[The Mother (of Sri Aurobindo Ashram) - Page 108 Prema Nandakumar - Biography & Autobiography - 1977 - 136 pages
As for the playlet, The Ascent to Truth, it grew out of a painting made by the Mother of the Hall of Aspiration. A group of people (the philanthropist, ...]
cf. Jacob's Ladder by William Blake (1757–1827). [TNM]
Graham Harman (doctorzamalek) of American University of Cairo has a post on Egypt vs. Algeria at Object-Oriented Philosophy. The Mother's connection with both the nations naturally comes to mind on her Mahasamadhi Day. He also talks about Pyramids which remind of the ancient attempt of attaining physical immortality that The Mother has brought into focus in our times. [TNM]
[(title unknown) from enowning by enowning
Eva Brann on how metaphysics got to be affective.
In modern times the Romantics were certainly preoccupied with diffuse feelings of searching longing and pleasurable reminiscence. But it was only in 1844, when Kierkegaard published The Concept of Anxiety, that the intentionlessness of mood was made explicit and put to philosophical use. This anxiety would in the twentieth century become what might be called its paradigm mood. Kierkegaard, observing that the concept of anxiety is ignored in psychology, says that “it is altogether different from fear and similar concepts that referred to something definite, whereas anxiety is freedom’s actuality as the possibility of a possibility”. “Freedom’s actuality” describes a presentiment of a capability—an as yet unfixed sense of a freedom to be free. This was Adam’s condition before the Fall, a “dreaming” state of innocence, before he knew the difference between good and evil. In that dream state of uneasy repose, Adam has “indeed nothing against which to strive.” At this point Kierkegaard has recourse to the verbal trick that will have great consequences in Existential philosophy: The “nothing” which Adam has to strive against in the mood of dreaming anxiety turns into an intentional object. “But what effect does nothing have?” Kierkegaard asks. “It begets anxiety.” Thus the inherited sinfulness of the human race originating in Adam’s fall is conditioned not, as in the tradition, on the perversion of the will, the rational faculty of desire, but on a mood, an affective sense of the freedom to be possibly bad.
Heidegger adapts for his essay this Kierkegaardian transmutation of the nothing that anxiety “is about” into a meta-physical Nothing. The mood (in German Stimmung, “attunement”) of anxiety opens the human being to Nothing. In their uncanny alienated indifference to existence, beings as a whole distance themselves from us. The human foothold in existence is gone. Anxiety is revealingly about the Nothing that environs existence. Thus anxiety becomes our access to the wonder of beings. We realize, we feel, that they are something and not nothing: Anxiety is the fundamental metaphysical feeling.]
[A Psychoanalytic Defense of Realism from Larval Subjects by larvalsubjects
If Bhaskar refers to this form of argument as the “epistemic fallacy”, then this is because, in his view, it renders our actual engagement with the world incoherent... Bhaskar’s thesis is that when epistemology makes this move our practice becomes incoherent... Now what makes Bhaskar’s transcendental argument so delicious is that he inverts the nature of transcendental arguments. Where transcendental arguments tend to trace the transcendental conditions of possibility back to mind or some variant of the social and proceed based on the question “what must our cognition be like for this sort of experience to be possible?” or “what must language be like for this form of experience to be possible?” or “what must society be like for this form of experience to be possible?”, Bhaskar instead asks “what must the world be like for science and our daily practice to be possible?”]
[Epistemologt, philosophy of history, philosophy of mind Hegel's term for a consciousness that desires complete knowledge of itself but cannot obtain it. Hegel believed that self-consciousness proceeded in history from pre-history (the struggle for recognition) to Greece and Rome (Stoicism and skepticism) and medieval Christianity (unhappy consciousness). At the stage of skepticism, consciousness claims that all knowledge is relative to the subjective point of view. However, to make this claim meaningful, it must be assured that there is a universal point of view to see that all knowledge is thus relative. As a result, a skeptic has to admit that he is unable to justify these beliefs outside of his own contingently held point of view. He has a divided form of consciousness, with a tension between its subjective and objective points of view. Here skepticism gave way to the stage of unhappy consciousness. Such a consciousness is internally divided, for it has to assume both points of view. It is the consciousness of separation between man and nature and between man and man. Christianity's message is a call to men to restore the lost unity of consciousness by bringing their subjective points of view into line with the impersonal eye of God. In general, the unhappy consciousness describes a form of life in which people's conceptions of themselves and of what they claim to know involves ... unhappy consciousness : The Blackwell Dictionary of Western ...]
