BhāratShakti is a department of Sri Aurobindo Society dedicated to study, research and programme development in the area of Indian Culture in the light of Sri Aurobindo’s vision for India and her work for the future of humanity. We find inspiration for our name and focus of work in the following words of Sri Aurobindo.
“Each nation is a Shakti or power of the evolving spirit in humanity and lives by the principle which it embodies. India is the Bhārata Shakti, the living energy of a great spiritual conception, and fidelity to it is the very principle of her existence. For by its virtue alone she has been one of the immortal nations; this alone has been the secret of her amazing persistence and perpetual force of survival and revival.“
~ Sri Aurobindo, CWSA, Vol. 20, p. 57
READ: Our Inspiration
VISION
- Rediscovery of the immortal Bhārata Shakti, the living energy, the force that is behind India’s persistence, survival and revival, which will lead her towards a new future, a renaissance that is true to her spirit, to her swadharma and swabhava.
- Dynamic application of the inner genius of India, her spirituality, to life and all its activities necessary for the building of a new India.
MISSION
“It is more important that the thought of India should come out of the philosophical school and renew its contact with life, and the spiritual life of India issue out of the cave and the temple and, adapting itself to new forms, lay its hand upon the world.“
~ Sri Aurobindo, Extract from an interview given to a correspondent of The Hindu
Guided by this new direction Sri Aurobindo has given for a true Indian renaissance, we have embarked on a mission:
- To facilitate a deeper appreciation and understanding of Sri Aurobindo’s vision of India’s destined work for the future of humanity
- To design and curate inspiring educational programmes that emphasize the dynamic application of spirituality to life and all its activities necessary for the building of a new India
- To create, curate and disseminate inspiring and research-based content related to what Sri Aurobindo speaks of as soul, mind and body of India’s rich and diverse culture
- To evoke among the young and young-at-heart a great love for India, pride in India’s heritage and an aspiration and will to create an even greater future
RESEARCH
Sri Aurobindo Society’s mission and vision is to disseminate the light and force of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother in all domains of human activity. Accordingly, all our works including our research projects have always been on topics and issues that impact diverse aspects of our individual and collective lives.
The three broad areas (each with its several sub-areas) in which we primarily conduct research, in the light of Sri Aurobindo’s vision for India, the world and the future humanity, are:
Learn more about our approach to research.
Download our recent research reports to know more about our work.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES
“India of the ages is not dead nor has she spoken her last creative word; she lives and has still something to do for herself and the human peoples. And that which must seek now to awake is. . . the ancient immemorable Shakti recovering her deepest self, lifting her head higher towards the supreme source of light and strength and turning to discover the complete meaning and a vaster form of her Dharma.“
~ Sri Aurobindo, CWSA, Vol. 20, p. 444
The focus of our educational programmes may be summarized as — Integral Yoga for India’s Rebirth. We regularly organize seminars, workshops, retreats, webinars and exhibitions. We also invite scholars and practitioners for talks or interaction sessions on various topics. Our team members regularly deliver research-based talks and publish in various journals related to Sri Aurobindo Studies.
Over the years we have also designed and facilitated longer courses and study groups on topics related to Integral Yoga, Indian culture, Integral Education and Social Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo. To create a meaningful knowledge base, we document all our work through detailed reports and video recordings; all of which can be accessed at this website.
One of our main works involves curating and publishing a free monthly online journal Renaissance which disseminates inspiring content on diverse topics concerning India’s past, present and future in the light of Sri Aurobindo’s vision for India and her role in the future of humanity.
RENAISSANCE JOURNAL
Published by Sri Aurobindo Society, Renaissance is a monthly online journal which focuses on Indian Culture and Integral Yoga. Speaking of the vaster and deeper significance of a new rebirth of India, Sri Aurobindo wrote more than a hundred years ago:
This Renaissance, this new birth in India,… must become a thing of immense importance both to herself and the world, to herself because of all that is meant for her in the recovery or the change of her time-old spirit and national ideals, to the world because of the possibilities involved in the rearising of a force that is in many respects unlike any other and its genius very different from the mentality and spirit that have hitherto governed the modern idea in mankind, although not so far away perhaps from that which is preparing to govern the future.
~ CWSA, Vol. 20, p. 3
Taking inspiration from these words this free online journal features inspiring ideals and thought-provoking ideas, insightful voices and fresh perspectives on the eternal spirit of India which is being reborn and renewed in numerous new forms.
READ MORE.
YEAR 2023-24 AT A GLANCE
Meet our core team
We are also a collaborating institution at Sri Aurobindo Integral Education Network.
