Celebration of 150th birth anniversary of Aurobindo
- Recently the Prime Minister has addressed a program organized to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Sri Aurobindo.
- Sri Aurobindo was born on 15 August 1872 in Kolkata. Sri Aurobindo was a freedom fighter, philosopher and yogi.
- He had joined a secret society (Lotus and Dagger) working for the independence of India in London.
- In India, he joined the state service of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad (III) of Baroda. He joined the Indian National Congress (INC) in the year 1906 after the partition of Bengal.
- He was active in politics till the year 1910. Due to spiritual awakening, he stopped political activities and spent the rest of his life in Puducherry, where he died on 05 December 1950.
Contribution of Sri Aurobindo
- He wrote an article titled ‘New Lamps for Old’ (1893) in a Bombay daily newspaper ‘Indu-Prakash’.
- In this article, he bitterly criticized the moderate politics of the Congress.
- He started newspapers called Bande Mataram (English daily), Karmayogin (English newspaper) and Dharma (Bengali weekly).
- He joined the group led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak during the Surat split of the Congress (1907).
- In the year 1908, he was arrested in connection with the Alipore Bomb Case, but was later acquitted.
Other Contributions;
- He founded the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in the year 1926 with the help of Mira Alfassa.
- He wrote spiritual books like Essays on the Gita (1922), The Life Divine (1939) etc.
Source – PIB