Sri Aurobindo inverts Alienation/Anxiety/Angst to Aspiration. Prescribed as a paramount principle of Integral Yoga's triple formula, it nonetheless denotes a perpetual hiatus to be overcome. "In Yoga also it is the Divine who is the Sadhaka and the Sadhana" is how he saves it from dualistic perplexity. [TNM]
Tusar N Mohapatra has left a new comment on your post "Devotionalism is not the only possible approach to...":
Personally, I have disagreements with the last line. Dogma or not, it is for the individual to choose; why should it be denigrated and who do we turn to for a certificate? [TNM] Posted by Tusar N Mohapatra to Savitri Era Learning Forum at 7:25 AM, November 17, 2009
[The lives of Sri Aurobindo - Google Books Result
by Peter Heehs - 2008 - Religion - 496 pages Biographers usually focus solely on Aurobindo's life as a politician or sage, but he was also a scholar, a revolutionary, a poet, a philosopher, a social and ...]
Thanks to Google Books, I read a few pages of the book for the first time this morning. The impression I gathered was it is an indispensable work.
The Many Lives of R.C. Dutt by Meenakshi Mukherjee is also an interesting recent publication as “a prism which refracts the relationships between the West and India, colonialism and nationalism, elite and subaltern Indians, literature and history and much else.” [TNM]
[Ulrich Mohrhoff has, until recently, taught physics and quantum philosophy at the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education (SAICE) in Puducherry (formerly Pondicherry), India.
He received his education (in physics) from the University of Göttingen, Germany, and the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India... He has published numerous articles on these subjects. He is also the managing editor of AntiMatters, an open-access e-journal addressing issues in science and the humanities from non-materialistic perspectives.
He can be reached via this email address. This Quantum World Home The Author]
It appears that Mohrhoff is no longer with SAICE. [TNM]
Banerji, thankfully, offers a corrective to the tomfoolery of Bibek Debroy who had proclaimed colourfully, "Doniger’s is an amazingly breathtaking book in its sweep... As far as I am concerned, four books from my bookshelf have now been dislodged (A.L. Basham, Agehananda Bharati, Percival Spear, Romila Thapar) to make room for this one and this is reflective of the content. It is a great book." [IE » Columnist » Om School » Saturday 10 October '09]. [TNM]
The genesis of BJP from the dual membership issue has now come to haunt the party itself. It became a multibagger by attracting floating supporters when came to power by sewing up the NDA with TDP crutch. Ideological consistency gave way to expediency and opportunitism. Obviously, such flippancy can't work for ever.
The party needs a robust ideology now, and instead of banking on borrowed icons, BJP should follow Sri Aurobindo. [TNM] [Comments By Tusar N. Mohapatra 11/12/2009 11:30:00 AM Home > Opinion > Columnists > Neerja Chowdhury > Does Advani deserve this? Expressbuzz: 10 Nov 2009]
Tusar N. Mohapatra,
President, Savitri Era Party.
Director, Savitri Era Learning Forum. [SELF]
SRA-102-C, Shipra Riviera, Indirapuram,
Ghaziabad, U.P. - 201014, Ph: 0120 -2605636
[Gratton responds on Derrida from Object-Oriented Philosophy by doctorzamalek
When I was 25, it was possible to get really drunk on a new book, to feel sensations of euphoria and to feel that the world was turned-upside down. A decade and a half later, it’s not the same thing: I can really admire and appreciate and be stunned by new books, but it’s no longer ever like falling crazily in love. I have my own position now, so I’m immediately sizing up strong and weak points of any book I read in what I hope is a fairly balanced fashion, not thinking: “oh man, this is it” like at 25. So in a sense, it’s too late for me to be a convert to anything. 11:57 AM]
Graham Harman’s wistful nostalgia for his youth decodes as a mild strain of midlife crisis seeping in. In the next few years, the meaning of life question is likely to torment him more often. Then he will be compelled to split his “position” into two logical streams:
The former, evidently, will harden further consistent with his present admission. But in the second arena, he can keep his options open. He may start with familiarizing himself with Indian philosophy and savor his Schopenhauerian moment, but avoid digging too deep into the black hole.
