Change is hard to achieve

[December 30 Quote of the Day from Science, Culture and Integral Yoga™ by ronjon
Victory is to the most persistent. ~ The Mother]

Russell Roberts notes in another context that change is hard to achieve (The Partisan Trap from Cafe Hayek). And perhaps that is the reason The Mother used to apply so much emphasis on patience, perseverance and endurance. [TNM]

How the followers of Sri Aurobindo and Mother can deify them and claim that integral yoga is not absolutely a Religion

If we ask the right questions, then, they say, the right answers can easily be accessed. Two such candid questions were spotted at SCIY: [TNM] 9:23 AM

[Re: Harmonious Confederation by RY Deshpande on Fri 28 Dec 2007 05:36 AM PST Profile Permanent Link I think this observation of yours is very perceptive, quite positive, and I echo with the idea of “harmonious confederation”, the solution which was suggested by the Mother after 1971. And yet the question is: how is it going to be effected?]

[Re: India’s Independence and the Spiritual Destiny by Rich on Thu 27 Dec 2007 07:47 AM PST Profile Permanent Link Well if you choose to deify Sri Aurobindo the above perspective would logically follow. I personally do not and yes I think both he and Mother as human beings (however exalted they were) both reasoned and formed opinions which were subject to change depending on the passing of local and world events.

I am however somewhat perplexed - and maybe you can explain this - how the followers of Sri Aurobindo and Mother can deify them and claim that integral yoga is not absolutely a Religion (with a capital R) rc]

All are invited to work for the Savitri Era Party

Tusar N Mohapatra said...8:24 PM, December 28, 2007

The future status of India will be decided by its people through continuous engagement with its affairs and not by any strict theoretical formulation of the past. Savitri Era Party, while striving how best to benefit from the ideals of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo, will not shy away from the challenges of globalization. All are invited to work for the Party so that the India of our dreams emerges. Only, a political party is able to give concrete shape to all these noble sentiments, otherwise they remain pipe dreams.

Tusar N. Mohapatra, President, Savitri Era Party. tusarnmohapatra@gmail.com

Director, Savitri Era Learning Forum. [SELF] SRA-102-C, Shipra Riviera, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, U.P. - 201012, INDIA Ph: 0120-2605636, 2815130 www.sepact.blogspot.com

Savitri Era of those who adore, Om Sri Aurobindo and The Mother

Universally human Vedic economics

[Theories are always applied and interpreted through our personal and cultural filters and there is no other way it can be. Robin believes in an Archimedean point for using theory, I do not.
Furthermore we often need to apply personal and cultural judgment to offset the sometimes-erroneous judgments and biases built into the economic way of thinking. Robin's post is the clearest example I have seen of what I call Robin's logical atomism. Can theory override intuition? from Marginal Revolution by Tyler Cowen] 10:30 AM

TC draws a clear demarcation between him and RH, but the neatness itself becomes the reason for uneasiness. Attempting to problematize the matter, we can think of the most primordial (as well as, perpetual) of antagonisms of Vedic vintage: Vritra has covered the light within the caves and Indra is striving to salvage it.

If light can at all be considered of some economic worth, then this fight is universally human regardless of personal and cultural standpoints. Not only economics; all politics, ethics, and aesthetics derive their logic and legitimacy from this fundamental essence. The bulls and the bears are perhaps the nearest in sense in contemporary parlance. [TNM]

March 29 as the Day of Joy and Hope

[Events
21St -February 21 2008 - The Mother's Birthday Darshan Day
29Th -February -2008- The Golden-Day Darshan Day
24Th - April - 2008 - Darshan Day
15Th -August - 2008 - Sri Aurobindo's Birth Anniversary
17Th - November - 2008 - Mother's Maha Samadhi Day

24Th - November - 2008 - Siddhi Day

5Th - December - 2008 - Sri Aurobindo's Maha Samadhi Day]

We too want a festival, not only for prayer and meditation but also for merrymaking. There is no better date than 29th March, the day when The Mother met Sri Aurobindo. What she wrote on March 30, 1914 constitutes the greatest hope for man:

Gradually the horizon becomes distinct, the path grows clear, and we move towards a greater and greater certitude.
It matters little that there are thousands of beings plunged in the densest ignorance, He whom we saw yesterday is on earth; his presence is enough to prove that a day will come when darkness shall be transformed into light, and Thy reign shall be indeed established upon earth.
O Lord, Divine Builder of this marvel, my heart overflows with joy and gratitude when I think of it, and my hope has no bounds. My adoration is beyond all words, my reverence is silent. Page - 124

So, from next year onwards let's celebrate March 29 as the Day of Joy and Hope. [TNM]

Surat shows the way

On December 21, 1907 Sri Aurobindo left Kolkata for Surat to perform his historic role in the 1907 session of the Indian National Congress and addressed a meeting at Nagpur on 22nd. What happened a century back in Surat also offers a lot of lessons even today. The whole chain of events leading to the split of the Congress is not much known among the present generation. Savitri Erans must celebrate this occasion in a befitting manner all over the country in order to raise awareness.

