Devotee’s progress

Contrast the "If I were a devotee of Sri Aurobindo" remark by Tony Clifton (a.k.a. Richard Carlson) with Debashish Banerji agreeing with having "profound devotion and the highest regard towards Sri Aurobindo." [TNM]

Conspiracy is not chimera

[6) Is aware that conspiracy and counter-conspiracy theories, along with speculations as to other’s hidden internal motives and supposed malicious intent, are almost always false. Kepler Re: Active Omissions: A Review of The Lives of Sri Aurobindo by Manoj - Annotated by Debashish Kepler Mon 18 May 2009 09:06 AM PDT]

Sorry to disagree. [TNM]

Mark Edwards is conversant with Sri Aurobindo’s teaching

[from integral praxis by BrightAbyss~May 17, 2009 Organizational Transformation and Integral MetaTheory
Integral theorist and organizational specialist Mark Edwards is scheduled to have his new book publishing by Routledge Press on August 15th 2009. 1 comments:]

Tusar N Mohapatra said...
15th August, by the way, is Sri Aurobindo’s birthday that coincides with India's Independence Day. Mark Edwards is conversant with Sri Aurobindo’s teaching and must have drawn from his insights in the book. Best wishes. [TNM] May 17, 2009 8:22 AM

Politics, again, needs to be practiced in the spirit of religion

The exit poll tells us that another Government will be scrambled on the basis of arithmetic and not chemistry. All political parties in India today are nonplussed about a sure box-office formula. Such ideological bewilderment never happened before. Single minded pursuit of power and narrow parochialism is taking its toll.

Savitri Era Party, in such a gloomy scenario, stands for ideology, commitment, and dedication. Politics, again, needs to be practiced in the spirit of religion. Savitri Era Party looks forward to solutions to conflictual situations running for centuries.

Fragmentation of the people in India on the basis of caste and ethnicity is a primary target. Establishing solidarity within the Asian countries and resolving the Palestinian crisis is high on agenda. Expanding EU for creating the World Union is the underlying objective. [TNM]

Bhartṛhari, Heidegger, & Sri Aurobindo

Re: Literature and Consciousness—by Shruti Bidwaikar
by Tusar N. Mohapatra on Thu 14 May 2009 12:18 PM IST Profile Permanent Link

There is a much broader vista from Bhartṛhari's śabda-advaita (speech monistic) ontology to Heidegger's "Language is the house of Being." [TNM] Reply

Analysand verbalizes thoughts

[On yet another subject you refer to an alleged psychoanalytic thread of interpretation in the book. I agree there is some element of that, and I don’t like it. My impression is it’s not at all in the same league with Kripal’s writings however. Regards, Kepler Re: Types of Readers
by Kepler on Thu 14 May 2009 04:46 AM IST Profile Permanent Link Reply]

[Psychoanalysis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Freudian psychoanalysis refers to a specific type of treatment in which the "analysand" (analytic patient) verbalizes thoughts, including free associations, fantasies, and dreams, from which the analyst formulates the unconscious conflicts causing the patient's symptoms and character problems, and interprets them for the patient to create insight for resolution of the problems.]

It is a pity that a highly technical term like Psychoanalysis is being bandied about so loosely. [TNM]

Myths about Indian readers

[Re: Hi! We do Integral Yoga by Vikas on Wed 13 May 2009 10:16 AM IST Profile Permanent Link
I believe this is the style and tone the author has kept throughout the book although a little too critical at places... If the question is about publishing the book in India then naturally the readership there ought to be kept in mind. Thanks to the Tapasya of the ancients, in India the urge and orientation towards spirituality and mysticism is latent and needs little prompting to surface and manifest itself... The Indian reader tacitly, by default, accepts the validity of these experiences. There is also that part of the reader-spectrum that considers it outrageous to even raise the question on the validity of the experiences. In fact we have seen such responses... While the Western psychologist’s skepticism is answered by the book by affirming their (visions etc) validity, it could have just the opposite effect here - a doubt cast in the minds of the Indian readers. If the publication of the book in America is supported by virtue of the readership it appeals to, then by the same yardstick (its appeal and applicability to the Indian readership) it would very likely fail and have a negative impact in India... It would therefore be within safe-harbor to withhold its publication in India or put it in abeyance.]

