SOURCE: "The Social and Political Vision of Sri Aurobindo," in World Literature Written in English, Vol. 30, No. 1, Spring, 1990, pp. 56-71.

In the following essay, Verma examines Aurobindo's views on a number of subjects that were integral to his political and social vision, including colonialism, nationalism, evil, freedom, equality, brotherhood, the unity and salvation of humankind, and the human evolutionary process.

As a prophet of Indian nationalism, Aurobindo occupies an important place in the history of Indian political thought. When we recall the early Aurobindo, we think of a fiery, aggressive and uncompromising revolutionary who had cast his lot with the larger destiny of India and her people. His active involvement in the struggle against the British empire in general was an expression of his staunch conviction that imperialism and colonialism, whether mercantile or political, are manifestations of repressive egoism or hubris on the part of a nation who...