Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950) is an Indian nationalist and a yogi. He participated in the Indian freedom movement during the early part of 1900s and later on developed a spiritual path called "Integral yoga". His life is very amusing. His father was very impressed by the European way of living and wanted Aurobindo to be a complete European without any traces of Indianness. So Aurobindo was taken to Europe at a very young age and was brought up with European education and lifestyle. But after he returned to India in 1893 he was completely transformed. He became a nationlist and participated in the freedom movement. He turned to spirituality and become a yogi. He was also a great poet.Recently I happened to read an essay by him titled The Bourgeois and the Samurai. It's a lengthy but nice essay which talks about the weakening of the spirit of Indians under the rule of British through the creation of an environment that rewards such weakness. It describes the creation of a class of people who valued security, stability and ease in life, even if it meant to be weak and subjugated, over liberty and individuality which require strength and courage and are strenuous. And he calls upon all Indians to shed such weakness. I recommend everyone to read it. Posted by Anurup at 11:01 PM Monday, March 05, 2007
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