(On the auspicious occasion of Sri Aurobindo’s 153rd birth anniversary and the 78th Independence Day of India.)
Sri Aurobindo, born Aurobindo Ghosh on 15 August 1872 in Kolkata, was a visionary whose life bridged the realms of action and contemplation. A poet, philosopher, educationist, revolutionary freedom fighter, and profound Yogi, he remains one of modern India’s most influential thinkers. In his spiritual vision, life itself was Yoga — a continuous process of transformation and an ever-unfolding growth of consciousness. For him, consciousness was not a by-product of matter but the very foundation of existence — the primal energy whose movement shapes the universe. When the guiding light of a soul like Sri Aurobindo no longer walks the earth, and his truth is clouded by the shadows of misquotation and distortion, I turn to him in silent communion. In that inner dialogue, I seek to attune myself to the pulse of his dream — a world where love heals, peace prevails, unity binds, and harmony flows through all beings.
Shephali : Vande Mataram ! Sri Aurobindo. We Hindi-speaking people address you as Sri Aurobindo, so I have chosen this form of address for our conversation as well.
Sri Aurobindo quietly looked at Shephali with a gentle smile.
Shephali : For me and many people freedom is not just a word or an ideal state of living. For me, freedom means the flow of breath taken without any fear or pressure—a flow whose movement carries purity, a sense of oneness, where love moves along with that flow, where consciousness, in the rhythm of breath, attains the vast openness of the sky, and where in that free exchange of breath there is no fear…no hatred, malice, or enmity towards anyone.
The 15th of August holds a deep and special meaning in your life —for it is the day when a nation awoke to freedom, and also the day when you first opened your freedom, both in the liberation of a country and in the journey of your own life?
Sri Aurobindo : August 15th, 1947 is the birthday of free India. It marks for her the end of an old era, the beginning of a new age. But it has a significance not only for us, but for Asia and whole world; for it signifies the entry into the comity of nations of a new power with untold potentialities which has a great part to play in determining the political, social, cultural and spiritual future of humanity.
To me personally it must naturally be gratifying that this date which was notable only for me because it was my own birthday celebrated annually by those who have accepted my gospel of life , should have acquired this vast significance. As a mystic, I take this identification, not as a coincidence or fortuitous accident, but as the sanction and seal of the Divine Power which guides my steps on the work with which I began life. Indeed almost all the world movements which I hoped to see fulfilled in my lifetime, though at that time they looked like impossible dreams, I can observe on this day either approaching fruition or initiated and on the way to their achievements. (Sri Aurobindo wrote this message for All India Radio, Tiruchirapalli, to be broadcast on the night before India’s independence. It was aired on August 14, 1947. From the book Sri Aurobindo On Nationalism, p.536)
Shephali : The nation’s freedom was accompanied by the partition between Hindus and Muslims. In light of today’s communal tensions, how do you envision harmony and unity shaping India’s future?”
Sri Aurobindo : Of one thing we may be certain, that Hindu-Mahomedan unity cannot be effected by political adjustments or… It must be sought deeper down, in the heart and in the mind, for where the causes of disunion are, there the remedies must be sought. … We must strive to remove the causes of misunderstanding by a better mutual knowledge and sympathy; we must extend the unflattering love of the patriot to our Musulman brother, remembering always that in him too Narayana dwells and to him too our Mother has given a permanent place in her bosom; … We shall make it a main part of our work to place Mahomed and Islam in a new light before our readers, to spread juster views of Mahomedan history and civilization, to appreciate the Musulman’s place in our national development and the means of harmonizing his communal life with our own, not ignoring the difficulties that stand in our way for making the most of the possibilities of brotherhood and mutual understanding.” (Sri Aurobindo, On Nationalism, pp.390)
It (freedom) is the goal of humanity, and we are yet far off from that goal. But the time has come for an approximation being attempted. And the first necessity is the discipline of brotherhood, the organisation of brotherhood; for without the spirit and habit of fraternity neither liberty nor equality can be maintained for more than a short season. (CWSA, Vol. 1, Early Cultural Writings, p. 530)
Shephali :Sri Aurobindo, in the present time, many individuals — including students, teachers, social workers, writers, journalists, lawyers, and even political figures — who speak in favour of unity and truth are being imprisoned. In such circumstances, what message can we draw from your vision? What message would you give to the politicians and unquestioning followers who misquote your words? What guidance would you offer them so they may understand the true essence of freedom?
