In 1961, Late Bibhuti Bhushan Sinha offered land and property in Santiniketan to The Mother, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry. After some deliberation, The Mother accepted the property and baptised it ‘Sri Aurobindo Nilaya’. The Mother also gave a beautiful message for the new centre which remains its guiding spirit and anchor to this day. Early stalwarts included Shri Mohanlal Bajpai, Smt. Uma G
hosh, Shri Soumitra Shankar Dasgupta, Dr. Sisir Kumar Ghose, etc. Santiniketan offered to introduce India to the World through a unique educational experiment that Tagore christened ‘Visva Bharati’. He was one prominent figure of the 20th Century who recognised Sri Aurobindo for who he really was. His poem ‘Namaskar’ prophetically foretold Sri Aurobindo’s transformational stage of Alipore Presidency Jail. Later in spite of ill-health Rabindranath visited Sri Aurobindo in Pondicherry and described his Ashram as a second tapovan. Rightly so, because Sri Aurobindo described his stay at Alipore Jail as a year of Ashram life. Tagore also met the Mother in Japan and gifted her a typewriter which still has pride of place among her belongings in Pondicherry. In September 2020, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, entrusted the management of Sri Aurobindo Nilaya with Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture, Kolkata.. Sri Aurobindo Nilaya (Hatipukur) has a beautiful Meditation Centre and Library and offers a serene atmosphere in an otherwise bustling township. It is also a centre of culture, and concerts are frequently held in the premises, that are open to all. Creative activities like Sit & Draw competitions, recitation competitions for school-going children of the township are regularly organised as well. In the recent past Sri Aurobindo Nilaya, Santiniketan, has hosted eminent danseuse Alokananda Roy, budding talent Aneesh Raghavan, singer Anita Pal as also many scholars, singers, elocutionist, etc. At the heart of the functioning of the centre is a dedicated team of seekers, some of whom belong to the family of the stalwarts while others are reputed academicians of Visva Bharati who worked or studied under their tutelage.
