Excerpts from Aurobindo’s Speech, 1973

In present times there is a preparation, if nothing else, to move towards the subtle from the physical physical. Because of the minute examination and the discovery of the laws of the physical universe by western scientists, the outlying plains surrounding the upward Way have been cleared. The knowers of the West are taking their first step in the vast, inner worlds; many are tempted by the hope of conquest. Apart from this, there are other visible signs – such as the quick spread of Theosophy, the welcome given to Vedanta in America, the partial and indirect influence of India in Western philosophy and modes of thinking. But the most remarkable sign is the sudden and unexpected emergence of India. By claiming the role of world teacher, the Indians are rising to inaugurate a new age. If the Westerners are deprived of the help from India they will not be able to succeed in their efforts at progress. Just as in the cultivation of the supreme means to the flowering of the inner life no country had excelled India in the Knowledge of Self and Yoga, similarly the purification of the nature, the control over the senses, the power of the Self-realisation, the energy born of askesis, tapasya, and the lesson of non-attached activity as Yoga, these too are India’s very own. To Acquire, by ignoring the outward joys and sorrows, the inner freedom is possible only for the Indian, the Indian alone is capable of undertaking activity in a spirit of non-attachment, while the sacrifice of ego and indifference in acton are acknowledged as the highest aim of her education and culture and are the seed of her national character.

– Aurobindo Ghose, Prison and Freedom, 1973.