Skylight

Michael Murphy; Richard Hartz; Debashish Banerji; Savitra

Posted by: Tusar N. Mohapatra on: August 4, 2009

Fundamentalism and the Future

Saturday, Sep 12 9:00a to 8:00p

This free conference will cover events that led to current fundamentalist movements; the social psychology of fundamentalism, with a focus on Hindutva; the history and current state of Integral Yoga (Sri Aurobindo); and look at the future. Speakers: Michael Murphy; Richard Hartz; Debashish Banerji; Savitra. read more

Poverty of Indian Political Theory

Posted by: Tusar N. Mohapatra on: June 29, 2009

Indian Political Thought

A Reader

Edited by Aakash Singh, Silika Mohapatra

Price: $41.95

Add to Cart

  • ISBN: 978-0-415-56294-2
  • Binding: Paperback (also available in Hardback)
  • Published by: Routledge
  • Publication Date: 31st December 2009 (Available for Pre-order)
  • Pages: 312

 

Table of Contents

Foreword Amartya Sen Introduction: What is Contemporary Indian Political Philosophy? Aakash Singh and Silika Mohapatra Part 1: Provocation 1. The Poverty of Indian Political Theory Bhikhu Parekh Part 2: Evocation 2. Gandhi’s Ambedkar Ramachandra Guha 3. The Quest for Justice: The Gandhian Perspective Neera Chandhoke 4. The Making of the Mahatma Shahid Amin 5. In Search of Integration and Identity: Indian Muslims since Independence Mushirul Hasan Part 3: Secularization 6. Is Secularism Alien to Indian Civilization? Romila Thapar 7. Secularism Revisited: Doctrine of Destiny or Political Ideology? T.N. Madan 8. The Distinctiveness of Indian Secularism Rajeev Bharghava Part 4: Consecration 9. Sikh Fundamentalism: Translating History into Theory Harjot Oberoi 10. The Blindness of Insight: Why Communalism in India is about Caste Dilip M. Menon 11. Dalit Political Theologyand Its Reception in Indian Academia Aakash Singh Part 5: Modernization 12. Gandhi, Newton and the Enlightenment Akeel Bilgrami 13. Scientific Temper: Arguments for an Indian Enlightenment Meera Nanda 14. Outline of a Revisionist Theory of Modernity Sudipta Kaviraj Part 6: Revolution 15. Reconstructing Childhood: A Critique of the Ideology of Adulthood Ashis Nandy 16. Subaltern Studies as Postcolonial Criticism Gyan Prakash 17. The Commitment to Theory Homi Bhabha Part 7: Emancipation 18. Justice of Human Rights in Indian Constitutionalism Upendra Baxi 19. Imperial Parody Ratna Kapur 20. Righting Wrongs Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak Part 8: Conclusion 21. Contemporary Political Philosophy in India: Concluding Remarks on Concepts East andWest Partha Chatterjee

About the Author(s)

Aakash Singh is Research Professor at the Center for Ethics and Global Politics at Luiss University, Rome, Italy.

Silika Mohapatra is Research Scholar in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Delhi, India.

Auroville impresses diplomats

Posted by: Tusar N. Mohapatra on: April 29, 2009

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www.livejournal.com

Auroville. The first citadel of New Age. (december, 2007)

 

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Auroville, retour sur une utopie

Double DVD by Hélène Risser – April 2009

 

 

 

 

 

March 2009 -

Auroville: could it be the solar future for India ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Auroville: une utopie durable ?

Auteur: Yann Cohignac

28.1.2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wallpaper Magazine – Architour

 

2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

Auroville – Latitudes utopiques

 

March 3, 2009

 

 

 

 

Pondichéry, porte de l’Inde.

Par Aliette Armel (Écrivain)

 

February 24, 2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Auroville impresses diplomats

by Deepa H Ramakrishnan 2003 The Hindu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Home > Journals & Media > Auroville in the Media

  Auroville Universal Township webmaster@auroville.org.in To the top  

The propagandist spirit

Posted by: Tusar N. Mohapatra on: April 21, 2009

 

 

Introduction arrow The Mother
The Mother

The following quotations by the Mother are of particular relevance to the issues discussed at this site.

Why do men want to worship?
     It is far better to become than to worship.
     It is the reluctance to change that makes one worship.

Words of the Mother III (CWM 15), p. 28.
From a letter by the Managing Trustee Print E-mail

In a letter explaining his stand with regard to the publication of The Lives of Sri Aurobindo by Peter Heehs and the campaign subsequently launched by certain “Aurobindonians” against both the book and its author, Manoj Das Gupta, the Managing Trustee of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, quotes the following statements from the works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.
Read more…

 
Religion Print E-mail

Words of the Mother I (CWM 13), p. 207

We give the name of religion to any concept of the world or the universe which is presented as the exclusive Truth in which one must have an absolute faith, generally because this Truth is declared to be the result of a revelation…. To seek Truth freely and to approach it freely along his own lines is a man’s right. But each one should know that his discovery is good for him alone and it is not to be imposed on others.
Read more…

 
The propagandist spirit Print E-mail

Questions and Answers: April 4, 1956

If you arrive at the conception of the world as the expression of the Divine in all His complexity, then the necessity for complexity and diversity has to be recognised, and it becomes impossible for you to want to make others think and feel as you do.

