Sri Aurobindo was one of those unique figures who left an indelible stamp in two entirely different areas. Born in 1872, Sri Aurobindo was sent to England at the age of seven where he did his schooling and went on to a brilliant academic career at Kings College, Cambridge, before returning to India with Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad of Baroda in 1893. Already filled with patriotic fervour, considerably influenced by the Irish Sinn Fein movement and the Italian Risorogimento, Sri Aurobindo returned as a strong nationalist and almost immediately began writing on the political situation. His first series of articles in the journal Indu Prakash published in 1894 was so radical that the editor had to discontinue them after the first two were published.

With the founding of the Indian National Congress in 1885, two distinct streams had emerged, a so-called "moderate" stream led by Phirozeshah Mehta, Dadabhoy Naoroji, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and others, and the "extremists" led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal and Lala Lajpat Rai. Sri Aurobindo immediately became a strong votary of the extremists' position and a staunch critic of the Congress which he accused of following a policy of "petition, prayer and protest" towards the British rather than aiming directly at full independence. As a result, all that the Congress had been able to achieve since its inception were a few reforms which he dismissed as crumbs from the imperial table. In touch with the radical wing of the Congress, as well as the revolutionaries in Bengal through his brother Barindra Ghosh, Sri Aurobindo spent 14 years in Baroda ostensibly as a professor of English in the State College but actually as the brain behind the emerging radical movement.

In 1905 Lord Curzon went through his controversial measure of the partition of Bengal -- Banga bhanga. This led to a tremendous upsurge of patriotism. Sri Aurobindo then moved to Calcutta where for five years he shone like a meteor in the political firmament. His passionate editorials in the Bande Mataram and the Karmayogin became the inspiration for a whole generation of revolutionaries. The nationalist movement moved out of the conference halls of the elite and entered the streets and villages.

Sri Aurobindo's philosophy at this point could be called spiritual nationalism. It revolved around the concept of India as the Mother, who was enslaved by foreign aggressors and had to be rescued by whatever means. He wrote: "We recognise no political object of worship except the divinity in our motherland, no present object of political endeavor except liberty, and no method of action as politically good or evil except as it truly helps or hinders our progress towards national emancipation."

Along with the political goal of complete independence, Sri Aurobindo also developed a parallel programme of constructive action. His writings combined erudition with patriotism and created a tremendous stir among the intelligentsia and youth. As Rabindranath Tagore put it, he was the "voice incarnate free of India's soul". Sri Aurobindo was a thinker of great importance in modern Indian political thought, and his work laid the foundations for later movements led by Mahatma Gandhi which were to lead to Independence. For a person to have done this in the short period of hardly five years of active political life is an achievement of no mean importance. Even after 1910 his interest in India's freedom remained undiminished, and he lived to see the fruition of his work when India finally achieved Independence on his 75th birthday -- August 15, 1947.

The most astounding part of his career, however, lay ahead. In 1910, following an adesh -- an irrevocable spiritual command -- he left Calcutta first for Chandranagore and then went down to Pondicherry where he lived for 40 years until his passing away in 1950. In that French possession, free from harassment by the British, he created some of the most remarkable spiritual literature of all times. His great works include the Life Divine, Essays on the Gita, The Human Cycle, The Synthesis of Yoga, The Ideal Human Unity and the epic poem Savitri -- the longest poem ever written in the English language. All of these works reflected his spiritual vision, and this phase of his life can be termed Spiritual Evolution.

Briefly, Sri Aurobindo held that the human race was by no means the final product of evolution. Rather man today is an intermediate creature, half way between the animal and the divine consciousness. The evolutionary thrust would push forward inexorably with the difference that with the advent of the human race a species has emerged which is self-conscious and can therefore cooperate actively in the process of evolution. This cooperation involves what he called the integral yoga, which sought to bring together the various streams of the traditional Hindu yogas and add to them a major evolutionary thrust.

Sri Aurobindo's collaborator Madame Alfasa, known as the Mother, met him first in 1914 and later joined him in the Yoga as well as in running the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry and in founding Auroville. It was a unique spiritual collaboration, the impact of which has been felt around the world. The fact that India achieved independence on August 15 is looked upon by his followers as a divine synchronicity. Indeed the message that he gave on his 75th birthday sums up his entire political work and encapsulates the impact that he had primarily upon India but in fact throughout the world.

In it he speaks of his five dreams -- "a revolutionary movement which would create a free and united India", "the resurgence and liberation of the peoples of Asia and her return to her great role in the progress of human civilisation", "a world union forming the outer basis of a fairer, brighter and nobler life for all mankind", "the spiritual gift of India to the world", and finally, "a step in evolution which would raise man to a higher and larger consciousness and begin the solution of the problems which have perplexed him since he first began to think and to dream of individual perfection and a perfect society". What an agenda for the 21st century.

Dr Karan Singh is a former Union cabinet minister, governor and ambassador to the US. He writes on philosophy.

Sathya Sai Baba
(BORN 1926): For the thousands of devotees who gather every morning at Prashanthi Nilayam at Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh, a glimpse of 'Baba' is all that it takes to make a difference, erasing in that fleeting second the pain, the miseries of their mortal lives. But to the detractors of Sathyanarayana Raju -- at the age of 14 he claimed he was the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba -- it is one of the most frequently enacted frauds. They are quick to recall the 1993 attempt to assassinate him, saying his miraculous powers stood exposed since he could not anticipate the attack. But whether he is supernatural or not does not matter. His extensive community work is what sets him apart. Besides schools and colleges, he has set up hospitals for the poor and helped transform entire villages.

Osho Rajneesh
(1931-1990): When history lines up the saints and mahatmas of India, Bhagwan Rajneesh-Zorba-Osho's name will go missing. When the rogues and charlatans are lined up, he will not be in the parade. He certainly won't be there in the long list of philosophers and thinkers this country will lay claim to. And yet, his is perhaps the most unavoidable of names in a list of Indians who mattered.

The Bhagwan from Kuchwada, the King of Kooch-bhi-Nahi, the swami of self-indulgence, moved from Manali to Pune to Oregon and back to Pune just as easily as he moved between the thoughts of Lao Tzu, Mahavir and Buddha. Along the way he dissolved the pain and confusion of his followers. He turned himself into a sociobionic switchboard, taking people from Beverly Hills and Bandra to the doorstep of nirvana.

When Rajneesh Chandra Mohan decided to market his dream, he used Plato as effectively as Khushwant Singh's jokes to win people. Hounded out of India for his unconventional ways, he built a fantastic commune in Oregon where he was finally booked on 35 counts by the law for immigration violations, conspiracy and other allegations. By the time he fled the US, he claimed he had been poisoned. In between, he had built an empire spanning discotheques, publishing, health-food stores and bakeries worth billions.

In his time, Osho created a band of followers from across the world who brought him great riches, fame and comfort, not to speak of plentiful sex on the side. In return, he left behind a legacy that is difficult to explain. Osho may have tried to create a religion -- no one can be too sure. He left too soon for the scattered sex partners to become priests; and it is yet too early for his meditations to become rituals, for his Rolls-Royces to become sacred talismans, for his word to become holy writ. He may have been a cult leader -- but every cult dies with its creator. And yet, something called the Osho legacy survives -- in Pune, organically growing worldwide. And is seeping across the Internet. His followers cling to every word he spoke on video, giving him the distinction of being the world's first VHS guru. One day, his following may reach critical mass to spawn a spectacle that none can imagine. Not even Osho in his life time.

Arun Katiyar is chief operating officer, India Today group online