Sri Aurobindo was a Indian nationalist, philosopher, yogi, guru and poet. He was born in 1872 in Calcutta and studied in London before returning to India. He was initially a political leader but had a spiritual transformation after being imprisoned for sedition against British rule. In 1910, he moved to Pondicherry to focus on integral yoga, which aims to spiritualize every aspect of life. He established an ashram there in 1926 and focused on writing, philosophy and guiding disciples until his death in 1950. The ashram continues his work of integral yoga which involves self-surrender to the divine without prescribed practices under the leadership of The Mother.

1. The Ashtanga Institute, Mumbai
SRI AUROBINDO
Dr. Sandeep Dongre
MA (Yoga), Ph.D (Yoga)
International Yoga Trainer
World Record Holder – Pranayama( 1872 – 1950 )

2. The Ashtanga Institute, Mumbai
Aurobindo Ghosh
• Nationalist who turned into Spiritualist
• Political Leader associated with National Congress
• Social reformer
• Indian Philosopher, Yogi, Guru, Poet, and Nationalist

3. The Ashtanga Institute, Mumbai
- Born at Calcutta (Kolkata) on 15th Aug 1872
- Father was a Asst. Surgeon (M.D)
- Age 5 : Went to Loretto Convent school
- Age 7 : Went to London for schooling (14 years)
- Age 18 : Got admission in Cambridge University
- Qualified ICS : Indian Civil Services
- 1893 : Returned back to India and joined State college of
Baroda as Vice Principal
Birth and early life

4. The Ashtanga Institute, Mumbai
- 1893 to 1903 studied Sanskrit, Bengali,
philosophy and Political science
- Secretary of King of Baroda
- Learnt Indian Culture / British Rule and
Politics
- Worked with many resistance groups
- 1906 : Resigned from job during
partition of Bengal
In India

5. The Ashtanga Institute, Mumbai
- Supported Swadeshi movement / Boycott
movement
- Worked with secret activists
- Moderates Vs Extremists
- Four Siddhant :
- Swaraj (Complete Independence)
- Swadesh
- National Education
- Boycott
- 1907 : Published ‘Bande Mataram’
newspaper
- 1908 : arrested in Alipur Bomb Blast case
As Freedom Fighter

6. The Ashtanga Institute, Mumbai
"...I looked at the jail that secluded me from men and it
was no longer by its high walls that I was imprisoned; no,
it was Vasudeva who surrounded me. I walked under the
branches of the tree in front of my cell but it was not the
tree, I knew it was Vasudeva, it was Sri Krishna whom I
saw standing there and holding over me his shade. I
looked at the bars of my cell, the very grating that did duty
for a door and again I saw Vasudeva. It was Narayana
who was guarding and standing sentry over me. Or I lay
on the coarse blankets that were given me for a couch
and felt the arms of Sri Krishna around me, the arms of
my Friend and Lover. This was the first use of the deeper
vision He gave me. I looked at the prisoners in the jail, the
thieves, the murderers, the swindlers, and as I looked at
them I saw Vasudeva, it was Narayana whom I found in
these darkened souls and misused bodies..."
Inside Jail : Complete Transformation

7. The Ashtanga Institute, Mumbai
- 1910 : Moved to Pondicherry to start new Journey
- Integral Yoga
- 1926 : Ashram
- 1941 : Started Monthly Philosophical magazine – ‘Arya’
- Wrote on Indian Culture, Traditions and Vedas etc
- Savitri : Poem of 24000 lines
- Nominated for Noble price in literature and Noble price in Peace
Spiritual Path

8. The Ashtanga Institute, Mumbai
Sri Aurobindo Ashram – Auroville, Podicherry
• Established in 1926
• Does not follow the tradition of Guru as the
spiritual head of Ashram
• No obligatory practices, no rituals, no
compulsory meditations or systematic
instructions
• Sadhaks are free to decide the course and
pace of their sadhana
• There must be a surrender to the divine and
an opening to the divine force

9. The Ashtanga Institute, Mumbai
The Mother
- Born in Paris 1878
- Accomplished Artist, Pianist and Writer
- Primary interest in Spiritual development
- In 1914 came for Aurobindo’s spiritual
retreat
- Settled in Pondicherry in 1920
- 1926 : Aurobindo went into seclusion
- The Mother establised the Ashram and
became spiritual guide for community

10. The Ashtanga Institute, Mumbai
Integral Yoga
- Yogi Vishnu Bhaskar Lele was his Yoga guru for a brief period
- The practice does not involve any set mental teaching or prescribed forms of
meditation
- Practice is by aspiration, by self-concentration, by self-opening to the Divine
Powers
- Every person approaches his spiritual path differently according to his own
uniqueness
- The aspiration and the surrender is key
- The Divine is already in ourselves, and we have to learn to direct our
attention to it

11. The Ashtanga Institute, Mumbai
Integral Yoga
- This yoga can only be done to the end by those who are in total
earnest about it and ready to abolish their little human ego and its
demands in order to find themselves in the Divine
- The Aim of integral yoga is not merely to rise out of the ordinary
ignorant world-consciousness into the divine consciousness
- It is to bring the supramental power of that divine consciousness
down into the ignorance of mind, life and body
- The spiritual practice consists of purifying one's nature, the
opening of the psychic being

12. The Ashtanga Institute, Mumbai
Aims of the Education
- Aims of education Individual should be educated in accordance
with the needs of our real modern life
- Physical development and holiness are the chief aims of
education
- Second important aim of education is to train all the senses
- Third aim of education is to achieve mental development of the
child (memory, thinking, reasoning, imagination)
- Last is the cultivation of moral values

13. The Ashtanga Institute, Mumbai
Methods of Teaching
- Love and sympathy for the child
- Education through mother tongue
- Education according to the interests of the child
- Education through self experience
- Emphasis on learning by doing
- Education through co-operation of teacher and students in the education
process
- Education according to the nature of child : considering the divinity in the
child and latent gifts of mind and spirit
- Freedom of child : free environment to gain more knowledge through his own
efforts

14. The Ashtanga Institute, Mumbai
Teacher
- Sri Aurobindo has assigned a very important place to the teacher
- The teacher remains the philosopher and the guide
- The Guru does not have absolute authority
- The teacher should be careful enough to observe the working of the student
minutely so that he could guide those students who were going on wrong
track
- Sri Aurobindo suggested the he should not teach but suggest, organize their
work and show them the direction to responsibility, and to help them to find
out inner guidance
- He discarded the punishment and the stimulation of fear

15. The Ashtanga Institute, Mumbai
Thank You !!
Sandeep Dongre
MA (Yoga), Ph.D (Yoga)
International Yoga Trainer
World Record Holder – Pranayama
www.theashtangainstitute.com
www.facebook.com/TheAshtangaInstitute
Mob : 9820209311 / 9967504832
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