AUROBINDO, Sri

(1872-1950)

   the founder of a vigorous HINDU REFORM and MISSIONARY movement. He was educated in England and served the British in India until he was arrested for alleged support of rebels. In jail he had a MYSTICAL experience and devoted the rest of his life to RELIGION. In his book The Life Divine, he seeks to interpret HINDUISM in terms of evolutionary theory in a manner similar to the Jesuit TEILHARD DE CHARDIN. He taught what he called "integral YOGA" which integrated spiritual and practical disciplines. In the 1920s he was joined by a French CONVERT whom he eventually called "the Mother" and with whom he is said to have practiced various FORMS of TANTRA or SPIRITUAL EXERCISES of a sexual nature. After his death "the Mother" took over and ran his SHRAM in Pondicherry which, unlike most shrams, accommodated married as well as single people and made many concessions to modern technology.