India today is too vast and diverse a nation to be squeezed into such a narrow and narcissistic notion. [TNM]

Koantuition

["Your attack in the preface on all earlier biographers was unwarranted..." or so states the first bullet. The reason why I, as one of the editors of SCIY, found it a waste of time to read beyond this point is that the preface contains no attack whatever on earlier biographers. Marathe's letter: a clarification by koantum on Mon 11 May 2009 10:02 PM PDT Permanent Link]

Reading skills, eh? [TNM]

Skewed law of Karma

[you have a lot of accumulated karma; and are paying the price for it by getting in turn dismissed, insulted and put down by other Ashramites... For if their attack is based on such motivations, they themselves in turn would accumulate 'karma' of using the stature of Sri Aurobindo for their own ends. Raja Marathe’s Letter to Peter Heehs May 10, 2009]

Raja Marathe’s Letter to Peter Heehs at A critique of the book "The Lives of Sri Aurobindo" is a refreshing read. "The law of Karma" thesis, however, sits a bit incongruent with Sri Aurobindian ontology. [TNM]

Vedanta, avatar, & incarnation

[Re: The Post-human, Evolution and the Avatar by Debashish on Sat 25 Nov 2006 12:56 PM PST Permanent Link sciy.org/blog
And where has Sri Aurobindo (or the Mother) said that his work is dependent on the Vedanta? His interpreting the Veda, the Vedanta and the Gita does not make his work dependent on these. Where possible, he has also coined a new language. The Life Divine does not mention avatar or the sacrifice of the Purusha (as far as I know). If other works do, we must take it that these concepts are handy to express what is important to his experience and would have taken many more volumes of words otherwise.
Again, the essence of “incarnation” as understood in Christianity does not find any representation in the Indic idea of avatarhood. But Sri Aurobindo sees some truth in the idea and brings it out in Savitri. It is deatable whether his work can be called Vedantic at all (particularly if one was to take the Mother’s formulation of it). November 27th, 2006 at 10:06 pm 5:45 PM]

In more halcyon days, there used to be clashes too but over theoretical minutae. The disagreements are yet to be resolved though. [TNM]

Let us open a new chapter

[Ritwick Ghatak makes CPM nervous in Kolkata Subrata Nagchoudhury Posted: Sunday , May 10, 2009
Kolkata: However, the new play comes against the backdrop of a sustained campaign by a section of the city’s artists since the Singur land acquisition and the Nandigram police firing. That campaign now has a new twist timed for the Lok Sabha elections: “Vote for Change.”
Said Shaonli Mitra, a renowned theatre personality: “There is a suffocating pressure from the ruling party in all spheres of life. I have personally toured extensively in the past two years to see the ground reality for myself. It is pathetic. We are not regimented, we do not want to be in anyone’s good books. We want change.”
In fact, this intellectual pressure group even released a poll manifesto with signatories including author Mahasweta Devi, Shaonli Mitra, filmmaker Aparna Sen, playwright Bivash Chakrabarty, academic Sunanda Sanyal, former bureaucrat Debabrata Bandopadhyay, singer Pratul Mukhopadhyay and artists Jogen Chowdhury and Suvaprasanna.
Releasing the manifesto, Mahasweta Devi said: “State terror has been let loose from Keshpur to Nandigram and from Singur to Lalgarh. These people (read the Communists) do not believe in democracy. Decade after decade, they have been running an autocratic single-party rule. They have entangled everything like an octopus... we need to change this. We need to change this for the sake of a healthy society, culture and for humanity. Let us open a new chapter.”]

