Restore discernment and balance

RV is terribly perturbed over “the narrowness and stupidity of persons like Raman Reddy, Sraddhalu Ranade and Alok Pandey, who unfortunately have lost of all discernment and balance in this issue of the book.” He is eminently entitled to his own opinion and we welcome him to the discussion. He may, however, enlighten the readers by mentioning a couple of names who he thinks are endowed with wideness and wisdom. Further, he can cite certain examples of his own work so that his capability and credibility can be easily judged. [TNM] 

Love for the hoi polloi

Although Puducherry is located near the sea shore, many in the Ashram feel as if they are on a hill top, at least, that is the attitude they nurse towards the hoi polloi. Creating a cocoon that ‘we are special’ is, of course, a defense mechanism to ward off continual attacks of doubt or deprivation, but when it is flaunted as a sign of superiority, then it can hardly be seen as salutary.

India is a fond issue, but only in its abstraction, or at best, as a bland map and not in its rich demographics. Visitors are perceived as intruders, and their constant stream makes the ashramites indifferent and insensitive. Logistics, obviously, rouse worries, but then love is the bedrock upon which the whole edifice of the Ashram stands.  

The mass is a pejorative concept for many. But, it can scarcely be said that The Mother & Sri Aurobindo ever harbored such contempt. Their teachings, in their wide applications and complexity, will continue to be harnessed in diverse ways for centuries to come. Let us not draw narrow boundaries and imbue them with official halo. [TNM]     

Beware of masks

Americans too, like Indians, are divided in their support for political parties, and it is not without significance that the Heehs imbroglio coincided with the high pitch Obama campaign. The Ashram, unfortunately, has become a battle ground for American (read, World) politics, and the stakes are terribly high. The situation is all the more scary as more and more masks are marshaled for enacting trickery while the overall purpose is kept under wraps. Indications of intransigence have been let out quite confidently, and it is going to be a no-holds-barred battle. A firm adhesion to faith is the only weapon in these adverse circumstances. [TNM]

Rely upon the power of the pure purpose

As democracy favors numbers, politics in India has turned a competitive game of keeping people under the spell of diverse brands. The bliss of belongingness is so great that not only it binds the masses, but also the academicians and analysts. Naomi Klein, of No Logo fame, herself became a brand. Recent books like The Myth of the Rational Voter and The Myth of the Rational Markets are pointers to such a pervasive phenomenon. But the question is whether playing by the same rules is at all desirable and if rationality has any meaning or use. For the lovers of philosophy and the followers of Sri Aurobindo, however, the answer is not very difficult. 


The rational zone, as we know, is sandwiched between the vital and the supra-rational. And hence what we confront as the irrational and unpredictable is actually a confusing admixture of intimations emanating from both the higher and lower sources. “Heaven's wiser love rejects the mortal's prayer” is a common instance of the unexpected squatting. In that sense, rationality rarely fails. The secret, however, is to discern the limitations of vital diktats and rely upon the power of the pure purpose. When translated to political strategy, the slow and steady recourse promises to be rewarding. In fact, that itself is a brand and its following can’t strictly be categorized as irrational. Certain things can verily be rational, as Ridley's The Rational Optimist seems to scream. [TNM] 

Shahu Chhatrapati sent a secret donation of Rs.5000

[Lokamanya Tilak, father of the Indian freedom struggle Dhananjay Keer - 1969 - 463 pages - Snippet view
Tilak wanted to keep the word Swaraj undefined, because Pal and Aurobindo had voiced absolute political independence as the goal of ... It is very surprising that Shri Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur secretly supplied Tilak with confidential ...]

[Shahu Chhatrapati: a ruler and a revolutionary G. N. Vaidya - 1974 - 67 pages

His patriotism is shown by the financial assistance which he had given for the defence of Sri Aurobindo Ghose in the famous Alipore Bomb case. As a Maharaja and as a man, Shahu was outstanding in his own time. ...

[Shahu Chhatrapati: a royal revolutionary Dhananjay Keer - 1976 - 536 pages 

On May 2, 1908, the leader of Bengali youth, Aurobindo Ghose, was arrested and taken into custody as an ordinary ... In June there was an appeal by Mrs. Sarojini Ghose, sister of Aurobindo, for contributions to the defence fund of ... who was suspected by the British Government all his life, that Shahu Chhatrapati sent a handsome donation of Rs. 5000 ...