Each one should have his own way of thinking, feeling and reaction; why do you want others to do as you do and be like you? And even granting that your truth is greater than theirs — though this word means nothing at all, for, from a certain point of view all truths are true; they are all partial, but they are true because they are truths but the minute you want your truth to be greater than your neighbour’s, you begin to wander away from the truth.

This habit of wanting to compel others to think as you do, has always seemed very strange to me; this is what I call “the propagandist spirit”, and it goes very far. You can go one step further and want people to do what you do, feel as you feel, and then it becomes a frightful uniformity.

 
A fundamental error with disastrous consequences Print E-mail

Questions and Answers: September 24, 1958

…That is why religions are always mistaken — always — because they want to standardise the expression of an experience and impose it on everyone as an irrefutable truth. The experience was true, complete in itself, convincing — for the one who had it. The formulation he made of it was excellent — for himself. But to want to impose it on others is a fundamental error which has altogether disastrous consequences, always, which always leads far, very far from the Truth.
Read more…

 
No need for support of other’s convictions Print E-mail

The Mother’s Agenda: September 7, 1963

I happened to have some philosophical curiosity and to study all kinds of problems, and I came upon Sri Aurobindo’s teaching, and what he “taught”… is by far, among the systems men have formulated, the most satisfying for me, the most complete, and what answers the most satisfactorily all the questions that can be asked; it is the one that helps me the most in life to have the feeling that ‘life is worth living.’ Consequently, I try to conform entirely to his teaching and to live it integrally in order to live as best I can…. I don’t mind at all if others don’t believe in it – whether they believe in it or not is all the same to me; I don’t need the support of others’ conviction, it’s enough if I am myself satisfied.

Precisely because Sri Aurobindo is so satisfying, the danger that his followers or devotees become religious fanatics is great, and so is the danger posed by religious fanatics among Sri Aurobindo’s followers or devotees.

An example of Aurobindonian fundamentalism:

The path has been charted out by The Mother and Sri Aurobindo 100 years back. We must follow it, we must tell others to follow it, and we must persuade others to follow it. We have to cajole others to follow it. And if need arises, we must force others to follow it.

— Tusar N. Mohapatra, President, “Savitri Era Party”

 
The Mother’s war for the Truth against all conceptions of the truth Print E-mail

The Mother’s Agenda: March 22, 1967

…everyone is claiming to be a “defender of the Truth.” They ask me questions, and everyone is surprised that truth as he conceives it isn’t established in the world. So I am beginning to be forced to wage war for the Truth against all the conceptions of the truth! And that’s rather interesting.
Read more…

 
Regarding the Sri Aurobindo Society Print E-mail

Mother’s Agenda: April 25, 1961

The Sri Aurobindo Society people had ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with the spiritual life when they began.[...] But then, they began posing as … almost as teachers! [...] It’s absurd.
Read more…

 

***
 58.241.73.112 (Czpppoepool Car Co. Changzhou Jiangsu Province) Beijing, China, Anonymous has left a new comment on your post “No one has any right or authority to apply filter“:

The creators of the IYFundamentalism website have displayed a behavior smacking of Fundamentalism!! Difficult to see it in yourself. Mother said do not mind others’ stupidities but your own. It is a pity but the consequences of their actions of attacking Mother’s children whoever they are in such bad taste will be sad for them personally.

Posted by Anonymous to Savitri Era at 7:52 AM, April 21, 2009

The Faces of Fundamentalism behind the Spiritual Facade

Posted by: Tusar N. Mohapatra on: April 17, 2009

Savitra > Savitra on Auroville

Savitra
Savitra received his name from the Mother of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and lived at the Ashram and Auroville, where he spent 21 years (1969–1990) apprenticing “applied spirituality,” community-building, and environmental restoration in the interface of first-world/third-world realities. In 1990, he relocated to America where he currently lives in Ashland, Oregon. He is an extended research associate with the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) and has been a guest on Michael Toms’ New Dimensions Radio as well as a presenter at numerous conferences, universities, and institutes including Esalen, Matthew Fox’s University of Creation Spiritualiy, the IONS 30th Anniversary Conference, and What is Enlightenment journal’s community retreat center. He has written a number of books, the latest being An Evolutionary Agenda for the Third Millennium, published by White Cloud Press. He may be reached via savitra AT earthlink DOT net. → Savitra shares his thoughts on The Lives of Sri Aurobindo and the surrounding controversy.