A regime not too dissimilar in nature runs the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Puducherry. We want change. [TNM]

I support the book and its publication in India

from "Tusar N. Mohapatra" tusarnmohapatra@gmail.com date 10 May 2009 14:02

As I have not read the book it is difficult to tell whether I support what Heehs has written. But I support the book and its publication in India in a democratic spirit. [TNM] [The Lives of Sri Aurobindo 7:25 AM 1 comment]

The state of society needs to be taken as a given

Evaluating socio-political themes vis-à-vis theory and practice of Integral Yoga is rarely attempted. In this context, Shripati Das (Navajyoti – LII-2 – 24 April 2009) daring to deal with man-woman relationship is surely welcome. While the overall spirit of the write-up is prescriptive and seems to be harmless, the whole analysis is wide off the mark as far as social reality is concerned. A comment by him on the attires of women, for instance, is not politically correct.

The Mother & Sri Aurobindo were eminently eligible to criticize social anomalies more or less magisterially, but the same authority doesn’t pass on to their followers automatically. The state of society needs to be taken as a given, and all effort for reform has to begin at the ground level. Similarly, many solutions posited through the utterances of The Mother & Sri Aurobindo are long term affairs which when whipped up by the followers appears preposterous. [TNM]

Ideas won't go to jail

[c-67-184-80-209.hsd1.il.comcast.net (Comcast Cable Communications Inc) Illinois, Lombard, United States, goethean said...
"Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas." ---Alfred Whitney, "Essays on Education" 8:20 PM, May 09, 2009]

Tusar N Mohapatra said...
Thanks goethean and welcome. I expect from a person like you a detailed examination of the issue and then it would be easier to draw apposite inferences. [TNM] 8:28 PM, May 09, 2009 Savitri Era of those who adore, Om Sri Aurobindo and The Mother.

Their last vain attempt to resuscitate a dying faith

[Messianic Politics: The Real, The Imaginary, and the Symbolic
from Larval Subjects by larvalsubjects
Much to my surprise and delight, I have been exceedingly pleased by the discussion my post “The Monstrosity of Christ” has generated. For me, Jesus is an incredibly important political thinker who proposes a new vision of communal relations. What has been so great about this discussion, apart from a few bumps here and there, is the manner in which the religious and the atheist have been able to discuss these issues, without the question being one of debunking the other.]

[(The Rev) Hank Galganowicz // May 6, 2009 at 1:24 pm Why the surprise? the same thing happened to Jesus, and we still have whole bureaucracies and people who are ‘avid’ about his uniqueness as ‘the’ son of God, even tho it’s pretty clear he intended no such thing. 10:42 AM]

[Reason, Faith, and Revolution: Reflections on the God Debate by Terry Eagleton - Product Description - Terry Eagleton's witty and polemical 'Reason, Faith, and Revolution' is bound to cause a stir among scientists, theologians, people of faith and people of no faith, as well as general readers eager to understand the God Debate. On the one hand, Eagleton demolishes what he calls the 'superstitious' view of God held by most atheists and agnostics, and offers in its place a revolutionary account of the Christian Gospel. On the other hand, he launches a stinging assault on the betrayal of this revolution by institutional Christianity. There is little joy here, then, either for the anti-God brigade - Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens in particular - nor for many conventional believers. Instead, Eagleton offers his own vibrant account of religion and politics in a book that ranges from the Holy Spirit to the recent history of the Middle East, from Thomas Aquinas to the Twin Towers. Amazon.co.uk.]

Their last vain attempt to resuscitate a dying faith. Most curious is how both "the religious and the atheist" are collaborating. [TNM]

In praise of fundamentalism

[Re: Many Laughs—Humor by Anonymous Mirror of Tomorrow by Kepler on Wed 29 Apr 2009 09:28 PM IST Profile Permanent Link Supriyo, If you are new to Sri Aurobindo, I would personally suggest that none of those biographies are the right place to turn. Sri Aurobindo's own writings are the right source - some of the compilations from his letters on yoga (e.g. Bases of Yoga), and his small book "The Mother" are among the best starting points.]

