Both as a seeker of perfection and as a sociopolitical agent, the individual appears in a much reductionist mode in Sri Aurobindo's hands. This is one of the major flaws in Sri Aurobindo's theory which draws its lineage from the Greek times. Thoreau too experiments with an extreme model while Royace is keen to salvage with his notion of religious community.
Ubiquity of TV, Internet, and Mobile phones, however, has altered the world irrevocably. The individual is too much connected now and can't be alone for even half a day. He is much more susceptible today to diverse group dynamics and also vulnerable to their vicissitudes. On the whole, the freedom of the individual is much restricted now and to that extent his independent aspiration. The art of manipulating minds through mass media and event management is now a bonafide field of study in B-schools for awarding Degrees. Not to be left behind, spiritual organisations are holding workshops and camps to educate and influence minds by stimulating group vitality.
Millions of Indians languishing in poverty and deprivation is another aspect where individuality is severely compromised. Speaking of Yoga is nothing but a joke to them. Those masses who can't think beyond their daily labour and survival are perhaps a specimen of outside any theoretical redemption, let alone actual. The paradox is that they are all voters and different political parties woo them as loyal followers. But how the individual's spark in them can finally be ignited by Evolution is a matter of much speculation and anticipation. [TNM55]
Misc. References:
Purification of the Working Instruments of the Being - The integral Yoga, in seeking an active purity in the manifested world, as well as the passive purity of the spiritual basis, must grapple with the impurity and limitations of action of the outer being of mind-life-body.
Individuation, Cosmogenesis and Technology: Sri Aurobindo and Gilbert Simondon C Individuation - Critical Posthumanism and Planetary Futures, 2016
The turn of the nineteenth–twentieth century saw an implementation of what has been called the Second Industrial Revolution marked by universal electrification, mass production and the birth of the world market. This brought the post-Enlightenment episteme into the ... Critical Posthumanism and Planetary Futures D Banerji, MR Paranjape - 2016 ... 225 Ananta Kumar Giri 15 Humans Have Always Been Posthuman: A Spiritual Genealogy of Posthumanism..... 243 Francesca Ferrando 16 Individuation, Cosmogenesis and Technology: Sri Aurobindo and Gilbert Simondon..... ...
The androgynous warrior: Gandhi's search for strength
S Palshikar - European Journal of Political Theory, 2016
... The early political writings of Aurobindo Ghose display the same disgust with contemporary India and the same preoccupation with martial qualities. ... In another early political writing, Bande Mataram, Aurobindo says that we must develop the virtues
11:11 PM, October 15, 2016 By and large, women have come to accept the past as a permanent pointer to the future. The biases perpetuate, and parents inevitably pass on their beliefs to their children. https://nextfuture.aurosociety.org/man-and-woman-forever-distinct
