Influences. Aurobindo was sent abroad in order to study to become an officer of the Indian Civil Service

Ideal Of Human Unity, Aurobindo foresaw the birth of the unifying forces which would lead 
to the formation of a United States of Europe
28
. We know it as the European Union. 
This thought of human unity was central to his later thought
29
. In his message on the day of 
Indian Independence, Aurobindo referred to his dream of- “a world union forming the basis 
for a fairer, brighter and nobler human life for all mankind”. At another place, Aurobindo 
spoke of the concept of a ‘world state’
30
.
His concept of unity envisaged not only unity between nations as a group but also the 
ultimate unity of mankind
31
. His concept of unity was far reaching and nuanced. He did not 
believe in the concept of a unity imposed by law or authority for it would negate the aspects 
of diversity that were essential to his view of an ideally united world. He envisioned a future 
society of complex oneness wherein individual nations would be cultural unit of the greater 
whole without their physical boundaries having much significance at all
32
. 
It is interesting to look at our world today and realize how close Aurobindo was in describing 
it. Man’s aspiration for peace and unity has been realized in some small way, first by the 
establishment of the League of Nations and then by the formation of The United Nations. As 
26
Trivedi, Ramchandra, “Sri Aurobindo’s Conception of Philosophy”, East and West, Vol. 18, No. 1/2 
(March-June 1968), pp. 178-189 
27
Korom, Frank J., “The Evolutionary thought of Aurobindo Ghose & Teilhard de Chardin”, Journal of South 
Asian Literature, Vol. 24, No. 1, SRI AUROBINDO (Winter, Spring 1989), pp. 124-140 
28
Palkhivala, Nani A., We The Nation: The Lost Decades, UBSPD p 41 
29
Sen, Indra, “Sri Aurobindo as World Philosopher”, Philosophy East and West, Vol. 7, No. 3/4 (Oct., 1957 - 
Jan., 1958), pp. 131-141 
30
Palkhivala p 42 
31
Ghose, Aurobindo, The Ideal of Human Unity, Shri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, 1972 
32
Ibid. 
Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2279113

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Palkhivala puts it, “his prophecy of a World State will take a little longer”. In today’s 
divisive, violent world, it cannot come soon enough. 
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Aurobindo’s first nationalistic writings in the ‘Indu-Prakash’ were direct attacks on British 
rule and the methods of the Congress
33
. He felt that the Congress leadership had not 
understood the British and therefore, instead of boldly declaring their goals, they relied on the 
benevolence of the British rulers and resorted to futile petitions
34
. He therefore stressed the 
need for a broad based organization that could channel the will of the country to free it from 
foreign rule
35
. He was thus one of the first leaders to try and put the nationalist movement on 
a mass footing. His style of expression caused such a furore that Justice Ranade had to ask 
the magazine to modify its tone. Aurobindo reluctantly did so
36
. This strong and vitriolic 
attack was a forerunner of things to come. 
In 1906, Aurobindo plunged into active politics. His vision of the action to be taken was two-
fold- firstly to gain complete independence instead of mere swaraj or self rule
37
and secondly 
to attain this by creating a mass movement of millions of Indians
38
. According to Aurobindo, 
there were a number of ways to channel the sentiments of the people, through secret 
revolutionary propaganda to cause an insurrection
39
; through mass movements of non 
cooperation and passive resistance
40
or through continuous propaganda against foreign rule
41
. 
He dabbled with all three forms of resistance but his biggest legacies remain his policies of 
boycott and passive resistance.
Boycott, for Aurobindo, implied the shunning of British goods, services, education and 
administration
42
. These methods were born at the time of the partition of Bengal. Aurobindo 
33
Ghose, Aurobindo, Karmayogin: Political Writings and Speeches 1909 – 1910, volume 8 of The Complete 
Works Of Sri Aurobindo, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, 1997 
34
Southard, Barbara, “The Political Strategy of Aurobindo Ghosh: The Utilization of Hindu Religious 
Symbolism and the Problem of Political Mobilization in Bengal”, Modern Asian Studies 
Vol. 14, No. 3 (1980), pp. 359-361 
35
Ibid 
36
Ibid 
37
Dash p 27 
38
Johnson pp 509-511 
39
Prasad, Pradhan H., “Mass Struggle: The Only Option”, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 30, No. 4 (Jan. 
28, 1995), pp. 208-211 
40
Dash 27 
41
Heehs, Peter, “Foreign Influences on Bengali Revolutionary Terrorism 1902-1908”, Modern Asian Studies 
Vol. 28, No. 3 (Jul., 1994), pp. 533-556 
42
Heehs, Peter, “Bengali Religious Nationalism and Communalism”, International Journal of Hindu Studies 
Vol. 1, No. 1 (Apr., 1997), pp. 117-139 
Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2279113

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had lost faith in the prayers and petitions of the Congress. He believed that more direct action 
was needed. The method of boycott came to be used with phenomenal force by Gandhi
43
. 
However there is a key difference between Gandhi’s and Aurobindo’s interpretations of the 
same concept. Violence was not a taboo for Aurobindo
44
whereas Gandhi’s considered it 
unethical and morally void. Aurobindo considered it as an unfortunate part of a 
comprehensive programme of national regeneration
45
.
Critics of Aurobindo take this tacit acceptance of violence to infer that Aurobindo was a mere 
facilitator of anarchic violence. They also point to certain violent speeches and writings that 
he made over the course of his political career
46
. They limit his political role to what would 
be termed a terrorist in our time
47
. They point to his involvement in the Alipore Bomb Case, 
1908 as clinching proof of his destructive political agendas. However, we must consider his 
actions in the light of the circumstances facing him and those around him at that time. 
Aurobindo however pointed out that moral standards are not absolute but are relative by their 
very nature. To him, violence was undesirable but not prohibited
48
. However this is not the 
same as saying that he actively advocated violent means of action. His advocacy of violence 
was a response to the increasingly harsh British policies at the time, including the partition of 
his homeland, Bengal. However when the limitations of these methods became clear, 
Aurobindo was the first to point out its flaws and move to the path of passive resistance
49
. 
This is because he remained essentially, a realist who wanted to do the best for his country.
We also have to look at his actions in the context of his later life and the philosophy of 
integralism and human unity that he espoused. To look at his aims for mankind as laid out in 
The Life Divine or The Human Cycle and attribute them to a mere violent anarchist would 
require a great deal of imagination. Instead, a proper view of him would be to consider him a 
realist who balanced his ideals of peace with the needs of the time.
43
Stone II, J.H., “M. K. Gandhi: Some Experiments with Truth”, Journal of Southern African Studies 
Vol. 16, No. 4 (Dec., 1990), pp. 721-740 
44
Heehs, Peter, The Lives of Sri Aurobindo, Columbia University Press, 2008 
45
Ibid 
46
Ghose, Aurobindo, Bande Mataram: Early Political Writings 1890-1908, Shri Aurobindo Ashram, 
Pondicherry, 1972 
47
Sarkar, Sumit, Review of “The Bomb in Bengal: The Rise of Revolutionary Terrorism in India, 1900- 1910”, 
The American Historical Review, Vol. 101, No. 3 (Jun., 1996), pp. 899-900 
48
Ghose, Aurobindo, “Is Non-violence always the highest law?”
http://worldpeaceguide.tripod.com/Wisdom/Aurobindo/aurobindo.html 
49
Ghose, Aurobindo, “The Doctrine of Passive Resistance”, Bande Mataram, Apr 1907 
Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2279113

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