Sri Aurobindo Ghosh

• 
• Intro: Was an Indian philosopher,yogi,poet and nationalist belonging to the extremist brand of nationalism 

• Context:
• was dissatisfied with early nationalists who believed British rule was a blessing in disguise and a source of modernization.
• his series of article titled new lamps for the old  criticized the moderates:
• foreign rule can never be a blessing, not even in disguise
• foreign rule stops the natural evolution of the nation.
• He said India as a nation is not dependent on Congress pandals

• On nationalism:
• Inspired from neo vedantism of Vivekananda based on Humanism and Universalism, two cardinal features of Indian spiritual thought.
• BC Chatterjee’s Anandmath
• Synthesied herder(cultural nationalism)+Hegel(state is a march of god on earth)with Viv+Chatterjee
• Ghosh was great synthesizer of rationality of west and spirituality of east.
• According to Ghosh, nation has a soul, a divine entity. Challenged the notion  that India was only a geographical  entity.
• “Bharat Mata” is a concrete manifestation of India being a natural and living entity 
• For Sri Aurobindo “Freedom of India” was not a mere political ideal but a spiritual necessity without which she would perish and humanity would lose a spiritual guide. India is the spiritual guide of mankind.
• The freedom of India is necessary for ending all kinds of oppression, slavery and imperialism.
• India must be reborn because her birth is demanded by the future world
• PM Modi says India’s role in the world is of Vishwaguru- teacher of the world that represents a superior spiritual path to solve the world’s problems
• His nationalism was spiritual. Said people should take nationalism with the same fervor as their religion.
• It was due to focus on tamas that India fell and British rule was the hammer of god to awaken the country to its originality
• Ghosh wanted to create a counter hegemony to the idea of west that India was not a nation but just a geographical identity.
• 
  Dr Karan Singh in his book- prophet of nationalism says:
• Ghosh believed that if a person is a nationalist, he has to embrace the new religion, the religion of nationalism
• Blind imitation of Europe will lead to self destruction. Like individuals, every nation has its innate uniqueness. Objective of every nation should be to become self aware of its potential .
• “Nationalism is not a mere political programme ; nationalism is a religion that  comes from god.”-Ghosh
• Conclusion on answer on Nationalism: Aurobindo by rejecting the liberal nationalism and attaching a cultural sanctity to the concept of nationalism, provided the much needed boost to the freedom struggle at a time when different confused notion of nationalism was prevailing in the country.

• his concept of freedom:
• Starting with Swaraj for the country reaches to the idea of Swaraj at the level of individual
• The craving for freedom is lodged so deep inside human heart that countless arguments against it are powerless to uproot it.
• from political concept of freedom he moves to spiritual concept of freedom
• True freedom is when a person is at peace with himself. Idea of freedom must establish balance between man and society. It must not sacrifice one for the other
• The purpose of Swaraj is to understand the spiritual dimension and to prepare ourselves for a social revolution
• Sri Aurobindo’s Swaraj is freedom of mind, body, and spirit and he considered it the Dharma of every human being to be truly free.
• Swaraj acc to Ghosh was not. CHANGE OF GOVT BUT A PROGRAM OF NATION BUILDING.
• To strive for anything less than Swaraj, he argued, “would be to insult the greatness of our past and the magnificent possibilities of our future.”

• Conclusion:

Tagore

- through the voice of Ghosh, India will spread its message