SRI AUROBINDO
SIR C. R. REDDY, M. A. (Cantab)
[Citation before the
on 11th December 1948.]
Mr.
Chancellor, our object in founding the National Prize was to bring about
association between the members of the University and the inspiring
personalities of contemporary
In
all humility of devotion, I hail Sri Aurobindo as the sufficing genius of the
age. He is more than the hero of a nation. He is amongst the Saviours of humanity, who belong to all ages and all
nations, the Sanatanas, who leaven our existence with
their eternal presence, whether we are aware of it or not.
The
Rishi tradition is the most glorious and priceless element of Hindu culture.
Its origin is lost in mystic antiquity, but its flow has never ceased. It will
continue its sublime course till it mingles itself with eternity. We had Rishis in the Vedic era. And then a succession of Seers, of
whom Gautama Siddhartha, the fairest flower and fulfilment of humanity, towers to the highest heaven, and
the Sages of the Upanishads, Mahavira, Nank, Ramadas, the inspirer of
Shivaji, and in our own times Dayananda Saraswati,
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Ramana
Maharshi, he to whom we are today presenting our
National Prize, Sri Aurobindo.
A
great Frenchman has hailed Sri Aurobindo as the last of our Rishis.
Really he is the most recent, for in this world death and sorrow, Rishis are an undying race of bliss. And they
pulsate every now and again with far-flashing revelations like those wonderful
stars which astronomers call the Lighthouses of the Celestial Regions.
Sri
Aurobindo excels in the range and compass of his genius. He is a poet,
dramatist, philosopher, critic, interpreter and commentator of Vedas, the Gita,
and all the transcendent lore and legend of
I
am not going to narrate the life of Sri Aurobindo as chronologically lived. Our
Professor, Mr. K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar’s splendid
biography of Sri Aurobindo is there for all to read. A book
written in a style of superlative charm and power, and one which could without
exaggeration be regarded as a masterpiece in English literature. Perhaps
I may recall by way of pardonable vanity and the petty desire to shine in Sri Aurobindo’s reflected light, that we are both
In
Sri Aurobindo, literature, metaphysics, and the Sadhana
of realisation, are a spiral ascending from Earth to Heaven in mutual support
and unison. In the superb summary of Mr. K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar,
“the Seer has fronted reality; the Poet has hymned his ‘Gloried Fields of
trance’, the Philosopher has sought to interpret the vision in terms of reason;
the Yogi has formulated a method, a multiform technique, for achieving the
desired change in consciousness; the sociologist has thrown out significant
hints in regard to the organization of
tomorrow’s world: and the creative critic has sensed the rhythms of the ‘future
poetry’ and described how the ‘new’ poet will ride on the wings of an elemental
spirituality and articulate the ineluctable rhythms of the Spirit.”
As
a poet Sri Aurobindo ranks high. In that most difficult of all forms of
prosody, the Blank verse, which under inartistic hands has a fatal tendency to
become prose, he has a place all his own, which is among the highest. Urvasi and Love and Death, and Savitri, a legend and a symbol, are in charm
and beauty without a parallel in English literature. Ahana
and
In
many of his works of criticism, interpretations of the Veda and the Gita, he has
combined vast research with the intuition of a poet, the reflection of a
philosopher and the vision of a Rishi. He has a sentence that will serve to
inspire the United Nations Organization and give it spiritual ground and hope–“Evolution
moves through diversity from a simple to a complex oneness. Unity the race
moves towards, and must one day realise.” It is a
fine phrase “complex oneness” and a far-reaching ray of hope and comfort,
though today we are all overwhelmed by the complexity and do not seem to be
nearing oneness except under the devastating might of the Atom bomb.
Sri
Aurobindo’s faith in the sure but slow evolution of human
unity in harmonious diversity is too robust to be dwarfed or defeated by hard,
stubborn facts. Rather it is a faith that is out to conquer fact and remould it nearer to the heart’s desire. He is of the race
of prophets who see the present as but a transitory moment that should not be
allowed to overcome the optimism of man.
It
is not as a man of letters or of philosophy that Sri Aurobindo reaches his
unique eminence; but it is
as a Yogi who has caught the light and reflects it in blissful abundance. He is
the Prophet of the Life Divine. To him it is an experience and not mere idea.
This experience could be shared by others. The nature of his spiritual quest,
which led to his great conquest, he thus described in a letter to Sri C. R. Das who defended him in the Alipore
trial–“I see more and more manifestly that man can never get out of the futile
circle the race is always treading, until he has raised himself on to a new
foundation. How could our present instruments, intellect, life, mind, body be
made true and perfect channels for this great transformation? This was the problem
I have been trying to work out in my own experience and I have now a sure
basis, a wide knowledge,
and some mastery of the secret.”
He
presents his gospel in a book that is a landmark in the history of human thought and aspiration. “The Life Divine”, which Sir Francis Younghusband
has acclaimed as the “greatest book published in my generation.”
Pythagoras spoke of the Music of the Heavens. Here is the Music of Humanity, no
longer still sad ascending to Heaven. Sri Aurobindo believes that we shall
evolve into a higher stage of being; and this evolution will enable us to overcome
the limitations and miseries of our present existence and lead us to a world
whose course is equable and pure–a life of harmony and bliss. This process of evolution is actual.
It is operating steadily here and now, and will not stop short of fulfilling itself.
In due course Man will attain the New Life, in which pains and sorrow will have
no existence and death no sting.
Sri
Aurobindo relieves our despair by the certainty of this advent. In the world of
death, he the immortal, gives us the assurance of
Immortality. The world has need of Thee, Sri Aurobindo, and that is why Thou
art with us still.
Mr.
Chancellor, I now request you, on behalf of the
“To
see all existence steadily and see it whole and not be mislead by its
conflicting truths, is the first necessity for the calm and complete wisdom to
which the Yogin is called upon to rise.”
–SRI AUROBINDO