And 12 turn out to be guilty

[Who murdered the financial system?
22 Oct, 2008, 1511 hrs IST, Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar, ET Bureau
Leftists claim that the global financial crisis was caused by reckless deregulation and greed. Rightists blame half-baked financial regulations and perverse incentives. Actually, the financial sector is deeply regulated, with major roles for both the state and markets. It was not one or the other that failed but the combination. The best metaphor for the mess comes from Jack and Suzy Welch, who recall Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. In this novel, 12 people are suspects in a murder. And 12 turn out to be guilty. What starts as a whodunit concludes as an everybody-dun-it.]

It is not a question of one apologizes or another softens. It is certainly, as someone remarked, "shocking and deeply disillusioning to find such an antagonistic attitude among those who purport to be followers of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother." Why some are so willing to use extreme kind of language where much saner persuasion would do are some phenomena that need to be probed. [TNM]

Turning green when blue washes off

[When Securities Turn Blue & Red By Dhirendra Kumar Oct 13, 2008
Have you heard the Panchatantra tale about the jackal that turned blue? That story holds an important lesson in trying to understand the root cause of the global financial crisis. Here's my version.
Once upon a time, a jackal from the jungle wandered close to a village and was set upon by a pack of village dogs. While running to save his life, he stumbled and fell into a large vat of blue colour at a dyers' workshop. As he scrambled out, he was surprised to see that the dogs took one look at him and ran away, yelping in fear. He peeped into the water and saw that he had turned into a strange blue being. It was obvious to him that he had fallen into some sort of a magic potion and become a fearsome and powerful creature.
He went back into the jungle and declared himself to be the king. Scared of this blue apparition, the animals hastened to obey all his commands. Soon, using the money he extorted from the poor creatures, he bought himself an apartment on Manhattan's Upper East Side and another one in South Mumbai, probably in the NCPA building. However, he spent most of his time in Dubai. For some reason, he preferred the dry weather there. One day the unthinkable happened. Just as he stepped out of a helicopter after surveying the Burj Dubai-2 (he was planning to buy an apartment on the 8000th floor), it started raining. As the torrential rain poured down, his blue colour washed off and there he stood, revealed in his true jackalness. But it was OK because everyone around him was also a jackal. No, wait, that's a different story. As soon as he was revealed to be a jackal, the animals around him chased him back to the village.
The Jackal's pretence has a great similarity to securities being painted up and disguised into something they are not. When the dust finally settles on the Great Panic of 2008, we will all realise that in almost every part of this crisis, the original sin was investments that were pretending to be something they were not.]

Great Play of 2008 - A Tale of A vs. B - Episode II: Turning green when blue washes off. [TNM]

No one can prohibit us to love The Mother and Sri Aurobindo

No one can prohibit us to love The Mother and Sri Aurobindo. No one can prohibit us to love our motherland, India. Come along, we say to those feeling left out. [TNM] 12:38 PM

God save this blind-leading-the blind brigade!

[How Dare You TOI Edit 28 Oct 2008: The caste system pervaded all Indian institutions of the past. Its influence has been more pronounced in our understanding of knowledge and the learning process. Guru was at the apex of the knowledge pyramid in the Brahmanical scheme. He spoke down to disciples. Modern-day gurus, learned or otherwise, have dutifully copied the pattern. A hierarchical social order has replicated itself in institutions of learning. The result has not been pleasing. We have institutionalised rote learning with the focus on gathering information. The spirit of inquiry is missing in the present system. Education that fails to encourage students to raise questions can’t be expected to produce original minds. New ideas are born in a climate of dialogue and debate. India has long ceased to be a crucible for great ideas and minds. We produce successful doctors, software professionals and businessmen, but not original thinkers. Mahatma Gandhi was an original social and political thinker. His genius was shaped in the school of life rather than in any educational institution and he, like Rabindranath Tagore, was acutely conscious of the limits of our educational system. They knew that great nations were built by original minds.]