[Non-Brahman movement in Maharashtra - M. S. Gore - 1989 - 95 pages 

Dhananjay Keer reports in his biography that Shahu gave a secret donation of Rs. 5000/- to a fund to defend Aurobindo Ghosh in 1908. Within Kolhapur, however, Shahu suppressed all nationalist terrorist activity. ...

[The Bomb in Bengal: The Rise of Revolutionary Terrorism in India 1900-1910 - Peter Heehs - 1993 - 324 pages - Snippet view
Sri Aurobindo: A Brief Biography . Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1989. -. 'Terrorism in India during the Freedom Struggle'. The Historian 55 (Spring 1993) ...AB Memoirs of His Highness Shri Shahu Chatrapati Maharaja of Kolhapur, vol. ...]

Genealogically, Sri Aurobindo can be linked to diverse political parties operating in India today. The role of Rajshri Shahu Ji Maharaj forms an indelible bonding with the Bahujan Samaj Party too. [TNM] 

Never let anyone to deface them

The Mother & Sri Aurobindo, themselves, are an epochal synthesis. The varied experiences they bring together is a rarity, especially the backdrop of the cultural and geographical mosaic. Moreover, their attempt to blend the mundane with the transcendental during the interwar period enhances manifold the mystery of their appearance as well as collaboration.

Why they chose India as the crucible of their work is difficult to speculate. But it in no way binds them to India alone. Nor the people of India have the sole proprietary rights over their legacy. The Mother & Sri Aurobindo belong to the humanity and everyone is free to understand, appreciate, and appropriate them in his own way and necessity.

There is, of course, no gainsaying that Sri Aurobindo’s prominence in the Pride of India pantheon is recent history. His “luminous and voluminous” body of work is a treasure trove constituting the national cultural capital. But to turn this a trigger for national hubris would be utterly anomalous and diminishing.

Lovers of The Mother & Sri Aurobindo, everywhere, beware! Never let the Indians to own them exclusively. And, at the same time, never let anyone to deface them. [TNM]       

M. Kumars whodunit

Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust entered into an agreement with a US publisher to release a biography of Sri Aurobindo modeled somewhat on the S. Kumars Ka Filmy Muqadama style with the hope that the book will be a money spinner. It is not known how much royalty the Ashram has earned from the sales of the book since 2008, but it surely was a royal blunder to have played with the reputation of Sri Aurobindo in such a cavalier fashion. Knowing fully well that there are lakhs of followers and admirers of Sri Aurobindo around the world who would be acutely anguished by such tabloid sensationalism, the project was carried through in a hush hush manner. What were the compulsions for such an act of hara-kiri continues to be a mystery till date.

Savitri Era party demands to make all correspondence leading to the production of the book public, so that the names of the real culprits are brought to light. [TNM]

Let Sri Aurobindo be your guide

[Amazon.com: The Upanishads, 1st US Edition Respectfully disagree, March 25, 2004 By Driver9 (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is limited to the translation only, and on that I must disagree with the other reviewers. The translation, as I understand it by Aurobindo himself, is nearly impenetrable. The syntax and grammar, sentence arrangement and choice of vocabulary are confusing and do not effectively convey the meaning of the text. This became sharply apparent when I read another translation and the profound beauty of the text came through. Try the Juan Mascaro version.

The What to Read, March 10, 2007 By    Clarence W. Bass Jr. "Starry-Eye" (Cleveland, Ohio) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)   

Having completed 51 pages of this 466 page work I suggest that this tranaslation, analysis and commentary of Upanishads, by Sri Aurobindo is the what to read if anything for those on the paths of knowledge and devotion. Don't go any further. If it be upon my suggestion that you read anything, read this first. If it is illumination of this great work that you seek, let Sri Aurobindo be your guide. May you find your way. Clarence]

Both reviews can be said to be right depending upon how far the reader has prepared himself to benefit from the work in question. Sri Aurobindo’s translations and commentaries on Sanskrit texts are certainly not of the introductory kind and therefore many experiencing a colossal frustration in the beginning is a common occurrence. The trick, however, is to plod on and the secret unfolds by and by. [TNM]   

Whoever offers a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or water

[On Dialogue from Larval Subjects

Some readers of this blog might have noticed that I’m responding to comments less and less. A lot of this has to do with tone.

larvalsubjects Says: August 7, 2010 at 4:24 pm

Yep, but mostly a lot of people just exhaust me and drain my energy, leaving me sad, depressed, and despondent.]