His quarrels with the Ashram, his history of dissent and rebellion

Posted by: Tusar N. Mohapatra on: April 17, 2009

Luc Venet on Satprem

As the first volumes of the Agenda were being published, a renowned French literary critic, André B., who had praised Satprem’s books in the Parisian press, suddenly wrote to me to convey his “great distress” before some of Satprem’s plethora of comments about the “horror and darkness of the world,” in which he saw mainly a bout of paranoia. I immediately wrote back to reassure him and convey an informed denial about his diagnosis based on “my profound knowledge of Satprem” etc. In the back of my mind, I was shocked that someone so “intelligent” could question Satprem.

Now if I set my mind on the two “revolutionary” encounters in my life — the first with Mother, the second with Satprem — a drastic contrast between them appears. After the first few seconds of bewildered stupefaction in Mother’s presence, under her intense gaze, and the sort of stupefied state I experienced afterward for several days, I can see today that this first encounter with Mother could well have ended up as it began, with nothing more than this stupefaction. In other words, it was UP TO ME to make it into something else, for the simple reason that NOTHING was demanded or expected of me, no commitment of any kind. More precisely, the “demand” would have to come from me, from my own depths, or else it would not exist at all. In Mother’s presence, I was not confronted by a specific “context” or by life’s “contingencies”; I was confronted by myself.

In my encounter with Satprem, on the contrary, I was not asked to take a stand toward myself but toward him and his inner world, toward his quarrels with the Ashram, toward his history of dissent and rebellion. Right there and then, I was summoned to accept unconditionally this whole “package” — or be on my way. At bottom, the real “fault” with Satprem may be that he lead you AWAY from yourself — ultimately to replace yourself with him.

next: The Tragedy


 

English

Before closing, I have one last thought for all those friends and comrades whom I sense are still asking the obligatory questions about Satprem: Was he good or evil? Was he right or wrong? All those who await or beg for a sign, a gesture, a letter that will assuage their fear, reassure them about their destiny, give them self-confidence. I have known this sad and sorrowful condition well enough not to cast the first stone. So I just want to say: Get out of the cage; get out of the thoughts that go round and round in circle, which feed on you and cannot find an answer; throw yourself, instead, in the one worthy conquest, without thinking, without intermediary : Sri Aurobindo.

[It must be said that the preceding text was written between November 2006 and February 2007, well before Satprem’s demise in April 2007. I found it useful — and still relevant today — to reveal this story, not so much because of the context in which it took place, but perhaps more because of the human experiences of a broader nature it entails.]

—Luc Venet

Movement against Heehs and his book is still in full swing

Posted by: Tusar N. Mohapatra on: April 17, 2009

Introduction arrow Issues
Issues

This section deals with issues that where thrown into stark relief by the recent American publication of The Lives of Sri Aurobindo by Peter Heehs, and by attempts to prevent its publication in India and to expel its author from the Ashram Archives and from the Ashram itself.
Larger Issues of “The Lives of Sri Aurobindo” Controversy Print E-mail

The Heehs biography controversy is unfortunately a symptom of a much deeper crisis in the Integral Yoga community, with future repercussions which are hardly optimistic. In this consideration of some of the larger issues involved, the editors of SCIY and other concerned viewers of the phenomenon have drawn attention to what is at stake for all those interested in the Integral Yoga. These are only a few of the more serious ramifications.

by Debashish Banerji , Rich Carlson , David Hutchinson , Angiras, Ulrich Mohrhoff
Read more…

 
Yoga, religion, and fundamentalism in the Integral Yoga community Print E-mail

Opening remarks by Lynda Lester for a panel discussion at AUM 2007 on fundamentalist tendencies in the Integral Yoga community.
Read more…

 
An examination of the criticism against The Lives of Sri Aurobindo Print E-mail

In this essay, Larry Seidlitz, a resident and scholar at Pondicherry, examines the charges being made against the author of The Lives of Sri Aurobindo and attempts to put to rest the exaggerations and misreadings which have been circulated by the ringleaders of the “anti-PH movement” and which have become “authorized truths” to a vast range of “followers” of these ringleaders, most of whom have not read the book.
Read more…

 
The Greyscale Between Religion and Spirituality Print E-mail

Rick Lipschutz reflects on the continuum which stretches from religion to spirituality. Drawing on the Mother’s distinction between spiritual realization, spiritual philosophy, occultism and religion and her perception of a complementarity in their workings, the author calls for a more integral understanding of the yoga and its stages and processes.
Read more…

 
Representing Swami Vivekananda: Some Issues and Debates Print E-mail

In this article Makarand Paranjape raises two issues and then goes on to discuss the impact of the life and teachings of Swami Vivekenanda (SV). The first issue has to do with how SV has been represented in the secondary literature on him. The second which, in a sense, arises out of the first, has to do with what constitutes a “fact” in a spiritual biography. The author believes that confronting both these issues is necessary in order to have a clearer comprehension of the impact of SV on his world, both in the East and the West.