This edit writer is not only loathe to mention the name of Sri Aurobindo but also unaware of his insights. No wonder he makes a mess of his politically correct stance on Guru, Brahmanical scheme etc. God save this blind-leading-the blind brigade! [TNM]

It is shameful that the country is still functioning under laws of the British Crown

[Let’s Look Within by K Subrahmanyam, TOI, 28 Oct 2008: After 60 years of independence it is shameful that the country is still functioning under laws of the British Crown...How about regulating the state of affairs in our country other than in the economic arena, caused by the greed of our political class? The economic greed of US financiers is one of the issues in the US election campaign. Can the greed for power of our politicians be made an issue in the upcoming general elections here? But who is to bell the cat? The writer is a Delhi-based strategic affairs analyst.]

Savitri Era Party needs just one person to contest the elections in each Lok Sabha constituency. It is for the intelligentsia of the country to see the light and come forward to support this venture. No amount of whining can help us now; taking part in the political process is the only way. [TNM]

Fantastic exaggerations can be told about the products

[City City Bang Bang Self-regulatory market a false concept - Santosh Desai, TOI 27 Oct 2008: The widely held joint stock company in its purest form has no single owner, no one human source that we can attach consequences to. Theoretically, everyone has a share and no one is eventually responsible. The goals of a corporation, the driving ambitions that it nurtures are those of a self-sustaining organism. The corporation is its own justification. The idea of nameless and fragmented shareholders whose interests seemingly drive it, allows the corporation licence to drive an agenda divorced from any larger social context. The reductive nature of the corporation allows it to multiply endlessly - without any sense of the consequences of its actions. The corporation cannot say no, unless the law explicitly requires it to say so. The owned-by-no-one nature of corporations allows a culture to develop where actions do not need to conform to any rules but those developed internally. People can be fired overnight, fantastic exaggerations can be told about the products that it sells and its financial performance can be window-dressed without any great self-doubt. santoshdesai1963@indiatimes.com]

[Brand trust will finally be about people
D Shivakumar, ET, 27 Oct, 2008: Building trust in today’s society is not about plain size or economics in terms of turnover, profit and brand value. Consumers and communities have less faith in advertising, business, government and politicians than they did a few years ago. The challenge for all of us is to build back the trust in institutions. Organisations are institutions that house brands. The essence of a future brand is the totality of what it represents. Outside of the media hype, a brand will only endure if it is able to be seen as genuine and trustworthy in the way the consumer and community defines it. The good word of the public and the community will go a long way in building brand trust. Pure financial, rational logic has to give way to community involvement and a social commitment.]

Despite the ills listed by a front ranking insider in a dismal milieu, the corporation is still the best mechanism devised by the human mind. [TNM]

Wishing away hierarchy is hypocrisy

[U.N. chief: 'Drastic' action needed for poor: UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Friday for "drastic" measures to shore up banks and extend lines of credit to the world's poorest states, pledging to support European and American efforts to rethink the global financial architecture.
Moon: The era of self-regulation is over. He said the era of self-regulation among the biggest banks and other money-lending institutions had ended... CNN International]

[Marx And Spencer TOI 25 Oct 2008, DIPANKAR GUPTA Society must always come before the market.
We have to decide what kind of society we want before we let loose the market...When one plans for society, one plans for the long run... If one were to think long distance then policies that fundamentally encourage equality need to be at the base of every political decision... Democracy needs resolve and it must place society first. This is where planning plays a role, and all planning need not be of the slothful Soviet type. Interestingly, so many of those who till recently praised the poise and gift of the market have had a sudden change of heart. Earlier, only laissez faire and Spencer’s “survival of the fittest” figured. But today they are overeager to condemn the bosses of Wall Street and of every other crooked street in the world. The short term not only encourages painful social philippics, but also fair-weather friends...
To favour the market and blow the whistle on society only perpetuates the Marx & Spencer brand of politics. Do we really want that? Should not the dead rest in peace? The writer is professor of sociology at JNU. 9:26 AM]

If we can really "decide what kind of society we want," then we should first determine the contours of "equality" that we propose to espouse, for wishing away hierarchy is hypocrisy. [TNM]