[Re: Indus Script does Encode a Language—by A Srivathsan and TS Subramanian Mirror of Tomorrow
by RY Deshpande on Wed 06 May 2009 04:10 AM IST Profile Permanent Link
The menace of the fundamentalists is never a fiction. But one fundamentalism cannot be fought by using another fundamentalism. As far as an individual is concerned, it is only by rising to a higher plane of harmony that one can make genuine progress. Perhaps there is no other solution. When one has risen to that higher plane, an action in its truth-law could remove ill-will and hatred. A higher poise is the condition for the Gita's action in dharma, kashatrateja founded on brahmateja. A long way for us to tread. ~ RYD Reply]

No amount of words is enough to express gratitude to the slim little book Jogadhar (Bases of Yoga) for being a reliable companion and guide throughout the tumultuous college days. If such a foundational manual subsequently uncorks or earns one the sobriquet, fundamentalism, so much the better. [TNM] [I owe it to Manibhai's razor honed Upon Alan's anvil Aurobindian fundamentalism]

Eyeing EU

[Canada, Aiming to Curb US Reliance, Starts EU Talks Bloomberg - ‎May 6, 2009‎
By Theophilos Argitis May 6 (Bloomberg) -- Canada, the world's eighth-largest economy, kicked off trade talks with the European Union as it seeks to reduce ... EU concerned over 'rising protectionism in India' Business Standard - The European Union (EU) today raised a sharp concern over what it called “rising protectionism in India”, at the World Trade Organization (WTO).]

What is good for Canada should be advantageous for India too. [TNM]

Timely treatise on Social Harmony in India

Just published treatise on Social Harmony (Samajik Samarasta Darshan by Dr. Vijay Sonkar Shastri) not only surveys the evolution of communitarian practices over millennia, but also collates a large stock of facts and data vis-à-vis stratification and caste discrimination obtaining in India. Well researched and couched in deft diction, this remarkable offering would be cherished for strains of original thinking strewn across an amalgam of history, mythology, sociology, and politics. Sri Aurobindo’s insights on caste differentiation, if included, would have enriched the inferences to a great extent enhancing the value of this timely publication. [TNM] [Sat Sahitya Bhandar: A-57 B, Ashok Vihar, Phase-II, New Delhi 110 052, Telephone : +(91)-(11)-7420386, 2280798, 27420386 Contact : Mr. Vijay Kumar Sharma Send Business Inquiry]

Eagleton offers his own vibrant account of religion and politics

[Reason, Faith, and Revolution: Reflections on the God Debate by Terry Eagleton - Product Description - Terry Eagleton's witty and polemical 'Reason, Faith, and Revolution' is bound to cause a stir among scientists, theologians, people of faith and people of no faith, as well as general readers eager to understand the God Debate. On the one hand, Eagleton demolishes what he calls the 'superstitious' view of God held by most atheists and agnostics, and offers in its place a revolutionary account of the Christian Gospel. On the other hand, he launches a stinging assault on the betrayal of this revolution by institutional Christianity. There is little joy here, then, either for the anti-God brigade - Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens in particular - nor for many conventional believers. Instead, Eagleton offers his own vibrant account of religion and politics in a book that ranges from the Holy Spirit to the recent history of the Middle East, from Thomas Aquinas to the Twin Towers. Amazon.co.uk.]

Terry Eagleton's task seems to be akin to that of Peter Heehs. [TNM]

Never ask Buffett when to invest

[Buffett Lambastes Bankers, Insurers for ‘Greed,' ‘Stupidity'
By Erik Holm and Andrew Frye May 4 (Bloomberg) -- Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chairman Warren Buffett lambasted bankers, insurers and regulators for being blind to the possibility home prices could fall, and said their shortcomings caused the worst ...
“I think that virtually everybody associated with the financial world contributed to it,” Buffett said of the crisis. “Some of it stemmed from greed, some from stupidity, some from people saying the other guy was doing it.”
Buffett Plays Down Hoopla, Hope Wall Street Journal Berkshire looking to deal CNNMoney.com
New York Times - Reuters - Barron's - MarketWatch all 2,131 news articles »]

[December 12, 2008 The Big Apple: “Never ask a barber if he thinks you need a haircut” (business proverb)
"Never ask a barber if he thinks you need a haircut” is an old business proverb. The barber is in the business of cutting hair; he doesn’t make money if you don’t get a haircut. If you ask a sales specialist if you need to buy that particular product, he’ll always say that you do. Investor Warren Buffett made this one of his investment proverbs.]