In their excellent comments to this article, Debashish, Rich, and Angiras point out its relevance to the issues surrounding the publication of The Lives of Sri Aurobindo.
Read more…

 

Heehs Biography Controversy (SCIY)
 

God does not run in our genes. You cannot pass God on

Posted by: Tusar N. Mohapatra on: April 15, 2009

 

Someone recently cited an example of how there was such a disconnect between his generation and that of his children. While his wife prayed to Lord Krishna every morning and he too would propitiate the gods and goddesses as always done by his ancestors, his son was only interested in a way to get to New York and be able to live the life of those he saw in his Hollywood films—he didn’t pray, had no personal favourites amongst the wide selection of deities and had imbibed none of the humility that a god-loving and god-fearing man such as the father himself possessed. What made it utterly scary for this gentleman was that the dream was not of a teenager but of a man well in his 30s. He asked whether this is the full outcome of so much of history and tradition that the family proudly upheld? He blamed the television for most of his woes and felt globalization was a bad word, signifying chaos and degeneration. The English language according to him was culpable of great upheavals in Indian society and the lack of Indianness in current Bollywood films was only reiterating all the other forces of evil that had descended on Indian soil.

It is not easy to accept change and even more difficult when it is under our own roof. Certainly globalization has its defects and western culture can seem nightmarish for many; English has distanced us from our roots and Bollywood or Hollywood are not where we learn our finest and most enlightening lessons.  Obviously the man was very disturbed but perhaps there was just cause to some of the things that he had an objection to. But the one fact of life which he completely missed was that God does not run in our genes. No matter how saintly our family tree is or how religious our parents are or how spiritual the atmosphere in which we grow up may be, it doesn’t mean anything because He is not a hand-me-down; He is not part of a DNA strand; He is not compulsory curriculum. He devises when to open the window in the souls of His devotees so that they may see Him; He decides when to accept them.

And so, whether the vexed father gains fruit of generations of ancestral worship or the day dreaming son stumbles across the Truth while chasing the American dream, no one can say. The only thing we can say is: You cannot pass God on.

Until the next time…

Sri Aurobindo Society
Apr 2009

Editorial
 
Eternally Yours
I aspire to be delivered…
 
Living  Words
To conquer a desire…
 
Significance of 4th April
Manoj Das
 
Flower of the Month
 
Question of the Month
 
Commentaries on
Thoughts & Aphorisms
Jnana
The Mother
 
Inspiring Thoughts,
Powerful Words

Science and Politics
Subhas Chandra Bose
 
Resurgent India
The World of
Sculptors
Shonar
 
Stories from
the Upanishads

The World Beyond
Dr. Sampadananda Mishra
 
Art of Life
 
True News
 
Creative Corner
Knocking at Your Door
Anahita Sanjana
 
Integral Health
The Adventure of Consciousness
Dr.Alok Pandey
 
Integral Education
Education for
Perfection-II
S. Radhakrishnan

 
Savitri
Instalment-XV
Mangesh Nadkarni
 
Tales Told by Mystics
Wanted a Scholar -
Old & Bald
Manoj Das
 
Reflections
The Constant Mantra
Sri Aurobindo
 
Spotlight
The Lost Cow
Nandlal Bose

 
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The Fourth Dimension

Posted by: Tusar N. Mohapatra on: April 11, 2009

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The basic aim of Sri Aurobindo Society is to work towards individual perfection, social transformation and human unity based on a spiritual foundation. To help realise these objectives the Society has undertaken various projects and activities.

SAFIM

Sri Aurobindo Foundation for Integral Management

The institute aims at evolving an integral approach to Management, in all its dimensions, based on a deeper vision of life.

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March 2009 | A Monthly EJournal

In this Issue

Downloadable PDF files of the issues are available within the “Archives”

Peter Heehs’s Betrayal

Posted by: Tusar N. Mohapatra on: March 21, 2009

© Lori Tompkins

13 March 2009 

 

After reading the article I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be a godsend if those whose will it has been to protect the yoga and legacy of Sri Aurodindo and the Mother would make such a sincere and public inquiry into the question of what central flaw and subsequent series of mistakes have led to longtime ashramite, Peter Heehs’s betrayal of their cause and to the crisis this betrayal has created in the Integral Yoga community? Would any be willing to recognize and admit that such a flaw exists and inevitably marches them towards collapse from the inside out?’