We disagree with the wilted model of India that Prof. Stepan is endorsing

[Indian Express > Op-Ed > ‘In India, the greater the intensity of religious practice, the greater the support for democracy’
Vandita Mishra > Oct 24, 2008: Alfred C. Stepan is the Wallace Sayre Professor of Government at the School of International and Public Affairs and Director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion at Columbia University. He teaches comparative politics and his research interests include theories of democratic transitions, federalism, and the world’s religious systems and democracy. He has consistently argued for looking at the Indian model — be it secularism or federalism — on its own terms, and not just as a departure from the western norm. In the capital on Thursday, Prof Stepan spoke on ‘Rituals of Respect: Sufis and Secularists in Senegal’ at the CSDS. Excerpts from an interview with Vandita Mishra: Do you see a crisis of secularism in India today?
I am horrified by events in Orissa and in Gujarat earlier. But as a comparativist, I must look at the larger frame.
The conventional wisdom is that the greater the intensity of religious practice, the more dangerous it is for democracy. But our data tells us that for all of India’s four major religions — Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Sikhism — the reverse is true. The greater the intensity of religious practice, the greater the support for democracy. My judgment is that this would not have happened if India had not chosen its inventive form of secularism. Sometimes the state doesn’t live up to it. But in comparative terms, it is a success.]

It is difficult to gauge what exactly Professor Stepan has in mind when he lauds "religious practice" but the fact that it lulls people into living primitively is perhaps spotted as contributing to peace. Older religions have failed in their duty to impel people to receive education and develop skills in keeping with the times.

We, therefore, disagree with the wilted model of India that Professor Stepan is endorsing. Savitri Era Party has the vision to galvanize the youth of India to build a radically new future for the country. [TNM]

Sri Aurobindo is the greatest social scientist that India has produced

[Kalam is a scientist – but he knows nothing of "social science." Indeed, India has been producing excellent scientists, doctors and engineers for over 200 years. And we have failed precisely in the area of "social science." Posted by Sauvik on Thursday, October 23, 2008 ANTIDOTE
by Sauvik Chakraverti: Libertarian Opinion From Indyeah]

Tusar N Mohapatra said... 23 October 2008 16:21
Sri Aurobindo is the greatest social scientist that India has produced, but the intelligentsia continues to ignore him. [TNM] 4:58 PM

Critical tight-rope-walking with multiple poles to balance

from Tusar N. Mohapatra <tusarnmohapatra@gmail.com> date 22 October 2008 17:54

Thanks for disclosing your sentiments and questioning the ethical aspect. As you know, my own postings at Savitri Era reflect the conflated concerns of sister SELF Group Blogs like, Savitri Era Learning Forum, Savitri Era Religious Fraternity, Savitri Era Political Action, Savitri Era Open Forum, Feel Philosophy, etc. And you can well empathize how critical this tight-rope-walking is with multiple poles to balance.

For any moral dilemma the simple rule is, the higher Dharma takes precedence over the lower, but this ranking, of course, is subjective. In the present case, obligation towards the readers is sacrosanct, and concealing is rather a crime. [TNM] 12:33 PM

Love abiding

Institutions are the backbone of any society. Not only they tend to endure longer than individuals, but also develop a personality of their own free from biological fetters and climatic contingencies. The human body, of course, itself, is an association of countless cells and organs, but a pregnant woman, as an association of two (or more at times) individuals can be said to be embryonic of all institutions. Whether this analogy applies always to the individual’s relationship to the organization he works for is, however, debatable. But it is not unusual to observe that the founder (or, father) of an organization (or, the mother) becomes, over a period of time, its slave (or, child).

The UNO (United Nations Day: 24 October) is the largest association to have taken shape so far although it hardly inspires any emotional attachment among men. On the other hand, the continent, the nation, the religion, the race, the gender, the language, the caste, the tribe, the ethnicity or similar other considerations based on the birth of a person exercise a profound influence upon the individual all his life. To hope that these would melt away or evaporate over time is sheer utopian fantasy.

The point is not to look down upon the birth factor or the blood relationship but to focus on the quantum of its role in determining our seemingly rational actions. But even in the case of temperamental affinities (as against that of the blood) also, it is the genetic configuration that is behind the magic, and thus again it is back to the blood.