Never ask Buffett when to invest. [TNM]

Party politics is the most meritocratic profession of all

[Here is Tavleen Singh today on why Indira Gandhi was the “worst leader” that India ever had.
And here is me in an old ToI piece pointing out that Jawaharlal Nehru was “pure evil.” ...
And yes, I said that we need a new politics. This is politics as the “public actions of free people” and has nothing to do with political organization, which can always come later. This free politics of individuals guided by an overall ideology must precede political organization.
Today, we are fortunate to also have Meghnad Desai the Labour peer calling for a new politics. Note that the examples he gives of his politics for the Labour party are all about party politics, or political organization. He concludes that if we seriously start on the road of new politics, we will succeed by 2025.
But think about it: Politics is NOT political organization.
I am calling for a new libertarian politics in India, unrelated to either Party or State, in the schools and colleges, in the media, and on the streets – on T-shirts.
That’s the place to begin.
Push The Tempo! Watch the video for inspiration.
Chacha's Politics... And Mine from ANTIDOTE by Sauvik]

No point in quarrelling with the past and blame the dead. Outcome of mass movements launched by JP and VP is still fresh in our memory (not to speak of the Mahanta syndrome), and hence the talk of A New Politics is illusory as we learn from Obama's example. Shekhar Gupta is spot on to aver that "The essence of parliamentary democracy is the party system," and "Party politics is the most meritocratic profession of all in democracies."

Savitri Era Party, though ignited by the Sri Aurobindian vision of a divine anarchy and world union, prefers to adopt a more pragmatic view of things right now. Politics will have to be reformed and refined from within the present system in the same manner as spirituality is to be sought from within the existing religious formulations, “for it is only through life that one can reach to immortality,” wrote Sri Aurobindo (CWSA.13.9). [TNM] 4:48 PM

Angiras is patently partisan. May Kepler deliver

[What should have been an occasion for the IY community to review not only its goals and aspirations but also its means and methods to arrive at the great change has been unfortunately turned into a means to divide and slander at each other... But the moment one allows distortions to creep in under the guise of interpretations, the whole problem starts and there are various schools and sects and religions springing out of the parent body of the one Truth. May be this is to happen. Alright but let the Ashram remain true to the central Teaching and not fiddle with it, in principle at least...

So also the right place for such a thing as Peter is doing is not the Ashram or the Archives but a center for academic (read psychoanalytic research). And there are many places and even forums like that which not only accept but welcome such things. Rest assured none of us goes there either to do moral policing or issues fatwa against them. We are simply trying to set our own house in order against a seeming intruder who has poses as an inmate but tries to strike at the very foundations of the house where he dwells and bite the hand that feeds him and does it by winning the full trust and confidence of the other members of the same house... Others like DK Roy and Barin da, both otherwise close to Sri Aurobindo had the courtesy to gracefully leave the place over some fundamental difference of faith and approach to yoga. So did a few others leave or were sent away... It is sheer decency that if you cannot conform to the ethos of an institution you move out of it...

What else can one say but that there seems to be a spell at work that is making us blind to something so straight and simple and instead dragging the whole thing into twisted lanes and by-lanes of endless debates, accuses and abuses. Or may be Peter is just a tendency and those who support him are simply justifying their own tendency to be critical of Sri Aurobindo and his work... In Her Service
alok, date 19 Apr 2009 subject Fwd: Response to IYF 6:17 PM]

Alok Pandey fails to convince despite his wizardry with copious verbiage. The fact of the matter is that the issue at hand is not "something so straight and simple" as he opts to portray. Incapability to see the diverse dimensions and deliberately eclipsing the adverse allegations are the two most vital vices responsible for exasperating this imbroglio. An honest analysis in precise language can go a long way in diffusing the crisis. Angiras, unfortunately, “is” patently partisan. May Kepler deliver. [TNM]

