Sri Aurobindo Society does not display the names of its officials in its website

Sri Aurobindo Society does not display the names of its officials in its website, although this is the minimum any organization should let the public know. While the Society's history has been amply covered, there is little information on the election procedure of its officials. Whether there is any tenure for them or for that matter for how long the top functionaries are in office, etc. should be informed to the people. [TNM] onlife online

Preparing the future humanity to manifest upon earth a divine consciousness and a divine life

[Rajiv Gandhi Foundation May Open Schools On Pattern Of Rishi Valley
Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra recently visited Rishi Valley School and studied modus operandi of the institute... There has also been speculation that Priyanka would like to admit her children, Raihan and Mairaya, in the school. However, other sources said the idea behind the visit was to learn more about Rishi Valley's system as the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation is planning to open its own schools across the country. Gandhis take time to look around school - Radhika Herzberger, the school's director, who incidentally is the daughter of Pupul Jayakar, one of Indira Gandhi's closest friends and her biographer, said the brother and sister spent about four hours in the school, walking around, meeting students and learning more about its functioning and philosophy. Jayakar had also written a biography of the philosopher, Jiddu Krishnamurti and maintained close ties with him. Gandhis revisit Jiddu legacy-Chennai-Cities-The Times of India 30 Aug 2008]

What about Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education (part of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Puducherry) as an option for Raihan and Mairaya? [TNM]

Arrow of time points towards the Savitri Era Religion

[Re: Sri Aurobindo and the Future of Humanity: Integral Yoga--a Religion?
by RY Deshpande on Sun 24 Aug 2008 Permanent Link
Has Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Yoga become a Religion? Has Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Yoga become a Religion? Perhaps this question is quite irrelevant for the spiritual practitioner and one could simply set it aside. However, this is exactly what some of the rationalist toilers and thinkers would tend to believe, believe rather than argue about it, that today’s Integral Yoga is just a religion. They consider that the regular Hindu rites and rituals have crept into it, that these have become an integral part of the Integral Yoga. They go even a step farther and maintain that these were allowed to become so by Sri Aurobindo himself! Perhaps all that began with the Mother when she put the Master on a distant high and lonely pedestal.]

[Re: Re: Sri Aurobindo and the Future of Humanity: Integral Yoga--a Religion?
by RY Deshpande on Fri 29 Aug Permanent Link
What is Religion? If we go by the Cicero interpretation then Religion will have the sense of ‘choosing’ or ‘going over again’ or ‘considering things carefully’, but that would miss the occult possibility present in the sense of binding or connecting them together. The root significance of ligare is to bind or connect together; this is also quite akin to the ancient Sanskrit dharma in its deeper and fundamental meaning and connotation, that which binds things together. Perhaps, therefore, instead of asking the question “What is Religion?”, an appropriate and meaningful inquiry which might shed more light on it could be “What is Dharma?” Let us see this aspect briefly...
If so, then, what’s there in all this, really, to cry foul and say that Integral Yoga has become or is becoming a Religion, the conventional religion as understood by the common masses? I don’t see anywhere in the teachings of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo any such possibility; nor in practice enjoined by them.]

[You are correct in your assertion that claims to Divinity can not be supported by a biographer or historian. Rather, these claims are best made by the pendantic Acolyte who scours every text from their papal source to locate those sections which reinforce their beliefs that they are indeed the “chosen ones” who are following the “true -evolutionary- path”. Unfortunately a closer inspection of this path, reveals it to be one not heading toward a new future, but rather one bound to the endless repetitions of the past. by Rich on Sun 24 Aug 2008 Permanent Link]

From Tibetan tale to Cicero, RY Deshpande continues to scour heaven and earth in a vain attempt to circumvent a simple truth. He hopes to employ his scholarly pen and brain to reverse the arrow of time. We have no other recourse than to feel sorry for him for this precarious stand and precious energy going waste. Let’s expect that soon he sees the writing on the wall and votes for the Savitri Era Religion. [TNM] The integralism achieved by the yogic vision of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo cannot be bettered # Savitri Era is our religion 8:57 AM

Invasion of the visuals needs to be resisted lest they turn out to be the camel's nose

[Collection: Annual AUM conference on Sri Aurobindo & the Mother - Flickr 28 Aug 2008 - DSC04312 on Flickr - Photo Sharing! - Part of Annual AUM conference on Sri Aurobindo & the Mother ... Click this icon to see all public photos and videos tagged with Sri Aurobindo conference.]

