Homage to Sri Aurobindo on his 135th Birth Anniversary
- Sundari Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore
Then came Sri Aurobindo on 15th August 1872 as a Renaissance of India, preceded by several great reformers and intellectuals to give a new impetus to this land of Karma Yoga. India got its independence from colonial rule on 15 August 1947, seventy-five years after the advent of our great Master's Tapasya .
India plunged into darkness and ignorance, its religions dominated by superstitions and vain rituals, politically powerless due to colonial rule, its industries abolished, its social fabric shrouded in ignorant factions of a narrow caste system and religious sub-divisions… this was India, the land of spirituality and dynamic action, the birth place of Maryada Purushottam Rama and the supreme statesman Shri Krishna, the home to Gautama Bhuddha and Adi Shankara, the land where great seers guided the polity of the kings, the land where a first dawn of earliest human civilization took place and fathomed the depths of great metaphysical truths, the land where the scientist and the philosopher, the artist and the warrior, were termed Rishis. This land was plunged for more than ten decades (from 8th to 16th century) in darkness and inaction. The great truth of the Vedas and Upanishads, the mighty action of the epic periods of Ramayana and Mahabharta were forgotten or misinterpreted. The spirit still did not die. It was protected and preserved by saints born among the common people: saints like Mirabhai , Tukaram , Chaitanya Prabhu strolling through the dusty rural areas and singing lyrics to the farmers and the craftsmen, at the same time repeating the truth of the Vedas and Upanishads expressed in a language that appealing to their spirit of Bhakthi Yoga. All those who came as conquerors, along with their diverse faiths, were absorbed into India's infinite stream of spirituality and remained part of the multi-dimensional values of the Dharma. For from the very beginning it was believed that the various faiths are only varied paths to reach the Godhead and this universe is an external manifestation of the same Divine force.
Political instability and decaying socio-economic conditions depleted the Rajasic energy of the Indian ethos resulting India's surrender to foreign domination for more than two hundred years (17th to 20th century). The people of this land on whom Goddess Saraswathi bestowed her special grace became illiterate and ignorant. Its craftsmen and farmers were poor and exploited by the feudal lords, its spirituality was reduced to meaningless religious rituals imposed upon by priests with vested interests. This was India while Europe had its Renaissance giving it a new birth from the "feudalized Europe by the old Graeco-Latin spirit and form with all the complex and momentous results which came"as Shri Aurobindo wrote in an article in Arya about the Renaissance of India. Indeed he is himself the Renaissance of India.
Tamasoma Jyothirgamaya - from darkness lead us towards light. The hour of God has to come. The ancient Rishis have again taken birth in renascent India among the middle class English-educated youth. Exposure to the rationalism of the West sowed the seeds of reasoning and kindled the fire to acquire knowledge in all domains.
It is these mighty souls who gave to India a new direction, recalled its ancient culture and ethos to be revived with a new spirit. Is it not an hour of God! Look at the number of great souls born during this period like lotuses in the mud amid the ignorance and impoverishment of India, look at those who kindled the hidden fire, and awakened a Rajasic spirit in the slumbering Indian mind until the entire nation reverberated with intellectual activity in all spheres. Great souls like Shri Raja RamMohan Roy (Brahmasamaj) and Shri Dayananda Sarawathy (Arya Samaj) came into existence to reinterpret our scriptures and give a new direction and work towards weaving the broken threads in the socio-economic fabric of India. She again started thinking and acting. The great saint from Bengal, Shri Ramakrishna and the mighty intellect, Shri Vivekanda showed to the West and the entire world the deep universal truths of Vedanta. Art and industry drew inspiration and a new impetus. Bankim Chandra taught people to look at India not as one piece of land but as the Mother India. Along with this arose the ideas of Swadeshi or self-rule and complete independence. Sri Aurobindo after being educated in the West and fathoming the truth of the occidental philosophy, returned back home to reveal to us the truth of the Veda and Vedanta, the deep universal philosophy of the Upanishads, Darshanas and Bhagavad Gita. The children of the Renaissance in India drew their inspiration from the Karma Yoga of the Gita as imparted to the warrior Arjuna in the battle field of Kurushetra.