The institution, therefore, plays a big role here although a vast majority of them are dedicated to themes concerning the birth or the blood; culture being a respectable euphemism. Hence, the legitimate challenge is not only to hybridize and integrate but scouting for abiding loves that are entirely unlike those occurring in the past.

A philosophy binds people. Economic and political philosophies wield enormous power to unite people across the barriers of birth or blood. But the philosophy proper has had only a limited appeal and reach. That such superlative human creation go waste without being appreciated on a large scale is a terrible flaw of our civilization. And if the transformation that would have been engendered is reckoned, the magnitude of loss accentuates manifold.

A party, though political in nomenclature, also conflates social, cultural, as well as economic concerns. It represents perhaps potentially the largest association of people after the nation and at times with trans-national reach. Savitri Era Party aims at such a possibility with a bias, of course, towards philosophy and discourse on ethics. That surely can count as an abiding love with feet firmly rooted on the ground. [TNM] 2:07 PM 5:09 PM

Silencing of RY Deshpande is unfortunate

Silencing of the ever ebullient RY Deshpande is an unfortunate outcome of the current tug of war amongst the devotees of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo. The Blogosphere misses him and his wise insights. He should open his own Blog as a home to his creative output. [TNM] 8:06 AM

Sterile secular view of life is losing “certainty” making way for a sane and salutary stance

[Enculturation versus Enskillment - Tim Ingold - Social Anthropology, University of Manchester: Orthodox models of cultural learning rest on the premiss that culture exists as a context-free body of information, available for transmission outside the contexts of its practical application. I argue that this premiss is untenable, suggesting instead that what each generation contributes to the next are not rules or schemata for the production of appropriate behaviour, but the specific conditions of development under which successors, growing up in a social environment, acquire their own embodied skills and dispositions. Thus learning is a matter of enskillment rather than enculturation. This conclusion, however, has radical implications for the way we think about the relations between biological and cultural variation. Instead of supposing that the human being comes into the world innately pre-equipped with mechanisms for the acquisition of cultural information, we need to recognise that the differences we call cultural are themselves biological, established in the human organism through a process of development. This recognition, however, calls for a restructuring not only of the psychological theory of learning but also of the biological theory of genetic inheritance.]

[professional groups, with their own norms and identities, are absolutely central to the functioning of any modern society... these groups are the principal source of a functional and institutionalised morality in modern societies... Societies cannot be held together only by coercion (state) or money (markets). Something more is required. In a broader sense, it requires internalisation of norms and values that set limits on what can be bought and sold. It’s not the market by Pratap Bhanu Mehta Indian Express > Edits & Columns > Oct 20, 2008 at 3:42 PM]

It is not without significance that the suspicion infused into the divinity of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo by Peter Heehs through his book The Lives of Sri Aurobindo is being hotly contested at the same time when a colossal crisis is threatening to quake the global financial stability. In both the instances it is the sterile secular view of life that is losing “certainty” making way for a sane and salutary stance.

If the 20th century grappled with the “uncertainty” in physics as well as language, the 21st, it seems, will tackle the same in economics and politics. And in all these areas the sage advice of Sri Aurobindo would be of immense help. Sri Aurobindo as a guide of the human race will stand tall transcending all chasms: east and west, north and south, left and right, red and green.

Failure of calibration at various levels has been the bane in the past, and hence, education, ethics, and integrity are to be the cornerstones of a secure future society. Not merely enskillment, raising students with the ability to be “judge of skills” would be the legitimate task for the schools. For all this, willingness to drink from the source is essential. That fountainhead is hidden deep within every human being, and learning should lead one there instead of prohibiting as at present.

It is a temperamental revolution. The path has been charted out by The Mother and Sri Aurobindo 100 years back. We must follow it, we must tell others to follow it, and we must persuade others to follow it. We have to cajole others to follow it. And if need arises, we must force others to follow it, for, we are sure that in that only lies our welfare as well as theirs. [TNM] 7:17 PM 3:42 PM

Sorry prospect of an eerie homogenization

[Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged first appeared in 1957. The consequences of punishing and demonizing the life of the mind constitute the theme. After all, what would happen if, instead of the dull and the incapable, our best and brightest went on strike? Atlas Shrugged from Thoughts, Books, and Philosophy by jhbowden]

