Bushfire over the remarks of the Pope

Wake up to Supramental superscope.

Everyone needs a good religion

And Savitri Era is the right one.

Savitri Era of those who adore

Om Sri Aurobindo and The Mother

Be Indian, be Aurobindian

The recent controversy over the singing of Vande Mataram had a positive facet in that the name of Sri Aurobindo reverberated in the Blogosphere and his translation of the poem appeared in a number of sites. But the fact that Sri Aurobindo himself is a great poet and creator of the epic, Savitri was hardly mentioned by any.

Reading a sample of such blogs can be a frustrating experience. Instead of delving a little bit deeper and talking about the teachings or writings, often only a skin-deep nationalism is invoked. While such chauvinism might be offering our youth their quota of self-esteem, the kind of intellectual lethargy that it perpetuates is really frightening.

Reading and discussing the works of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo can be a refreshing exercise. If one really takes pride in being an Indian, then he must be willing to undertake a journey to discover the Himalayan heights of Sri Aurobindo.

Convert to Savitri Era

History very seldom records the things that were decisive but took place behind the veil; it records the show in front of the curtain. --Sri Aurobindo

Spirituality respects the freedom of the human soul, because it is itself fulfilled by freedom; and the deepest meaning of freedom is the power to expand and grow towards perfection.... --Sri Aurobindo

posted by Gagdad Bob at 8:37 AM One Cosmos

Clinical psychologist, spiritual aspirant, and author of the much acclaimed book, One Cosmos Under God, Robert W. Godwin (Gagdad Bob) has remembered the words of Sri Aurobindo in his blog One Cosmos on the anniversary of 9/11. Nothing can be more appropriate than this.

At a time when all the Semitic religions are busy engaged in internecine warfare, the war of words is also begetting a lot of fresh insights as regards civilizational crises. And, Savitri Era must fish in the troubled waters. There can't be a better moment than this to call upon all the people in the world to convert to Savitri Era. Bereft of any theological lacunae, Savitri Era can usher in peace and harmony in the hearts of people as well as in the world. [TNM1296mmyp]

Savitri Era is unputdownable

Sri Aurobindo, wrote Prof. Sisir Kumar Maitra in 1942, has accomplished the “transfer of the leadership in philosophy from the West to India.” But what we witness today in 2006 is something entirely different. Why?

The whole scenario is not devoid of politics and what is at issue is not philosophy but hegemony. In pursuit of that, there has been constant shifting of goal posts and resorting to gerrymandering. Marginal items have come to occupy the mainstream space in philosophy while the basic metaphysical concerns rank as subaltern. Why?

Sri Aurobindo gave the most full-proof philosophy in the entire human history, but the Westerners are unwilling to accept him at the top. Pseudo-philosophers are lapped up and their books sell in plenty almost as a conspiracy to eclipse Sri Aurobindo. He is discounted simply as a mystic or a revivalist, instead. Why?

Because Sri Aurobindo is an Indian and American hubris can’t digest this. Numerous charts and complicated graphics are being devised in pathetic attempts to cook up all-encompassing philosophies. Many of Sri Aurobindo’s innovations are being recycled. Even then, success eludes such enterprises. Why?

For Sri Aurobindo, as Dr Maitra decreed, stands tall on merit. Every intellectual, every journal and every University will have to swallow this cruel pill. No amount of racial or colonial resistance can suppress the supremacy of Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy. The whole world, whether today or tomorrow, must turn to it where all the whys are answered. [TNM696MMYP]

Purnadvaita or Integral Advaita

Sri Aurobindo, in his The Life Divine, has synthesized all the exant schools of Vedanta and given the most comprehensive resolution integrating cues from the Western metaphysics and modern science. He has also restored the umbilical cord of the Vedantic exegesis with the Vedas. For instance, his strong difference with Adi Sankara over the interpretation of Ishavasyam is interesting.

• The Upanishads by Sri Aurobindo [1]. Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry. 1972
• The Upanishads Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry # wikipedia

The words work wonders

From: "Tusar N. Mohapatra" tusarnmohapatra@mail.com
To: "Antony Lodoiska" alodoiska@swasteetech.com from Mauritius

Subject: Re: Eastern Philosophy http://sanatan.intnet.mu

Date: Sun, 02 Jul 2006 11:48:41 -0500

With 54 springs(93-39) in hand, you can work wonders for yourself.
The trick is to cut through the clutter and confusion.
Proceed through the process of elimination.
Keep aside your past baggage for a while.
Forget all your questions and doubts.
Read the works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.
Be ready to be shocked by your own transformaton.
Bon Voyage

Savitri Era is our religion

Faith in an unseen divinity and feeling loyal to it by a large number of people is religion. It grows by a gradual process, and over a period of time acquires one or more cultural distinctiveness. By offering an umbrella for identity, it also develops into a strong political conglomerate.

