In 1910, assured of the ultimate success of the liberation movement and in answer to an inner call, Sri Aurobindo withdrew from the political field and sailed for Pondicherry, to devote himself entirely to his evolving spiritual mission. Sri Aurobindo envisioned and strove for a divine life upon earth and, for forty years in Pondicherry, he remained absorbed in this spiritual work.

Sri Aurobindo left his body in 1950 but his vision and ideals continue to draw more and more people from all over the world.

15th AUGUST
On Independence Day, Sri Aurobindo's message to the nation was, "August 15, 1947 is the birthday of free India. It marks for her the end of an old era, the beginning of a new age. But we can also make it by our life and acts as a free nation, an important date in a new age opening for the whole world, for the political, social, cultural and spiritual future of humanity."

Force that guides my steps on the work with which I began life, the beginning of its full fruition. Indeed, on this day I can watch almost all the world movements which I hoped to see fulfilled in my lifetime, though then they looked like impracticable dreams arriving at fruition or on their way to achievement. In all these movements free India may well play a large part and take a leading position."