 

Those who protest against Heehs and his book The Lives of Sri Aurobindo would like to think that it is only Heehs who is at fault … only Heehs’s mindset and view that has allowed the divergence from and falsification of Sri Aurobindo’s yogic path and its real effect in the world. Yet both they and Heehs form two sides of the same mistake. Both are focused on (in Heehs’s case by de-sanctifying and in the Aurobindonian fundamentalists’ case by protecting) the past accomplishments of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother while rejecting or remaining oblivious to the living present that assures the future of their divine Work. Despite evidence to the contrary presented by Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet (Thea), Heehs and Aurobindonian fundamentalists share the belief that the descent of transformative knowledge brought into the world by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, stopped with their departures. Certain of this belief, post-1973 they have practiced and/or taught the yoga with no living guide other than their own hearts and minds. They have trusted that the spirit of Sri Aurobindo and the will of the Mother would manifest through them sufficiently enough to sanctify their choices and their creations.

      One of the first ominous by-products of this belief was the choice to diverge from the Mother’s blueprints in the building of Her own temple. The Mother’s vision was treated as if it were something that her students could improve upon and in the end the sacred (truly Vedic) measurements she gave for this ‘Symbol of the Future Realisation’ were disregarded by those in charge of the construction. A similar disregard was displayed in the choice of an Ashram press manager to destroy the first press run of Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet’s book, The New Way, Volumes 1 & 2, which detailed not only the truth, the consciousness-force and the beauty of the Mother’s original temple design, but also the necessity of Sri Aurobindo’s rebirth to fulfill the formula of a four-part descent as the sure foundation of the ‘rise and establishment of a Gnostic society’. The rejection of this book is equivalent to rejecting the vision of how the Supramental Descent continues to evolve, progress, succeed, uplift and illuminate the world. > Peter Heehs’s Betrayal and an Ashram in Upheaval  >  5:58 PM

Mirror of Tomorrow by RY Deshpande

Posted by: Tusar N. Mohapatra on: March 16, 2009

Recent Articles
Towards the Intermediate Race—the Story of Creation
Knowledge by Identity and Separative Knowledge—by Auroman
Christ in Hades: A Phantasy—by Stephen Phillips
Basis of Materialism: The Mother’s Agenda 21 August 1963
The Sad Tale of a Sinking Island Foretold—by Raktima Bose
Nirvana Şadgam—Six Ślokas on Liberation: Interpretation in English by Vijendran Rao
Stotras on the Atman: Interpretation in English by Vijendran Rao
Dakshinamūrti Stotram: Interpretation in English by Vijendran Rao
This Author must have been from Cambridge
The Diver of the Deep Sea
Prof Mangesh V Nadkarni: 6 March 1933-23 September 2007—A Tribute by Ranjan Naik
Hosanna of the Cells—the Mother’s Talk dated 24 June 1967
The Events that Sway the World—Sri Aurobindo
Foretelling the Future: from the Evening Talks Recorded by AB Purani
The Mother on Herself

Recent Comments
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: This Author must have been from Cambridge–About Style     by Tusar N. Mohapatra
Re: Re: Re: Re: This Author must have been from Cambridge–About Style     by auroman
Re: A Few Poems… Æ figures in the Evening Talks     by RY Deshpande
Re: This Author must have been… Sri Aurobindo’s Prose Style 4     by RY Deshpande
Re: Christ in Hades: A Phantasy—by Stephen Philip     by RY Deshpande
Re: Re: Re: This Author must have been from Cambridge–About Style     by Tusar N. Mohapatra
Re: Re: This Author must have been from Cambridge–About Style     by auroman
Re: This Author must have been from Cambridge–Sri Aurobindo’s Prose Style 3     by RY Deshpande
Re: A Few Poems of Æ–Dream of Spoken Words     by RY Deshpande
Re: A Few Poems Æ–Sri Aurobindo on Yeats and AE     by RY Deshpande

Refuse to buy the book and discourage its sales

Posted by: Tusar N. Mohapatra on: March 14, 2009

Oct 8, 2008

What You Can Do

Many have felt the need to act to minimise the damage that Peter Heehs’ book has caused to scholarly understanding of Sri Aurobindo. Here are some suggestions for action.

If you feel that the book

 

  • is deceptive in its contents
  • misrepresents Sri Aurobindo
  • or is academically unsound (and in parts at least even fraudulent)

you can do any or all of the following:

  1. Refuse to buy the book and discourage its sales
  2. Write to the publishers and tell them what you feel. You can write to James D. Jordan, Director, Columbia University Press, at cup_book@columbia.edu
  3. Write to the author and tell him what you feel at: peterheehs@yahoo.com and peter.heehs@auromail.net.
  4. Write to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust and send them a copy of your letters to the above. You can email saat@sriaurobindoashram.org or better still mail the printout to: The Board of Trustees, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Pondicherry 605002, India.
  5. Submit your letter to the Editor of this website for inclusion under the Opinions category of posts. Send your email to rtlosa@gmail.com.
  6. Familiarise yourself with the criticisms on this website so that you can academically refute anyone representing the perversions that this book promotes.
  7. If you come across a copy at a local library, mark its pages to expose the errors so that future readers are better informed. This option may be constrained by local library regulations. Consult them first.