We also request the editors of newspapers and newsportals to help disseminate information about this important event. Columnists and bloggers are also invited to dissect the happenings then and see them in the context of the outcome of the present Gujarat elections as well as the future of the country. 9:34 AM 7:30 PM 8:14 PM

Tusar N. Mohapatra, President, Savitri Era Party. tusarnmohapatra@gmail.com
Director, Savitri Era Learning Forum. [SELF] SRA-102-C, Shipra Riviera, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, U.P. - 201012, INDIA Ph: 0120-2605636, 2815130 www.sepact.blogspot.com
Savitri Era of those who adore, Om Sri Aurobindo and The Mother

Unproductive entrepreneurship in Orissa

[Orissa dance fares well in RTI The Statesman - Tuesday, 18 December 2007: Orissa holds a prestigious position as far as as the much hyped Right to Information (RTI) is concerned. The performance of the state in accepting applications and their disposal is outstanding. At the same time its performance has also been highly acclaimed by international bodies, Mr DN Padhi, the chief information commissioner (CIC) of Orissa said here today. The activity of the commission has also crossed the boundaries of the country since the World Bank and other international organisations have acclaimed its performances. It may be mentioned here that in October, the chief commissioner was honoured by the World Bank at its headquarters in Washington DC.]

This is the kind of unproductive entrepreneurship that is proliferating in Orissa. No economic development can take place just by dusting and digging the archives of files in government offices. [TNM] 4:50 AM 4:54 PM

Savitri Era Religion is of great potential value for humanity

An outstanding study titled "The Religious Philosophy of Consciousness of Sri Aurobindo" by Andries Gustav Barnard (November 2005), is available here [4:25 PM]. In the concluding two paragraphs cited below, the author raises important questions and makes interesting observations as regards religion, amply instructive to the Savitri Erans: [TNM]

[Here we are not looking at a new religion. But there are still perplexing questions about Sri Aurobindo in this regard. As already mentioned, he stated that he did not wish to establish a new religion.

• How do his students or followers respond to this wish?
• What have they made to his philosophy?
• Has it been changed into a cult and should his every dictate be followed slavishly?
• Is he viewed as an avatar, not necessarily in name but in fact?
• Or is he considered a great thinker or perhaps a combination of all three these possibilities?
• If his disciples follow his philosophy to the letter, either at present or in the future, would that be wrong?

The reason for this question is, if they do not operate in this way, can the positive results envisaged by Sri Aurobindo be guaranteed because now it is not a Sri Aurobindo philosophy but the disciple philosophy that is relevant and determinative.

• Further, if he is to be followed slavishly, can original and thinking minds tolerate such a restrictive environment?

As in all religions and philosophical groupings, there are certain latitudes that are operative. The teacher did not cover everything and what he did cover was set out in words which immediately brings into question exactly what his teachings were. Always the teacher speaks from his level and always the student hear from his.

• Certainly we can see his words but we only see the surface: to what degree can disciples see the depth?

Given all these imponderables the road ahead is not necessarily very clear. The effect of his philosophies during his life and since his death has been arguably limited. This is evidenced by the fact that he simply is not a well-known philosopher. This could be because of the fact that he is not necessarily a very easy read. Reading him arguably requires a certain intellectual ability and bent. Because of his erudition, comprehensiveness and profundity, the study of his work can be a very satisfying exercise. Even though he to a degree presented what he experienced and though within the framework of the Hindu philosophy, the emphasis of his philosophies is on his basic findings as is applicable to every human being. Different philosophies appeal to different people. This is dependent on their level of evolution.

• Up till now one can say that the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo has not made a great impact on humanity, but is it not possible that that is because of the fact that his work was too advanced for the present period?

I would argue that his philosophy is comprehensive, profound and of great potential value for humanity. It addresses that part of the human psyche that is beyond the physical with its base needs, beyond the level of the emotions where only feelings pertain, even beyond the level of the intellect with its invaluable logic and reason and it finds itself in the supra-intellectual domains of being. It is also not restricted to any confining or restrictive religious or philosophical dogmas. He does not ignore any of the above aspects of a human being but is not bound to any one of them, it is inclusive and far-reaching. Potentially, it can supply a holistic evolutionary roadmap for humanity to move beyond the problematic physical, spiritual and environmental reality it finds itself in.]

The social is a process of countless transactions

[The social is not something that can be thought as a substance, but is rather something that must be constituted, produced, engendered. And not only must the social be produced or engendered, it must be produced or engendered again and again in the order of time as a series of ongoing actions, operations, or events. The social, in short, is a process.
You can find the rest of it here: territories-of-music1.doc. The key concept in everything I’m working on is that of individuation and how individuation requires us to recast a number of philosophical questions. by Larval Subjects] 9:22 AM

[Given interdependence of each on others, many, probably most, of whom we are unlikely ever to know, it is well that we can benefit from their actions without it being necessary for the happy bonds of ‘mutual love and affection’ to exist among us.
We only ever know a few of our relatives; cousins twice removed are usually strangers of whom we may know nothing at all. Our circle of friends is also limited, and while our acquaintances are a larger set of people, they are still dwarfed in numbers by the billions on the planet (even the millions in our respective countries’ or even those who live in the same town)...