Right away, then, he can take a flight to Sri Aurobindo to fathom the director behind the universe of objects/actors. The speculative turn, thus, may turn out to be the spiritual turn, as happened in the case of Roy Bhaskar, and it’s not a bad proposition either. [TNM 1:00 PM ]
[In my opinion, the two greatest philosophical books of the 20th century are Being and Time and Process and Reality. (Husserl’s Logical Investigations is close to that league, but there’s no way to do little bits of it in a 300-level class.) Levinas is a personal favorite of mine, and as a sort of ex-Heideggerian I admire Levinas’s unique blend of admiration/critique when it comes to Heidegger, and you all know as well I regard Levinas as the most innovative reader of Heidegger we have. That’s the way to get beyond Heidegger, not the other French ways. But alas, Levinas has been pigeonholed as a pious rabbi droning on about the Other. That’s OK; it will pass.
And I also do think that Naming and Necessity is one of the greatest works of 20th century philosophy. If it were longer and covered more topics it would rise even higher on the list, and is already probably one of the best five. (And for someone with my background, that’s saying something.) Kripke
from Object-Oriented Philosophy by doctorzamalek]
The Life Divine "is the greatest achievement of Mankind! It is the greatest philosophical book ever written and in the best English Language ever written too. By N.H. (CYPRUS) - September 25, 2005 Permalink." [TNM]
[TNM]
The Mother & Sri Aurobindo are a compelling benchmark. Their words and action constitutes a decidedly reliable guidance in charting out a course for a fulfilling life. The life’s journey is no longer a mere medley of passions but trudges toward an enviable destination. This sense of transformation of the routine life into a meaningful one, in fact, works wonders.
Human life, at its core however, is an embodied one. The meandering itinerary from cradle to grave proceeds from moment to moment, from footmark to footmark. The frail body harboring a tenuous life-breath encounters shipwrecks, tsunamis, and super-cyclones. Not only physically, but also in the emotional landscape; whereupon the faith wavers, the grip dwindles.
Alternative ontologies come forward to cash in on the situation. They promise easy amelioration and swift rehabilitation. Many well-heeled brands proclaim their disdain for anything beyond this observable world. Wealth creation and march of technology is sought to be the creed. Some others peddle astrology, numerology etc. by posturing acquaintance with the galaxies. The individual is taken in at times and realizes his folly after a long detour.
The Mother & Sri Aurobindo, therefore, insist on steadfastness. This is secured in two ways: devotional loyalty and rational conviction. The former method can be intense and sovereign, but susceptible to occasional coup. Rational conviction, on the other hand, is deduced from a coherent ontology. Built brick by brick with logic; love and loyalty lend the cementing.
The temptation to make do with a manageable ontology is always there. Folk songs and film dialogues, parables and proverbs are a rich source of ontological propositions which appeal to the sentiments. Friendly conversations often turn ontological battle grounds reflecting ideological tussle. Sticking to the right ontology, therefore, is the challenge. [TNM]
Ontological presuppositions contained in the Constitution of India are rarely discussed and the secularists’ glee in banishing religion from the affairs of the State is rather too facile. The Constitution itself is accorded a somewhat sacred status, and elaborate oath taking ceremonies are conducted ritualistically for defending its provisions. The hierarchy that it sets forth resembles the pattern spelled out in mythological stories.
Lockean liberalism, of course, is the chief inspiration. But, privileging patriotism and democracy errs on the side of Humean passion, whereas universal suffrage leans unreasonably more towards Kantian reason. This supposed advantage, however, is invalidated by the irrational motivations of the voters. [TNM]
Reading the Sunday TOI's All That Matters was heart wrenching:
Aiyar & Akbar, Das & Dasgupta; all four have harped on the theme how ideology matters and a few degrees of deviation can lead us astray. Savitri Era Party firmly supports their sentiments and arguments. [TNM]
The Internet is an astounding platform where geographical distance and time lag collapses facilitating instant meeting of minds. Its contribution has been phenomenal as far as diffusion of knowledge and fermentation of new ideas is concerned. However, if one glances at the philosophy landscape, it seems as if we are living in 1009 CE and not in 2009. The segregation that the Westerners have safeguarded so far is simply illogical and downright repugnant.
The recent endorsement of Marx by a Vatican publication has expectedly caused ripples. Sri Aurobindo and Karl Marx by D. P. Chattopadhyaya is an outstanding study in this context. [TNM]
Blogging by Larval Subjects is a high point of Cyberspace:
Let's hope that the logic of Larval Subjects finally rams into Sri Aurobindo's The Life Divine. [TNM]
The judgmental spirit has overtaken us; a magisterial impulse. Everyone is on a spree to pass verdicts on anything under the sun. It seems that years of fear and suppression has found a vent as more and more of us are mustering courage to contribute to a discursive environment.
