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Sri Aurobindo

1872–1950

A first way ina deliberate simplification – the portrait says more

The spirit is evolving through matter and life toward a higher consciousness, and yoga is the way to take part in that evolution.

Placement

South Asian & Tibetan Philosophy · South Asia · Metaphysics, Religion, Politics & Law

Revolutionary of Indian independence, later a yogi in Pondicherry: an integral Vedanta in which spirit evolves through matter toward a “supramental” consciousness.

Key ideas

  • Integral yoga
  • Spiritual evolution
  • The Supermind

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Influence

Influenced by 1

  • Yajnavalkya

    influenced by

    The link runs through the Upanishads, in which Yajnavalkya’s teaching is preserved: Aurobindo read them as a philosophy of the One becoming the world (The Life Divine, 1939–40). Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine (1939–40); Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, tr. P. Olivelle, Upanisads (1996)

    Evidence: AI draft

    Yajnavalkya › traditionally c. 800–720 BCE

Criticism

Criticizes 1

  • Adi Shankara

    criticised

    Aurobindo rejected Shankara’s doctrine of maya: the world is not an illusion to be left behind but a real manifestation of the Divine (The Life Divine, 1939–40). Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine (1939–40), I.3 ‘The Refusal of the Ascetic’, II.6 ‘Reality and the Cosmic Illusion’

    Evidence: AI draft

    Adi Shankara › c. 700–750 · conventionally dated 788–820

Works

  • 1940The Life Divine

    Spirit involved in matter evolves through life and mind toward a divine life on earth.

Position

Aurobindo read the Vedanta as a philosophy of evolution. Against the classical view, above all Shankara’s, that the world is ultimately illusion, he held that spirit has involved itself in matter and is now slowly unfolding through life and mind. Humanity is therefore not the end of evolution but a transitional stage: beyond the mind lies a “supramental” consciousness that could transform life on earth itself. His “integral yoga” seeks not escape from the world but the transformation of the whole person, body included. Aurobindo combined Indian spiritual traditions with Western ideas of development and influenced religious thought in India and beyond.

Life & context

Aurobindo Ghose was born in Calcutta in 1872 and educated in England from the age of seven, finally at Cambridge. Back in India he served the state of Baroda, then became a leading voice of radical nationalism in Bengal. Imprisoned in 1908 and acquitted a year later, he withdrew in 1910 to French Pondicherry, where an ashram grew around him. He died there in 1950.

Further main works

  • The Synthesis of Yoga (1914–1921)
  • Essays on the Gita (1922)
  • Savitri (1950–1951)

Sources: Wikipedia · Wikidata

As of November 2026 · Sources · Improve this page · How Agora is made

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