Sri Aurobindo : Any power or privilege in order to deserve the title “free” must be based on the authority of an independent people possessing the supreme and ultimate power of control over its own government. It is this fundamental fact of self-government that must be their origin and sanction, and it is only in this sense that terms like “freedom of conscience” or “freedom of speech” are understood in the countries that actually enjoy them. Their ‘freedoms’ are the concrete expression, the sacred symbols, of the popular will that has realised its sovereignty and constitute the inviolable limitations under which the executive must work. They stand inaccessibly superior to the needs or wishes of those who actually carry on the government of the country; whose tenure of power primarily rests on their unquestioned submission to the sovereign will and freedom of the people as whose servants they administer. (Sri Aurobindo On Nationalism, chapter- Personal Rule and Freedom of Speech and Writing, p.202, 203)
The Spiritual aim will recognise that man as he grows in his freedom must have as much free space as possible for all its members to grow in their own strength, to find out themselves and their potentialities. In their freedom they will err, because experience comes through many errors, but each has in itself a divine principle…( CWSA, Vol. 25, p.228)
Shephali :The Mother (Mirra Alfassa), your spiritual companion, a great artist, yogi, and visionary, gave a profound message to her disciples and the world —- ‘We do not fight against any creed, any religion. We do not fight against any form of government. We do not fight against any social class. We do not fight against any nation or civilisation. We are fighting division, unconsciousness, ignorance, inertia and falsehood. We are endeavouring to establish upon earth union, knowledge, consciousness, Truth, and we fight whatever opposes the advent of this new creation of Light, Peace, Truth and Love.’ (The Mother) ; one that rejects division and falsehood, and aspires for union, knowledge, Truth, and Love. Yet, despite this, many followers of both you and the Mother seem to engage in divisive politics and serve the interests of dominant political powers. The unity you speak of, and the vision of integral yoga you have presented, is founded on the principle that ‘All life is yoga.’ What would you like to remind your followers about this?
Sri Aurobindo: Our Yoga is a Yoga of transformation, but a transformation of the whole consciousness and the whole nature from the top to the bottom, from its hidden inward parts to the bottom to its most tangible external movements. It is neither an ethical change nor a religious conversion, neither sainthood nor ascetic control, neither sublimation nor a suppression of the life and vital movements that we envisage, nor is it a glorification or a coercive control or rejection of the physical existence. What is envisaged is a change from a lesser to a greater, from a lower to a higher, from a surface to a deeper consciousness – indeed to the largest, highest, deepest possible and a total change and revolution of the whole being in its stuff and mass and every detail into that yet unrealized diviner nature of existence. (Sri Aurobindo, CWSA, Vol. 12, page 371).
Shephali: Sri Aurobindo, I wish to draw your attention to a very important issue. At present, we read the news that thousands of government schools in our country have been shut down, and many more are on the verge of closure. When I visited my village, I met the mother of a ten-year-old boy who complained that her son is addicted to opium and cannabis. This addiction has polluted his body and mind. He no longer goes to school and even steals at home to fund his habit. You have given us the vision of integral education. What kind of decline are we heading towards, and how can we find liberation from it?
Sri Aurobindo : Remember never to fear, never to hesitate….Therefore whatever clouds may come, whatever dangers and sufferings, whatever difficulties, whatever impossibilities, there is nothing impossible, nothing difficult…(karmayogin, 2:6, requited from the book ‘Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness’ , p.220)
The new aim is to help the child to develop his intellectual, aesthetic, emotional, moral, spiritual being and his communal life and impulses out of his own temperament and capacities—a very different object from that of the old education which was simply to pack so much stereotyped knowledge into his resisting brain and impose a stereotyped rule of conduct on his struggling and dominated impulses. (Sri Aurobindo 1972, Vol. 15, p. 38)
Shephali : On this day, what message would you wish to offer to all of us?
Sri Aurobindo : I have been digging deep and long
Mid a horror of filth and mire….
A voice cried, “Go where none have gone!
Dig deeper, deeper yet
Till thou reach the grim foundation stone
And knock at the keyless gate.
(Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness, p.250)
With a mysterious smile, Sri Aurobindo gazed into Shephali’s eyes, as though reading the depths within…
Declaration
This dialogue with Sri Aurobindo is a work of fiction. The questions presented herein arise purely from my perspective as a reader, a seeker, and a responsible citizen, and the answers have been drawn from Sri Aurobindo’s published writings, interpreted in the spirit of imagining how he might have guided us if present. This work is intended solely for educational and reflective purposes. It is not aimed at, nor should it be construed as, causing any emotional, reputational, or other harm to any individual, organization, or institution.