 

Posted by General Editor at 10/08/2008 11:25:00 AM 
Labels: ,

Sri Aurobindo is the great light that blazed across the Indian horizon

Posted by: Tusar N. Mohapatra on: March 12, 2009

The Myth Of The Aryan Invasion-Part2

1 hour ago by the seventh waves  
Sri Aurobindo debunked this theory of a racial division between the North and South in India. Sri Aurobindo is the great light that blazed across the Indian horizon during the first half of the twentieth century (1872-1950). …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

The True Meaning Of Caste System

1 Mar 2009 by the seventh waves  
Sri Aurobindo describes that the very nature of our life is such that it is at every moment subject to the influence of these four principles at work -’Our life itself is at once an Inquiry after truth and knowledge, a struggle and …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

KD Sethna (Amal Kiran) Vision

1 Mar 2009 by the seventh waves  
Sri Aurobindo, the seer of modern India, blamed new trails in several worlds of human enterprise and had followers of signal eminence in many of them. Some made their mark in more than one sphere of activity. Integral Yoga and Overhead …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

Ancient Bharat

1 Mar 2009 by the seventh waves  
Translated by Sri Aurobindo SRI AUROBINDO FOUNDATION FOR INDIAN CULTURE The Essential Work”Out of this awakening vision and impulse the Indian renaissance is arising, and that must determine its future tendency. …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

The Principle Of Evil

22 Feb 2009 by the seventh waves  
by Sri Aurobindo. The problem of evil is one that has taxed human thought and evolved various and conflicting solutions. To the rationalist who does not believe in anything not material, the problem does not exist. …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

Sri Aurobindo’s Sadhaks Must Be Reminded!!

16 Feb 2009 by the seventh waves  
The lack of the earth’s receptivity and the behavior of Sri Aurobindo’s disciples 1 are largely responsible for what happened to his body. But one thing is certain: the great misfortune that has just beset us in no way affects the truth …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

Sister Nevidita Was A Revolutionary Leader

11 Feb 2009 by the seventh waves  
Sri Aurobindo: What do you mean? She was one of the revolutionary leaders. She went about visiting places in India to come in contact with the people. She was open and frank and talked about her revolutionary plan to everybody. …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

Vivekanada Visiting Sri Aurobindo In Alipore Jail

9 Feb 2009 by the seventh waves  
Sri Aurobindo: Yes. And he used to put more intuitive flashes into his conversations than into his writings. That’s what I found on reading Nivedita’s book “Vivekananda – The Master As I Saw Him”. As a rule too, it is in talk that such …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

Khandana Bhava

9 Feb 2009 by the seventh waves  
From a lecture delivered under the auspices of the Bombay National Union by Sri Aurobindo to a large gathering at Mahajanwadi, Bombay, on Sunday, the 19th January, 1908. The title is “The present situation”. …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

The Mother Explains…Part4

8 Feb 2009 by the seventh waves  
529. Self-pity is always born of self-love; but pity for others is not always born of love for its object. It is sometimes a self-regarding shrinking from the sight of pain; sometimes the rich man’s contemptuous dole to the pauper. …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

The Mother Explains…Part1

7 Feb 2009 by the seventh waves  
414. To fear God really is to remove oneself to a distance from Him, but to fear Him in play gives an edge to utter delightfulness. 415. The Jew invented the God-fearing man; India the God-knower and God-lover. …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

Prophet Muhamad And The Two Angels

4 Feb 2009 by the seventh waves  
He who chooses the infinite has been chosen by the infinite. – Sri Aurobindo. The Two Angels Little Muhammad loved to play with his brothers but also enjoyed sitting alone by himself. Several months had passed since his return from …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

The Triple Transformation

2 Feb 2009 by the seventh waves  
SRI AUROBINDO Letters on Yoga Volume 3 PART FOURSection One The Triple Transformation: Psychic – Spiritual – Supramental The fundamental realisations of this yoga are: 1. The psychic change so that a complete devotion can be the main …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

There Are Moments When….

2 Feb 2009 by the seventh waves  
God gave the strength and He can take it away. He gave it power to act and He can baffle its action of the fruits the individual sought and turn it to quite other results. This is so common an experience that we do not see how any man …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

Jivataman,Soul-Spark,Psychic Being(Chaitya Purusha)

11 Jan 2009 by the seventh waves  
SRI AUROBINDO “The Jivatman, spark-soul and psychic being are three different forms of the same reality and they must not be mixed up together, as that confuses the clearness of the inner experience. The Jivatman or spirit, …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

The Mothers Agenda: Novembar 27th,1963

10 Jan 2009 by the seventh waves  
November 27, 1963 I spent the whole night with Sri Aurobindo, all night long, it was really very interesting…. But I don’t remember now. It stays, but not as a mental memory, not at all: as the feeling of an atmosphere – very …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

