a state of supramental existence 25 . In doing so he introduced the concept of evolution into Vedantic thought. He divides the growth of humanity into three stages. The first stage was the period of spontaneity, wherein the forms and activities of community formation, its institutions and its growth are the outcomes of natural organic growth. The second was the stage of consciousness where humans become conscious and start thinking about life and its problems using intelligence and creativity. Finally we have the stage wherein humans live more deeply 20 Owen, H.F, “The National Movement”, A Cultural History Of India, ed. A.L Bansham, Oxford University Press. 21 Ibid 22 Ghose, Aurobindo, Autobiographical Notes and Other Writings of Historical Interest, Shri Aurobindo Ahram Press, Pondicherry, 2006 23 http://www.writespirit.net/authors/sri_aurobindo/biography-sri-aurobindo 24 Parrinder, E.G, “Sri Aurobindo on Incarnation and The Love of God”, Numen, Vol. 11, Fasc. 2 (Jun., 1964), pp. 147-160 25 Ghose, Aurobindo, A Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, 1970 Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2279113 and purposively 26 . Parallels can be drawn between this philosophy and the thoughts of the philosopher Teilhard de Chardin 27 . During his later life we find some of his political ideas expanded into wider concepts that encompass the very essence of humanity and its spiritual future. The newfound philosopher develops his political idea of unity and he makes the prediction that the notion of ‘nation’ will lose its importance. He envisions a time when there would be no conflict on the basis of nationality because of logical unifying reasons. In his writings The Human Cycle and The Download 292.26 Kb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: 
|