Sri Aurobindo’ S Views on the Ideal of Human Unity

In short this is the abstract of my doctoral thesis on Sri Aurobindo's social political philosophy. Here I want to elaborate the nature of his thesis.

isara solutions, 2014

Sri Aurobindo, who, in the words of Romain Rolland, "is the last of the great Rishis" . Envisions the nature and destiny of man with a practical attitude and ennobles the distracted humanity with a definite faith and Philosophy . His profound faith in the spiritual heritage of India works as the inner spirit of his philosophy . He had in the beginning a highly westernized education.

Journal of global values, 2021

Aurobindo accepted the notion of cyclical movement in human and cosmic history. He repudiated the straight linear theory of human progression. He had been one of the most creative leaders of the Indian renaissance movement. He devoted himself to the service of India at the time of the partition of Bengal. Aurobindo talked of the desirability and inevitability of the individual to develop beyond his mental consciousness. He stated that man is a complex being comprising of three elements-infra-rational, rational and suprarational. This paper explores Dr. Aurobindo's views on human nature and human values.

Sri Aurobindo was renowned political leader & his social political thought also has unique characteristics to be highlighted. This is my first draft of dissertation thesis that I never submitted for the award of PhD thesis.

International Journal of Scientific Research and Management, 2017

Sadhna into nature is process of liberation. Sri Aurobindo is one of them who linking between nature and material world by Sadhna. Internationalist Sri Aurobindo"s thought of global peace is a unique concept for freedom of ego, blindness and illiteracy. He has unshakable faith in man. In present time everyday life we are fevering from terrorism, war, national ego, economic variety, selfishness etc which are finishing humanity. If we thoroughly view all country we must see the problem of cooperation and adjustment. The literacy rate is growing like storm but the falling of national integration is falling down like Himalayas landslide. He was not only a great freedom fighter, patriot but also a great educationist, philosopher. Sri Aurobindo"s ideas about education are a happy synthesis of Idealism, Naturalism, Realism, Individualism and socialism. He tries to modernize education in India by integrating old values. According to him, education must have five principles of human activities of human being, Physical, vital, mental, spiritual and intellectual. In his political life, aim of his life is not only to develop our country but also develop world human unity. He directs to the Indian to take responsible for the spiritual development in human being after the extreme material development in European culture. As a Metaphysician, Sri Aurobindo means liberty is self and spiritual freedom. It is undertaken from Eastern philosophy but the concept of social and political is originated from Western philosophy. He tries to synthesize between both Eastern and Western philosophy. The individual always remain the focal point in the political and spiritual philosophy of Sri Aurobindo. The researcher wants to study the relevance of Sri Aurobindo"s thinking on national integration and integral yoga in the 21 st century for developing mind to be a good citizen and global peace. Integral Yoga is called as the art of harmonious and creative living. It stresses the need for the balanced growth of personality for constructive development of the latent possibilities of one"s nature and for their emplacement in the service of mankind and such higher values as truth, justice, peace, freedom and progress. If we want establish and develop India as a nation, we must integrate all power of ours. If we each one develops our country as an integrative unit then as an integration of each integrative nation we will can construct "World Union" or World Nation".

Integral Musings

Sri Aurobindo is a versatile spiritual genius, who is not only a Master-Yogi with profound spiritual realizations, but also a great scholar and thinker who wrote extensively on various topics ranging from politics to yoga. His writings shine with a penetrating spiritual insight which brings out the deeper, psychological and spiritual dimensions of the human, terrestrial and cosmic life. In this article, we present a brief and synoptic overview of the contents of Sri Aurobindo’s major works.

ShodhKosh Journal of Visual and Performing Arts, 2024

The crises of political instability, conflict, and fragmentation in contemporary society demand frameworks that go beyond materialistic and transactional approaches to governance. Sri Aurobindo, a philosopher, mystic, and revolutionary, provides a transformative vision of politics rooted in spiritual principles and the evolution of human consciousness. His philosophy of integral yoga emphasizes the need for a supramental transformation, which harmonizes individuality and universality. This paper critically examines the theoretical underpinnings of Aurobindo's spiritualized politics, focusing on seminal texts such as The Human Cycle, The Ideal of Human Unity, and The Life Divine. It also explores the practical applications of his ideas in conflict resolution and peacebuilding, drawing insights from grassroots initiatives and restorative justice frameworks. It also looks at the idea of Divine Anarchy as the model of governance and how it leads to conflict-free governance. By addressing critiques and contextual challenges, this research underscores the enduring relevance of Aurobindo's ideas in fostering a harmonious and unified global society.

Journal for Social Development, 2014

Spiritualism is a concept which lays stress on the supremacy of spirit in human conduct. Influence of spirit on human conduct finds reflection in ethically correct behavior. Spiritualism thus accords primacy to inner conscience of human beings and duty of the individual to know the real self hidden inside the physical body of human beings. It occupies the core of the ideal which ultimately paves the way for consolidating human unity across the globe cutting all barriers and divisions. As human values, concern for others and inner conscience constitute the foundation stone of the conduct of individuals motivated by spiritualism; conflict, hatred, rivalry, selfishness and war are naturally relegated to a subordinate status and peace, friendship, cooperation and fraternity gain preponderance for such individuals. Sri Aurobindo holds that in the absence of progressive spiritual realization of universal oneness no intellectual belief in human unity and peace can assume concrete shape. While political and administrative tools may aid in the realization of the goal of human unity, the goal can never prove to be sustainable unless spiritualism becomes its guiding force. This paper attempts to study the prospects of peace in the contemporary era of globalization on the basis of spiritualism of Sri Aurobindo.

