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Wednesday, October 5, 2022

The Clash of Visions: Sri Aurobindo and Mahatma Gandhi

Sri Aurobindo saw India as a Vishwa Guru; he exhorted his Hindu followers to fulfill their destiny as the spiritual guide of humanity at large. Mahatma Gandhi saw India as a rural, secular, anti-science, industrially backward, peacenik, and poor country. 

Sri Aurobindo thought that Islamic rule and Pax Britannica had led to the emasculation of Hindu consciousness and retributive violence was necessary to reinvigorate Hindu culture. Mahatma Gandhi was convinced that Islamic rule and Pax Britannica had created a new India and that Hindus must always strive to be meek, unambitious, and non violent.

Sri Aurobindo began his political career as a firebrand revolutionary and at a later stage he became a theologian. Mahatma Gandhi began his political career as a lawyer and a fabian activist and at a later stage he became an advocate of passive acceptance of one’s fate.

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