Apart from the teaching, the name, the picture, the life-story, and the place also evoke strong emotional feelings. And then, the words and their various interpretations hold no importance. People in general long for safety, security and unburdening. The aesthetic or intellectual satisfaction is aspired for by a select.

If one is possessed by a feeling that his path has great benefits and others should also follow it; and then he goes about to find various ways and means to propagate it, it is religion. Recommending a book or a blog is not all that harmlessly rational. Rather, a scheming mind operates at the behest of the faith, cult or religion.

And what’s wrong with it? A good Product or a great Brand needs to be endorsed. Of course, the conviction level of the person is important; there must be intellectual honesty, one would demand. But conviction, itself, is irrational, recall Barthes: The Pleasure of the Text.

One is largely driven by the past baggages and is tormented too. A theory of everything is absolutely useless for any particular individual, and hence, is useless for all. The individual needs a theory for oneself depending upon his age, stage, affection and affinity. That found, there is no dearth of pastimes and distractions.

Bertrand Russell in his History of Western Philosophy compares Marxism with Judaism/Christianity under 7 parameters to decree that the former is also a faith. And I think, Savitri Era more than fulfils all the seven. Sri Aurobindo and his Followers

+ + +

Web search engines are wholly dependent on correct spelling, and hence it is important to standardize certain expressions:

• Sri Aurobindo: to take care to always use Sri (as in his signature)
• The Mother: and not the Mother
• The Mother and Sri Aurobindo: in that order (as in the photograph) as far as possible, instead of Sri Aurobindo and the The Mother.
• Mira: as Sri Aurobindo has re-christened her in the mantra, Om Sri Aurobindo Mira , and nor Mirra.
• Aurobindian: Although Amal Kiran has much defended his introducing of the term, Aurobindonian, it does not cut ice. The last O in Sri Aurobindo is not necessary for pronunciation of the name, and hence a simple, Aurobindian is good for all seasons. Aurobindean, is also another dispensable expression.

Sri Aurobindo is not a mere Hindu revivalist

Pondicherry has been renamed as Puducherry. But the pet name Pondy is likely to linger in popular conversation. Sri Aurobindo arrived in Pondy on April 4, 1910 and The Mother on March 29, 1914. Together, they launched a monthly philosophical journal called, Arya on August 15, 1914. Gradually, the Sri Aurobindo Ashram also took shape. And that is how a tiny port-town like Pondy became world famous.

The major and mature writings of Sri Aurobindo were serialized in Arya that appeared regularly till January 15, 1921. Of course, many of those thoughts in seed-form can be traced in the writings of pre-Pondy days. Many present day writers liberally use extracts from his writings of the pre-Pondy days to show that he was a Hindu nationalist leader. That the context was to fight the Britishers by mobilizing and motivating the public is easily forgotten.

Sri Aurobindo remained aloof from active politics during the last 40 years of his life spent in Pondy. In this period, along with The Mother, he created an integral vision for the future of humanity. His words have spread to every corner of the world and he is counted among the top-rung philosophers. So, to show him as a mere Hindu revivalist is truancy to his true legacy. It is hoped that the present-day scholars and writers would desist from such intellectual dishonesty.

Integral minus Veda

Joint venture of two of top minds of our times has shortlisted certain "spiritual lines" in quest of creating "an integral spirituality." The list is appended, but surprisingly, Veda, the fountainhead of all spiritual aspirations is not mentioned.