Smith...focused on this factor in human life and explained how people could be in complex exchange links many intersections long and could still benefit from countless transactions among millions of strangers with whom feelings of ‘mutual love and affection’ were not realistic nor necessary... Adam Smith Was Not Schizophrenic! from Adam Smith's Lost Legacy by Gavin Kennedy] 1:34 PM

Granted that the social is a process of countless transactions. Then, what is the fuel that runs it? [TNM]

Orissa should not miss the bus

[Kotak Mahindra makes debut in Orissa Newindpress - December 15, 2007 BHUBANESWAR: Kotak Mahindra Bank on Friday announced the launch of Orissa operations and inaugurated its first branch in the State on Friday.]

[The real challenges that the United States faces come not from globalization's losers but from its winners, not from yesterday's bombs but from tomorrow's factories... When the history of these times is written, surely the great trend that will dominate the accounts, far larger than the war in Lebanon or the tensions over Iran, will be the rise of China and India and how they reshaped the world... Welcome to the post-American world. The Fearful Superpower By Fareed Zakaria NEWSWEEK ISSUES 2008] 4:29 AM

This is the greatest moment in the history of India and we are living in unprecedented times. Instead of thinking investment and entrepreneurship, some lazy pen-pushers in Orissa are busy inciting people against industrialization and development. Touts have turned leaders overnight by instigating small farmers to protest, and are enjoying their new clout. But if Orissa misses the bus again this time, then who suffers? Who’d take the blame? [TNM]

Lack of freedom

Contrary to the popular notion, the blogosphere is not the place to find free opinion. Many authors and columnists push their theories; various organizations push their agenda, and most serious-seeming outpourings are nothing but adolescent babble. Rarely one finds any well thought out post positing a really fresh approach.

This is not due to lack of creativity, but lack of freedom. Most people are bound to some organization or the other. Although we are a democracy, people are barred from taking part in any kind of political activity or expressing their opinions, as per their service rules. The political sphere, therefore, remains the fiefdom of the unemployed. [TNM]

Castes and sub-castes as “federation of free nationalities”

Only a person of Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar’s stature can alert the city intellectuals, both the Marxist/secular/liberal, and the libertarian variety, not to pretend to wish away the caste system. By highlighting the fact that caste fraternities are not only “building blocks of mass politics” but also instruments of social capital, he is forcing us to think the whole issue anew. [Why intellectuals have no mass base ET 5 Dec, 2007]

If we take the liberty of transposing crudely one of the key ideas that Sri Aurobindo popularized, the castes and the sub-castes can be seen as welcome corporate formations. They can exist as a “federation of free nationalities” both competing and co-operating with each other. [TNM, Director, Savitri Era Learning Forum, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad] 8:13 AM 7:59 AM

Censoring history

[Referring to the evolution of journalism in India, the chief minister referred to the contribution of Mahatma Gandhi, GK Gokhale, Pt Jawaharlal Nehru and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, saying that they were great mass communicators. He said Gandhiji edited various journals including ‘Indian Opinion’, ‘Young India’ and ‘Harijan’ from 1902 to 1948, while Gokhale put his duty as journalist above his family and Maulana Azad became the editor of Al-Hilal when he was just 13 years of age. www.merinews.com]

As a devoted Congressman, Ghulam Nabi Azad dutifully forgets to mention Lal-Bal-Pal, and of course, Sri Aurobindo. [TNM] 11:24 AM

Break this illogical and distorting order of knowledge dispensation

During his recent visit to India, Ken Livingstone, the mayor of London, wrote a feel good piece in The Times of India on November 19, 2007 with the startling caption: Britain As India's Colony [2:06 AM]. Now the West is ready to do business with India. The 123 agreement, itself, signifies that they are even willing to share power. This is a major gain that India has pocketed from Globalization.

But the same degree of leverage has not been achieved in the field of philosophy and social science. Going by the newspaper articles it becomes apparent that India doesn’t exist in the mind of the scholars in the West. The Indian context is never alluded to in sociological analyses. The Veda, for instance, is yet to find a mention in their University syllabi pertaining to Ancient philosophy.