[Arguing for the superiority of visual communication, Barbara Stafford writes “Perceptually combined information… avoids the intellectual limitations of linearity.” She believes that in the graphic world of the internet, artists will be more important in explaining reality, understanding the display of knowledge, allowing an immediate apprehension of connections. Posted by Susan Waters-Eller at 3:35 PM]

A picture, they say, is worth a thousand words. True; but a drop of ink may make a million think (Lord Byron) is still truer. A stray phrase can inaugurate a new phase in life, and therein lies the power of the words.

Photos and videos of the All USA Meeting (AUM) 2008 conference on The Mother and Sri Aurobindo have been uploaded on August 28, 2008 by lesterlyn. That’s all very nice; but where are the Reports, the Speeches, or the Resolutions?

Members of social networking sites, similarly, are busy exchanging photographs and artworks. Invasion of the visuals needs to be resisted lest they turn out to be the camel's nose. [TNM]

Savitri Era Religion is more inclined towards this emancipatory aspect in a socio-political sense

[To become more vast, more complete, more powerful than the trivial life of a thousand painful limitations and imperfections and sorrows in which we live now—that’s the authentic Religion. by RY Deshpande on Thu 28 Aug 2008 Profile Permanent Link Re: Sri Aurobindo and the Future of Humanity: Integral Yoga--a Religion? 9:00 AM]

[Genuine religion is a kind of absolute defense against bad ideologies, from the violent aggression of Nazism to the passive aggressiveness of blind Obamism. Conversely, virtually all bad ideologies -- the ones that do real damage -- become pseudo-religions, drawing on religious energy and emotion in the absence of religion.
Genuine religion puts one in touch with first principles that define man qua Man, and allow one to understand the adage, "as above, so below." But false religions such as Darwinism or Leftism always either obscure their first principles or fail to draw them out. As a result, they can't help lying, whether consciously or unconsciously. Hitler and Radical Darwinism: As Below, So Above f rom One Cosmos by Gagdad Bob at 12:14 PM ]

Religion is a safe shelter for children till they are able to think for themselves. As an amalgam of ethics and aesthetics, it offers them umpteen labyrinths for hermeneutic engagement on the one hand, while a definite history and metaphysics provides the much needed rootedness, on the other. Perhaps the same can also be said of the attitude of the aged, the weak, and the unschooled towards religion. It also serves as a lever of empowerment against atrophied hierarchies.

Savitri Era Religion is more inclined towards this emancipatory aspect in a socio-political sense instead of the phony spiritual “supertalk.” Spiritual attainment, it must be remembered, is a long drawn process, and can come only through the religion route. [TNM]

Gossiping about the Divine

[As with all claims of folks who assert that theirs is the true path and only their gurus are divine, all that has been conveyed here as Avataric revelation is at the end of the day merely gossiping about the Divine; and of course the most appropriate thing to do when one encounters gossip is to simply say no more. rc Re: Sri Aurobindo and the Future of Humanity--About Avatarhood
by Rich on Sun 24 Aug 2008 10:13 AM PDT Profile Permanent Link]

[The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in me, their lives are fully devoted to My service, and they derive great satisfaction from bliss from always enlightening one another and conversing about Me. Bhagavad gita 10:9 Posted at 11:02]

[Their thoughts engrossed in Me, their beings surrendered to me, enlightening one another and conversing of Me, they are ever contented and filled with joy (10:9)]

[The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are surrendered to Me, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss enlightening one another and conversing about Me. Chapter 10, Verse 9.]

Gossiping about the Divine is precisely what the age old Gita diagnosed in the "gone" cases. Dil mange more. [TNM]

States may form a EU like structure on purely voluntary basis

1 comments: Tusar N Mohapatra said... 27 August 2008 12:09

Instead of a core area and what is suggested, a more appropriate road would be to allow creation of about one hundred states that are substantially autonomous who, in turn, form a EU like structure on purely voluntary basis.

20th century philosophy has enlarged our understanding of power, money, and sex

Alvares’ “supertalk” and Carlson’s “gossip” share selfsame wavelength reflecting the phenomenon of a bad workman quarreling with his tools. Instead of profiting by quarrying as much as one can from a mine of inexhaustible wisdom, if one stays away signaling sundry pretexts, then it is clearly a case of committing harakiri.

That power, wealth, and sex exert considerable hold upon us is too well-known. 20th century philosophy has been greatly instrumental in enlarging our scope of understanding the intricacies of power, money, and sex. If yoga aims at demolishing their fortresses then this large body of insights can’t be just overlooked.