This spirit gave rise in its outward form to a strong political struggle to bring forth economic, political and social freedom to India. After preparing the ground and assuring himself that India's political freedom was a truth established and awaiting its realisation, Sri Aurobindo took up the work of preparing for the spiritual battle that India has to fight for humanity and the evolution of a new race of human beings. After involvement in external political activities for a short period, he withdrew from the external arena to provide the inner strength needed for action and to remind India of the true meaning of freedom, which has its roots in the Spirit. At every juncture in Indian history higly inspired souls were born to bring back its original light with a new brightness. So it is with our great Master Sri Aurobindo. His vision was for humanity as a whole and his role in national movement was only a prelude to the greater work of transforming this earthly life into Life Divine. Every nation has something to contribute to the evolution of humanity. This great son of the renascent India revealed to the world the hidden spiritual knowledge and laid another milestone in the evolution of mankind. Sri Aurobindo has revealed to us the Secret of the Veda with more luminous rays reaching future generations, he has measured the fathomless depths of the metaphysical truths of the Upanishads and Vedanta, as Shri Krishna himself he has explained the message of Bhagavad Gita in his Essays on the Gita, and the entire nectar of Indian spirituality is packed into The Life Divine and The Synthesis of Yoga opening doors to new evolutionary steps for mankind, the great mantric verses of Savitri, are powerful weapons for the conquest of Ignorance and Death - this is Sri Aurobindo our Master and Guru engulfing in himself, the entire essence of India's soul leading towards higher realms of spiritual research.
"The human mind in its progress marches from knowledge to knowledge or it renews or enlarges previous knowledge that has been obscured or overlaid or it seizes on old imperfect clues and is led by them to new discoveries" ( Sri Aurobindo )
To raise the world to God in deathless Light To bring God down to the world on earth we live To change the earthly life to Life Divine. ( Savitri, p. 392 )
India plunged into darkness and ignorance, its religions dominated by superstitions and vain rituals, politically powerless due to colonial rule, its industries abolished, its social fabric shrouded in ignorant factions of a narrow caste system and religious sub-divisions… this was India, the land of spirituality and dynamic action, the birth place of Maryada Purushottam Rama and the supreme statesman Shri Krishna, the home to Gautama Bhuddha and Adi Shankara, the land where great seers guided the polity of the kings, the land where a first dawn of earliest human civilization took place and fathomed the depths of great metaphysical truths, the land where the scientist and the philosopher, the artist and the warrior, were termed Rishis. This land was plunged for more than ten decades (from 8th to 16th century) in darkness and inaction. The great truth of the Vedas and Upanishads, the mighty action of the epic periods of Ramayana and Mahabharta were forgotten or misinterpreted. The spirit still did not die. It was protected and preserved by saints born among the common people: saints like Mirabhai , Tukaram , Chaitanya Prabhu strolling through the dusty rural areas and singing lyrics to the farmers and the craftsmen, at the same time repeating the truth of the Vedas and Upanishads expressed in a language that appealing to their spirit of Bhakthi Yoga. All those who came as conquerors, along with their diverse faiths, were absorbed into India's infinite stream of spirituality and remained part of the multi-dimensional values of the Dharma. For from the very beginning it was believed that the various faiths are only varied paths to reach the Godhead and this universe is an external manifestation of the same Divine force.