We shall have to break this illogical and distorting order of knowledge dispensation. Savitri Erans have the consent and sanction of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo in this respect. Sri Aurobindo himself was writing in the Bande Mataram a century ago inaugurating such an agenda. Prof. S. K. Maitra, heroically, has sounded the heralds. Wide-ranging writing must commence to win this more difficult war. [TNM] 11:34 PM 2:37 PM

Savitri Era cultural fraternity

[Bhattacharjee, who has been trying to calm tempers by toning down his earlier remarks on the recapture of Nandigram, held fire but expressed concern over divisions in the “cultural world”. “If our cultural world gets bogged down in the quicksand of disunity and mutual, but unnecessary, distrust, it will bring disaster,’’ he said. The Telegraph Front Page > Friday, December 07, 2007]

The Left has assiduously built its “cultural world” over the years to the envy of all other political parties. Savitri Erans must hope to create such a fraternity in the times to come. [TNM]

Majority? Yes and No

1. The 123 agreement is in a logjam. Karat says that the majority of MPs are against it. [The Hindu]
2. Chávez concedes defeat in the referendum for constitutional reforms. [Democracy in the Americas]

While the Venezuelan verdict is welcome, the “majority” principle is against the national interest in the Indian context. Here, the leader should ride roughshod over niceties in order to secure a salute from the posterity. [TNM] 5:00 PM

Canvassing and carnival

Parliament evokes the image of politeness and reasoned debate, while an election rally (or, Lalu's ralla) presents a picture in contrast. Spirited canvassing amidst huge crowds takes the form of a carnival, the performance art of the politician not being devoid of cathartic implications. In deference to Rabelais’ eulogizing of carnivals as alerted by Bakhtin, or Rancière’s viewing of Democracy as an event, it is not easy to question the mode of canvassing as it happens in India, but the way all dirt is whipped up during this period certainly vitiates the atmosphere and blurs vision. Politics need not be a hostage to such roller coaster ride of melodrama. [TNM] trackback 5:25 AM 5:33 AM

Sri Aurobindo, who passed away on this date 57 years back, was an expert on religion

One more year of the Common Era is coming to a close and another round of stock taking is usual. Agreeably, we are living at a time when the human civilization seems to be at its peak, though besetted with concerns like carbon footprint and climate change. Globalization on the one hand, and robotics, nanotechnology, genetic engineering, cognitive psychology, etc. on the other is doing a steady march. Internet has metamorphosed into an unprecedented forum for exchange of ideas.

Writing of books on religion – both, for and against – is spreading like an epidemic. Scientists, journalists, columnists, psychoanalysts, politicians, professors of Political Science, and sundry social scientists and commentators are out with books and they are being read as well as debated avidly. Hundreds of denizens of the blogosphere dutifully read them, report, and recommend. Amazon.com is growing amazingly for this reason.

Inability to recognize the distinctiveness of the extraordinary metaphysical output of Sri Aurobindo as expounded in The Life Divine and Savitri is an utter intellectual failure of the present generation. Not to be agog and astir about such prophetic utterances signifies certain deafness towards the radical and the veridical. This is a peculiar ailment afflicting the elite at the moment. The subliminal planes of our being turn insignificant in the face of the sub-prime crisis.

Sri Aurobindo, who passed away on this date 57 years back, was an expert on religion. There is no better book than The Life Divine on the subject of religion and philosophy. Notion and nature, matter and memory, sleep and dream, rebirth and evolution; the mystery of all knotty questions have been answered to the satisfaction spanning race, religion and culture. For any subject, in all fairness, one should read the expert, and not the layperson.

It is not metaphysics alone. The Mother and Sri Aurobindo have instantiated an obscure and abstruse evolutionary alchemy, the urgency of which needs to be appreciated by the mankind. All our education would be deemed as fruitful if harnessed in broadcasting this epochal imperative. The message is simple, the invitation direct, and the prospectus is in black and white. Time to heal our intellectual infructuity. [TNM]

5Th - Dec - 2007 - Sri Aurobindo's Maha Samadhi Day

Our affinity with France

Like the communists nurturing extra-national sympathies earlier for USSR and now for China, or Muslims’ sense of affiliation with UAE or Pakistan; Savitri Erans, too, harbour an affinity with France. French being our “Mother-tongue” we yearn to learn it as much as possible and rue over the fact that the Rues of Puducherry are a vanishing breed. It is difficult to speculate of the role France performs within the EU in the years ahead or the fate of the French language, for that matter, with their economy passing through a rough phase. We continue to be their friends regardless. [TNM]

The Mother and Sri Aurobindo have been accused of anti-intellectualism

An idol or an idea is a typal formulation. Clinging to it can be a very satisfying experience but it restricts further exploration or elevation. The significance of evolution, therefore, should be the most abiding concern. The Mother and Sri Aurobindo have been accused of anti-intellectualism but their enterprise, precisely, was to wean away the mind to wider capabilities. The Supramental is much more than a panoptic that our mind can conceive at present. With that transition from the typal to the potential that can we hope the right repairs coming forth. Else, it is a slugfest of inanities. Duh! [TNM]

The less traveled by Dalal Street

It has been immensely enriching for the Savitri Erans to walk through the Dalal Street that unfolded twenty years back. The Within-series with its lovely covers and inviting size is a hit even today. One earlier brilliant compilation titled The Hierarchy of Mind suffered for the want of flashy covers. Edited by Jyoti and Prem Sobel, the book has a nice introduction by Norman C. Dowsett. All the lines in Savitri relating to various categories of mind-level are available in the Appendix. It was so helpful and inspiring then as computers were rare. [TNM]

Promoting intellectual growth of the devotees

[He urged the students to read books on spiritual leaders such as Vivekananda and Aurobindo and enrich their perspective on life... B.K. Krishnaraj Vanavarayar, chairman of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Coimbatore...‘English education with Indian orientation needed’ The Hindu Wednesday, Nov 28, 2007] 11:18 AM

To link the name of Swami Vivekananda with Sri Aurobindo is a common practice in our country. Gandhi and Nehru are also treated as inseparable although their thinking and functioning varied widely. Such popular linkage does great harm to the true reception of the concerned personalities.