Always Remember

8 Jan 2009 by the seventh waves  
WHAT SRI AUROBINDO REPRESENTS in the World’s History is not teaching,not even a revelation;it IS A DECISIVE ACTION DIRECT FROM THE SUPREME. The Mother and Paul Richard left the boat at Colombo and arrived in Pondicherry in the early …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

The Seventh Creation

7 Jan 2009 by the seventh waves  
It comes at last, the day foreseen of old,. What John in Patmos saw, what Shelley dreamed,. Vision and vain imagination deemed,. The City of delight, the Age of Gold. The Iron Age is ended. Only now. The last fierce spasm of the dying …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

The Encounter Part 2

6 Jan 2009 by the seventh waves  
Tlemcen. Sri Aurobindo clarified, “The conception of the Divine as an external omnipotent Power who has ‘created’ the world and governs it like an absolute and arbitrary monarch — the Christian or Semitic conception — has never been …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

Anatole France

6 Jan 2009 by the seventh waves  
“It lends beauty to the terror of the gulfs And fascinating eyes to perilous Gods, Invests with grace the demon and the snake.” SRI AUROBINDO(from savitri). As Satprem read this to Mother, “Charming!” she exclaimed sarcastically. …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

The Proof!!

5 Jan 2009 by the seventh waves  
Does anybody know whether the apple from the Tree of Knowledge the serpent gave to Eve and the apple Newton saw fall, were not one and the same? “The Tree of Knowledge,” Mother said to Satprem, “symbolizes this kind of knowledge — no …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

Rishi Agastya And Lopamudra

5 Jan 2009 by the seventh waves  
RISHI AGASTYA. LOPAMUDRA. According to a legend, Tierncen’s origin goes back to a remote past. Moses visited it. Solomon stayed in it. Egyptian sorcerers, skilled in witchcraft, made it their chosen town. ” …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

Killing Each Other

4 Jan 2009 by the seventh waves  
“The Jew, whom the whole world persecuted, survived by the strength of an idea and now sits in the high places of the world, playing with nations as a chess-player with his pieces. He knows too that his own life and the lives of others …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

The Harmony Of Virtue

4 Jan 2009 by the seventh waves  
SRI AUROBINDO THE HARMONY OF VIRTUE Early Cultural Writings – 1890-1910 The Harmony of Virtue. Keshav: It is gratifying to learn that: but if the interests of a few individuals conflict with the interests of the general body, …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

The Descent That Happened 1400 Years Ago

2 Jan 2009 by the seventh waves  
Sri Aurobindo:When you follow the course of history you may find that there is a certain destiny which represents the sum of physical forces; that is one destiny. And you find that when that tends to go round and round in an infinite …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

The Refusal Of The Ascetic

1 Jan 2009 by the seventh waves  
Integral Yoga Literature – By Sri Aurobindo Selections from the Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library from Volume 18 and 19, The Life Divine COPYRIGHT NOTICE: The contents of this document are copyright 1972, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

Bharat’s Weakness Part1

31 Dec 2008 by the seventh waves  
I find it always difficult to work in Indian politics. The difficulty is that the vessels don’t hold the Power, they are so weak. If the amount of force that is spent on India were spent on a European nation you would find it full of …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

Sri Aurobindo Letter On Yoga Volume1

30 Dec 2008 by the seventh waves  
SRI AUROBINDO Letters on Yoga Volume 1 Section FivePLANES AND PARTS OF THE BEING I – ConsciousnessII – SachchidanandaIII – SupermindIV – AtmanV – Psychic Being (soul)VI – Inner BeingVII – Environmental ConsciousnessVIII – Cosmic …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

National Vitality

28 Dec 2008 by the seventh waves  
SRI AUROBINDO KARMAYOGIN POLITICAL WRITINGS AND SPEECHES – 1909-1910 Vol.I. SATURDAY 26th JUNE 1909 No.2 Facts and Opinions. National Vitality. Nothing is stranger than the difference presented by Europe and Asia in the matter of …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

The Failure Of Europe

28 Dec 2008 by the seventh waves  
SRI AUROBINDO KARMAYOGIN POLITICAL WRITINGS AND SPEECHES – 1909-1910 Vol.I. SATURDAY 26th JUNE 1909 No.2 Facts and Opinions The Failure of Europe Mr. Cecil sees in this ending of Honest John as Lord Morley the failure of Liberalism; …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

Prophet Muhammad’s(PBUH) Ascension

27 Dec 2008 by the seventh waves  
He mounted burning like a cone of fire. To a few is given that godlike rare release. One among many thousands never touched. (Savitri Book1:The Book Of beginnings) Then the Prophet ascended to the seventh heaven, and that is where our …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/ – References

 

Integral Yoga Commandments In Quran

25 Dec 2008 by the seventh waves  
The surrender must be total and seize all the parts of the being. It is not enough that the psychic should respond and the higher mental accept or even the inner vital submit and the inner physical consciousness feel the influence. …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