The first part of this essay considers Sri Aurobindo's nationalism and contextualizes it within the colonial-national interchange and the modern understanding of the nation. It then problematizes Hindutva's attempts to reductively appropriate Sri Aurobindo's pluralistic and evolutionary nationalism. In the second part, a close reading is conducted of a well-known nationalist speech of Sri Aurobindo, the Uttarpara Speech, to draw out the significance of his ideas of "nation soul". The third part applies the implications of this nationalism to a consideration of Sri Aurobindo's social ideasconcerning nations and communities in their modern and postmodern trajectories. The paper concludes by considering instances of spiritual communities such as the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and Auroville which exemplify the social context of the Integral Yoga in Sri Aurobindo's global vision of the future.

Milestone Education Review , 2021

Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950) was a visionary and lived experience. His philosophy is studied under two main categories-spiritual philosophy and political philosophy. Spiritual philosophy includes the awakening of individual consciousness through the practice or sadhana (meditation) of physical, mental and vital levels. Political philosophy includes the arousing of collective consciousness by invoking the spirit of Nationalism.

South Asian International Research Journal

Sri Aurobindo's main aim was to make the Life Divine for everybody. He never believed in individual salvation, rather in collective salvation. Individual life has many faults and we have to overcome it by achieving Mukti or Moksha. However Indian philosophical concept of Mukti is not admissible to him. In Indian philosophy, Mukti has to be gained by only individual, be it Jivan Mukti, Videha Mukti of the Samkhya philosophy or Sarupyo Mukti, Salokyo Mukti, Sajujyo Mukti of the Vedanta philosophy. But his notion of Mukti is the way to call the Supermind upon the Earthen level and to make the lives of other people the perfect instances of the Life Divine like that of the Yogi himself. In this present article I want to show how Sri Aurobindo showed the hidden touch of spirituality even behind his politics and educational theories.

2009

In the first part of this talk, I consider Sri Aurobindo’s nationalism and contextualize it within the colonial-national interchange and the modern understanding of the nation. This includes a consideration of the nation-soul idea. In the second part, I apply the implications of this nationalism to Sri Aurobindo’s social ideas — concerning the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Auroville and, in general, the social context of the Integral Yoga and his vision of the future, so as to engage reflection on the present.

However an individual remains as the core of all such social aggregates or groups. A family or a commune is not possible without the existence of an individual within. The unity of a nation is not possible as the inherent class division has to be present there always. The foreign invasion, be it the Muslim invasions or the British invasion, helps a lot to unite a hugely diversified nation like India to unite under one roof by evoking the national oneness or the nationalistic fellow-feeling among every Indian individual residing within the Indian territory. Sri Aurobindo truly realized that the destruction of ancient European nations was destined to be due to their lack of unity among diverse culture, customs and religions of countrymen. And this lack of unification made their decline possible with the course of time. Ancient Empires Israel got extinct due to the existence of loose unification among all cultural and geographical aggregates.

Mahatma Gandhi and Sri Aurobindo are two great socio-spiritual thinkers of modern India. Their ideas made worldwide impact. Two key ideas from these thinkers to shape the future vision of society are (1) Economics of Gandhi (2) Spirituality of Aurobindo. In this paper we combine these ideas with the contemporary social discourse centered around Market and State to arrive at a new social vision.

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), 2022

Sri Krishnadhan went to England and returned an M.D., with full of honours. Raj Narayan Bose, an acknowledged leader in Bengali literature, a writer in the "Modern Review" and the grandfather of Indian nationalism was Sri Aurobindo's maternal grandfather. Aurobindo Ghose was a multifaceted person. He was a freedom fighter, poet, scholar, yogi and philosopher. He spent his life working towards the cause of India's freedom, and for further evolution of life on earth. With his two brothers, he was given an entirely Western education by their Anglophile father. After infant schooling at a convent in Darjeeling, they were taken to England to live with a clergyman's family in Manchester. From there they joined St. Paul's public school in West London, and later went on to Cambridge University.From school Aurobindo went to King's College, Cambridge, where he distinguished himself as a student of European classics. He passed the Indian Civil Service Examination with great credit in 1890. Failing, however, to stand the required test in horsemanship, he was not allowed to enter the Covenantal Service of the Indian Government. But, returning to India, he became the Viceprincipal of the State college in Baroda. He was held in great respect by the Maharaja of Baroda.Aurobindo's scholarship soon attracted the notice of all. He was loved by the educated classes in Baroda State. He was exceedingly popular with the general public. Sri K.M. Munshi was one of his students. Munshi admired and loved Aurobindo. To the younger generation, Aurobindo became a veritable god and by them he was called as "Aru Da", meaning "elder brother Aurobindo". Aurobindo married Mrinalini Devi.Aurobindo was an accomplished scholar