Sri Aurobindo: A great Poorna Advaitin and Vishwaguru
Last Friday, after speaking at a conference at UNESCO in Paris, I payed my respect to Sri Aurobindo, the great Poorna Advaitin and Vishwaguru from India.
What do I mean by Poorna Advaitin and Vishwaguru ?
The India sage Sri Aurobindo, while living in my hometown Pondicherry in the first half of 20th century, conceptualized a comprehensive spiritual philosophy that the West calls Integral Yoga.
However, as a proud Indian, I like to call Sri Aurobindo’s pathbreaking philosophy by its Sanskrit name: Poorna Advaita, meaning “complete non-duality”
Read my article on Poorna Advaita.
I consider myself a Poorna Advaitin (Purnadvaitin, for short), a seeker of complete non-duality which *includes* all dualities.
Now, let’s look at the expression Vishwaguru, which is made of 2 words: Vishwa, meaning Universe, and Guru, meaning teacher.
A Vishwaguru is the “teacher to the world” who pierces through the veil of ignorance that has engulfed our human civilization and reveals the Divine Light to humanity.
Today, Indian politicians and media are touting India’s rise as the Vishwaguru.
But India won’t become the Teacher to the world simply because it is poised to become a $30 trillion economy by 2047.
India will become an inspiring Vishwaguru when all citizens and institutions in India genuinely EMBODY Sanatana Dharma (Eternal Law) — rather than just TALK about Sanatana Dharma.
In his famous 1909 speech delivered in Bengal’s Uttarpara, Sri Aurobindo stated:
“We speak often of the Hindu religion, of the Sanatana Dharma, but few of us really know what that religion is.
Other religions are predominantly religions of faith and profession, but the Sanatana Dharma is life itself; it is a thing that has not so much to be believed as lived.
This is the Dharma that for the salvation of humanity was cherished in the seclusion of this peninsula from of old. It is to give this religion that India is rising.
She does not rise as other countries do, for self or when she is strong, to trample on the weak.
She is rising to shed the eternal light entrusted to her over the world.
India has always existed for humanity and not for herself and it is for humanity and not for herself that she must be great.”
Sri Aurobindo is a true Vishwaguru because he incarnated Sanatana Dharma in every cell of his body.
I bow to Sri Aurobindo — a great Poorna Advaitin and Vishwaguru from India — whose ideas and life are an inspiration to the whole world.
This statue of Sri Aurobindo was installed at the prestigious Japanese garden of UNESCO House Paris in July 2014.
In October 2014, a commemoration ceremony was held to mark the installation and was attended by then DG UNESCO Irina Bokova, India’s Representative to UNESCO’s Executive Board, Dr Karan Singh and India’s Ambassador /PR to UNESCO Ruchira Kamboj.
Read address by Irina Bokova on the occasion of the ceremony to mark the new location of the statue of Sri Aurobindo.
