WHY SHED THE SURNAME?

WHY SHED THE SURNAME?

Why did Sri Aurobindo Ghosh shed his surname to become Sri Aurobindo who was henceforth to be known only by first name? Attributes ought to be shed in the mind to attain to samadhi, not surname. I wish to be enlightened on this point. 

Today we see Gurudev Shree Shree Ravishankar, Sadhuguru etc., all shedding original name. Sri Ramakrishna Chattopadhyay became Sri Ramakrishna, never by personal preference or doing but by the doing of his disciples overtime, post his demise. Likewise Ramana Maharshi. But Rammohun Roy remained Rammohun Roy albeit with the prefix Raja, a title conferred on him by the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zaffar. Rabindranath Tagore remained Rabindranath Tagore but his followers call him Gurudev. Ishwarchandra Bandopadhyay became Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar. Jagadishchandra Bose remained so, although with the prefix Acharya, so did Satyendranath Bose, Meghnad Saha et al. Subhas Chandra Bose never became Sri Subhas, although he has ever since his INA days been hailed as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi became Mahatma Gandhi. Likewise Chittaranjan Das became Deshbandhu to his followers, never by personal doing but by public assertion and affirmation. 

The pertinent point is this. Why this name change? Is it to induce greater, even godlike, reverence for the said personality that is feared will not come about by dint of actual status or spiritual merit? This is inducing mass hypnotism then which is unworthy of great men to attach to themselves or of their followers to attach to the personalities of their preceptors or leaders. If such seminal spiritual or otherwise gifted personages are so desirous of getting rid of their ancestral family name, why do they hold on to their name then and much more fanfare from their disciples, even going to the extent of posing as special incarnations of the Divine, that is, Avatarpurush? Why can they not go incognito instead like the Rishis of old and keep serving humanity, claiming no name or associated fame and fanfare, and accepting total oblivion of personal identity instead, living only in their life's work rendered as holy offering to humanity, by whom future generations would never know? That would be greatness indeed.

Written by Sugata Bose