Sri Aurobindo
Autobiographical Notes
and Other Writings of Historical Interest
Part One. Autobiographical Notes
2. Sri Aurobindo’s corrections of statements in a
proposed biography
The Departure from Calcutta, 1910
To the Editor, Sunday Times
I am authorised by Sri Aurobindo to contradict the
statement quoted in your issue of the 17th
instant from the Hindusthan Standard that he visited Sri Saradamani Devi
on the day of his departure to Pondicherry (?) and received from her some kind
of diksha.1 There was a story published in a Calcutta monthly some time ago that
on the night of his departure for Chandernagore in February 1910 Sri Aurobindo
visited her at Bagbazar Math to receive her blessings, that he was seen off by
Sister Nivedita and a Brahmachari of the Math and that he took this step of
leaving British India at the advice of Sister Nivedita. All these statements are
opposed to the facts and they were contradicted on Sri Aurobindo’s behalf by Sri
Charu Chandra Dutt in the same monthly.
Sri Aurobindo’s departure to Chandernagore was the
result of a sudden decision taken on the strength of an adesh from 
above and was carried out rapidly and secretly without consultation
with anybody or advice from any quarter. He went straight from the Dharma office
to the Ghat – he did not visit the Math, nobody saw him off; a boat was hailed,
he entered into it with two young men and proceeded straight to his destination.
His residence at Chandernagore was kept quite secret; it was known only to
Srijut Motilal Roy who arranged for his stay and to a few others. Sister
Nivedita was confidentially informed the day after his departure and asked to
conduct the Karmayogin in place of Sri Aurobindo to which she consented. In his
passage from Chandernagore to Pondicherry Sri Aurobindo stopped only for two
minutes outside College Square to take his trunk from his cousin and paid no
visit except to the British Medical Officer to obtain a medical certificate for
the voyage. He went straight to the steamship Dupleix and next morning was on
his way to Pondicherry.
It may be added that neither at this time nor any other
did Sri Aurobindo receive any kind of initiation from Sarada Devi; neither did
he ever take any formal diksha from anyone. He started his sadhana at Baroda in
1904 on his own account after learning from a friend the ordinary formula of
Pranayama. Afterwards the only help he received was from the Maharashtrian Yogi,
Vishnu Bhaskar Lele, who instructed him how to reach complete silence of the
mind and immobility of the whole consciousness. This Sri Aurobindo was able to
achieve in three days with the result of lasting and massive spiritual
realisations opening to him the larger ways of Yoga. Lele finally told him to
put himself entirely into the hands of the Divine within and move only as he was
moved and then he would need no instructions either from Lele himself or anyone
else. This henceforward became the whole foundation and principle of Sri
Aurobindo’s sadhana. From that time onward (the beginning of 1909) and through
many years of intensive experience at Pondicherry he underwent no spiritual
influence from outside.
published 24 June 1945