Swami Vivekananda was a great philosopher who inspired many minds; one of them was Sri Aurobindo Ghose who had a pure mind full of spirituality. He was a freedom fighter during the freedom struggle of India and later followed the spiritual path of divineness. He was also a poet and a yogi. He introduced the concept of Integral Yoga.

Born on 15th August 1872 in Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, India to Krishna Dhan Ghose and Swarnalotta Devi, he was brought up in British culture since his childhood. His father believed in the British culture and thought that it was better than the Indian culture. He was taught in an English Medium School in Dehradun and he further pursued his studies in England. He studied for Indian Civil Service at King’s College, Cambridge, England.

On returning from England he worked as a professor at the Baroda College. Later he joined the struggle for India’s freedom. He delivered several speeches and wrote many articles. He devised many plans to disturb the activities of British government. When a bomb was thrown on a British official to kill him the bomb mistakenly fell upon two British women. Sri Aurobindo was accused of the plan and was put in jail for one whole year. During his stay in prison he got spiritually inclined. His thought was that one night he heard the spiritual voice of Swami Vivekananda speaking to him and explaining him the truth of the world. After his release from the prison and his return to India he started learning yoga on his own. He wrote a lot of spiritual magazines called Aryan and various novels like The Life Divine, The Synthesis of Yoga, Essays on The Gita, The Secret of The Veda, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, The Upanishads, The Renaissance in India, War and Self-determination, The Human Cycle, The Ideal of Human Unity and The Future Poetry. He also laid down many great quotes like “Spirituality is indeed the master key of the Indian mind; the sense of the infinitive is native to it.” , “India of the ages is not dead nor has she spoken her last creative word; she lives and has still something to do for herself and the human peoples.” and “Indian religion has always felt that since the minds, the temperaments and the intellectual affinities of men are unlimited in their variety, a perfect liberty of thought and of worship must be allowed to the individual in his approach to the Infinite.”. He still continued the fight for freedom but with peace and spirituality.

His number of followers increased during his stay in Pondicherry. He established the ‘Sri Aurobindo Ashram’ in 1926. He passed away on 5th December 1950. One of his greatest followers was Mirra Richard, a French National, often called as ‘The Mother’ continued on Sri Aurobindo’s footsteps and managed his Ashram and continued to practice his spiritual performances. Sri Aurobindo introduced the idea of ‘Integral Yoga’ which he explained in his books, The Synthesis of Yoga and The Life Divine. He wanted every human to follow spiritual practices and attain peace. He was elected for Nobel prizes in 1943 and 1950.

It is said that great personalities, even after their death live in the hearts of people. His also lived in his followers. His practices and teachings are still being followed by a number of people. He was a god to them. He was an eminent yogi and philosopher. His ideas are still being followed by many people. His prominent position in philosophers helped his pupils to spread his ideas and teachings. His teachings even reached the far countries of the world. A divine soul, an extraordinary personality Sri Aurobindo has a great role in the spiritual culture of India.