Sunlit Path

A DECLARATION Sri Aurobindo withdrew from politics; and, in his Ashram, a most important rule is that one must abstain from all politics―not because Sri Aurobindo did not concern himself with the happenings of the world, but because politics, as it is practiced, is a low and ugly thing, wholly dominated by falsehood, deceit, injustice, misuse of power and violence; because to succeed in politics one has to cultivate in oneself hypocrisy, duplicity, and unscrupulous ambition. The indispensable basis of our Yoga is sincerity, honesty, unselfishness, disinterested consecration to the work to be done, the nobility of character, and straightforwardness. They who do not practice these elementary virtues are not Sri Aurobindo's disciples and have no place in the Ashram. That is why I refuse to answer imbecile and groundless accusations against the Ashram emanating from perverse and evil-intentioned minds. Sri Aurobindo always loved deeply his Motherland. But he wished her to be grea...