Marko Rinck Says: July 27th, 2006 at 2:29 pm

1. Identity- Advaita
2. Space or emptiness- Buddhists
3. Pearl/Soul- Sufism, Gnostics, Daoism
4. Love- Sufism, Christianity
5. Compassion- Buddhism
6. Energy- Yoga, Daoism, Kashmir Shaivism
7. Will- Gurdijeff
8. Peace- Christianity
9. Consciousness- Advaita, Yoga
10. Strength- Shao-lin, Shamanism
11. Awareness- Buddhism, Krishnamurti
12. Dynamism and creativity- Shaivism
13. Knowingness- Gnostics, Ancient Greeks, Jnana Yoga

alan kazlev Says: July 27th, 2006 at 5:57 pm

1. Interaction with Nature Kingdoms- Neopaganism, Shamanism, some New Age
2. Interaction with Subtle Realms- Tantra, Hermetic occultism, Shamanism, etc
3. Pleasure / Ananda- Tantra, Taoist sexual yoga
4. Transformation of Matter- Lurianic Kabbalah, Aurobindo and the Mother

The integralism achieved by the yogic vision of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo cannot be bettered

M. Alan Kazlev from Australia of Kheper.net fame, in a series of essays published in the Integral world, has given a clarion call to the New Agers not to remain fettered by the intellectual exhortations of Ken Wilber and his ilk, and instead, be anchored to the spiritually elevating transformational synthesis accomplished by The Mother and Sri Aurobindo. This firm stand, coming from a sincere seeker who has all along endeavoured to compare and contrast various esoteric and spiritual systems, must undoubtedly be seen as a major milestone in the meandering course of the integral movement.

Large-scale publishing of innumerable self-help books, both fiction and non-fiction, in the past fifty years has created a readership which requires to be fed with a continuous supply of novelty. Just like the latest movie, new authors are being lapped up in the manner people fall for the reigning fashion. Of course, there is no other way to know the worth of a book than to read it, but the choices are being made more on the basis of some uncanny affinity and endorsement rather than any considered rationality.

Obviously, it is too much to expect that a democracy of readers, so constituted, would choose to vote for the worn out names of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo. Nor, is it an easy prospect that the vast masses owing allegiance to established religions would allow the right of way to the vision of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo. The intelligentsia is still less dependable, engrossed as they are in contemporary nit-pickings.

Alan has rightly reminded that the teachings, personality, and spiritual presence of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo as charismatic teachers is already there. Further, sincere work conforming to their ideals are being carried out across the globe in fields as divers as education and environment. One can surmise that it would grow in a slow but steady pace. Nonetheless, there can certainly be some catalytic action to shore up momentum.

Alan has called for a fresh start for the integral movement with The Mother and Sri Aurobindo as the central focus. But the call of the day is perhaps to leap forth to the next level, call it orthodox or foundational. Many are under the illusion that they can dish out a new synthesis by integrating the different established systems like Sri Aurobindo’s. How easily it is forgotten that, the integralism achieved by the yogic vision of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo cannot be bettered. In fact, no egghead should venture to tinker with their teachings.

And, finally, let’s call a spade a spade. How long would we dither to call the grace of our beloved Masters and their teachings, a religion? It is a religion, make no mistake about it, and the adherents need to put their act together to help it take root. No myths or legends, ours is a stark 20th century faith based on the most comprehensive philosophy. This is a grand testament of universality, take it or leave it. And, this is the greatest ever manifesto for man; seekers of the world unite!

The word, integral has already been besmirched. So, should we call our religion Savitri Era, instead? [SE-MMYP, TNM: July 27, 2006]

The contingency, the contextuality and the historicity

Tusar N Mohapatra said... One very unique and significant aspect of Sri Aurobindo's insights is the concept that our core and causal personality, what he calls the Psychic Being, is the arbiter of our life and destiny, In fact, he goes on to add that the Psychic Being decides on the broad formulations of the life's tenor and texture before the birth. Our life then becomes the opportunity to unfold the secret manifesto with a large proportion of distinctness.

Sri Aurobindo, therefore, emphasizes upon the Swabhava and Swadharma, one's own specific manner of perceiving the reality and partaking of it. The contingency, the contextuality and the historicity, accordingly, form the great adventure in hermeneutics of the book of Nature, of which our life is but a leaf.

Sri Aurobindo denied admission to Delhi University

The greatest philosopher of modern India, Sri Aurobindo, does not find a place in the Philosophy syllabus of Delhi University. Many great scholars of the country and from abroad have already authored several treatises on the philosophy as well as the metaphysical poetry of Sri Aurobindo. Many comparative works, too, have been brought out by established publishing houses and top academic institutes. But Sri Aurobindo has yet to pass a test by our pedantic Professors of the University of Delhi.

