SOCIAL REFORMATION THROUGH SPIRITUAL AWAKENING: A STUDY OF THE THOUGHTS OF SRI AUROBINDO

Abstract

Sri Aurobindo was an Indian poet, a renowned metaphysician, a philosopher, a yogi, and nationalist. He was born on 15 August 1872 in Kolkata and completed his formal education from England. Later he participated in the freedom movement of India. He evolved his theory of spiritual awakening and advancement. The principal theme of Sri Aurobindo‟s writings is enrichment of human soul and existence. His writings represent the distillation of the new and growing soul of India and have a spiritual significance for humanity. He was one of the most creative and significant writers in the history of the Indian renaissance and spiritual awakening. He introduced the Indian youth to spiritual awakening as one of the ways to reform and reconstruct society. This article is an endeavour to explore and assess the coherence and relevance of Sri Aurobindo's philosophy of social reformation through spiritual awakening. Sri Aurobindo believed that the general aim of all sorts of education is to make the man worthy of living. The specific aim of spiritual education is to assist a person to understand the divine perception and become a faultless instrument of its manifestation. Nowadays, spiritual education has become the most neglected part of life whereas it is essential for the mental development of human beings. Sri Aurobindo lays emphasis on spiritual education as the most important mean of education. A watchful assessment has been administered where Sri Aurobindo he lays emphasis on the significance of purity of the individual by means of nurturing inner oneness and not merely through peripheral imposition.