Levi’s contribution to the philosophy blogosphere is phenomenal in terms of quality, quantity, and clarity. He is also candid about his indebtedness to the blogosphere for concepts, contacts, and reputation. Undesirable observations causing sadness, however, are part of the bargain of being in the public life, but Happiness generally comes from links with other people, as Harman reminded recently. [TNM]

Congress coalition

[Congress’ rumble within IE: 27 Jul 2010 Neerja Chowdhury

Chidambaram is clearly emerging as a hawk, pursuing a tough line against the Maoists and Pakistan, a stance favoured by a large section of the middle class. … Chidambaram is increasingly coming to occupy the right of centre space, catering to the sentiment of the urban Indians, many of whom had viewed with favour — or backed — the BJP, particularly in north India. …

The second wannabe, Digvijay Singh, seems to be positioning himself in the left of centre mould, contra-distinct from the niche that Chidambaram is carving out for himself.]

The Congress split at Surat in 1907 between moderates and extremists. Now the party is emulating Vajpayee and Advani who enacted different roles representing contrasting poles. [TNM] 

Husserl, Heidegger, Whitehead, & Sri Aurobindo

[Morton on trumpery from Object-Oriented Philosophy by doctorzamalek (Graham Harman)

By now everyone knows that I’m a passionate admirer of phenomenology, which I regard as the most important philosophical school since Kant/German Idealism and possibly even since Leibniz. …

One thing that distinguishes my own view of contemporary philosophy from most views is that I don’t think we’ve ever returned to the level of Husserl/Heidegger/Whitehead. There’s been important stuff since then, sure, but I think we’re still struggling to assimilate and surpass the level attained by philosophy as of the late 1920′s. …

Husserl … was a powerful thinker who shed light into corners of the world that no one even knew were there.]

And Sri Aurobindo, their contemporary, rewrote countless canons of Indian philosophy and psychology ably integrating them with thought currents of the day in the West. His synthesis verily is the acme of acumen that waits for a wider reception.  [TNM] 

His words will be echoed and re-echoed

[Shrinking Heroes Sun Jul 18 2010, Meghnad Desai

The attempts to claim exclusive possession to Tagore or Shivaji or Sardar Patel do not harm these heroes. They indicate the insecurities of modern India, the shrinkage of the contemporary leaders, the emasculation of the vision of what India can be.]

Sri Aurobindo wrote in English, and his appeal as the foremost global Indian continues to swell. [TNM]

Survival of the seniles

[Stanford University confronts the graying of academia

By Lisa M. Krieger lkrieger@mercurynews.com Posted: 07/10/2010

Hoping to create more space for young scholars, Stanford has revamped its generous "Retirement Incentive Program" — for the second time in a decade — to nudge more old-timers toward the door. …

And like a seat on the Supreme Court and papal office, university tenure is lifelong. With the brightest students, best libraries and labs, and lighter teaching loads than at most state schools, professors at elite research universities have little reason to retire. …

India mandates retirement at age 60. If too many older scholars prevent the younger generation's advancement, bright students may not go into academia, Etchemendy worries. … Stanford has tried different approaches to gently encourage departures.]

Sri Aurobindo Ashram administration and its college in Puducherry are groaning under seniles. [TNM]

Let The Lives of Sri Aurobindo sell in India

[Writers welcome SC judgment on Shivaji book Times of India - ‎MUMBAI:

Friday's Supreme Court judgment lifting the ban on James Laine's controversial book Shivaji - Hindu King in Islamic India has received mixed reactions… Writer Chetan Bhagat said he was against the very of idea books being banned. "To ban or not to ban a book becomes a very subjective choice. If a book has hurt sentiments or is offensive, people can condemn it, ignore it or ask for an apology, but banning a book shows high-handedness. We should not turn into a society that doesn’t allow voices of dissent," said Bhagat, adding, "If the book hurt sentiments, the author should apologise.

Shyam Pakhre, history lecturer at KC College, said that when foreigners write books based on Indian history, they are often unable to understand the moral code of conduct of our society. "Writing sensational things without supporting them with evidence is bound to hurt sentiments. I support freedom of speech and expression only when due respect is given to people’s sentiments," he said.  SC lifts ban on Laine's Shivaji Indian Express Laine's book on Shivaji okay: SC Economic Times]

Let’s hope for a similar verdict apropos The Lives of Sri Aurobindo. [TNM]

Beliefs, prejudices, fads and fashions.

[Conservatism and the Academy from Larval Subjects

What have we seen in recent years? We’ve seen a constant attempt to distort, suppress, and fabricate research in the name of various dogmatically held and pre-established political aims. …

I’m not sure where I anywhere suggested that Marxism is a science, although I do understand that it has promoted itself in this way in the past. Nor, I think, will you commonly find people in the academy these days portraying Marxism as a science. The same cannot be said of neoliberalism. Contemporary neoliberal economic theory has endlessly deployed the rhetoric of science in defense of itself, portraying itself as the branch of the social sciences that most closely approaches the hard sciences.

