Sri Aurobindo’s message on Aug. 15

Mahatma Gandhi may have been declared (where?) as the father of the nation, but Sri Aurobindo believed that the fact that India’s Independence Day fell on August 15, his birthday, had spiritual significance.

At the request of All India Radio, Sri Aurobindo  sent a message which was broadcast on Aug. 14, 1947.

The first point Sri Aurobindo made was that the ‘coincidence’ of  the date of Independence with his own birthday was not chance, but a mark of the ‘sanction and seal of the Divine Power’ that guided his steps.

Sri Aurobindo then went on to list his dreams and predict their achievement.

He had dreamed on a free India and it had become a reality. As part of that dream was his vision of a united India. It must and will be achieved, he wrote.

 

His second dream was that of a resurgent Asia with India playing a leading role.

The third dream was that for a ‘world union, forming the outer basis of a fairer brighter and nobler life for all mankind’.

The fourth dream was about India’s gift of spiritual knowledge to the world.

The fifth and consummating dream was that of a step in evolution which would raise man to a higher and larger consciousness (this, he knew, would begin the solution to the problems and perplexities that beset him since he began to think).

While Mother India is surely making her spiritual presence felt all over the world, it is a great sadness that here in India forces inimical to her innate genius are working against her.

How else would you explain, for instance, Assam being inundated with Muslim infiltrators from Bangladesh and the so-called national party encouraging the infiltration as part of its vote-bank politics?

While one can be sure that the tapas of India’s Mahatmas protects her in every way, its citizens too have to stand by their nation and serve it as best as they can. For India is not just a country, it is a civilization, it is a culture, it is a spiritual hope for the entire world.

India’s Independence day and Sri Aurobindo’s birthday

On my country’s Independence day which is also Sri Aurobindo’s birthday, I want to write something but don’t know what.

If I love India, it is not only because it is my country. I think it is special. It is special because its great men and women thought not for themselves but for all mankind.

The basic questions about existence that the ancient rishis asked, as for example what is the one thing after knowing which everything else becomes known apply to everyone of us. Their discoveries apply to everyone.

The Buddha left the palace not just to solve his problems, but the problem of suffering that all creatures face.

Sri Aurobindo too, noble soul, gave up everything to explore the possibilities of life divine on earth.

I won’t say anything about his yoga or its aims. I just look up to him as a child looks up to its father, or a little brother to his elder.

But at the heart of all striving is the quest for the happiness of all.

On India’s birthday, I consecrate myself to this land because its rishis made it the beacon to the world.

I draw inspiration from Sri Aurobindo and say Vande Maataram along with him.

I believe that ultimately it is the blessings of the great souls that strode this land are the rulers of its destiny.

Even our bodies are a trust given to us..what to say of the power or influence that is given to us to exercise.

Let us live great lives of joy and right understanding and make poverty and discriminatioin things of the past.