Admirers of Swami Vivekananda are legion, but only a minuscule of them has read the works of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo. The majority are either unwilling or incapable of bearing the requisite intellectual strain. As a result, they never graduate from the traditional Shankaracharya school of Vedantic interpretation.

On the other hand, Sri Aurobindo's commentaries with evolution as the pivot find more audience in the Western world than in India. This is not a very pleasant situation. All neo-Hindu sects in India have a big responsibility in promoting intellectual growth of their devotees by advising them to read the works of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo. [TNM]

Prabhu Premi Sangh All World Gayatri Pariwar Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha Arsha Vidya Gurukulam Arya Samaj Art of Living Foundation Ahobila Matha Aurobindo Ashrama BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha Brahmakumaris Eshwareeya Vidyalaya Brahmo Samaj Chinmaya Mission Divine Life Society Dvaita Ashta mathas of Udupi Gaudiya Math Hindu Aikya Vedi International Society for Krishna Consciousness Kanchi Shankara matham Kaginele Kanaka Guru Peetha Lingayat Movement Maha Nirvani Akhara Mata Amritanandamayi Math (Kerela) Ramachandra Mission Ramakrishna Math and Mission Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha Swadhyay Parivar Sarada Math and Mission Shree Swaminarayan Sampraday Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam Sree Narayana Dharma Sangham Sree Dharma Paripalana Yogam Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mission Sri Sri Thakur Anukulchandra Satsang Theosophical Society Adyar Vivekananda Kendra Vedics Foundation Yogoda Satsanga Society of India Vishwa Hindu Parishad Saiva Siddhanta Church Sringeri Mutt Sri Viswaroopa Panchamukha AnjaneyaSwami Foundation Sri Ramachandrapura Samsthanam Jagad Guru Kripalu Parisat Simhapuri Dharmika Trust, Nellore, Andhra Pradesh

Films and footnotes

When Somnath Chatterjee was elected as the Lok Sabha Speaker, one had a lot of expectations from him. An astute parliamentarian displaying ascetic authenticity, he could have been instrumental in ushering in wide ranging electoral and constitutional reforms. But so far his record in these areas is zilch and his tenure is likely to be forgotten as insignificant. That one can watch fine NFDC films without any interruption over the Lok Sabha Channel on weekends, is perhaps the only consolation. [TNM]

The mystery of man and his world

[In Locke's philosophy, tabula rasa was the theory that the (human) mind is at birth a "blank slate" without rules for processing data, and that data is added and rules for processing are formed solely by one's sensory experiences. The notion is central to Lockean empiricism. As understood by Locke, tabula rasa meant that the mind of the individual was born "blank", and it also emphasized the individual's freedom to author his or her own soul]

[It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness. -- Marx: Preface to the Contributions of a Critique of Political Economy]

[Sartre wants to maintain that man intrinsically has no nature. That is, he is thrown into this world, not of his own making, and is condemned to determine what he will be. In other words, our "existence precedes our essence." We exist first and determine our essence by means of choice.]

Thank God, we have The Life Divine by Sri Aurobindo that unravels the secret of the mystery of man and his world. [TNM]

A concise compilation of Sri Aurobindo's philosophy

Sri Aurobindo wrote one new chapter for Volume I, and twelve new chapters for Volume II of The Life Divine when it was first published in book from in 1939-40. These chapters taken together along with the eight essays (The Supramental Manifestation upon Earth, the last of Sri Aurobindo's prose writings) that first appeared in the quarterly Bulletin of Physical Education in 1949-50, make a concise compilation of his philosophy. [TNM]

THE LIFE DIVINE
Book One
XXVIII Supermind, Mind and the Overmind Maya

Book Two Part I
I Indeterminates, Cosmic Determinations and the Indeterminable
II Brahman, Purusha, Ishwara - Maya, Prakriti, Shakti
V The Cosmic Illusion : Mind, Dream and Hallucination
VI Reality and the Cosmic Illusion
X Knowledge by Identity and Separative Knowledge
XIV The Origin and Remedy of Falsehood, Error, Wrong and Evil

Book Two Part II
XXIII Man and the Evolution
XXIV The Evolution of the Spiritual Man
XXV The Triple Transformation
XXVI The Ascent Towards Supermind
XXVII The Gnostic Being
XXVIII The Divine Life

I. THE SUPRAMENTAL MANIFESTATION UPON EARTH
Message
Perfection Of The Body
The Divine Body
Supermind And The Life Divine
Supermind And Humanity
Supermind In The Evolution
Mind Of Light
Supermind And Mind Of Light

Nadkarni and Army

A nice biographical account of Prof Mangesh V Nadkarni by Ranjan Naik is up at SCIY. The inspiring story of his first visit to Puducherry appeared in a journal some years ago. Especially, the station scene when he is at his wit’s end to board the train without a reservation. And then he happens to be talking to a ‘somewhat ferocious looking’ officer of the Army near the Military Coach, who said:

If you are going to Pondicherry, Youngman, then you can have this whole compartment as yours.