Moreover, in the United States, at least, neoliberal economic theory is hegemonic in economics departments. These economic theories have contributed greatly to human suffering throughout the world through promoting the installation of brutal dictators (Pinochet anyone?), the dispossession of natural resources owned by the people of various nations, and the privatization of various industries leading to a transfer of wealth out of countries into the hands of a few. I believe we need new voices in economics departments that also treat collective and communal interests as values that need to be included in “economic calculations”.]

[Peeling the Fuzzy Onion: On Philosophizing, Denial, and Anosognosia from Networkologies by chris

Thomas Kuhn has famously argued that scientists think in paradigms, and these paradigms determine which questions are seen as worth asking, pursuing, what constitutes legitimate research, etc. …

Our paradigms and problematics are defined, from science to philosophy to everyday life, by the community of those whose feedback we trust. Certain approaches to ‘research questions’, be these in science or philosophy, are simply dismissed as ‘out there’, and never pursued, not so much because they might not have something to them, but that even following up on them would require a massive reorganization of the schemas we use to structure our lives. In the world of the everyday, we’d say they were thrown aside because they violate ‘common sense.’

Is philosophy that within culture that works to constantly keep ‘common sense’ at bay, or rather, is it that which defends ‘common sense’? I’d love to hope it were the former, but I think there is a really slippery slope at work here. A fuzzy onion, so to speak. 9:39 AM]

[Myths of Austerity By PAUL KRUGMAN July 1, 2010

When I was young and naïve, I believed that important people took positions based on careful consideration of the options. Now I know better. Much of what Serious People believe rests on prejudices, not analysis. And these prejudices are subject to fads and fashions. 7:59 PM] 

[Behind every Dravidian act a Christian push - 2 Thamizhchelvan 06 Jul 2010

Dr. S. Kalyanaraman gave an interview to Rediff.com in which he contested the findings of Asko Parpola, saying he did not agree with Parpola’s unproven ‘decipherment’ of the Indus script on the premise that old Tamil was the underlying language. He pointed out that Parpola’s was simply a belief system, not premised on evidence of the corpus of inscriptions and the underlying cultural foundations of the civilization of 4000 years ago. 9:41 AM]

[Indian Political Thought - Page 274 Urmila Sharma, S.K. Sharma - 2001 - 416 pages
Sri Aurobindo, as we have already shown, neglects the discussion of social, economic and industrial institutions. This makes his social philosophy less thorough and practical and more one-sided and inadequate from the academic point of ... 9:59 PM]

Sri Aurobindo avoids elaborating economic and industrial affairs but he is more into our commerce with the other worlds. It is thus desirable that the current academic practices learn how to accommodate his holistic approach. [TNM]

Demolishing Sri Aurobindo’s opposition is our prime task

Sri Aurobindo is yet to receive the recognition and respect he deserves and demolishing Sri Aurobindo’s Opposition is our prime task. The story of his life and the writings he has left behind constitute a fount of inspiration for generations to come and disseminating those across the globe is a gigantic challenge. The occult significance of the work of The Mother & Sri Aurobindo is exceedingly complex and hence to fathom it is beyond the scope of individuals engaged in routine life. Most are, therefore, happy with their own understanding of things and hardly feel the necessity of being acquainted with the teachings of The Mother & Sri Aurobindo. Mind boggling multiplicity of New Age offerings and their aggressive marketing is another major cause of our ware being marginalized.

That the philosophy, psychology, politics, & poetry of The Mother & Sri Aurobindo are the sole and supreme avenue of man’s emancipation is no hyperbole. No human being living at present has the capacity to scrutinize them as regards their efficacy. It is only through a ceaseless yearning for their servitude that we earn the fortunateness of partaking an iota of their grace.   

This in the secular-academic domain, paradoxically, poses a grave methodological problem. The transmission of the teachings of The Mother & Sri Aurobindo is largely academic in nature. Their interdisciplinary implications rather fall mostly at the postgraduate level or above while the ritualistic dimensions are only a miniscule. Applying the theory concurrently in one’s day to day life is also part of the learning process. The three aspects form such an integral whole that the unique subjective nature of the ongoing and ever changing concoction tends to defy any sort of syllabi or evaluation. With communication modalities morphing multifariously, molding our worn out teaching techniques and modulating them to the signals of the future, therefore, is a priority. [TNM]      

Integral roars end up in old religions

[(title unknown) from For The Turnstiles by DGA

A personal item: I have long been a practicing Buddhist, since adolescence. For the last three years, I have practiced at the Tendai Buddhist Institute in upstate New York. The influence of TianTai and Tendai thinking should be evident in my academic work, particularly the items I have published at the Integral Review, to one who is familiar with it.