Political instability and decaying socio-economic conditions depleted the Rajasic energy of the Indian ethos resulting India's surrender to foreign domination for more than two hundred years (17th to 20th century). The people of this land on whom Goddess Saraswathi bestowed her special grace became illiterate and ignorant. Its craftsmen and farmers were poor and exploited by the feudal lords, its spirituality was reduced to meaningless religious rituals imposed upon by priests with vested interests. This was India while Europe had its Renaissance giving it a new birth from the "feudalized Europe by the old Graeco-Latin spirit and form with all the complex and momentous results which came"as Shri Aurobindo wrote in an article in Arya about the Renaissance of India. Indeed he is himself the Renaissance of India.
Tamasoma Jyothirgamaya - from darkness lead us towards light. The hour of God has to come. The ancient Rishis have again taken birth in renascent India among the middle class English-educated youth. Exposure to the rationalism of the West sowed the seeds of reasoning and kindled the fire to acquire knowledge in all domains.
It is these mighty souls who gave to India a new direction, recalled its ancient culture and ethos to be revived with a new spirit. Is it not an hour of God! Look at the number of great souls born during this period like lotuses in the mud amid the ignorance and impoverishment of India, look at those who kindled the hidden fire, and awakened a Rajasic spirit in the slumbering Indian mind until the entire nation reverberated with intellectual activity in all spheres. Great souls like Shri Raja RamMohan Roy (Brahmasamaj) and Shri Dayananda Sarawathy (Arya Samaj) came into existence to reinterpret our scriptures and give a new direction and work towards weaving the broken threads in the socio-economic fabric of India. She again started thinking and acting. The great saint from Bengal, Shri Ramakrishna and the mighty intellect, Shri Vivekanda showed to the West and the entire world the deep universal truths of Vedanta. Art and industry drew inspiration and a new impetus. Bankim Chandra taught people to look at India not as one piece of land but as the Mother India. Along with this arose the ideas of Swadeshi or self-rule and complete independence. Sri Aurobindo after being educated in the West and fathoming the truth of the occidental philosophy, returned back home to reveal to us the truth of the Veda and Vedanta, the deep universal philosophy of the Upanishads, Darshanas and Bhagavad Gita. The children of the Renaissance in India drew their inspiration from the Karma Yoga of the Gita as imparted to the warrior Arjuna in the battle field of Kurushetra.
This spirit gave rise in its outward form to a strong political struggle to bring forth economic, political and social freedom to India. After preparing the ground and assuring himself that India's political freedom was a truth established and awaiting its realisation, Sri Aurobindo took up the work of preparing for the spiritual battle that India has to fight for humanity and the evolution of a new race of human beings. After involvement in external political activities for a short period, he withdrew from the external arena to provide the inner strength needed for action and to remind India of the true meaning of freedom, which has its roots in the Spirit. At every juncture in Indian history higly inspired souls were born to bring back its original light with a new brightness. So it is with our great Master Sri Aurobindo. His vision was for humanity as a whole and his role in national movement was only a prelude to the greater work of transforming this earthly life into Life Divine. Every nation has something to contribute to the evolution of humanity. This great son of the renascent India revealed to the world the hidden spiritual knowledge and laid another milestone in the evolution of mankind. Sri Aurobindo has revealed to us the Secret of the Veda with more luminous rays reaching future generations, he has measured the fathomless depths of the metaphysical truths of the Upanishads and Vedanta, as Shri Krishna himself he has explained the message of Bhagavad Gita in his Essays on the Gita, and the entire nectar of Indian spirituality is packed into The Life Divine and The Synthesis of Yoga opening doors to new evolutionary steps for mankind, the great mantric verses of Savitri, are powerful weapons for the conquest of Ignorance and Death - this is Sri Aurobindo our Master and Guru engulfing in himself, the entire essence of India's soul leading towards higher realms of spiritual research.
"The human mind in its progress marches from knowledge to knowledge or it renews or enlarges previous knowledge that has been obscured or overlaid or it seizes on old imperfect clues and is led by them to new discoveries" ( Sri Aurobindo )
To raise the world to God in deathless Light To bring God down to the world on earth we live To change the earthly life to Life Divine. ( Savitri, p. 392 )
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