DNA Explainer: Who is Sri Aurobindo whose 150th birth anniversary India will celebrate

India is all set to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Sri Aurobindo. On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the first meeting of the High Level Committee to mark the day. In a tweet posted on Friday, PM Modi wrote, "Discussed ways to further popularise his thoughts among the youth. Other esteemed members also shared their valuable inputs."

The Prime Minister proposed to launch the commemoration celebrations of Sri Aurobindo from Puducherry coinciding with the celebration of National Youth Day. Sri Aurobindo had spent his life in Puducherry from 1910 to 1950. 

PM Modi suggested that 150 universities across the country should be involved in writing papers on different aspects of spiritual leader Sri Aurobindo's life and philosophy to commemorate his 150th birth anniversary. Sri Aurobindo was born on August 15, 1872, in Kolkata, West Bengal.

Who is Sri Aurobindo 

Born on August 15, 1872, Aurobindo Ghose was an Indian philosopher, yoga guru, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist.

In his early days, Aurobindo Ghose worked as a journalist, editing newspapers such as Bande Mataram.

At Pondicherry, where he lived from 1910 to 1950, Sri Aurobindo developed a spiritual practice he called Integral Yoga.

He joined the Indian movement for independence against British rule and went on to become one of its influential leaders.

Aurobindo Ghose studied for the Indian Civil Service at King's College, Cambridge, England.

After returning to India he took up various civil service works under the Maharaja of the Princely state of Baroda.

He got involved in nationalist politics in the Indian National Congress and the nascent revolutionary movement in Bengal with the Anushilan Samiti. 

The revolutionary Aurobindo 

Aurobindo Ghose completed his education at King's College in Cambridge, England.

It was in England itself that Ghose first felt the call of nationalism when he acquainted himself with Italian and Irish nationalists.

Aurobindo Ghose participated in an Indian students' organisation called the Cambridge Majlis.

It was only after he returned to India that he found himself actively embroiled in the freedom struggle, engaging with radical youths.

He inspired the radical youths in the path of revolution and urged people to suffer and sacrifice for the sake of the motherland.

The feisty thirty-five-year-old was of the firm opinion that passive resistance could very well turn into battle if the need arises.

Aurobindo the politician

Aurobindo Ghose's political endeavour in India began in the 1890s when he rebuked the Congress for taking a moderate stance.

His ideology evolved during the Swadeshi movement of the early 1900s when he urged people to follow the path of passive resistance.

For Aurobindo Ghose the struggle to free the motherland was above all and some scholars would refer to him as a matrist.

At the 1907 Surat session of the Congress, Ghose along with other extremists had a major showdown with the moderate wing of the party.

Soon after the Congress split. By then, he was already leading radical youth organisations in Kolkata including the Anushilan Samiti

The Anushilan Samiti had been challenging British rule through militant tactics since 1902.

In 1908, he along with few other members of the Anushilan Samiti were arrested in the Alipore bomb case.

Though he was finally acquitted owing to lack of evidence, he did spend a year in jail, during which his political philosophy underwent a change.

The spiritual Sri Aurobindo

Historians often note Aurobindo to be the first among the freedom fighters to attach religion to politics.

Bankim Chandra was the first to introduce a religious dimension to politics and he was followed by Vivekananda.

In one of his writings Ghose mentioned that his philosophy was formed first by the study of the Upanishads and the Gita.

Once Aurobindo came out of jail he withdrew himself from politics and went into hiding at Chandernagore.

He then moved to Puducherry which was then a French colony and dedicated himself in pursuits of spirituality and philosophy.

He started a philosophical magazine by the name Arya and later a number of books were brought out of it.

The books were - 'The synthesis of yoga', 'Essays on the Gita', 'The secret of the Vedas', 'The ideal of human unity' among others.

However, even when in Pondicherry, Aurobindo continued writing on politics along with philosophy.