The difficulties are many. For instance, the complete works of Sri Aurobindo are yet to come out. So, no one can claim that he has gone through the Master’s entire oeuvre. In other words, no one yet knows for certain what exactly Sri Aurobindo says.
The publishing programme thus far has adopted an ivory tower approach. Evidently, complains and criticisms are surfacing. Involving informed users would go a long way in making the books blemish free in future.
Writings apart, the dynamics of interaction among the followers needs to be adequately debated upon and suitable structural apparatus put in place. Espousing a democratic and tolerant milieu for relating to The Mother & Sri Aurobindo at diverse levels is also a cardinal requisite.
Sri Aurobindian ontology and its socio-political implications is an unfolding story for which we need to be patient and polite without betting on any kind of finality. What all we have been told so far are just hints and allusions, and hence it would be foolish to make them prestige issues.
Public pronouncements by the followers, therefore, should be made after careful consideration of the matter. While commenting on socio-economic issues, responsibility should be assumed by disclosing full name, address and profession. Otherwise many a time, it looks like a childish hit-and-run tactic. [TNM-241009-Sat]
Affirming "We are all in his debt," on Jürgen Habermas’s eightieth birthday (The philosopher-citizen 6:39 PM), Charles Taylor underscores several points:
Sri Aurobindo too expounded on a similar need for diversification and self-enlargement in the last issue of Arya (January 1921) as below:
It is interesting to note that the Arya began with an invocation to the Kantian categories of God, freedom and immortality in the opening paragraph of The Life Divine, and the scrutiny was on even in the last issue and remained inconclusive. [TNM-201009]
[Sri Aurobindo on the nature of true democracy
by Paulette Auroville Today August 2004
Sri Aurobindo saw history as unfolding cycles... Ancient India was the repository of the highest form of democracy: the Sacred determined the political and social order... Before the sixth century B.C there were republican states as well, contemporary to the Greek city-states; those with a strong organisation lasted until the beginning of the Christian era. Afterwards these too were replaced by the monarchical state. In the simpler as in the complex polities none of the social orders was predominant; nor was uniformity needed. The social, political and economic dharma and its artha shastra harmonised the pre-existent patterns with newly evolved ones. The State stood for co-ordination, with no right of infringing on the autonomous functioning of the varnas (social classes), kulas (clan families), sanghas (spiritual communities) or any polity. From king to servant, all were bound to maintain the dharma.
At a latter stage the rishis envisaged a unifying political rule by a universal emperor (cakravartin), yet without destroying the self-governance of the autonomous polities; although there is no evidence of its application. ]
Such neat visualisations evoke suspicion. [TNM]
[Sri Aurobindo idealized ancient India in a similar way as Heidegger did the ancient Greeks. However with respect to the Enlightenment tradition although Aurobindo critiques its rational foundations he does show a respect for the values of the Enlightenment (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity) and does seem to adopt its progressive view of civilization. by Tony Clifton on Sat 17 Oct 2009 04:06 PM PDT Profile Permanent Link Re: John D. Caputo: A Postmodern, Prophetic, Liberal American in Paris by Michael E. Zimmerman, Continental Philosophy Review, 31 (Spring, 1998), 195-214. Science, Culture and Integral Yoga]
Sri Aurobindo too manicured away many 'awkward' historical facts from his narratives, as critiqued by D. P. Chattopadhyaya in Sri Aurobindo and Karl Marx. [TNM]
[Sri Aurobindo does concur with the monotheistic traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam that the Divine is ultimately single and unitary, and that It represents itself in humans as immortal souls. However, he prefers the Hindu metaphysic of polymorphous monotheism, according to which the one God can differentiate itself into in a plethora of attenuated forms, vehicles, creations, forces, and beings. So, in summary, Sri Aurobindo believes that God made all, all is God, God is in all and also beyond all, the All is all growing, God is growing in all, and we are all growing into God. Towards a spiritual psychology Bridging psychodynamic psychotherapy with integral yoga
Michael Miovic Consciousness and Its Transformation Cornelissen, Matthijs (Ed.) (2001)]