Sri Aurobindo's extensive mapping of consciousness and his life-long endeavour to fathom the overhead regions through poetry and yoga are seminal contributions. His emphasis on attainability of highest possible perfection through sheer human efforts and by mere aspiration is a great message of hope. Further, the adventure of consciousness is not aimed at isolated spiritual salvation. Rather, a harmonious collective living is the ultimate destination. By translating this ideal to practical terms, Sri Aurobindo draws an elaborate blueprint concerning the ideal of human unity leading to the establishment of a World-Union.

Nemesis of confusion and delusion

Tusar N Mohapatra said... And therefore, THE LIFE DIVINE is the last word. The nemesis of confusion and delusion. Further, there is SAVITRI.

So, start reading and stop worrying. 10:18 PM

An Integral roadmap

Tusar N Mohapatra said... Sri Aurobindo and The Mother have formulated an Integral roadmap for the future of humanity by synthesizing the best elements from all cultures and religions. They have written extensively in English and French the philosophical background of their vision as well as the practical means to achieve that.

Their works need to be read patiently and over a long period. The next evolution that Sri Aurobindo has heralded is an inevitability but waits for our receptivity.

One becomes a Brahmana

The Mother and Sri Aurobindo keep harping on the notion that a higher, wider, and deeper mode of perception is native to our nature. Our whole business is to discover that.

• The urge to break-free from the shackles of restricted awareness and the endeavour to bridge the epistemological disconnect is Yoga.
• To be reborn into such an Integral Consciousness is being Dwija, i.e., attaining the state of Brahmana.

Seekers of the world, unite!

Holi, the boisterous carnival of colours, brings to the mind the catchline, United colors of Benetton. How harmonizing is the imagery! The whole world seems to be wallowing in seamless love and brotherhood. But alas! The real world presents a different picture.

Sri Aurobindo and The Mother bring us the assurance that a new configuration is round the corner. All that we need to do is to collaborate, which entails receptivity, plasticity, and humility on our part. And then all here shall be home to Harmony.

Money or Harmony?

Ananda- Bhaga (Enjoyment, Share)- Shudra: Service, Surrender- Marx's Labour
Ananda/Chit- Mitra (Harmony, Love)- Vaishya: Desire, Libidinal Economy- Freud, Lyotard
Chit/Tapas- Aryama (Force)- Kshatriya: Power, Leadership- Nietzsche, Adler, Foucault
Sat- Varuna (Purity)- Brahmana: Knowledge, Nobility- Kant's Sublime, Habermas' Dialogue
Friday, October 28, 2005 ¶ 5:44 PM

Sri Aurobindo, the deliverer

Yoga- from pshycho-physical exercises

Veda- from religious rituals and rigidities

Karma- from the reward and punishment syndrome

Science- from the logic of the finite

Sri Aurobindo, The Teacher of the Nation

Sri Aurobindo was born on the 15th of August, 1872 and perhaps on that day it was decreed that India would be free exactly 75 years later. Even, as early as 1907, Sri Aurobindo had made public his vision that India is free.

Over a radio broadcast, on the eve of the 15th of August, 1947, Sri Aurobindo spoke of his famous Five Dreams drawing the future roadmap for India to take the centrestage among the Global community.

As a poet and a philosopher, his every word breathes universality. As a compassionate thinker, his vision provides the much-needed synthesis to the present fragmented world. His integralism should be savoured by the younger generation and he must be adored as The Teacher of the Nation.

Wisest man, Worst poet, any takers?

• The swadeshi movement was, from a Moderate point of view, a negation of the entire Congress project. As a partisan of the Moderates it gives me great satisfaction that Bengal’s greatest poet, Tagore, got it exactly right and her worst, Aurobindo Ghose, got it perfectly wrong.

Mukul Kesavan The Telegraph Sunday, May 29, 2005

• We move on to Aurobindo, who, again, at times propagated ideas uncannily similar to Islam, as in the wish to return to a Golden Age where all was truth and righteousness. Then we come to Vivekananda, to this writer the most ambivalent, and hence most appealing, of the four.

Ramachandra Guha The Telegraph Saturday, April 17, 2004

These are unreasonable remarks from fairly reasonable people. And, similar impressions have gained wide currency over the years through such supposed expert comments. By ticking off the versatile legacy of Sri Aurobindo in just one sentence is certainly cruel to his memory. It appears that he is still standing before the bar of the High Court of History.