One shudders at the prospect of a possible reign of "the dull and the incapable" as the present goings on insists on an eerie homogenization by "punishing and demonizing the life of the mind." [TNM] 11:11 AM

The second rung leaders are now eager to usurp power

[Re: Corrections to textual excerpts of The Lives of Sri Aurobindo by Peter Heehs
by koantum on Tue 14 Oct 2008 10:45 PM PDT Profile Permanent Link
Vladmir, my friend, I hate to have to correct you. Those strong reactions are the vital reactions of a rather primitive type of religiosity, not at all befitting of an aspirant toward the enlightened spirituality that Sri Aurobindo has put before us as the goal. Read these excerpts from the Human Cycle and you will understand.
Reply by Debashish on Wed 15 Oct 2008 01:07 AM PDT Profile Permanent Link
What happens between a seeker and his guru is entirely between them. No "other seekers on the path" have or should have anything to do with it. It is the most private of relationships. Nor can anyone have any inkling from someone's expressions, whether they have gratitude or not for their guru. DB Reply]

What apparently looks like a tussle between the devoted and the skeptic, or the religious and the academic, is at heart a political battle. The hierarchy nurtured by The Mother has, obviously, collapsed and hence, the second rung leaders are now eager to usurp power. Whose edicts would be effective in future is emerging in this test run. Who would pull the strings of the “ringleaders” is crystallizing through whispers. Such palace intrigues are nothing new, but the amorphous nature of the power equilibrium leaves scope for much volatility in future.

What hurts the most is hypocrisy. If it is devotion, worship, or scripture, call it Religion. If it is administration, distribution of posts, or selection / election of officials, then call it Politics. If we sell books or other merchandise to earn profit, call it Commerce. Instead, if everything is termed just “spiritual” which cannot be questioned, it creates many anomalies.

That good economics is good politics is a favored slogan now (Krugman winning Nobel notwithstanding 2:29 PM). But our assignment is to bring home the fact that good metaphysics is good politics. That is the essential message of the three immortal books, The Life Divine, The Human Cycle, and The Ideal of Human Unity. How long would we disregard them? Now is the time to take that leap into the future. Savitri Era of those who adore, Om Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. [TNM]

Vladimir condemns the book, The Lives of Sri Aurobindo by Peter Heehs

[Comment on Getting beyond the Conventions of Biography – and ...
17 Sep 2008 A few weeks ago, a friend sent me comments made by Mr Peter Heehs on his book written on the life of Sri Aurobindo which was posted on the Columbia university press web site. As someone who has been familiar with the works of Sri ... Comments for Columbia University Press - http://www.cupblog.org]

Curiously, the above comment has vanished. Vladimir is perhaps the first among the non-Indian devotees to condemn the book, The Lives of Sri Aurobindo by Peter Heehs (on Tue 14 Oct 2008 12:49 AM PDT Profile Permanent Link 2:54 PM) in unequivocal terms. It is hoped that this issue is examined on merit and not on the basis of ethnicity or acquaintance. [TNM]

India will assist

It is no secret that India’s drain of wealth helped finance England’s Industrial Revolution leading to the prosperity of Europe and subsequently of America. Once again, India will stand in stoic silence and renunciation to assist them to overcome the present financial crisis. [TNM]

Savitri Era Party is concerned with the intermediate

[Sri Aurobindo's scheme of evolution...is the most optimistic scheme ever conceived by the mind of man. What concerns us more particularly here, however, is the picture which it presents to us of the goal of human life and society. -- S. K. MAITRA "Sri Aurobindo and Plato" SRI AUROBINDO MANDIR ANNUAL No. 9 15th August, 1950 11:09 AM]

Agreed that there has not been any “noticeable” confirmation, as yet, of the Divine Life as envisaged by Sri Aurobindo in the final chapter of his The Life Divine. But what we, at the Savitri Era Party, are concerned with at the moment is not any finality, but only the intermediate. There appears to be no reason why if we sincerely hope for something won’t bear fruit. It is a therapy of hope, Hopeopathy, let’s say. [TNM]