[Sri Aurobindo calls the soul the “psychic being”, coining his term from the Greek root psyche, and defines it as the true and eternal entity within us that is part of the Divine and persists after the body dies. Sri Aurobindo concurs with the monotheistic traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam that God (the Divine) is ultimately the sole reality and supreme being. However, he prefers the Hindu metaphysic of polymorphous monotheism, which generously allows the one God to differentiate into the multitudinous forms, beings, and forces of the spiritual and material worlds. This kind of God is simultaneously transcendent, immanent in all creation, and personally present for the individual according to the needs of his/her character and culture. Sri Aurobindo does accept the Hindu notion of reincarnation, but places a new emphasis on the evolutionary aim of the Divine plan. That is, he believes that the purpose of reincarnation is not to prepare the soul to transcend the cycle of karma (as in the classical definition of nirvana), but to increase the soul’s capacity to perfect life in the world. Indeed, he argues that this evolution of consciousness is the spiritual force driving the evolution of biological forms that are increasingly able to express it (e.g., the evolution of the mammalian brain culminating in the human brain). TOWARDS A SPIRITUAL PSYCHOLOGY: Bridging Psychotherapy with the Yoga Psychology of Sri Aurobindo
Michael Miovic, M.D. A Journal of Integral studies - February 2005]
In such an ontological frame, The Mother & Sri Aurobindo are not accorded the central role. [TNM]
[It is a historical fact that Wilber and others have interpreted Aurobindo in particular ways, have borrowed wholesale major concepts from Aurobindo's work (certain of which Aurobindo in my view had himself borrowed from others), and put them forward in particular terms. This cannot be undone, and it is not my responsibility. My position is that if one wants to understand how "integral theory" works, with an eye toward transforming it into something of practical use for authentic transformation, one needs to examine the methodology and assumptions that underlie it. Many of those assumptions are said to have originated in Aurobindo; Aurobindo is a claimed antecedent, certainly among the most important, arguably the most important. (title unknown)
from For The Turnstiles by DGA]
[To adapt a meme attributed to Whitehead: if European philosophy amounts to a footnoting of Plato, Integral theory may very well amount to a conversation about Aurobindo. This bit of context foregrounds Aurobindo’s achievement: while philosophers such as Schopenhauer and Nietzsche responded to Asian ideas in European terms, the notion of an "East-West synthesis" traces its genealogy to Aurobindo Ghose. Of Syntheses and Surprises: Toward a Critical Integral Theory Daniel Gustav Anderson (published in The Integral Review, Issue 3, 2006)]
[Sri Aurobindo and his co-worker the Mother have provided us with the first complete Integral spirituality and post-intellectual Integral teaching and praxis, and thus the promise of an integral divinisation of the physical body and the Earth consciousness as a whole. Towards a Larger Definition of the Integral, Part Four, Alan Kazlev integral world]
[The Life Divine by Sri Aurobindo is perhaps the greatest single work of philosophy ever written, a vast and often repetitive work that provides a powerful alternative to both materialism and asceticism: a world affirming evolutionary spirituality culminating in the Divinisation of the physical world. It is a shame that the turgid 19th century style puts off many, for lighter reading I would suggest Letters on Yoga. or just read the last four chapters. This book, together with Mother's Agenda and more recently Synthesis of Yoga, defined my own worldview and spirituality, and still does, although now I am less of an Aurobindo-fundamentalist and am incorporating other perspectives. Nevertheless, if there is one book alone that I would suggest you read to appreciate the Integral Paradigm, this is the one. An Informal Integral Canon - Selected books on Integral Philosophy page by M.Alan Kazlev. last modified 18 August 2009]
The Mother & Sri Aurobindo are the peak from whichever angle we look. [TNM]
[For The Turnstiles By DGA - My position is that Aurobindo is a writer of significance, a major cultural figure, who is sadly under-read by those who are not his disciples.... If one is concerned that Aurobindo is not represented properly or fairly or in a balanced way in academic discourse (I am such a one), spend some time in the Aurobindian archive, develop a worthwhile question, do your research, and publish your findings. For The Turnstiles]
Thank you, Anderson. [TNM]
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Some thoughts on Green: This may mean the erection of alternative forms of currency beyond monetary, and the creation of an alternative financial and stock market system that focuses on other attributes, perhaps drawing more direct inspiration from the underlying fourfold order. Pushed to its limits Green could also mean that which in the final analysis is most sustainable. In here perhaps there is tremendous opportunity to re-create or new-create based on the multidimensionality of the fourfold motive forces. Naturally all this can provide a huge field for India to exercise leadership.]