As of this summer, I am also a novice Buddhist priest. My title is Doshu (information on what that means and what kind of training I have participated in is available here). I mention this simply for the sake of clarity: I think readers should know where I am coming from, in a sense who I am and what I stand for. 

Finally, my training is far from complete. I am by no means done learning; I am no master of anything and make no claims for myself except an earnest desire to be helpful rather than hurtful, to keep my commitments, to keep going.

Now you know. I will keep the other details of my spiritual life private since they have no bearing on my public life.]

All bloggers and commenters should ideally disclose their religious and political affiliations. Anderson has written a few pieces adverting to Sri Aurobindo, and they should be read in the light of the above. [TNM]

What is real and what is not real

[Peeling the Fuzzy Onion: On Philosophizing, Denial, and Anosognosia from Networkologies by chris

If we never left planet earth, barring physical catastrophe, we’d think the strength of gravity a universal, but it turns out that the moon and in fact every object in the universe has a different degree of gravity, as proportional to its mass. It is only by going into counterfactual situations (‘what if I were no longer on this planet?’) that we start to get closer to the realm of the unthought. We start to unlayer the onion of the unthought, …

In class, I often tell my students, particularly those who have never encountered theory or philosophy before, that my job as a teacher is to ‘mess up what they know’, but when you know something, you don’t think about it, knowing is the opposite of thinking. I think there’s a lot of truth to this. 9:39 AM]

[Another Canon: Indian Texts and Traditions in English - Page 124 Makarand Paranjape - 2009 - 293 pages
The American dancer, Ruth St Denis and Mira Richard, who later became the Mother of Pondicherry. ... because the book reduces the stature of the Mother and is unable to do justice to her. ... Though no 'official' response from Sri Aurobindo Ashram has been forthcoming so far, Ashram circles have voiced their disapproval and ... 9:33 PM] 

[A Short Review by a Disciple from A critique of the book "The Lives of Sri Aurobindo" by Peter Heehs by Raman Reddy

The biography is craftily written to fulfil an objective born out of the author’s misguided objectivism. The general reader by and large is prone to be misled by such misdemeanours in literature and becomes an easy prey unless he/she is intelligent enough to decipher and discriminate between what is real and what is not real and maintain the right balance in his/her opinion…

I will give only one advice to PH, though I don’t think he will understand it. The Mother said that “to come closer to the Truth, you must often accept not to understand.” A Disciple]

Heehs, in all fairness, can be said to have attempted to ‘mess up what they know’ and force thinking. That, unfortunately, is yet to happen. [TNM]

Miltonic afflatus

Much water has flown down Hindon Cut during my five years as a blogtender, and it has been a learning process throughout. Many years back, I read something to the effect:

“No matter, if you haven’t read Wordsworth or Byron;

Neither had Shakespeare nor Milton.” 

This piece of self-help maxim has been a morale booster in general and for blogging in particular. Thanks everyone. [TNM] [Savitri Era of those who adore, Om Sri Aurobindo and The Mother.]

OOOntology sans the sacred

[(title unknown) from enowning

Cheston Knapp on his story “A Minor Momentousness in the History of Love”

But Heidegger’s not the Camus of The Stranger. He knows das Man is necessary and inescapable and he defines it as part of Dasein’s [existence’s] “positive construction.”]

[Stuart Kauffman by larvalsubjects

I picked up Stuart Kauffman’s Reinventing the Sacred at the bookstore today before heading off to see Splice. …

What I find less appealing in Kauffman’s book (and his other works) is his project of “reinventing the sacred”. On the one hand, I don’t see anything particularly sacred or divine in demonstrating that the universe is creative.]

[Creativity existed before the universe emerged from it. …Like a cosmic Houdini it breaks free, transcends its constraints, revels in a frenzy of creative imagination, regains consciousness, revels in a frenzy of creative speculation, wondering what it all means.
  Reviewed by U. Mohrhoff ANTIMATTERS 2 (3) 2008, June 18, 2010 at 8:10 am]

“Himself the play, Himself the player, Himself the playground" settles it all. [TNM]