But an extended engagement with them may delude one of intellectual autonomy and secular aloofness. Here, yoga comes to the rescue by linking to a sense of higher purpose. Yoga is a human pursuit as politics, commerce, and religion are human affairs; and hence should not be seen in isolation or abstraction. Seeking an easy demarcation, therefore, is nothing but chasing a chimera.

Sri Aurobindo’s writings responded to the thought currents of his time and obviously, the same trend must flow forward. An intimate interrogation of politics, economics, and other domains of human desire need to be undertaken both at the theoretical and the practical level, with yoga as the anchor. But all this can see success, only if the Divine supervision of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo is admitted unreservedly. If not, its zilch. [TNM]

Sacred stuff

It is observed that many people are using the pictures of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo or their Symbols to denote their personal identity/ anonymity over the Net. It is needless to emphasize that these are sacred to the devotees and hence should not be denigrated in this fashion. The photographs of the Samadhi and the Matrimandir should also be treated in the same category. [TNM] 9:56 AM

Hindu mould

[Kim Pettit said... 8:34 PM, August 22, 2008
If the "major media houses of India are either substantially funded or partially owned by Christian missionary organizations" then why would they spread "the secular viewpoint" rather than Christianity? That would be against their aims. Christians are not interested in irreligion. Rather, they want everyone to acknowledge "that Jesus Christ is Lord"(Phil. 2:11) above anyone or anything else.]

Tusar N Mohapatra said... 8:11 AM, August 23, 2008
Because they need to break the predominantly Hindu mould first.

The clandestine conscience-keeper

[I may add here, that I am expressing my concerns only because I genuinely feel that the kind of feelings expressed in the above quoted para, and which is frequently done by others online too, work like acid, eating away at the tender and special bonds that hold together the Aurobindonian community. Particularly, in the absence of the physical presence of our Gurus and the lack of clear solutions to our many differences, may we be a little more understanding, patient, and kind to each other, and abtsain from flinging around unchastened, unsubstantiated emotions and thoughts. This holds true for me too, and I apologise for any ruffled feathers.
I believe, not restlessness, but an intense and yet patient individual quest is the need of the hour; if successful, its repurcussions will no doubt echo around us, in the larger Aurobindonian community, and in the human collectivity beyond as well.
And then, maybe, just maybe, the new set will be out quicker too. :)
"May we grow wide," as the Vedas say. V 11:34 PM 7:05 AM July 17, 2007]

Speaking of Anonymous comments, are we right in guessing that V [11:34 PM 9:02 PM 1:42 PM "May we grow wide," as the Vedas say. 5:05 PM, July 07, 2008 link], alias Niel P. [Napa, CA 9:21 AM, July 09, 2008], alias Vivek [26 July 2008 10:55] is none other than Vladimir? [TNM]

Parallel between the Nazi movement and the traditionalist movement

[Careening Through History Without a Rear View Mirror
from One Cosmos by Gagdad Bob: I realize I'm rambling here, but one theme that leapt out in this book on Hitler is the parallel between the Nazi movement and the traditionalist movement as articulated by people such as Guenon, Schuon, and Coomaraswamy. First of all, let's eliminate up front the idea that I am calling them "Nazis," or some other such nonsense. However, you don't have to search very far before you discover a persistent critique of Traditionalism, to the effect that it is essentially a fascist movement. That is, it is entirely backward looking, authoritarian, cultish, romantic, and very openly repelled by all things modern...
I want to re-emphasize that in no way do I intend to denigrate Schuon, whom I consider to be one of the most profoundly gifted spiritual geniuses in human history. But he's definitely not an "American" thinker, a metaphysic which I believe has the best chance to synthesize past and present into a viable future characterized by real progress. But now I'm out of time, so I'll have to continue this line of thought tomorrow.]

Gagdad Bob, the celebrity author of One Cosmos Under God: The Unification of Matter, Life, Mind & Spirit is on an extended survey of Hitler and His God by Georges Van Vrekhem. Join the carnival. [TNM]

Today is the World Union day

Sri Aurobindo comes in a line of select thinkers who have offered a progressive account of history evolving from one distinct epoch to another. While others - Vico, Herder, Smith, Comte, Lamprecht etc. - were observers, The Mother and Sri Aurobindo have hinted that they have lent their yogic force for the transformation of our age. World Union has been foreseen by them as an immediate possibility. Today is the World Union day. Let’s join hands to see it take shape.

Tusar N. Mohapatra,
President, Savitri Era Party.

