Felt like Mohan Bhagwat borrowing abundantly from my tweets in his reformulation of Hindutva, while listening to his speech today. So, how all those noble hopes materialise in the future is more important than the usual habit of digging out inconsistencies by citing past instances.
Sri Aurobindo is out of syllabus and so, one has to read him with own effort. Recognising value in his works is enough even if one doesn't understand much. His is a distinct voice than what Hindutva, Congress, or Marxists profess. The Ashram in Puducherry is merely one dimension.
Selling the message of Sri Aurobindo to dubious peddlers
For a few pieces of silver or crumbs of power
In luxurious vessels and comforting echo-chambers
With a view to sailing with the movers and shakers
Is tempting but not worth attempting
For the reason, why should I compromise?
Vivekananda tried to raise a new religion around Ramakrishna and Nehru attempted the same around Gandhi. Both failed but count as important milestone in reforming Indian society. Savitri Era Religion with The Mother & Sri Aurobindo as inspiration is the real option for the future.
"Sri Aurobindo is uncompromising" Danino tells evocatively "he rejects humanism and all hopes for a more 'moral' human being as shallow and ineffectual, and insists on a fundamental change in human nature as the only hope for the species' survival." But AIT is his Achilles' heel!
So many are disappointed with Modi for going somewhat moderate but the credit goes to RSS for continuing Nehruvian consensus coupled with Kulkarni doctrine as backbone of our polity. Not permitting or promoting any cult around RW intellectuals or public figures is another feather.
Right understanding of Sri Aurobindo can't be uniform but a rigid textual presentation would be a misleading enterprise. His current affairs comments surely won't be valid in today's context as he was responding to Colonial rule and so should carefully be applied mutatis mutandis.
If the focus is on Sri Aurobindo, the right message can be put across depending upon one's study and thinking ability. Instead, if other agenda are pursued in tandem, then the communication is bound to be skewed. So, sincerity and loyalty are of critical importance. No admixture!
20th century science and philosophy opened the floodgates of uncertainty, incompleteness, undefinability, ambivalence, liminality, etc. But Hindutva looks at such higher education with suspicion and wants to hold its adherents hostage to dubious narrative of mythological fiction.
No one is born as a Hindu, Muslim, or Christian; nor these are racial identities. Religion is thrust upon one and every individual has the responsibility of coming out of its limitations and enjoy freedom as enunciated by The Mother & Sri Aurobindo in formulation of Integral Yoga.
Kings and Queens who ruled before 1947 had their own priorities and lines of self interest. Congress too pursued a similar policy leading to a distorted narrative. Hindutva eagerness to reverse and replace is not easy as its own version either faces aversion or causes revulsion.
After migrating to Puducherry in 1910 Sri Aurobindo avoided any direct political involvement and concentrated on philosophy and yoga. But strangely Hindutva enthusiasts keep on repeating the earlier period of his life instead of studying his mature writings available free online.
Most epics retell the Vedic dialectic of falsehood, suffering, and turbid consciousness taking Evolutionary journey towards Sat, Chit, and Ananda. No form of sectarianism is involved here; its universal, applicable anywhere in the world & inextricably linked to planetary destiny.
The problem with Hindutva votaries is that by being in a perpetual mode of vilifying several other sections of people, they choose to live in a false sense of perfection which is pure fiction. Confronting the whole range of human flaws is the challenge, as shown by Sri Aurobindo.
Admiring great men or some ideology should always accompany the thought how they evolved and how much struggle was involved. Even then, nothing was perfect and it was a work in process. At the same time, each one contributed to the mosaic. How many remember or read say, M.N. Roy?
Despite its flaws, Communism has compassion at its core. Denouncing it suits many but may be a mistake. No -ism has been found foolproof yet.
Looks like BJP is promoting Leftists by giving them and their work publicity so that they regain ground in Bangla and Mamata is cornered. But the whole episode has substantially robbed the Modi Govt of the liberal image that it had earned so assiduously during the last four years.
Off topic but Govt and RSS are really negligent in not having taken any such drastic step to promote your book !
!! India is a nation of infinite contradictions !!!
We were rather more concerned with the British rule in 1868 in school when May 1968 happened in France. The Hippie movement of course gave Dum Maro Dum song of Hare Krishna Hare Ram (1971). The intellectual repurcussions of May 1968 however had to wait three decades to reach us.
