It is never too late to start studying philosophy

[If the government represents symbolic Power of modernity, the Academy is the source of its symbolic Knowledge. Still, if this problem is recognized, it may be easier to implement alternate educational forms than alternate political ones. But this need not be the only direction in which such revisionary attempts can be made. The fertility of the social and spiritual ideas of Sri Aurobindo are certainly not exhausted and bear enagagement with the forces of technology, economy, polity and community in developing new ideals of life and lifeworld for contemporary populations. Revisionary urges must arise from within different constituencies of national life, if these are to assume revolutionary power and be effective in bringing about new social conditions. Re: Technology in a Global World by Andrew Feenberg Debashish Tue 11 Aug 2009 08:40 PM PDT]

[Why is there a decay and disinterest in engagement with the contemporary is something that needs deeper thinking when their founders wanted exactly the opposite. In the SA ashram politics was (is) completely forbidden. Did this insinuate for non participation in the contemporary national and international issues and exclusive concentration on spiritual endeavors. Or is the attempt by the founders an impossible task since there are too many missions to accomplish without focus? Re: Technology in a Global World by Andrew Feenberg rakesh Wed 12 Aug 2009 12:36 PM PDT]

[On the matter of the social experiements of tagore, Gandhi or Sri Aurobindo, it is my belief that the followers (and later generations) idoloze the founders and take their institutions as umbrellas under which they may find protection, seldom asking what are the conditions necessary to build such institutions or what ideas went into them and how can they be furthered in the changing world. This allows for a continuation of the life-activities of these institutions in more and more mechanical external grooves which fall into anachronism or are forced into compromises with established government or market forces. Unless internal revisionary critiques can form an ongoing culture of thought and change, such institutions can have little effect on the world or even their more immediate environment, outside of cosmetic changes. Re: Technology in a Global World by Andrew Feenberg Debashish Fri 14 Aug 2009 07:51 AM PDT]

[From: "M Alan Kazlev" to " Tusar Mohapatra" tusarnmohapatra@gmail.com Re: Savitri Era Learning Forum: The message of this mighty spiritual path Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2006 07:51:01 +1000 Hi Tusar... Consider Philosophy, Art, Education, Yoga, Evolution, the science of consciousness, phenomenology, comparative spirituality, Indian culture, world politics, economics, religion, history, the New Age movement, etc etc and the way that the teachings of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo are applicable in each of these areas. After all their teachings are truly universal, truly "integral" as Wilber would say, so, being in this way universal they are relevant everywhere... nameste alan 2:59 AM]

[from "Tusar N. Mohapatra" tusarnmohapatra@gmail.com to Raaye kripatirtha97@yahoo.com
date 12 Jun 2008 18:11 subject Re: Sri Aurobindo. Dear Debabrata babu,
I can't understand why you are so emphatic about a hiatus between poetry and philosophy. All our scholars - from NKG to RYD - handle them with equal ease, and the same should be the case with you. It is not a question of "our liking," but what we grow into because of "Their liking."
Let me tell you one thing categorically: If one is not reasonably conversant with Western Philosophy, then his study of The Life Divine is partial, superficial, and simplistic. Therefore, there is no escape and it is never too late to start studying philosophy. All the best,
Yours fraternally, Tusar]

[from "Tusar N. Mohapatra" tusarnmohapatra@gmail.com date 13 Jun 2008 19:18 subject Re: Sri Aurobindo. But let us also not forget the fact that there are formidable disagreements amongst us that need to be thrashed out, and in public. Fed with hagiographic literature all the way, many of us have accepted their own suppositions as truth and abhor debate.]

[Socrates in Plato’s dialogues is obviously always sarcastic and mocking to some extent. But that is not what makes someone a troll. Zizek is also sarcastic and mocking at times, but is clearly not a troll. Why not? Because Zizek has a project. He guns people down in passing, for merely tactical reasons. His whole point in existing is not just to knock other people down, or to stage duels in the presence of witnesses and score points before their eyes. Sarcasm and criticism are not yet trollish traits... Socrates is not tearing people down for the sake of tearing them down. Socrates has a theory, a “project”. The theory of the Platonic Socrates is the rather paradoxical theory that the logos of anything is somehow deeper than any of the attributes that can be ascribed to it... In short, Socrates’s constant cut-downs of his interlocutors are made in the name of a positive thesis: that only love of wisdom is possible, not wisdom. That the quest for definitions is paradoxically doubled by the impossibility of obtaining any. why Socrates was not a grey vampire
from Object-Oriented Philosophy by doctorzamalek]

Philosophy permeates all discourse on "technology, economy, polity and community" at present. Savitri Erans must endeavor to ground their thinking with latest critical tools. [TNM]