Just look at their eyes and say yes

Whenever the name of Sri Aurobindo is uttered, the Ashram comes to the mind of many. It need not be so. Although The Mother and Sri Aurobindo lived there, the relevance of their teaching spreads far wider than the periphery of Puducherry.

Their writings are a treasure trove comprising numerous resonances capable of multilayered inspirations. The Mother and Sri Aurobindo as superlative theoreticians and their work shoving human endeavor with penetrating insight are immensely pregnant phenomena as the unputdownable fact of their being Divine personalities.

Having lived through a tumultuous tranche of human history, The Mother and Sri Aurobindo have attempted to author the preface of a future era that would hum the tune of Unity, Mutuality, and Harmony. They have forcefully posited their belief that such a possibility is not only waiting but is imminent. All they have asked for is our collaboration.

It is as simple as that, and the inhabitants of this Globe just need to look at their eyes and say yes. The rest of the work is Theirs. But, this entails a gigantic task. Their pictures should be available at every home. A few of their books should be there upon every table. Their sayings should be displayed at important public places. Their words should be repeated over all available media. So on and so forth.

There must be a consensus that these are to be achieved at the minimal and for the rest the democratic will would operate.

Tusar N. Mohapatra,
President, Savitri Era Party.

Admirer to Devotee

Four Steps in the path towards The Mother and Sri Aurobindo:

A – Admirer
B – Bearer
C – Clinger
D – Devotee

Bombs and Vadodara

[Bombs have Vadodara written all over Times of India - Vadodara: Ever since it came to light that three cars bearing fake number plates of Vadodara were used for serial bomb blasts in Ahmedabad and planting bombs in Surat, it was believed that the blasts had Vadodara written all over them.]

Bombs manufactured in Bengal during the freedom struggle also had their genesis in Vadodara. [TNM]

One should have a nose for what is good, and follow it doggedly

from Tusar N. Mohapatra <tusarnmohapatra@gmail.com> date16 August 2008 19:46 subject Re: guidance

At SELF our slogan is "Be Selfish" in pure management (i.e. practical) terms. If you cling to that principle at every step of life, then there is no better self-management technique than that.

That, of course, looks simple, but isn't. As our sentiment changes within a span of 24 hours, so also it changes with every age and stage of life. Judgment failures occur as a result, and our vigil for "Self-interest" skids.

The point is, one should have a nose for what is good, and follow it doggedly.

Indian - Sri Aurobindian

Adorno -> Adornian

Vico -> Vichian

Sri Aurobindo -> Sri Aurobindian

Indian -> Sri Aurobindian

Join the religion debate

Both, SCIY and Aspiration are debating "Is Sri Aurobindo's teaching a religion?" All are requested to participate. [TNM 11:22 AM 12:47 PM]

Sri Aurobindo’s interpretation of the four-fold order

Tusar N. Mohapatra Says: August 7, 2008 at 5:34 am 33.) What Was Manu Up To? Indological Provocations

I don’t think you are unacquainted with Sri Aurobindo’s interpretation of the four-fold order.

The Life Divine, a reliable life long companion

[I hear it said all the time that the subprime mortgage was caused by people who lent money to people knowing there was a good chance that it wouldn't get paid back but lent the money anyway because they knew someone else would buy the loan. But why did that next person buy it? Didn't they check to see if the risk was high? Yes, goes the explanation, but they bundled it up with other stuff and sold it to someone else. But why did that person buy it? Eventually someone got left holding the bad loan. Capitalism is Dead (by Russell Roberts)
from Cafe Hayek by Russell Roberts]

["Out of ferocity, avarice, and ambition, the three vices which run throughout the human race," Vico says, "legislation creates the military, merchant, and governing classes, and thus the strength, riches, and wisdom of commonwealths. Out of these three great vices, which could certainly destroy all mankind on the face of the earth, it makes civil happiness" (Element VII, §132, p.62). The New Science]

The Life Divine by Sri Aurobindo is the only reliable life long companion for deciphering the turns of events. [TNM]

Exclusive Concentration compared as colors absorbed by an object

[Red, Green, and Blue are the primary components of White light. The presence of all three colors will result in white, and the absence of all three will produce black… If an object absorbs those wavelengths corresponding to the colors red and green, we then perceive blue. If an object absorbs those wavelengths corresponding to the colors green and blue, we then perceive red… In other words, red ink absorbs, or subtracts, two-thirds of the visible spectrum, and reflects one-third. The same can be said for blue and green. They each absorb two thirds of the visible spectrum and reflect one third. Home]

The riddlesome, and oft-contested, theory of Exclusive Concentration as delineated by Sri Aurobindo in The Life Divine may be compared roughly to the phenomenon of how we perceive the color of an object. [TNM]

McCain can

[India Today Ask Prabhu Who will be better for India—Obama or McCain? - Asked by Ramakrishnan ramkislmtpt@hotmail.com August 3, 2008
Prabhu Chawla Answers... McCain, by all means. Because, it will mean the continuation of the Republican love for India.]