Savitri Era Religion: rituals and customs

[CPM MP stirs party pot, says change stand on religion Indian Express, India - 28 Sep 2008 Thiruvananthapuram, AP Abdullakutty, the CPM MP from Kannur in north Kerala, has said the party should review its stand on religion in the same ... Abdullakutty has stated that he was a communist who believed in his religion and its practices. He also made this statement in an interview given to the weekly supplement of a Malayalam daily. Putting the party leadership virtually on the dock he had stated that there should be clarity on the party stand as regards religious faith and practices. Kannur MP lands CPM in trouble Express Buzz, India - 30 Sep 2008]

[even according to our great spiritual leader, Sri Aurobindo , there can be no universal religious system due to complex patterns of thoughts and living style demanding variation in self expression and freedom. One of his dreams was a world union, with a brighter and nobler life as outer basis. Even efforts were made earlier to bring about such a union to which effect a universal religion was propagated by impressing upon the naked truth of uniformity of all religions in ensuring the common good.
But the spiritual leadership has not so far achieved this vital objective solely because of veering away from the religion by its intelligentsia. Pseudo Clergy who were not adequately equipped to handle this role both academically and intellectually took the reins for the study and propagation of the values of religions...Only those who recognize a spiritual evolution as the destiny can shape the future of humanity in the new age. Such pioneers can synergies the best of all sections of mankind in the world and bring all religions under one umbrella. -- Posted by Rashmi Nair at 11:17 AM Wednesday, October 8, 2008]

Matrubhaban Patra September '08 mourns at length the demise of Pratap, a top functionary and reports holding of the 12th day congregation for him at Matrubhaban, Cuttack. Such religious rituals and ceremonies being part of life (and death) should be accommodated appropriately within the Savitri Eran customs instead of adopting a paradoxical no-no attitude towards religion like the Communists. [TNM]

Yoga is skill to shape our tools

Techno-Capitalism and Post-Human Destinies - I, II, & III by Debashish have wisely been reposted as they deserve several attempts of reading. Santosh Desai in his Monday column, Televisionized India: Beyond small screen in The Times of India on 6 Oct 2008 has reminded that,

[In Marshall McLuhan's words, "We become what we behold. We shape our tools which in turn, shape us.'' The content, he goes on to argue in his characteristically extreme way, is the juicy piece of meat carried by the burglar to distract the watchdog of the mind and it has about as much importance as the stencilling on the casing of an atomic bomb. The televisionization of India goes way beyond television. We are increasingly what we watch.]

In a world where there is no escape from television, mobile phone, and the Internet, increasing awareness is needed as to how best to “shape our tools” so that we indeed remain yoked to Yoga. [TNM]

Fecund amalgam of holiness and intellect in Sri Aurobindo

[Gandhiji was a good man and his greatness grew out of his goodness...He was a Very Ordinary Person who had trained himself to meet and mate with the everpresent element of goodness (sattva) in every person and every situation and so to create from moment to moment a fresh chance for a better life for all. Like the other great figures of the Indian Renascence, Swamy Vivekananda, Narayana Guru, Sri Aurobindo and Ramana Maharshi, he put off holiness and put on intellect. Like Vinoba Bhave, he accepted and combined spirituality and science. -- by K Swaminathan, 8 October 2008 Mahatma or Dharmatma Mainstream - New Delhi, Home page > 2008 > October 4, 2008 (Mainstream, Annual 1988) Prof Swaminathan, the scholar-philosopher, was the Chief Editor of the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi.]

Prof. K Swaminathan tells, by implication, that “holiness and intellect" either don't go together or not a very desirable combination, but in Sri Aurobindo we find a fecund amalgam of both that is unparalleled in history. [TNM]

Integral Yoga sits upon a massive infrastructure of philosophy and sociology

Understanding the multifaceted philosophy of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo is a process that needs immense time and tenacity. Apart from their own writings, there are certain other works without reading which it is not easy to appreciate the overall message. Two outstanding gems in this context are:

• The Meeting of the East and the West in Sri Aurobindo's Philosophy by S.K. Maitra, and
• Sri Aurobindo and Karl Marx: Integral Sociology and Dialectical Sociology by D.P. Chattopadhyaya.