The officer was an admirer of The Life Divine, if memory serves right. The full article should be available online. [TNM]

The child has a distinct personality and future of his own

from Tusar N. Mohapatra tusarnmohapatra@gmail.com date 24 Nov 2007 13:39

I can't tell about Bangalore but securing an admission in Mirambika in Delhi is considered nothing less than clearing for IIT, IIM, or IAS. But the impression that the child will be trained for a spiritual orientation in life by studying in these schools may not be always true. Many a times, familiarity breeds contempt and by the time the child grows up, he distances himself from whatever he considers was thrust upon him in the school.

At a more deeper level, we hardly have a hand in deciding most of the circumstances in our lives. The child has a distinct personality and future of his own. You are simply a facilitator as a parent. Considering what the TV is teaching the children all the time, what option do we have these days than to take recourse to these alternative schools?

Flight of capital

[Industry leaders back Buddhadeb Speaking to The Hindu, captains of industry and senior office-bearers of the chambers of commerce said that the State government had shown resolve to tackle matters efficiently and West Bengal’s investment climate would not be impacted by these sporadic incidents. However, alongside they also appealed to every section of society to act responsibly so that the State’s progress was not blocked.
Many felt that these disruptions were basically resistance to the changes that the West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was trying to usher into the State. “Human beings mostly want status quo. And these are basically resistance to change,” they said.]

[Kolkata burns over Nandigram, Taslima Hindustan Times]

[The India of today would be unrecognisable to the spirit of those who so readily gave up their lives to bring independence to their motherland. Who remembers the Alipore Bomb Case today? Not many. Kolkata was then the capital of India. The importance of the whole episode is that this bomb was thrown and this case was fought right in the capital of the country, and this is what made the British feel that the very seat of their power was being shaken. — Sunayana Panda, sabda.may2007] 1:22 PM

Kolkata is in turmoil for all the wrong reasons. Struggle for freedom forced the Britishers to shift their Capital a century ago. That was a moment of pride. But today, any flight of capital from the city would be nothing but harakiri. Malicious ganging up against the Chief Minister must stop in the larger national interest. [TNM]

A step, and all is sky and God

Savitri, like the Suez Canal, connects the West with the East allowing unhindered commerce of culture. A confluence of myth, history, and philosophy, this poetic creation dreams the unimaginable and points towards a new possible. The mantric potency of a supposedly two and half syllables utterance expands one lakh fold to this gigantic body of verse to form, as it were, the great pitcher for fermentation of the elixir of immortality.

The saga of man fighting his sevenfold ignorance in order to conquer death, disease, and incapacity is the audacious theme of this poem. The war is real and represents the cumulative struggle of the mankind coalescing with the concurrent. But the beauty of this bloodletting is in its benign culmination in a divine glory that has been foretold. As anomie dwells and entropy swells, the reign of obscurity might seem interminable, but lo! Savitri is here. Sing O lands, sing mountains, now it’s Light for ever. [TNM]

Prediction addiction

[The root jna-, by the way, does not really mean ‘to know’, as in English. It means rather ‘to know oneself’, ‘to realize oneself as’, it does not have an objective connotation of knowing something but knowing oneself in a particular state; for instance, one cannot say in Sanskrit: “granthasya jnanam”, “knowledge of the book”, but only ‘granthena jnanam’ “the knowledge by the book”, where ‘knowledge’ refers to a subjective state of the knower, to his self-realized particular state of being.

The root vid-, on the other hand, from which ‘veda’ is derived, means ‘to know objectively’, ‘to discover’, ‘to find out’, it has a kind of objective connotation of knowledge existing outside the knower. -- by Vladimir on Mon 11 Dec 2006 06:35 AM PST Profile Permanent Link Re: Instruments of Knowledge and Post-Human Destinies]

[As the research continues to mount that we are indeed more hardwired like our animal ancestors than we care to admit, it helps to know these hardwired systems in ourselves to more understand our response mechanisms that can and do trigger our emotions and ultimately our actions. To assist in this effort, the book highlights and goes into some detail of the more recognized emotions like Greed, Fear, Regret, and Confidence of which all play on our performance in life, as well, and even more so in optimizing our wealth in the investing process...

