The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (293 page)

gzéb bequeathed an empty treasury and a divided India to his successor.

 
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Aureole
(symbol or mark of holiness)
:

see
HALO
.

 
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(1872–1950).
Born Aurobindo Ghose in Calcutta, he became a widely known Hindu teacher. Committed to prison for a year for his work against British rule, he there had his first spiritual experiences. On his release, he turned to the practice of
yoga
, but he came to regard the classical ways of yoga as too one-sided: they aim to raise the yogi towards a goal, whereas in his view, the true technique should be to integrate the goal into life. Hence his system became known as P
rna-Yoga, or Integral Yoga.
Threatened with further arrest, he took refuge in 1910, in the French enclave of Pondicherry, and remained there until his death. He met there Mira Richard (Alfassa) who became his constant support and companion. She established the Aurobindo-ashram (
rama
) and, after his death, a town, Auroville, to embody his teaching. She is known as ‘the Mother’.
The chief works (among many) of
ri Aurobindo are
The Life Divine
, a commentary on the
Bhagavad-g
t
, and
The Synthesis of Yoga
.

 
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