Our horizon spreads beyond one nation

[Re: Many Laughs—Humor by Anonymous Mirror of Tomorrow
by Kepler on Thu 30 Apr 2009 09:46 PM IST Profile Permanent Link
For example some have suggested (Dr. Nadkarni apparently among them) that when Sri Aurobindo is attacked in academic circles, those with scholarly capacities should respond on that playing field. But the response need not be a biography; writings of other types in relevant academic forums should suffice. But don’t press me too hard on exactly what makes a biography different. Perhaps it’s the personal element – a biography is by definition entirely about a person; an essay on the Life Divine is about a text and the ideas expressed in the text. An article in an academic journal defending Sri Aurobindo from a charge that his political activities encouraged the Hindu-Muslim divide, will involve biographical elements, but still seems to me less risky and presumptuous than a full biography. Kepler Reply]

[One should however not lose sight of the fact that the similarities between the freedom-movement-era religious nationalism and contemporary Hindu right wing nationalism "are superficial while the points of difference are deep," as Heehs writes in this outstanding biography of Sri Aurobindo."
Aurobindo favored an eclectic, basically Vedantic Hinduism, which he believed to be universal and 'the basis of the future world-religion.' But this 'wider Hinduism' was something that embraced 'Science and faith, Theism, Christianity, Mahomedanism and Buddhism and yet is none of these.' " (p. 99)
"The Hindu nation-builder," Sri Aurobindo wrote "shall not seek to superimpose his own ideals and methods on his Mohamedan brother, nor shall the Mohamedan, the Buddhist, or the Christian, seek to obliterate the essential characteristics of the Hindu culture and Hindu race." (Quoted in Heehs, p. 101)
Sri Aurobindo saw the interaction of Hindu and Muslim culture in India as an opportunity for the development of "a greater spiritual principle and formation which could reconcile the two or a political patriotism surmounting the religious struggle and uniting the two communities." (Quoted in Heehs, p. 118)
Those who believe that Sri Aurobindo turned more exclusively towards Hinduism in the later part of his life, might wish to consider his letter of November 1932 quoted by Heehs's in his study titled Nationalism, Religion, and Beyond (Delhi: Permanent Black, 2005, pp. 354-5): A Fatherhood More Equal? Outlook Daily Letters 4 Apr, 2009 07:02:21PM (IST)
ULRICH MOHRHOFF PUDUCHERRY INDIA 12:02 PM 4:11 PM 6:38 PM]

It is nice to notice Ulrich Mohrhoff graduating as a public intellectual and trying his hand in political affairs. It is only by grappling with current concerns that we can cut our eyeteeth on politics and public policy. The fact that our horizon spreads beyond one nation is another contentious area.

Accommodating such futuristic imperatives would necessitate enormous tact and goodwill. Given the ongoing profanity of political discourse, putting our viewpoint across with sincerity and transparency demands that we ourselves should be thorough with our homework.

Quoting The Mother or Sri Aurobindo selectively can prove to be an irritant at times. Establishing consensus on various burning issues through intense internal debates is a prime requisite at the moment. Let us hope that more Savitri Erans volunteer to enter the public domain like Mohrhoff. [TNM]

I’m myself not quite happy about Amal’s formulations

[Re: Towards the Intermediate Race—Amal Kiran on the Mind of Light: by Anurag Banerjee
by auroman on Fri 01 May 2009 06:13 AM IST Profile Permanent Link
I beg to differ with Amal Kiran here. I am not sure why he is mixing up the Mind of Light with the Spiritual Mind, Overmind, Illumined Mind, etc in the first place. My interpretation of the Mind of Light is as follows: ]

[by auroman on Fri 01 May 2009 06:22 AM IST Profile Permanent Link
> What was meant by the entry of the Mind of Light into the Mother’s body was that Sri Aurobindo himself had > entered into her and she had said many a time that he was always present in her, around her and with her. I beg to differ here as well. One must differentiate between what happened at death and any communication which happened after that.

[by RY Deshpande on Fri 01 May 2009 09:21 AM IST Profile Permanent Link
Apropos of Auroman's insightful comments: Instead of >>Mind of Light = Supramentalized Physical Mind>> I’ll put it as “Mind of Light = the Physical’s Mind opening to or receiving the Supramental”. In the sequel of this article there will be a couple of more postings on this topic. I’m myself not quite happy about Amal’s formulations. ~ RYD Reply]

Excellent critical spirit. All holy cows must come under scrutinizing lens. [TNM]