History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c94.344

v7.c94.344

Many readers familiar with Shri Aurobindo's *āśrama* at Pondicherry and his voluminous writings might express surprise at the present author's non-mention (in what precedes) of Shri Aurobindo (who is called Mahāyogī by his disciples and admirers) in this section on Yoga and its influence on Dharmaśāstra. But the reasons are obvious. In the first place, Shri Aurobindo says hardly anything about Dharmaśāstra in relation to Yoga. In the 2nd place, Shri Aurobindo admits that he had 'no touch from a guru', that he got an inner touch and practised Yoga, that he got some help from Mr. Lele of Gwalior, that when he came to Pondicherry he got from within a programme for his *sādhanā*, that he could not make much progress as to the help to be given to others and that when the Mother (Mira Richard) came to the *āśrama* in 1920 he found with her aid the method of helping others. In the next place, he departs from the teachings of a galaxy of Sanskrit writers on Yoga, viz. that a yogin must shun women (vide p. 1421 and note 2330), while his biographer Mr. Diwakar states that the Aurobindo Ashram was founded on 24th November 1926, that the Mother was entirely in charge of it from that day and that Shri Aurobindo thenceforward cut off all contacts except through the Mother (p. 257). In this, he strikes an entirely new line and appears to ordinary men like the present author to have diverged far from the well trodden path of ancient Yoga and become like one described in the well-known words (‘Murārestrtīyah panthāh’). Shri Aurobindo is a mystic,²⁴⁰⁵ the experiences of mystics are peculiar and their own, ordinary words and modes of speech fail to communicate them to those that cannot claim to have ever shared such experiences. Aurobindo became a recluse from November 1926 to his Mahāsamādhi on 5th December 1950 and gave *darśana*²⁴⁰⁶ only on four days in the year viz. 15th August (his birth date), 24th November (day of victory for him), 21st February (the birth date of the Mother) and 24th April the day of the Mother’s coming to the Ashrama (vide Mr. Diwakar’s ‘life of Mahāyogi’ p. 265). For forty years Aurobindo lived in Pondicherry. His Ashram became a centre of the gospel of integrated Yoga and a home for those who sought real life and light, a place of pilgrimage for men and women attracted by his teachings.