Political philosophy of Sri Aurobinod

The great importance of Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950) in the realms of philosophy, Yoga, psychology and literature is being recognized both by Eastern and Western critics and students. The historian of Indian nationalism and the freedom movement would accord him an honourable place in the great company of Dadabhai Naoroji, Pherozeshah Mehta, Tilak, Pal, Gokhale, Surendranath Banerjee, Lala Lajpat Rai, Shraddhananda and other great leaders of the early years of the struggle for indepen dence. But besides being a leader of men and political action, a poet-metaphysician and a sage, Aurobindo also has a place as a political thinker and social philosopher. Not only do we find sociological analyses in the Essays on the Gita and The Life Divine, but The Human Cycle and The Ideal of Human Unity are works of mature social and political enquiry and investigation on an advanced theoretical plane. This book is an attempt to reconstruct and critically evaluate the political ideas of Aurobindo on the basis of comparative methodology.

Maharsi Aurobindo has been one of the most creative and significant figures in the Indian renaissance movement. He was gifted with surprising powers of intellect. He was a great sage, Yogi and philosophical thinker. Romain Rolland regarded him as the highest synthesis of the genius of Europe and the genius of Asia. Rabindranath Tagore hailed him as the most pronounced exponent of the spiritual message of India to the world. Radhakrishnan thought of him as perhaps the most accomplished of modern Indian thinkers and in a statement to the press after Aurobindo's death declared him to be the greatest intellectual of our age.

Sri Aurobindo showed signs of genius and acquired great learning while he was a student in England for fourteen years, from the age of seven to the age of twenty-one. His poetic powers achieved fruition when he was working as a professor of English at Baroda. He renounced all wordly prospects and devoted himself to the service of India at the time of the partition of Bengal. He began to be revered as the messiah of a new, inspired and fervent nationalism. He preached the sanctifica tion of patriotism as the dedicated worship of India personified as the Great Mother. He was one of the acknowledged leaders of the new Extremist Party of nationalists. Lokamanya Tilak, Aurobindo Ghosh and Bipin Chandra Pal were the champions of an assertive nationalism. Sri Aurobindo will be remembered as the prophet of a pure religion of nationalism. His heroic and saintly figure will continue to occupy an honoured place in the annals of Indian nationalism. He had the moral courage to champion the creed of absolute Swaraj for India as early as 1907.