Sri Aurobindo was a leader of the Indian independence movement and spiritual philosopher. He first demanded complete independence for India, was considered the "most dangerous man of India" by the British, and his doctrine of passive resistance helped launch the freedom movement. His writings on spirituality, yoga, and human evolution provide guidance for developing spiritual nationalism and understanding Sanatana Dharma as the basis for Indian nationalism. The document discusses Sri Aurobindo's views and their relevance to concepts like the nation, spirituality, secularism, and assimilation in the context of India's history and constitution. It argues that spiritual principles and potentialities should not be diminished in India's secular framework and that historical processes of assimilation should be

1. Spiritual Nationalism
in light of
Sri Aurobindo
25 April 2022
Sri Aurobindo Society
Puducherry

2. Sri Aurobindo
1. Demanded complete independence first time in the form of Swaraj
2. “The most dangerous man of India " in the words of Lord Minto Viceroy
of India
3. His doctrine of passive resistance set the freedom movement into
motion in form of Swadeshi, Boycott and Non Cooperation
4. His poem “ Savitri” is modern times Veda
5. His UttarPada Speech remains the guiding light to understand Sanatan
Dharma- Hindu Dharma in most simple language and also says that
Sanatan Dharama is our Nationalism
6. His 15 August 1947 message remains relevant even today
7. Auroville for “Life Divine” has been approved by General Assembly of
United Nations (four times 1966, 1968, 1970 and 1983)
8. His Life Divine through supramental transformation provides the ray of
hope amid evolutionary crisis to humanity

3. Chitranjan Das
• Chitranjan Das described Sri Aurobindo as Poet of Patriotism,
Prophet of Nationalism, Lover of Humanity
• “My appeal to you therefore is that a man like this who is being
charged with the offences imputed to him stands not only before
the bar in this Court but stands before the bar of the High Court of
History and my appeal to you is this: That long after this controversy
is hushed in silence, long after this turmoil, this agitation ceases,
long after he is dead and gone, he will be looked upon as the poet of
patriotism, as the prophet of nationalism and the lover of humanity.
Long after he is dead and gone his words will be echoed and re-
echoed not only in India, but across distant seas and lands.
Therefore I say that the man in his position is not only standing
before the bar of this Court but before the bar of the High Court of
History”

4. What is a Nation?
“For what is a nation? What is our mother-country?
It is not a piece of earth, nor a figure of speech,
nor a fiction of the mind. It is a mighty Shakti,
composed of the Shaktis of all the millions of
units that make up the nation, just as Bhawani
Mahisha Mardini sprang into being from the
Shakti of all the millions of gods assembled in one
mass of force and welded into unity. The Shakti
we call India, Bhawani Bharati, is the living unity
of the Shaktis of three hundred million people,…”

5. Personification of Nation
Nation
India
England
Russia
Ireland
Germany
Personification
• Bharat Mata
• Britannica
• Holy Russia
• Kathleen Ni Houlihan
• Germania

6. What is Nationalism- Uttrapada
Speech
. “I say no longer that nationalism is a creed, a
religion, a faith; I say that it is the Sanatana
Dharma which for us is nationalism. This Hindu
nation was born with the Sanatana Dharma, with
it it moves and with it it grows. When the
Sanatana Dharma declines, then the nation
declines, and if the Sanatana Dharma were
capable of perishing, with the Sanatana Dharma
it would perish. The Sanatana Dharma, that is
nationalism”

7. Spiritual Nationalism
• Spiritual Nationalism forms the base of internationalism
• Individual Soul and Collective Soul
• Individual ego and collective ego
• Every nation has a 'collective soul', which is 'ordered' to do
'assigned' actions according to 'divine laws‘ like spirituality
for India , commercial energy for America , practical
intelligence for England, clear rationality for France ,
Speculative genius for Germany , emotional fierceness to
Russia etc., The essence is that the Earth is expressing itself
in the form of 'Mother Earth' in form of various 'nations‘
• Hence The formation of the United Nations should be seen
moving in the same direction as the world government

8. Why complete independence ?
Call for complete independence by Sri Aurobindo
“Our immediate problem as a nation is not how to be
intellectual and well-informed or how to be rich and
industrious, but how to stave off imminent national
death, how to put an end to the white peril, how to
assert ourselves and live. It is for this reason that
whatever minor differences there may be between
different exponents of the new spirit, they are all
agreed on the immediate necessity of an organized
national resistance to the state of things which is
crushing us out of existence as a nation and on the one
goal of that resistance,—freedom.”(Bande Mataram)

9. How to Achieve Swaraj ?
Doctrine of passive resistance was published in Bande Mataram
1. “The first principle of passive resistance, therefore, which the new school have placed in the
forefront of their programme, is to make administration under present conditions impossible by
an organised refusal to do anything which shall help either British commerce in the exploitation
of the country or British officialdom in the administration of it, – unless and until the conditions
are changed in the manner and to the extent demanded by the people.. This attitude is summed
up in the one word, Boycott “(06-07 CWSA 281)
2. ”The second canon of the doctrine of passive resistance has therefore been accepted by
politicians of both schools – that to resist an unjust coercive order or interference .It s not only
justifiable but, under given circumstances, a duty.
3. We must therefore admit a third canon of the doctrine of passive resistance, that social boycott
is legitimate and indispensable as against persons guilty of treason to the nation.”(06-07c CWSA
292)
4. “Our defensive resistance must therefore be mainly passive in the beginning, although with a
perpetual readiness to supplement it with active resistance whenever compelled” (06-07 CWSA
301)
5. Armed rebellion details are found in Bhawani Mandir