It is always hazardous to pin down any particular opinion on the basis of a single book or aphorism of Sri Aurobindo although many derive a sort of adolescent glee from such deceptive enterprise. For some others an anti-Western bias provides an insulated chamber and a cozy quilt of complacency to not to bother about any Hegel or Schlegel.

In the teachings of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo the question of the East and the West has been fully reconciled. If we find any contradiction, it is because we are insufficiently devoted to their words. Integral Yoga sits upon a massive infrastructure of philosophy as well as sociological insights. Not a slew of Asanas alone, but an intricately woven web of attitudes is the right reflection of an informed practitioner. [TNM]

It is difficult to buy a blanket defense of the Indian-attitude

Tusar N Mohapatra said... 7:46 PM, October 06, 2008

Thanks Krishnan for expressing your resentments, but it is difficult for me to buy a blanket defense of the Indian-attitude as you seem to propose. To say that “Sri Aurobindo in a way represents this continuity” is also wide off the mark, and as long as you don’t accept The Mother and Sri Aurobindo as a devotee, your impressions don’t count much in the intense debate that we are engaged in. An extensive study of Sri Aurobindo’s works is another sine qua non.

Jeerleaders: Rich, Ulrich, Ned

Hi-fi gang of jeerleaders spraying hyper-cultural vitriol is in (provincial) town. Welcome and Best Wishes! [TNM]

The Supramental Force demands our unalloyed loyalty and incorrodible adherence

[The vision, a grand one for that, is thus central to Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy… and herein lies the crux of the whole problem. (p.94)
Sri Aurobindo’s thesis, on our understanding, is neither verifiable nor falsifiable. (p.104)
According to Flew’s well-known falsifiability criterion of meaning, it may, therefore, be condemned as vacuous. (p.104)
One thing is clear: such theses are not, and are not even meant to be, testable. (p.104) -- Philosophical Reflections By G. C. Nayak]

The life of Sri Aurobindo and that of The Mother, their work, and their writings constitute an integral whole which “are not, and are not even meant to be, testable.” All foolish fiddling with it runs the risk of inferring spurious premises. The Supramental Force that they have successfully activated in the earth’s atmosphere demands our unalloyed loyalty and incorrodible adherence for unleashing its full potential. By monkeying around with consistent nitpicking, instead, we make a mockery of our puny punditry. [TNM]

Hegel once again a rage

[Monday, October 16, 2006 Salvation via Hegel
It is a welcome sign that theoretical debates are cropping up stirring religious beliefs. The evolution vs. intelligent design discourse has hardly died down and we have this he-she imbroglio. While Wilber’s painstakingly built AQAL edifice, like the Al Quida, is corroding from the inside in the manner of a cancer, the papal glasnost is also proceeding towards an inevitable Gorvachevsque denouement. All this is a matter of glee for the Savitri Erans and reason enough to laugh up their sleeves. Let there be more of navel gazing so that Hegel once again become a rage and from there Sri Aurobindo is just a stone’s throw away. Posted by Tusar N Mohapatra at 4:53 PM 0 comments Links ]

[The Spirit of the Age: Hegel and the Fate of Thinking
Is it becoming more obvious today that the thinkers of the post-Hegelian era were/are not “able to bear the greatness, the immensity of the claims made by the human spirit”? Is our era the era of the “faint-hearted” philosophy? Celebrating 200 years since the publication of The Phenomenology of Spirit this volume addresses these questions through a renewed encounter with Hegel’s thought. Read more... © 2008 re.press]

Wishing "Reading Hegel: The Introductions by G.W.F. Hegel (edited and introduced by Aakash Singh and Rimina Mohapatra) - Hegel’s brilliant Introductions, provided all together here Download book as PDF (Open Access)" a wide readership. [TNM]

Let's march forward with the flags of our quiet belief aloft. On to the Savitri Era

[The well-known motivational theorist, Abraham Maslow, once commented: "If the only tool you have is a hammer, you will see every problem as a nail." Today many people are attempting to create organizational transformation using a hammer and nail mentality. They diligently hammer away at issues with logical, linear action plans, attempting to create major change with minimal chaos. Consequently, the results of their new initiatives are often merely incremental and sometimes only cosmetic... In short, the principles of quantum mechanics challenge us to turn our view of reality upside down and acknowledge that there is much more to life than meets the eye. -- by Charlotte Shelton WiseWork This article first appeared in the World Business Academy "Perspectives," March 1999. NewWork Opinion Home]

