Nation has seen no greater visionary and statesman than Sri Aurobindo

T.N. Chaturvedi at Sri Aurobindo Jayanti Celebrations September 03, 2006 Organiser Home > 2006 Issues > September 03, 2006

Inaugurating the 134th Jayanthi celebrations of Maharshi Aurobindo at Sanskriti Bhavan in Thiru-vanantha-puram under the auspicious of Arobindo Cultural Society, Karnataka Governor T.N. Chaturvedi said Aurobindo was a legacy, a source of inspiration, a meteor, a shooting star for whom yoga and politics were not different but inter-mingled and whose concern for human destiny was all along. He said Aurobindo was a multi-faceted personality as a pathmaker, a poet, a revolutionary, a freedom fighter, a yogi, a sadhak, an educationalist and what not, a personality difficult to approach and study.

He continued that Aurobindo transformed the character of the freedom movement, as in 1910 itself, he had vision that Bharat would attain freedom and hence he shifted his base to Pondicherry for efforts to spiritualise the nation. “The uttarpara message and his interview to The Hindu on 15th August 1947 amplifies his message to the world. He combined the three yogas and defined the concept of evolution. He broke the dichotomy between spiritualism and materialism and brought harmony between both.” Concluding his speech the Governor said that the concept of India as a mother was first propounded by the Maharshi, as also his realisation that spiritual destiny is the only salvation to the individual and the world.

Delivering his lecture Bharatiya Vichara Kendram Director Padmashri P. Parameswaran said Aurobindo was a world Indeologue whose vision encompassed every aspect of human life. He said Aurobindo knew about the limitations of politics in realising the soul of the nation. He said for Aurobindo, the state existed for the nation and not vice-versa, as today.

He continued that the Maharshi wanted a spiritualised nation and not a religious state. He said that the nation has seen no greater visionary and statesman, than Aurobindo. “What differentiated Gandhi from Aurobindo was Gandhi’s support to the Khilafat Movement, which was a deadly combination of religion with politics which led to the Partition of the Motherland.” He regretted that while the whole world spent decades for the study of Aurobindo’s vision, Kerala and Bengal (his birth state) lost the opportunity by going after a failed ideology-Marxism.

Earlier delivering his presidential address Shri O. Rajagopal, former Union Minister of state said that despite offers of Congress presidentship after Tilak’s death, Aurobindo continued with his ‘Sadhana’ and ‘Yoga’ in Pondicherry. He said that Aurobindo literature is a huge reservoir of knowledge for which, many western universities have set up chairs to explore. Dr. Vasudevan, K. Raman Pillai, Col. Chandran also spoke on the occasion.