Editing Sri Aurobindo (section)

=== Spiritual Retreat, Literary Output, and Legacy, Pondicherry (1910–1950) ===
In Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo dedicated himself to his spiritual and philosophical pursuits. In 1914, after four years of secluded yoga, he started a monthly philosophical magazine called ''[[Arya (journal)|Arya]]''. This ceased publication in 1921. Many years later, he revised some of these works before they were published in book form. Some of the book series derived from this publication were ''The Life Divine'', ''The Synthesis of Yoga'', ''Essays on The Gita'', ''The Secret of The Veda'', ''Hymns to the Mystic Fire'', ''The Upanishads'', ''The Renaissance in India'', ''War and [[Self-determination]]'', ''The Human Cycle'', ''The Ideal of Human Unity'' and ''The Future Poetry'' were published in this magazine.{{sfnp|Thakur|2004|pp=31–33|ps=}}

At the beginning of his stay at Pondicherry, there were few followers, but with time, their numbers grew, resulting in the formation of the [[Sri Aurobindo Ashram]] in 1926.<ref name="Sketch">{{citation |title=Sri Aurobindo: A Life Sketch |series=Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library |volume=30 |url=http://www.sriaurobindoashram.org/ashram/sriauro/life_sketch.php |access-date=1 January 2013 |archive-date=11 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150311184542/http://www.sriaurobindoashram.org/ashram/sriauro/life_sketch.php |url-status=dead }}</ref> From 1926 he started to sign himself as ''Sri Aurobindo'', ''[[Sri]]'' being commonly used as an [[honorific]].{{sfnp|Heehs|2008|p=347|ps=: Sri Aurobindo without the surname seems to have first appeared in print in articles published in Chandernagore in 1920. It did not catch on at that time. He first signed his name Sri Aurobindo in March 1926, but continued to use Sri Aurobindo Ghose for a year or two.}}
[[File:Aurobindodeath.JPG|thumb|right|245x245px|Sri Aurobindo on his deathbed 5 December 1950]]
For some time afterwards, his main literary output was his voluminous correspondence with his disciples. His letters, most of which were written in the 1930s, numbered several thousand. Many were brief comments made in the margins of his disciples' notebooks in answer to their questions and reports of their spiritual practice—others extended to several pages of carefully composed explanations of practical aspects of his teachings. These were later collected and published in book form in three volumes of ''Letters on Yoga.'' In the late 1930s, he resumed work on a poem he had started earlier—he continued to expand and revise this poem for the rest of his life.{{sfnp|Thakur|2004|pp=20–26|ps=}} It became perhaps his most outstanding literary achievement, ''[[Savitri (book)|Savitri]]'', an epic spiritual poem in [[blank verse]] of approximately 24,000 lines.{{sfnp|Yadav|2007|p=31|ps=: "the fame of Sri Aurobindo mainly rests upon Savitri which is considered as his magnum opus&nbsp;... [It is] a 24000 line blank verse epic in which he has widened the original legend of the Mahabharata and turned it into a symbol where the soul of man, represented by Satyavan, is delivered from the grip of death and ignorance through the love and power of the Divine Mother, incarnated upon earth as Savitri."}}

On 15 August 1947, Sri Aurobindo strongly [[opposition to the partition of India|opposed the partition of India]], stating that he hoped "the Nation will not accept the settled fact as forever settled, or as anything more than a temporary expedient."<ref name="Gautier2001">{{cite book |author=[[François Gautier]]|title=A Western Journalist on India: The Ferengi's Columns |date=2001 |publisher=Har-Anand Publications |isbn=978-81-241-0795-9 |pages=74–75|language=en}}</ref>

Sri Aurobindo was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1943 and for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950.<ref>{{cite web |title=Nomination archive: Sri Aurobindo |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show_people.php?id=567 |website=The Nobel Prize |date=April 2020 |access-date=19 June 2021 |archive-date=8 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220908203734/https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show_people.php?id=567 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Sri Aurobindo died on 5 December 1950 of [[uremia]]. Around 60,000 people attended to see his body resting peacefully.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.abhilekh-patal.in/jspui/handle/123456789/2743031?frontend=frontend&query=&#91;location=123456789%2F1&query=%22republic+day%22&filtername=dateIssued&filtertype=equals&filterquery=%5B1950-01-01+TO+1950-12-31%5D&filtername_1=dateIssuedTo&filtertype_1=equals&filterquery_1=%5B1950-01-01+TO+1950-12-31%5D&rpp=20&sort_by=dc.date.accessioned_dt&order=desc |title=Shri Aurobindo's death - Colombo plan - Foreign Policy. 1950 |date=6 December 1950 |publisher=India News Chronicle |location=New Delhi |pages=57 |chapter=Sri Aurobindo Passes Away |quote="The sage's body lay in State in the Ashram, and by 6 p.m. more than 60,000 people had filed past it in queues in absolute silence." |access-date=31 August 2022 |url-access=registration |via=[[National Archives of India]] |archive-date=10 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230610033928/https://www.abhilekh-patal.in/jspui/handle/123456789/2743031?frontend=frontend&query=%5Blocation=123456789/1&query=%22republic+day%22&filtername=dateIssued&filtertype=equals&filterquery=%5B1950-01-01+TO+1950-12-31%5D&filtername_1=dateIssuedTo&filtertype_1=equals&filterquery_1=%5B1950-01-01+TO+1950-12-31%5D&rpp=20&sort_by=dc.date.accessioned_dt&order=desc |url-status=live }}</ref> Indian Prime Minister [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], and the President [[Rajendra Prasad]] praised him for his contribution to Yogic philosophy and the independence movement. National and international newspapers commemorated his death.<ref name=Sketch />{{sfnp|Heehs|2008|pages= 411–412|ps=: "On the morning of December 6, 1950 all of the major newspapers of the country announced the passing of Sri Aurobindo&nbsp;... President Rajendra Prasad, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, central and state ministers&nbsp;... recalled his contribution to the struggle for freedom, his philosophical and other writings, and the example of his yogic discipline. Abroad, his death was noted by newspapers in London, Paris and New York. A writer in the Manchester Guardian called him 'the most massive philosophical thinker that modern India has produced.'"}}