Sri Aurobindo
Autobiographical Notes
and Other Writings of Historical Interest
Part Four. Sri Aurobindo’s Ashram and Yoga 1927–1949
On the Ashram1
Sri Aurobindo’s Asram
In order to remove many misunderstandings which seem to have grown up about his Asram in Pondicherry Sri Aurobindo considers it necessary to issue the following explicit statement.2
An Asram means the house or houses of a Teacher or Master of spiritual philosophy in which he receives and lodges those who come to him for the teaching and practice. An Asram is not an association or a religious body or a monastery – it is only what has been indicated above and nothing more.
Everything in the Asram belongs to the Teacher; the sadhaks (those who practise under him) have no claim, right or voice in any matter. They remain or go according to his will. Whatever money he receives is his property and not that of a public body. It is not a trust or a fund, for there is no public institution. Such Asrams have existed in India since many centuries before Christ and still exist in large numbers. All depends on the Teacher and ends with his life-time, unless there is another Teacher who can take his place.
The Asram in Pondicherry came into being in this way.
Sri Aurobindo at first lived in Pondicherry with a few inmates in his house;
afterwards a few more joined him. Later on after the Mother joined him, in 1920,
the numbers began so much to increase that it was thought necessary to make an
arrangement for lodging those who came and houses were bought and rented
according to need for the purpose. Arrangements had also to be 
made for the maintenance, repair, rebuilding of houses, for the
service of food and for decent living and hygiene. All those were private rules
made by the Mother and entirely at her discretion to increase, modify or alter –
there is nothing in them of a public character.
All houses of the Asram are owned either by Sri Aurobindo or by the Mother. All the money spent belongs either to Sri Aurobindo or the Mother. Money is given by many to help in Sri Aurobindo’s work. Some who are here give their earnings, but it is given to Sri Aurobindo or the Mother and not to the Asram as a public body, for there is no such body.
The Asram is not an association; there is no constituted body, no officials, no common property owned by an association, no governing council or committee, no activity undertaken of a public character.
The Asram is not a political institution; all association with political activities is renounced by those who live here. All propaganda, religious, political or social, has to be eschewed by the inmates.
The Asram is not a religious association. Those who are here come from all religions and some are of no religion. There is no creed or set of dogmas, no governing religious body; there are only the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and certain psychological practices of concentration and meditation, etc., for the enlarging of the consciousness, receptivity to the Truth, mastery over the desires, the discovery of the divine self and consciousness concealed within each human being, a higher evolution of the nature.
February 1934
1 February 1934 (probably the 16th of the month). In February 1934, the Government of French India, apparently under pressure from the British Consul, began an inquiry into the functioning of the Ashram. At question was the legal status of the community. Press reports had spoken of it as an “institution” that had a “common fund”, but no attempt had been made to register it with the government as a legal or financial entity. In fact the Ashram was not, at that time, a public institution. All the houses that composed it were registered in the name of Sri Aurobindo or the Mother. Individuals who wished to practise yoga under their guidance were allowed to use the facilities only so long as Sri Aurobindo and the Mother allowed. Sri Aurobindo nevertheless was obliged to take the government’s inquiry seriously. To clarify the situation, he wrote this statement on the Ashram and the one known as “Sri Aurobindo’s Teaching”, apparently on 16 February 1934. The two texts were published together in the Hindu of Madras on 20 February 1934 under the title “Sri Aurobindo Ashram: Some Misconceptions Cleared”. A short while later, both texts were published in Pondicherry and in Madras in brochures entitled “The Teaching and the Asram of Sri Aurobindo” (Pondicherry: Barathy Press; Madras: Kesari Printing Works). Also around this time a brochure containing a French 
translation of both texts was printed in Pondicherry at the Imprimerie de Sandhanam. (In this French brochure the first text, “L’ensignement et l’ashram de Sri Aurobindo”, was dated 16 February 1934. This may be the date of writing of the original English text of one or both pieces.) Five months later, in August 1934, both texts were published in English, along with Bengali and Hindi translations, in a booklet entitled “The Teaching and the Asram of Sri Aurobindo” (Chandernagore: Rameshwar and Co.). A second edition, with English texts only, was published in 1945 (Calcutta: Arya Publishing House). Both texts were included in the first and second editions of Sri Aurobindo and His Ashram (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1948 and 1951).{{1}}“Sri Aurobindo’s Teaching” has continued to appear, notably in On Himself (1972), but “Sri Aurobindo’s Asram” has not been printed since 1951 [Not quite: this text was published in The Mother’s Agenda, July 23, 1969]. A letter written by K. D. Sethna to the Mother in 1937 helps explain why. Wondering whether he should send a copy of “The Teaching and the Asram of Sri Aurobindo” to someone, Sethna noted that the passage about there being “no public institution” etc. “was written in this downright way when that anti-Asram movement [of 1934] was in full career in Pondy”. The Mother agreed and said that Sethna need not send the pamphlet.
2 This statement was published anonymously in the Hindu of Madras on 20 February 1934 and in pamphlets entitled “The Teaching and the Asram of Sri Aurobindo” in March and August 1934. In every case it was followed by “Sri Aurobindo’s Teaching” (see pages 547–50). It is reproduced here for its historical interest. – Ed.