[On the westerners' side it is an insistence on "fact" and an analysis of objective facts on the basis of reason and an infants' psychology. --by Debashish on Mon 29 Sep 2008 10:23 AM PDT Profile Permanent Link Re: Rationalism and the yogic life 7:04 AM ]

[The message is clear: We are wasting our time trying to reach agreements while remaining at our present level of consciousness. The one thing needful is to grow beyond it... -- by koantum on Mon 29 Sep 2008 07:40 PM PDT Profile Permanent Link Re: Rationalism and the yogic life Science, Culture and Integral Yoga 11:14 AM]

[The other thing I discovered doing all that computer simulation work was that we almost never actually understand what specific policy changes will make the differences we intend. We had10,000 different variables we were tracking in the World Model and found that most of the seemingly obvious changes we made would usually make little difference (the system would compensate in unexpected ways), or would sometimes produce changes different from what we intended. Forrester called this the "counter intuitive behavior of social systems," which became a famous phrase among systems modelers. (He used the word "intuitive" in a different sense than SA does.) Forrester meant that the thousands of nonlinear feedback loops involved in today's complex national and especially global systems allow them to behave in unexpected ways compared to the simple mental ('intuitive') models we've constructed based on our everyday experience. To put it bluntly, we basically don't know what we're talking about! (Usually.) This is one of the reasons SA/M's work appeals to me. Their warnings against an overly mental approach to the world make complete sense to me. Today's policy and economic experts use computer models with hundreds of thousands of interacting nonlinear variables which still can only accurately predict for a couple of years what a given policy intervention would actually do (& that's assuming no exogenous changes). I've come to the conclusion that the only hope is to somehow connect with a deeper wisdom than merely mental processes can achieve,and the only way I know how to do that is through a serious sadhana based on a long-term well-tested spiritual tradition. After experiencing a few such traditions, my personal choice is that IY is the most effective way to accomplish this, though of course it's not a guaranteed result. -- by ronjon on Tue 09 Aug 2005 01:27 AM PDT Permanent Link From: Ron Anastasia (rjon@vzavenue.net)]

[ To me, attempting to resolve such a profound question from the limited viewpoints of normal human consciousness is fruitless. Sort of like scientific materialists attempting to prove/disprove the existence of the soul by weighing a body at the moment of death. I'd prefer to simply acknowledge the possibility of more expanded levels of consciousness in which direct personal experience may render the question moot. -- by ronjon on Sun 28 Sep 2008 01:48 PM PDT Profile Permanent Link 7:51 AM]

[9. EQUANIMITY: An established poise in the being which accepts all that comes, all that happens, with an attitude of perfect equality. There is no undue elation when things are favourable, no depression when they are unfavourable. The status in calm is never disturbed.
10. PERSEVERANCE: A dogged will to pursue the quest whatever the difficulties, whatever the setbacks. It involves adour, endurance and an attitude of never accepting defeat and giving up but always insisting on doing better and better till the goal is reached.
11. COURAGE: A thrust in nature that defies all danger and threat of circumstances and goes forward with conviction of truth on its side. This courage is not physical alone; it is a natural daring that is active on all the level of the being. There is a vital, moral, mental and spiritual courage.
12 PEACE: A state of established inner immovability. An undisturbable state of consciousness, firm like a rock, exhuding a liberated joy.
These four relate to our attitude to the world around. The divine consciousness found itself in us in the measure in which we establish these powers in ourselves. -- The Mother, The Twelve Powers Explained]

The need of the hour is to focus on convergences by latching on to a global (not merely ecological or economic) perspective. Differences may signify the symptoms, but the cure is already at the core of a promised Harmony. To follow and not falter, to dare and not doubt, to defy adversity and not succumb to a lack of conviction are our obvious levers of collaboration. To believe in no other solution, to run after no other power or promise is our forte. Let's march forward with the flags of our quiet belief aloft. On to the Savitri Era! [TNM]