Thanks to SAABA, loads of correspondence are now online

Thanks to SAABA, loads of correspondence pertaining to the Peter Heehs imbroglio is now available online and SCIY promises to add further shortly. Besides, fresh postings are accruing almost everyday that have become an inevitable part of our reading list.

The matter is sub judice, and hence, conflicting estimates as regards the outcome are bound to appear, as also contradictory claims concerning aptness of respective standpoints. This, unfortunately, makes any sane assessment impossible as sponsored polemics has taken over the civil discourse and orchestrated media interventions spray miasma periodically. Not surprisingly, the spies are out and any sort of murky unfolding is expected.

Polarized positions on the book as well as the author have atrophied by now and everyone is just defending his or her stand. Consequently, several niceties are casualty in this zealous safeguarding of interests. Turning a black and white binary of such an unprecedented complex affair is the most despicable sacrilege. It would be fitting, therefore, if intertwined strands are untangled and evaluated severally.

First the author:

1. Peter Heehs is a bona fide Ashramite (i.e., sadhak, purported to be engaged in the pursuit of self-fulfillment or yoga) for about four decades.
2. He heads the Archives and is involved in releasing various Ashram publications (not without being embroiled in controversies, though).
3. Blending his own research (assisted by his colleagues in the ashram) with subjects of general interest, he has managed to author several titles published by outside publishing houses.
4. His articles have also appeared in peer-reviewed professional journals (despite his reported lack of adequate educational qualifications) presumably on the strength of his position in the Ashram.
5. Crisp prose coupled with a critical approach is his forte. Being American too is another possible reason for his earning a privileged status with the Indian publishers and elsewhere.
6. Barring his subjects, writings on his personal predilections as a scholar are few and far between thus contributing to much speculation and conjecture.
7. Opinion about him among his fellow inmates and acquaintances is divided.

Now the book:

1. The Lives of Sri Aurobindo, as the title suggests, is a biography of the founder of the Ashram of which the author is a member... [TNM]