The Aims and Ideals of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram

Sri Aurobindo

Sri Aurobindo was born in Calcutta on 15 August 1872. At the age of seven he was taken to England for his education. There he studied at St. Paul's School, London, and at King's College, Cambridge. Returning to India in 1893, he worked for the next thirteen years in the Princely State of Baroda in the service of the Maharaja and as a professor in the state's college.

    In 1906 Sri Aurobindo quit his post in Baroda and went to Calcutta, where he became one of the leaders of the Indian national movement. As editor of the newspaper Band Mataram, he boldly put forward the idea of complete independence from Britain. Arrested three times for sedition or treason, he was released each time for lack of evidence.

    Sri Aurobindo began the practice of Yoga in 1905. Within a few years he achieved several fundamental spiritual realisations. In 1910 he withdrew from politics and went to Pondicherry in French India in order to concentrate on his inner life and work. During his forty years there, he developed a new spiritual path, the Integral Yoga, whose ultimate aim is the transformation of life by the power of a supramental consciousness. In 1926, with the help of the Mother, he founded the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. His vision of life is presented in numerous works of prose and poetry, among which the best known are The Life Divine, The Synthesis of Yoga and Savitri. Sri Aurobindo passed away on 5 December 1950.

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The Mother

The Mother was born Mirra Alfassa on '21 Februaryv1878 in' Paris. A student at the Academic Julian, she became an accomplished artist. Gifted from an early age'with a capacity for spiritual and occult experience, she went to Tlemcen, Algeria, in 1906 and 1907 to study occultism with the adepts Max The on and his wife Alma. Between 1911 and 1913 she gave a number of talks to various groups of seekers in Paris.

In 1914 the Mother voyaged to Pondicherry, South India, to meet the Indian mystic Sri Aurobindo. After a stay of eleven months, she was obliged by the outbreak of the First World War to return to France. A year later she went to Japan, Where she remained for four years. In April 1920 the Mother rejoined Sri Aurobindo in Pondicherry. Six years later, when the Sri Aurobindo Ashram was founded, Sri Aurobindo entrusted its material and spiritual charge to her, for he considered her not a disciple but his spiritual equal and collaborator. Under her guidance, which covered a period of nearly fifty years,-the Ashram grew into a large, many-faceted spiritual community. She also established a school, the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, in l952, and an international township, Auroville, in 1968. The Mother passed away on 17 November 1973.

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Sri Aurobindo Ashram

Founded in 1926, the Sri Aurobindo Ashram has grown from a small group of Mo dozen disciples into a large diversified community with more than 1400 members. There are, in addition, about 400 students in the Ashram school, hundreds of visitors staying in guest houses, thousands of local devotees, and many tourists.

  
    Situated in a bustling city of nearly one million people, the Ashram is not a quiet place of retreat secluded from the world, but a vibrant centre of life. The dynamic urban setting of the community reflects the life-affirming aim of Sri Aurobindo's Yoga. Work is an important part of the Yoga, and Ashram members who are fit do some useful work every day in one of the departments.

   
    In the sadhana or spiritual discipline of this Yoga, there is no set mental teaching or fixed method of practice. For this reason, the Ashram has no systematic instructions in Yoga and no compulsory rituals, meditations or gatherings. Each sadhak is left free to determine the line of his spiritual path in accordance 'with his nature. 'But the general principles of the Yoga are the same for all: there must be an aspirationfor the divine life, a rejection of the movements of the lower nature, a self-opening to the Divine Force, and a surrender of one's being to the Divine.

The Ashram is located in the eastern part of Pondicherry. Its members live and work in a large number of buildings spread throughout the area. The focus of community life is the Ashram main building, often called simply "the Ashram", which consists of an interconnected block of

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houses, including those in which Sri Aurobindo and the Mother dwelt for most of their lives. At the centre of its tree-shaded courtyard lies the samadhi, a rectangular white-marble shrine holding their mortal remains.

    The Ashram provides its members with all they need for a decent and healthy life. Various departments have been organised to look after the basic requirements of food, clothing and shelter, as well as medical care. The Ashram has farms and gardens, a printing press and a number of small scale industries. There are also libraries for study and facilities for a wide range of cultural pursuits.

    The Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education is an integral part of the Ashram. Inaugurated in 1952, it currently has around 400 students, with classes ranging from kindergarten to college level. It seeks to provide a complete education for its students by encouraging the growth of all the parts of their being. All the students (and many Ashram members as well) take part in the daily physical activities organised by the Physical Education Department. A group of instructors known as captains give training in athletics, gymnastics, acquatics, games, combative sports and asanas.

    The Ashram is administered by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust.

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