My Travel: Sri Aurobindo Ashram

 Sri Aurobindo Ashram  

 The Sri Aurobindo Ashram is a spiritual community (ashram) established at Pondicherry, in the Indian territory of Puducherry, by Sri Aurobindo on the 24 November 1926 (Siddhi Day). At the time there were few disciples staying with Sri Aurobindo. Sri Aurobindo subsequently decided to withdraw from public view for continuing His spiritual work and handed over the responsibility of the Sadhaks (spiritual aspirants) and the Ashram to His spiritual collaborator The Mother, earlier known as Madam Mirra Alfassa.

Aim

  A complete method of Integral Yoga that would transform human nature to divine life. In Sri Aurobindo's yoga, the highest aim is the being of one, without the renunciation of life in the world. Such a fulfillment of the consciousness, the urge for perfection, must not be confined to few individuals but must extend to the masses, leading to a new type of being that is "eternal, self-existing, and inalienable".

  Sri Aurobindo lays the foundation of his inquiry by focusing on the contradiction between the mundane human existence and the human desire to acquire a divine perfection in life. By introducing the category of evolution, he wants to resolve the paradox of the human being's delimited consciousness and his desire to be identical with a divine form.

  Apart from study of Sri Aurobindo's and The Mother's writings, there are no specific disciplines recommended, but rather the practice of Integral Yoga means that every sadhak should follow whatever spiritual techniques they feel guided to from within.

  

  Anyone can start this quest at any time. There's no fixed method,no rituals and no discourses / training as such. It's the only self-practice to reach the highest, eternal state and the continuous help will be sourced only from Divine and no one else.

  Sri Aurobindo's teachings have influenced not just Indian thought, but also is established throughout the World, thanks to books and regional centers. It is also a contributing element in Integral philosophy.

The Mother

  Mirra Alfassa (21 February 1878 – 17 November 1973), also known as The Mother, was the spiritual collaborator of Sri Aurobindo. Her full name at birth was Blanche Rachel Mirra Alfassa. She came to Sri Aurobindo's spiritual retreat on 29 March 1914 in Pondicherry, India. Having to leave Pondicherry during World War I, she spent most of her time in Japan where she met the Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore. Finally she returned to Pondicherry and settled there in 1920. After 24 November 1926, when Sri Aurobindo retired into seclusion, she founded his ashram (Sri Aurobindo Ashram), with a handful of disciples living around the Master. She became the spiritual guide of the community. The experiences of the last thirty years of Mother's life were captured in the 13-volume work The Agenda. In those years she attempted the physical transformation of her body in order to become what she felt was the first of a new type of human individual by opening to the Supramental Truth Consciousness, a new power of spirit that Sri Aurobindo had allegedly discovered. Sri Aurobindo considered her an incarnation of the Mother Divine and called her by that name: The Mother. When asked why he called her the Mother, Sri Aurobindo wrote a seminal book The Mother by introduction to the Mother's outstanding Personalities,portions and embodiments of her divinity. That's how she came be known as The Mother.

Sri Aurobindo 

  Sri Aurobindo (Sri Ôrobindo) (15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950), born Aurobindo Ghosh or Ghose (Ôrobindo Ghosh), was an Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru and poet. He joined the Indian movement for freedom from British rule, for a while became one of its influential leaders and then turned into a spiritual reformer, introducing his visions on human progress and spiritual evolution.

   Aurobindo studied for the Indian civil service at King's College, Cambridge. After returning to India he took up various civil service works under the Maharaja of Baroda and started to involve himself in politics. He was imprisoned by British India for writing articles against British rule. He was released when no evidence was provided. During his stay in the jail he reputedly had mystical and spiritual experiences, after which he moved to Pondicherry, leaving politics for spiritual work.

  During his stay in Pondicherry, Aurobindo evolved a new method of spiritual practice, which he called Integral Yoga. The central theme of his vision was the evolution of human life into a life divine. He believed in a spiritual realisation that not only liberated man but also transformed his nature, enabling a divine life on earth. In 1926, with the help of his spiritual collaborator, Mirra Alfassa ("The Mother"), he founded the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. He died on 5 December 1950 in Pondicherry. He was the first Indian to create a major literary corpus in English.

  His main literary works are The Life Divine, which deals with theoretical aspects of Integral Yoga; Synthesis of Yoga, which deals with practical guidance to Integral Yoga; and Savitri, an epic poem which refers to a place in the Mahabharata, where its characters actualise integral yoga in their lives. His works also include philosophy, poetry, translations and commentaries on the Vedas, Upanishads and the Gita.