Sri Aurobindo 1872 – 1950

Sri Aurobindo was born Aurobindo Ackroyd Ghose on August 15, 1872 in Calcutta. (Exactly 75 years later, on this day, India would gain her independence.) His father had lived in England and was completely enamored with everything Western. At the age of 7, Sri Aurobindo was sent to England for his education where he studied at St. Paul's in London and at King's College, Cambridge. During his academic career he mastered English, Greek, Latin, and French and became familiar with German, Italian, and Spanish. At a very young age, Sri Aurobindo had begun to feel strongly that a period of great revolutionary changes was emerging in the world and in India and that he was destined to play a part in it.

On his return to India at the age of 21, he plunged whole-heartedly in the study of Indian culture. He spent 13 years in Baroda in the administrative and educational services of that State under the Gaekwad of Baroda. These were years of self-culture and literary activity. Gradually his silent political activity turned into active participation in India's struggle for freedom. He became a leader of the Nationalist party and his editorials in the daily Bande Mataram, at once made him an All-India figure. While the then Viceroy of India, Lord Minto, considered him to be "the most dangerous man we now have to reckon with", Dushbandhu Chittaranjan Das hailed him as "the poet of patriotism, the prophet of nationalism and a lover of humanity."

From 1908 to 1909 Sri Aurobindo was kept under detention by the British Government while they tried him for sedition. He was acquitted. During this year of seclusion Sri Aurobindo underwent a series of decisive spiritual experiences that determined the course of his future life. He said after his release: “The only result of the wrath of the British Government was that I found God.”

In 1910, in answer to an inner call, Sri Aurobindo withdrew from the political field and sailed for Pondicherry to devote himself entirely to his evolving spiritual mission. He knew that India's freedom was certain. But now he had to work for an inner awakening and a change of conciousness, in India and the world, without which there could be no lasting progress and no solution to the pressing and formidable problems which beset mankind.

Sri Aurobindo's spiritual collaborator, known as the Mother, joined him in 1920. With the Mother and Sri Aurobindo at its center emerged the Sri Aurobindo Ashram - not a retreat for ascetics and retired people but the seat of an enduring spiritual experiment which works for the transformation and perfection of life instead of its rejection. Sri Aurobindo affirms that all life is Yoga, that man has a greater destiny awaiting him, and through a conscious aspiration he can evolve into a higher being and open himself to a new consciousness which he called the Supramental.

http://www.sriaurobindosociety.org.in/sriauro/sriauro.htm

J. Krishnamurti 1895 – 1986

Jiddu Krishnamurti, born of middle-class Brahmin parents, was recognized at age fourteen by the Theosophists Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater as the coming World Teacher and proclaimed to be the vehicle for the reincarnation of Christ in the West and of Buddha in the East. Mrs. Besant adopted the boy and took him to England, where he was educated and prepared for his coming role.

He was made head of her newly formed worldwide religious organization, the Order of the Star in the East in 1911, but in 1929 after many years of questioning himself, he dissolved the Order, repudiated its claims, and returned all the assets given to him for its purpose. Out of his own spiritual "process" experienced from 1922 onwards, he declared:

Truth is a pathless land and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect. Truth, being limitless, unconditioned, unapproachable by any path whatsoever, cannot be organized; nor should any organization be formed to lead or to coerce people along any particular path. My only concern is to set humanity absolutely, unconditionally free. Man cannot come to it through any organization, through any creed, through any dogma, priest or ritual, not through any philosophic knowledge or psychological technique. He has to find it through the understanding of the contents of his own mind, through observation and not through intellectual analysis or introspective dissection.

Krishnamurti claimed allegiance to no caste, nationality, or religion and was bound by no tradition. He traveled the world and spoke spontaneously to large audiences until the end of his life at age ninety. He said man has to free himself of all fear, conditioning, authority and dogma through self-knowledge and this will bring about order and psychological mutation. The conflict-ridden violent world cannot be transformed into a life of goodness, love and compassion by any political, social, or economic strategies, but only through this mutation in individuals brought about through their own observation without any guru or organized religion.

David Bohm Ph.D., the quantum physicist, recognized in Krishnamurti`s teachings parallels with his own revolutionary theories of physics. This led to many years of dialogue between the two men, which helped form a bridge between so-called mysticism and science.