It was a treat to read this very well written (read as not too technical) on the pitfalls of our decision making and how we sometimes unknowingly do things that are against our own best interests. -- By James East - Customer Reviews Your Money and Your Brain: How the New Science of Neuroeconomics Can Help Make You Rich by Jason Zweig]

It is certainly impossible to unravel the mystery of why "our brains lead us to self-deception." If we are tricked on the money-making front, no infallibility can be claimed on the technology front also. This realization, obviously, should exercise some sobering impact on the hubris that the humanity is suffering from. Perhaps therefore, sociologists are demanding withdrawal of all specialists from the top decision-making posts. [TNM] 5:43 PM 7:16 PM

Longings for a few petals from afar

[Sachets were first introduced to India in the 1990’s by an Indian company selling a 10-milliliter sachet of Velvette shampoo. Before the sachet, shampoo in India was only available in larger bottles, therefore limiting its sales success among people with small incomes (Moorthi, 2002).

Sachets meet the needs of the rural consumer in several ways. Sachets are inexpensive, they occupy a small amount of space, and they allow consumers to experiment with new products that they may never have tried before (Bailay, 2003). View as HTML www.uwstout.edu/rs/2004/article11.pdf]

The enigmatic appeal that a Blessings packet carries among the Savitri Erans cannot be overemphasized. At a young age, it used to appear as something utterly exotic. Those days the bald packets of parchment paper were circulated. Much later, the lovely envelopes embossed with different photographs of The Mother or Sri Aurobindo was introduced. Since then, they have become a sort of collectors’ item, and while receiving, one feels a bit expectant about the picture, in the same way as one feels before reading the fortune card delivered by a weighing machine.

That the flowers can do their job as long as they are afresh was an unorthodox idea then. More than anything else a few such avant garde seeming stipulations were sufficient to hook the young minds. The heady feeling of playing football in the Kafla Fandi ground on a couple of occasions with Mamu with the whistle was a perfect trap. No matter, none was able to comprehend even a line from the tantalizing prose of Ideal Child. Even now, one stumbles at each word; feels wanting and unable to face up to The Mother’s eyes, but the book and the blessings, nevertheless, were perhaps one of the finest attempts at sachet marketing.

Dried leafs and flowers were later a common fare in the Botany lab, but those petals sealed in a sachet bearing the ar(u)oma of the exotic name of Pondicherry (now, Puducherry, alas!) was always something special and intimate. The spiritual nomenclature of flowers by The Mother is so refreshingly futuristic. Some day, people will be eager to fathom their significance as endearingly as for, say, any Van Gogh. [TNM]

Supply Chain Management to high energy physics

[Banaras Hindu University Announcements
1. "Preparatory SERC school in theoretical high energy physics"from Nov. 26 to Dec. 15,2007

2. International Conference on Issues and Challenges in Supply Chain Management
3. International Symposium on Advances in Neurosciences and Silver Jubilee Conference of Indian Academy of Neurosciences Poster
4. National Conference on Systems Thinking & System Dyanamics(NCSD-2008).
5. International and National Conference on 12-13 January, 2008 (Faculty of Ayurveda, IMS BHU & NIMA)1 2

6.International seminar on "Civil Society in emerging Democratic Nepal"]

Philosophy is a forgotten affair in our universities today. [TNM]

Singular at the top, plural at the bottom

[No Rules Please, We’re Indian Newindpress on Sunday, India - 17 Nov 2007 By Rama Bijapurkar Rama Bijapurkar writes well. “India is a nuclear-capable state that still cannot build roads that will survive their first monsoon. ...

Define your own India Business Line, India - 14 Nov 2007 Fed up with ‘popular methods used by consulting firms and business analysts to evaluate the Indian market opportunity,’ Rama Bijapurkar comes up with an ...
'mncs must look at India as standalone market' Economic Times, India - 12 Nov 2007... per capita consumption of Brazil, the education level of Russia and institutional framework of USA," market strategist Rama Bijapurkar says in her book, ...
Singular at the top, plural at the bottom Economic Times, India - 6 Nov 2007 This delicious vignette is recalled in Rama Bijapurkar’s book We Are Like That Only, an original and thought-provoking treatise on the Indian consumer ...
Learn to accept India as ‘a market of contradictions' Hindu, India - 5 Nov 2007 Fed up with ‘popular methods used by consulting firms and business analysts to evaluate the Indian market opportunity,’ Rama Bijapurkar comes up with an ...
Understanding logic of consumer India Indian Express, India - 5 Nov 2007 Mumbai, November 5: The launch of Rama Bijapurkar’s book We are Like That Only: Understanding the Logic of Consumer India on Monday at the Express Towers in ...
Very voyage worthy Financial Express, India - 10 Nov 2007 This needed to be said, and in English too, which is why Rama Bijapurkar’s We are like that only is such a compelling read. Not just for marketers, ...
Per capita income to be $4000 by 2025: FM Business Standard, India - 6 Nov 2007 He was speaking here last night after releasing a book, We are Like That Only: Understanding the Logic of Consumer India, by Rama Bijapurkar. ...
India will be middle income nation by 2015: FM Times of India, India - 6 Nov 2007 He was speaking after releasing a book titled We are Like That Only: Understanding the Logic of Consumer India , written by Rama Bijapurkar. ...
For all the mncs who thought India was easy Mumbai Newsline, India - 4 Nov 2007 Mumbai, November 4 Rama Bijapurkar’s book We Are Like That Only: Understanding the Logic of Consumer India, is being launched by Finance Minister P ...
'Winning in the Indian Market' is a Comprehensive Examination of ... Business Wire (press release), CA - 1 Nov 2007 Rama Bijapurkar (Mumbai, India) is an expert on market strategy and consumer issues in India who runs her own market strategy consulting practice. ...]