Savitri Era Party deigns to agree with Prabhu Chawla on this.

Tusar N. Mohapatra
President, Savitri Era Party.

Every Indian has the prudence and the freedom of converting to any religion, including Savitri Era Religion

[For India is in great danger today. It is attacked by many forces. And your enemies are united, even if it is in disunity, even if it is a temporary arrangement based on a common hatred. Christian conversions, the onslaught of Muslim fundamentalism, the abhorrence of communists for Hinduism, the infinite dangers of Globalisation and Americanisation, Sonia Gandhi’s dangerous hold over the intellectual elite of India and her agenda of minority prodding against the majority community of India… These have all banded together and are making a concerted – even if it is unconscious – assault on the Knowledge and Wisdom that have down already diluted from Ancient India. francois gautier August 3, 2008 A LETTER TO ALL THE GREAT GURUS OF INDIA Posted by speekout under Uncategorized]

Francois Gautier has identified several phenomena that, in his opinion, constitute potential danger for India. The view of Savitri Era Party in this regard is appended point-wise:

1. Christian conversions - Each Indian has the prudence and the freedom of converting to any religion, including Savitri Era Religion.
2. The onslaught of Muslim fundamentalism - There is nothing objectionable in any religion sticking to its fundamentals within the ambit of the Constitution of India.
3. The abhorrence of communists for Hinduism - Educating the public is a valid role of political parties, and it is welcome.
4. The infinite dangers of Globalisation and Americanisation - Savitri Era Party supports Globalization and friendship with America.
5. Sonia Gandhi’s dangerous hold over the intellectual elite of India and her agenda of minority prodding against the majority community of India - There is no prohibition for other Gandhis and Gautiers to enhance their "hold" within an open arena that is India.

Tusar N. Mohapatra
President, Savitri Era Party.

Because our conclusions and inferences have a meagre foundation and are fallible and brittle

[Kurt Gödel's more famous first theorem says that if a formal system (of a certain kind) is consistent, a specific sentence of the system cannot be proved in it. Mind Versus Gödel]

[But the being and action of the Infinite must not be therefore regarded as if it were a magic void of all reason; there is, on the contrary, a greater reason in all the operations of the Infinite, but it is not a mental or intellectual, it is a spiritual and supramental reason: there is a logic in it, because there are relations and connections infallibly seen and executed; what is magic to our finite reason is the logic of the Infinite. It is a greater reason, a greater logic because it is more vast, subtle, complex in its operations: it comprehends all the data which our observation fails to seize, it deduces from them results which neither our deduction nor induction can anticipate, because our conclusions and inferences have a meagre foundation and are fallible and brittle.
Document: Home > E-Library > Works Of Sri Aurobindo > English > The Life Divine Volume-18 > Brahman, Purusha, Ishwara — Maya, Prakriti, Shakti ]

It is not difficult to sense the resonance between the Logic of the Infinite thesis of Sri Aurobindo and Gödel's Incompleteness theorem. [TNM]

Savitri Era Religion needs to develop political muscle

What the Savitri Erans very well know but are afraid to spell out is that The Mother and Sri Aurobindo, though they spoke against religion and its negative aspects from time to time, themselves, almost systematically, created a solid foundation as well as all the trappings of a new religion. Since then, it has grown far and wide, and established its inevitability among the elite. But history tells us that a religion spreads not by its own appeal alone but principally through political patronage. And that is how a religion becomes “organized.”

While royal endorsement used to be a crucial factor, logistical support, hospitality, and defense apparatus have been chief propellers of religions, in the past. Religious conversions mostly came through inducements of material gains – immediate or assured; periodical festivities adding to the glamour and the charisma and also precipitating hostilities against adversaries, an effective cementing factor.

The Brahmin, the Vaishya, and the Shudra characteristics are now well entrenched within the Savitri Era Religion, while the Kshatriya quality has suffered neglect. As a secure home can’t be imagined without this fourth pillar, the recent criticisms should spur the creation of a band of dedicated spokesmen ready to launch counter attacks whenever required.

Tusar N. Mohapatra,
President, Savitri Era Party.