In establishing the many schools he founded in India, England, and the United States, Krishnamurti envisioned that education should emphasize the integral cultivation of the mind and the heart, not mere academic intelligence. Krishnamurti said, "Surely a school is a place where one learns about the totality, the wholeness of life. Academic excellence is absolutely necessary, but a school includes much more than that. It is a place where both the teacher and the taught explore not only the outer world, the world of knowledge, but also their own thinking, their behavior." From this they begin to discover their own conditioning and how it distorts their thinking. Freedom from conditioning and its misery begins with this awareness. For decades he engaged in dialogues with teachers and students to emphasize the understanding that it is only in such freedom that true learning can take place.

http://www.kfa.org/biography.php

Mahatma Gandhi 1869 – 1948

Mahatma Gandhi dedicated his life to fostering the philosophy of ahimsa (nonviolence) and spreading this concept throughout the world.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869, in Porbandar, Gujarat, where his father was chief minister. Gandhi was later given the name Mahatma, meaning “great soul.”

Traveling to England as a young man, Gandhi studied law and was admitted to the bar. He then worked as a legal advisor in South Africa, where he first experienced racial discrimination. Indians living in South Africa at that time were without political rights and were generally known by the derogatory name of “coolies.” There he began his fight to end prejudice and achieve equality for people of all races. Using marches, letters, articles, community meetings and boycotts, he protested, which often led to his arrest.

After 21 years in South Africa, Gandhi returned to India in 1915 with the doctrine of ahimsa central to his political plans, and committed to a simple and disciplined lifestyle. He set up the Sabarmati Ashram, which was innovative for its admission of Untouchables. In addition to the methods he used in South Africa, Gandhi would add fasting and prayer to his system of nonviolence. Throughout his life, Gandhi spent several years in jail.

India gained its independence from Great Britain on August 15, 1947. Gandhi had argued that the leader of the Muslin League, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, should lead a united India, if that would prevent partition. Instead, the country was split into two nations—Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan. When the moment of freedom came, Gandhi was nowhere to be seen in the capital, though Prime Minister Nehru and the entire Constituent Assembly were to salute him as the architect of Indian independence and as the “father of the nation.”

It may be long before the law of love will be recognized in international affairs. The machineries of government stand between and hide the hearts of one people from those of another.

Whenever I see an erring man, I say to myself I have also erred; when I see a lustful man I say to myself, so was I once; and in this way I feel kinship with everyone in the world and feel that I cannot be happy without the humblest of us being happy.

 You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

 Woman is the companion of man, gifted with equal mental capacities. She has the right to participate in the minutest details in the activities of man, and she has an equal right of freedom and liberty with him.  
Mahatma Gandhi

http://www.gandhiinstitute.org/AboutGandhi/index.cfm

http://www.mahatma.org.in

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Born 1911 or 1917 (?)

On January 1, 1958, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi formally launched his worldwide movement. Since then Maharishi has circled the globe many times, teaching his Transcendental Meditation technique, writing many books, consulting with leaders of government, including heads of state, and addressing conferences of the world’s leading scientists, educators and intellectuals. More than six million people of all ages, educational backgrounds, cultures and religions have learned the Transcendental Meditation technique.

Convinced that the positive changes reported by meditators could be verified through scientific methods, Maharishi encouraged scientific research on the Transcendental Meditation program. The first research results were published in Scientific American in 1970. Since then, scientists have made the Transcendental Meditation technique the most thoroughly studied program for human development in the annals of modern science—more than 600 studies have been conducted at over 200 independent universities and research institutions in 30 countries and published in over 100 peer-reviewed scholarly journals.

Maharishi Vedic Science includes a wide range of Vedic technologies to help people make full use of mind, body, and consciousness—so that they can live a problem-free life in enlightenment.

Vedic Health—Take a prevention-oriented approach to maintaining your health and enlivening the inner intelligence of your body through Maharishi Consciousness-Based^SM health care.

Vedic Education—Awaken the total creative potential of your brain through Maharishi Consciousness-Based education.

Vedic Architecture—Live in buildings and communities designed in harmony with the Laws of Nature through Maharishi Vedic Architecture^SM.

Vedic Agriculture—Nourish your mind and body with food that is even more vital than organically grown food through Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture^SM.

Vedic Astrology—Gain valuable insights into future trends in your life through the Maharishi Jyotish^SM program, and take steps to enhance the positive influences and neutralize negative effects through the Maharishi Yagya^SM program.

Vedic Music—Create a peaceful influence in your home and surroundings with the harmonious frequencies of Maharishi Gandharva Veda^SM music.

The principle of Transcendental Meditation is: no hardness in life. This great principle is—do less and accomplish more. In the principle of shooting an arrow with great force, we just pull the arrow back and release—it will go very far and hit the target with great force. So success is not gained through hard work: success is gained by having the infinite organizing power of Natural Law in our favor. So Transcendental Meditation brings the favor of Natural Law—brings the creativity of Natural Law, which governs the whole universe—so everything becomes very easy for the Meditators to achieve. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

http://www.tm.org/maharishi/index.html

 

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