There are many studies now highlighting Bollywood's positive contributions. Worth exploring instead of blanket condemnation.
Alienation, angst, and disenchantment are normal in Leftist scenario but our young, educated, and economically well off folks suffering perpetually from victimhood and ranting against libtards, sepoys, and urban-naxals is pitiable. They need Sri Aurobindo.
That Nehru was able to strike a balance between Communists and Communalists is rarely recognised. To say that he was a failure is certainly far from truth. Political disagreement shouldn't lead to blatant distortion of history and his role in laying a firm foundation of Democracy.
Surely a commendable series the metaphysical implications of which will lead to Sri Aurobindo as has been the case 100 years ago (in the pages of ARYA : 1914-22). By the way, Carlyle and Emerson were Nietzsche's inspiration in conceiving the Overman.
Classification is common to all knowledge systems and various schools of Indian philosophy harness it to the hilt. Sri Aurobindo on the contrary prefers the synthetic method and perceives things through what he calls knowledge by identity obviating necessity for strict arguments.
There is no assured means of accessing higher echelons of Consciousness spelt out by Sri Aurobindo. But reading his epochal works like The Life Divine, The Human Cycle, or SAVITRI generates a sense of loftiness within one. Mantric power of language and vocabulary is at work here.
Hindutva has popularised a juvenile zeal for seeing India as a superpower. The vision of Sri Aurobindo however transcends such militaristic/materialistic conception to posit the high ideals of Veda and adventure of Consciousness as supreme goal. This is universal and for everyone.
Sri Aurobindo's birth centenary was celebrated with much enthusiasm in 1972. But those born after it can't be said to be aware of his philosophy and literature. How he steals a march over his contemporaries like Bergson, Whitehead, Heidegger, Gebser, et al is worth detailed study.
Modernity ushered in an era of civility for winning in the war of ideas. Sri Aurobindo has left behind a huge inventory of ammunition with which to attack ideological foes. Marxists succeeded in eclipsing Sri Aurobindo from academic discourse but are facing Hindutva onslaught now.
Many are using the pictures of The Mother & Sri Aurobindo or their Symbols as their DP without giving a thought whether it's proper. No one can dispute with their devotion but it will be better to remove them if they truly understand the deep significance and respect the Masters.
Aurobindo’s Opposition
Why the Indian establishment resisted him
MANGESH V. NADKARNI
The Indian Express
Thursday, March 21, 2002
archive.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie…
remains ever relevant but fighting the Devotees of The Mother & Sri Aurobindo has become an additional burden & unenviable task!
Repeating for nth time that my tweets are addressed towards the general audience, especially those with a philosophical or academic bent of mind, and not the Devotees of The Mother & Sri Aurobindo many of whom usually dislike my opinions and expressions. So, no nitpicking please!
Those romanticizing Hindu past want no truck with the West but we follow it in political philosophy, law, and governance. So, instead of spreading hatred, the right approach is to identify areas where our soft power has an edge. Sri Aurobindo is definitely an asset to be marketed
Despite all tall claims Hindutva intellectuals continue to suffer from victimhood and inferiority complex. For Indian philosophy proper is not their forte nor they identify with. Puritan approach prevents them from appreciating hybrid & integral formulations like Sri Aurobindo's.
Indian Constitution and education system, including Hindi cinema, have contributed to produce people with modern outlook without belief in Mythology. Current ruling dispensation and it's ecosystem want the process reversed but it will take another seventy years sans any assurance
This divergence with hardcore Hindutva is tough to bridge and hence ambivalence prevails. It is of course a question of individual evolution and one-size-fits-all ideology can't be enforced. The Mother & Sri Aurobindo therefore preferred tolerance and flexibility in such matters.
Perfection is the closest sense of any notion of God and hence religious narratives are merely indicative. The task is to transcend - borrowing a phrase from Sri Aurobindo - the Valley of the False Glimmer. So no other option than throwing away the lens lent by dominant religions
Our thoughts and feelings often enter without permission based on our memory system. Further, we lack control on events involving us. Amidst so much involuntary activities, Yoga is actually Your Own Godward Adventure. The Mother & Sri Aurobindo don't prescribe any fixed procedure
Epic tweet encapsulating the deep dichotomy akin to what Mark Lilla calls the Great Separation in The Stillborn God: "that the West discovered with the help of Hobbes a previously unknown option." In the context of Sri Aurobindo however the question is how much of past is enough?
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