Everybody is eminently entitled to her views but what is questionable is the methodology. It has become a fashion, or almost a compulsion of sorts, to mention the name of Sri Aurobindo as an appendage to others. But, why bring in his name at all, if only to show him in bad light?

For the fact is that, the very project of comparision in this manner, is arbitrary. Sri Aurobindo’s work in the political sphere begins when Swami Vivekananda is no longer there. Tagore is almost a spectator in the sidelines and Gandhi is yet to enter into the picture. And again, the tenor of their work, so dissimilar.

Each of the great men like these has contributed to areas of specific significance which come to form our national mosaic. But in manufacturing the synthetic metaphysics of The Life Divine and composing the epic, Savitri, Sri Aurobindo’s genius is unparalleled, not only in India but also in the whole world.

All writers may not be competent to perceive the nuances of poetry or philosophy. But then, they are expected to be honest enough not to beat someone with the wrong stick. It is only rarely that we read any independent assessment of Sri Aurobindo in the media. But his role is indispensable for the national regeneration everyone is hoping for.

Plurality, Diversity, Multiculturalism is the new Trinity

Construed almost synonymous with democracy, the idea of plurality and choice is also lapped up by the market economy. The more the merrier, is the new refrain. But what about consensus, synchronicity and solidarity? Are they not equally significant? This war between the modern and the post-modern has forced upon us lopsided priorities and warped perspectives. The fact that the divergent concepts must be applied in their respective locus is easily forgotten, and the contra attempted to corner browny points.

Conversely, none would like to trade patriotism or nationalism for plurality. They are sacrosanct down to the level of winning a Cricket match or some Beauty contest. Then what about creating such a consensus on a particular knowledge system or a philosophy? Can’t it be attempted in an informed environment by employing dispassionate discourse? Or, at least, is it not worth striving for?

Fears are certainly there. For when simple stipulations like electoral reforms elude us ever, to tinker with societal norms is fraught with far greater hurdles. Nevertheless, a conflated manifesto for the human race as a whole, addressing its existential concerns should be a plausible pursuit. Just like, Einstein’s objection to uncertainty, God doesn’t play dice.

The other worlds

Sri Aurobindo passed away 55 years back, on December 5, 1950. He is perceived as a great soul but his writings have yet to earn the reception they deserve. The vast body of his work and the difficult diction he employs, may be the reason to deter the common reader; but even the scholar is not enamoured enough of them. The most plausible factor that seems to be responsible is Sri Aurobindo’s insistence on spirituality while discussing secular themes such as politics, poetry, the arts, or education.

The convenient demarcation between secular and the sacred suits the academic approach. But for Sri Aurobindo this is a faulty notion because the causal aspect is eclipsed. The linkage between the two is less of the manner of an umbilical chord and more in the nature of interpenetrating imbrications. If our sensory and scientific construct of the world fails to accommodate such a picture, it must be understood as a lack.

Astronomy as an ancient passion has helped us to know about the outer universe. Astrology, too, by talking of stars and planets attunes us to their subtle influences. The different abodes of gods as described by various mythologies, also, permit us certain familiarity of the other worlds. But we rarely take their effect on our lives any seriously. And the task of Sri Aurobindo is to hammer the modern mind so as to rid it from secular superstitions.

The inner and the other worlds are a consistent theme in his poem, Savitri. Composed through the years from Quantum mechanics to nuclear holocaust, this modern epic puts a stamp of authority on the unseen fecund worlds and their inhabitants who are inextricably linked to our motions and emotions. To recognize this reality seriously, is what Savitri demands from its readers.

The different parts of our being and consciousness, as delineated by Sri Aurobindo in his Integral Yoga system, are nothing but the other worlds. We can well imagine our plights as puppets when disparate worlds are very much in the play to pull the strings. Somewhat similar to the insight offered by Baudrillard that it is the object which uses and employs us and not the other way round that we ordinarily perceive. But then, how do we benefit by this concept in our practical life?

That there runs a perpetual consonance between the seen and the unseen, might seem, at times, hard to digest, but a poetic impression can be allowed to swim aloft. The process should further deepen in the realm of creative imagination leading to a faint intellectual recognition. Since the notion runs counter to our egoistic autonomy, it is bound to take a long time to percolate down to the distant and defiant impulses. And regular recitation of Savitri helps here; its mantric effect casting its reach down to our body cells.