The people of India can be divided into five broad segments: illiterate, uneducated, educated, intellectuals, and thinkers. The cultural crust embedding each group is so different from the others that it is not easy for a person to fathom the intentions of someone belonging to a different group. It will be useful if market research also probes the education differential. [TNM] 2:06 AM

Sri Aurobindo has so effectively resolved the evolution question

[Creation/evolution debate to be held in Dothan Dothan Eagle - Dothan,AL,USAEvolution in Dothan on Nov. 27, 7-9 pm, at the Dothan Opera House. The debate will be filmed and is free. For more information or to reserve seats, ...

Evolution VS. The FactsBy PastorEdgar000 Most people consider Evolution a near sacred scientific theory, simply because it is one of the stones on which Atheism stands upon. Unless a solid explaination for the variety of life could be found, Atheism wouldn't have a chance. ...Foru.ms - http://foru.ms

"Human Evolution On Trial – A Case For The Defence" - Part 1 ...By Tim(Tim) Following private correspondence with author Terry Toohill, I've agreed to serialise his book "Human Evolution On Trial – A Case For The Defence" here at Remote Central, in the hope that not only will readers be interested to read what ...]

His famous essay, The Meeting of the East and the West in Sri Aurobindo's Philosophy by Sisir Kumar Maitra appeared in four parts in The Advent between Nov 1951, and Aug 1952. Another one captioned, Sri Aurobindo and Bergson had appeared in Sri Aurobindo Mandir in 1942. In The Life Divine Sri Aurobindo has so effectively resolved the evolution question, but educated people are unwilling to read the book. Savitri Erans have this special duty to introduce people to the integral philosophy of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo. [TNM]

The Human Aspiration vs. Human Rights

Human Rights issues are a great emotive force. A large number of political parties and civil society organizations are engaged in fighting for the human rights all over the world.

The Mother and Sri Aurobindo worked for The Human Aspiration agenda. It is a larger political goal in the sense that the most primordial urge within each human person to attain perfection and freedom is unleashed.

Issues relating to Bijli-Sadak-Pani to Greenhouse gases are certainly significant and need all our sincere attention, but not to cater to the intrinsic hunger of the human being for harmony is a serious blunder. A synthesis of both the approaches is the right remedy for all our ills. [TNM] 1:47 PM 3:35 PM

Corporate czars

[In conclusion, we would return to that other prominent cross-cutting theme in A Secular Age — loss. Clearly, for Taylor, the transition to the secular age has involved many kinds of loss, most especially a loss of what he labels the “heroic” in a non-Nietzschean sense. In this way his narrative is profoundly sad. -- A Secular Age: Human rights in a secular age? posted by M. Christian Green]

All heroism, presently, has migrated to the sphere of corporate governance and brand promotion. Regrettably, the saga of their day-to-day strategizing and warfare remains unsung and, as a result, the general public is deprived of the aesthetic enjoyment of pursuing exploits of their heroes in the real world and settle, instead, for the world of make-believe. [TNM] 1:47 PM

Resolution on the eve of The Mother’s passing away day

August 15, 1872 to November 17, 1973 spans 101 years and three months during which the planet Earth had the physical presence of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo. They chose India to be their home. In spite of the adversities they have performed their task and left. They have taken enough pains to make us realize the significance of their advent and the need to follow them.

Over and over and again they have emphasized that the human mind is too puny to understand the rationale of what they say. They have told us to simply follow their path without domesticating doubts or getting afflicted with diffidence. They have also warned against joggling with multiple faiths.

It is our good fortune to have got The Mother and Sri Aurobindo in our lives. We are an absolute minority within the 6b+ humanity. Let us just remember how the first disciples came to them without any wavering to build the foundations of the Savitri Era Religion. A world wide following has already been formed on that firm ground.

The imperative now is to take this prelude to the next act. The whole field is fertile and waiting for the broadcasting of seeds of their message. This is the most important task at the moment. The teachings of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo has the potential of liberating millions of people from their lives of stupidities. May all the Savitri Erans take resolution to contribute their mite in this gigantic task, on the eve of The Mother’s passing away day. [TNM]

Savitri Era is the Universal Religion

[In fact, one of Mead's implicit arguments is that the economic differences of nations rest upon a template of profound psychological and spiritual differences...God and Gold...Mead has shown us how "any serious decline in either the creativity of American religious faith or its denominational and theological diversity would make the United States a less dynamic society, sap its energy, reduce its wealth, and impair its ability to carry out the remaining elements of the national strategy." -- Universal Religion and the Many Worlds Hypothesis from One Cosmos by Gagdad Bob]

Happily, we are almost listening to Sri Aurobindo's words suitably paraphrased. [TNM] 11:42 AM