The Spirit shall look out through Matter's gaze. And Matter shall reveal the Spirit's face.

Sri Aurobindo

A revolutionary, poet, philosopher, writer, and Spiritual Master. Despite his fascinating life he was sceptical of any biographies saying

No one can write about my life because it has not been on the surface for man to see.
Sri Aurobindo from: On Himself

He has good humour and great compassion, he was able to relieve the fears and anxieties common to many seekers. Based on his letters, it show great wisdom and he often displayed a good sense of humour as he said himself:

A God who could not smile could not have created this humorous universe.
Sri Aurobindo

Sri Aurobindo affirmed that all life is Yoga; through a conscious aspiration it is possible for man to evolve into a higher consciousness, a consciousness of truth and inner harmony. He called this new consciousness the Supramental.

Arise, transcend Thyself, Thou art man and the whole nature of man Is to become more than himself.
- Sri Aurobindo

SPIRITUAL GURU
He paved a new approach to yoga, which he termed Integral Yoga. Unlike the Yogis of old he felt yoga and spirituality need not involve retreating from the world. He worked tirelessly for this goal of bringing down a new spiritual consciousness.

We are Sons of God and must be even as He.

-Sri Aurobindo

Sri Aurobindo's yoga calls upon this siddhi as only the very first step of an infinite ladder. There must be not merely a union with the Divine Consciousness on some uplifted plane of being, away from this earthly life, but a total transformation of this earthly life into the Divine Life, a descent of the Divine Consciousness right into the darkness and ignorance of mind, life and even the body. Therefore, a divine fulfilment and not a divine negation is the real object of Sri Aurobindo's Yoga.

Secondly, the Integral Yoga does not seek to make this descent possible merely for individual salvation or on an individual scale but for the totality of creation. It endeavours to change ultimately the whole earth and not merely some privileged individuals.

Thirdly, it is new and revolutionary in its methods as well. It does not emphasise just some part of the being in this seeking for the Divine but strives to take up the entire being. The mind, the vital, the body must all participate in the invocation for the Divine transformation. All life is a field for this Yoga, its every experience, movement, contact with the external world, be it important or trivial, is turned upwards and all inner experience too becomes a rung in the ladder of perfection.

The keynote of Sri Aurobindos Integral Yoga is evolution evolution of consciousness in and through Matter. There is no shadow of doubt that

Matter and Spirit are one. Spirit, when it is fast asleep, is Matter; Matter, when it is fully awakened, is Spirit.

The yoga we practice is not for ourselves alone, but for the Divine; its aim is to work out the will of the Divine in the world, to effect a spiritual transformation and to bring down a divine nature and a divine life into the mental, vital and physical nature and life of humanity. Its object is not personal Mukti, although Mukti is a necessary condition of the yoga, but the liberation and transformation of the human being. It is not personal Ananda, but the bringing down of the divine Ananda Christs kingdom of heaven, our Satyayuga upon the earth. - Sri Aurobindo

His teaching states that this One Being and Consciousness is involved here in Matter. Evolution is the method by which it liberates itself; consciousness appears in what seems to be inconscient, and once having appeared is self-impelled to grow higher and higher and at the same time to enlarge and develop towards a greater and greater perfection.

Life is the first step of this release of consciousness; mind is the second; but the evolution does not finish with mind, it awaits a release into something greater, a consciousness which is spiritual and supramental.

The next step of the evolution must be towards the development of Supermind and Spirit as the dominant power in the conscious being. For only then will the involved Divinity in things release itself entirely and it become possible for life to manifest perfection.

The true basis of education is the study of the human mind infant, adolescent and adult.
Sri Arubindo

SPIRITUAL GURUS PHILOSOPHY

He says that man is a transitional being and not a final product of evolution. Man will surpass his present capacities and rise to a new state of consciousness, knowledge and power and not only transform individually his present half-human and half-animal nature, but raise humanity as a whole to the status of a divine life. He will new-create his social, political and economic life in such a way that it will bring down the kingdom of heaven upon earth.

SPIRITUAL GURUS PHILOSOPHY

He has said that mind is not an instrument of knowledge. At best it is like a blind man's stick which, while it may help us to plod through, may hinder us by leading to a pit as well.

After mind comes life whose limitations and faults are still more marked and serious. We are bond-slaves of our desires and passions. Constantly provoked and goaded by the will-o'-thewisp of desires, more often than not we ruin our own lives as well as those of others. We are slaves to anger, lust, envy, jealousy, selfishness and a host of other evil propensities which are behind all the evils, sufferings, injustices, oppressions and corruptions in the world.

Lastly we have the body whose limitations are idleness, laziness, fatigue, inertia, illness, disintegration, decay, senility and death. We pass about one-third of our lives in sleep. We are absolutely dependent on food and air.

Sri Aurobindo saw the possibilities that if these limitations can be removed, human mind will become wise and omnipotent. Nothing will appear impossible to it. Man's life will be free from desires, ambitions and all evil propensities. He will be the master of his own nature and therefore the master of all nature. That is to say of all forces working in the universe. He will have a body free from disease, decay, fatigue and inertia. In the end he will conquer even death and his body, formed of gross matter, will be replaced by a body of light.

Spirit shall look out through Matter's gaze. And Matter shall reveal the Spirit's face.
Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindos famous qoutation

This is Sri Aurobindo's teaching and method of practice. It is not his object to develop any one religion or to amalgamate the older religions or to found any new religion - for any of these things would lead away from his central purpose. The one aim of his Yoga is an inner self-development by which each one who follows it can in time discover the One Self in all and evolve a higher consciousness than the mental, a spiritual and supramental consciousness which will transform and divinise human nature.