10. 15 August 1947
1. United India
2. Rise of Asia
3. Role of UN
4. Spiritual Gift of India to World
5. Role of India in the evolutionary crisis

11. Aspiration of Constituent Assembly
Objective resolution (22 Jan 1947) (Preamble)
(8)this ancient land attain its rightful and
honoured place in the world -and make its full
and willing contribution to the promotion of
world peace and the welfare of mankind.
India that is “Bharat”
15 , 17 Nov 1948 and 17 Sept, 18 Sept1949
Constituent Assembly Debates

12. Sovereignty – Indian View
That Dharma not the ruler has been the sovereign in the land of Vedas.
This was asserted by Dr Radha Krishnan in reply to Objective
Resolution of Pt Neehru. He said on the concept of Dharma
on 20 Jan1947, in Constituent Assembly Debates
"When a few merchants from the north went down to the south, one
of the Princes of the Deccan asked the question. "Who is your
King?" The answer was, "Some of us are governed by assemblies,
some of us by kings."
Kecid deso ganadhina kecid rajadhina.. Dharma, righteousness, is the
king of kings.
Dharmam Kshatrasya Kshatram.
It is the ruler of both the people and the rulers themselves. It is the
sovereignty of the law which we have asserted."

13. Debate on “God in Oath”
27 December 1948 of Constituent Assembly for
the amendment no 1146 standing in the name
of H .V. Kamath
'In the name of God, I, A. B, do swear'
or alternatively,
'I, A. B. do solemnly affirm'."

14. 27 December 1948
• Some vain kind of politicians in their attempt to imitate some
fashionable slogans of the West have allowed themselves to
believe that in a secular State God is taboo. A secular State means
the state of Truth and God and eternity without prejudice to any
particular religion. In India all our culture, and all our policy and
civilization has been spun and woven round the one nucleus, God,
and if God is banished I do not know what Swaraj will mean to
India. Personally I along with so many others, seniors and juniors,
and millions of people fought for thirty years for Swaraj. The Swaraj
of my conception was Ram Raj. It was not the political freedom
alone that mattered…... India did not only mourn the loss of her
political freedom but her real grief has been the loss of her freedom
of spirit. Our spiritual freedom was first hit when Somnath was
attacked.Since that time, all these hundreds of years, India has not
been feeling free. Real Swaraj means "Ram Raj"

15. Secularism-Indian Culture- Spirituality-
& Constitution
“The concept of secularity prominent today in our
Constitution must never encourage us to water
down this genius: its function is discharged as
soon as it ensures freedom of religious belief and
ceremony, absence of bigotry, nondiscrimination
on communal grounds. Over-touchiness with
regard to the minorities is a blunder .... As settled
dwellers in this sub-continent they are to be
granted equal civic and individual rights with the
majority that is called Hindu; but for their sake
the majority must never diminish the marvellous
potentialities of cultural Indianess. “

16. History /Culture/Civilization/Heritage
Genius of India
Marvellous potentialities of Culture of India
Basic structure of Civilization of India
Soul of India
What is Yuga Dharma ,
Who is Yug Purusha, and Yug Pravartak
“Best Legitimate and Legal Source”
Document signed by the members of the
Constituent Assembly i.e Constitution of India

39. Mahabharat
"One should strengthen the Veda by(the study
and application of)Itihas and Purana.
The Veda is afraid of the man of meager
learning(with the thought) that he (the man of
little learning ) may injure it .”

40. Historical process of assimilation
Constituent Assembly Debates 8 Dec1948
The Honourable Shri K. Santhanam
“At the same time, we should not interfere with the historical
process of assimilation. We ought not to think that for
hundreds and thousands of years to come these linguistic
minorities will perpetuate themselves as they are. The
historical processes should be allowed free
play. These minorities should be helped to become
assimilated with the people of the locality. They should
gradually absorb the language of the locality and become
merged with the people there. Otherwise they will be
aliens…”

41. Conclusion
1 Historical process of assimilation must not be
stopped
2 Spiritual training be introduced in education
institutions
3 Spiritual Nationalism be explicitly incorporated in
New Education Policy
4 The term ‘secular’ in our constitution should as
soon as possible be qualified and the significance
which does not contradict but rather confirms
spirituality be openly introduced

42. Shri H. V. Kamath- 9 Dec 1948
"The master idea that has governed the life, the
culture, social ideals of the Indian people has
been the seeking of man for his true, spiritual
self and the use of life as a frame and means
for that discovery and for man's ascent from
the ignorant natural into the spiritual
existence.“- Sri Aurobindo

43. Thanks
Surya Pratap Singh Rajawat
Secretary Sri Aurobindo Society ,
Rajasthan State Committee