Sri Aurobindo On Hindu Sabha

16 Dec 2008 by the seventh waves  
Sri Aurobindo and other Nationalist Leaders at Surat. At the front left Ganesh Srikrishna, right – Khaparde, Ashwini Kumar Dutt middle left – Sardar Ajit Singh, then Sri Aurobindo, Tilak, Saiyad Haidar Reza top range left Dr. …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

Sr Aurobindo-Swaraj AndThe Muslims

10 Dec 2008 by the seventh waves  
SRI AUROBINDO KARMAYOGIN POLITICAL WRITINGS AND SPEECHES – 1909-1910 Vol.I. SATURDAY 19th JUNE 1909 No.1 “Swaraj” and the Mussulmans WE EXTRACT in our columns this week the comments of Srijut Bipin Chandra Pal’s organ, Swaraj, …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

Sr Aurobindo On Asiatic Democracy

10 Dec 2008 by the seventh waves  
SRI AUROBINDO BANDE MATARAM Early Political Writings. 1890 – May 1908 Asiatic Democracy Asia is not Europe and never will be Europe. The political ideals of the West are not the mainspring of the political movements in the East, …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

Sri Aurobindo-A God’s Labour

5 Dec 2008 by the seventh waves  
A God’s Labour I have gathered my dreams in a silver airBetween the gold and the blueAnd wrapped them softly and left them there,My jewelled dreams of you. I had hoped to build a rainbow bridgeMarrying the soil to the skyAnd sow in this …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

5th December 1950

3 Dec 2008 by the seventh waves  
Sri Aurobindo very much belonged (in his outward being) to the category of those who want things to change, who push for progress, who want to move on, who want to reject the past … very much so. He had to make a great effort to be …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

The Four Aspects Of The Divine Mother-Mahasaraswati

3 Dec 2008 by the seventh waves  
Mahasaraswati is the Mother’s Power of Work and her spirit of perfection and order. The youngest of the Four, she is the most skillful in executive faculty and the nearest to physical Nature. Maheswari lays down the large lines of the …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

The Four Aspects Of The Divine Mother-Mahalakshmi

3 Dec 2008 by the seventh waves  
Wisdom and Force are not the only manifestations of the supreme Mother; there is a subtler mystery of her nature and without it Wisdom and Force would be incompetable things and without it perfection would not be perfect. …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

The Four Aspects Of The Divine Mother-Mahakali

3 Dec 2008 by the seventh waves  
Mahakali is of another nature. Not of wideness but of height, not wisdom but force and strength are her peculiar power. There is in her a overwhelming intensity, a mighty passion of force to achieve, a divine violence rushing to shatter …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

The Four Aspects Of The Divine Mother-Maheswari

3 Dec 2008 by the seventh waves  
Imperial Maheshwari is seated in the wideness above the thinking mind and will and sublimates and greatens them into wisdom and largeness or floods with a splendour beyond them.For she is the mighty and wise One who opens us to …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

Sri Aurobindo on Semitic Religions

1 Dec 2008 by the seventh waves  
The Semites have afflicted mankind with the conception of a God who is a stern and dignified king and solemn judge and knows not mirth. But we who have seen Krishna, know Him for a boy fond of play and a child full of mischief and happy …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

The Throne Verse

1 Dec 2008 by the seventh waves  
أَللّٰهُ لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ٱلْحَيُّ ٱلْقَيُّومُ لَا تَأْخُذُهُ سِنَةٌ وَلَا نَوْمٌ لَهُ مَا فِي ٱلسَّمَوَاتِ وَمَا فِي ٱلْأَرْضِ مَنْ ذَا ٱلَّذِي يَشْفَعُ عِنْدَهُ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِهِ يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

Sri Aurobindo and Islam

1 Dec 2008 by the seventh waves  
… us highlighted/mentioned islam,and not judaism or christianity..vivekananda spoke of vedanta brain,islam body,sri aurobindo writing about presenting islam in a new light..why?..some interesting comments on sufism and sri aurobindo. …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

United Bharat

30 Nov 2008 by the seventh waves  
Sri Aurobindo was requested by the All India Radio, Thiruchirapalli (former Trichinopoly ), to give a message for India’s independence. This is the message which was broadcast from the All India Radio on the 14th of August 1947. …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

Fallen Bharat Part IV

27 Nov 2008 by the seventh waves  
(RSS goondas). ( Bal Thackeray). (Lal Advani) “Woooah…these fellas are the guardians of the hindu dharma(say cheese)..hehe…hindu dharma?What?Isn’t that word coined up by the Brits?..”Our Hindu dharma is the oldest dharma in the …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

The True Spirit Of Communism

24 Nov 2008 by the seventh waves  
If communism ever reestablishes itself successfully upon earth, it must be on a foundation of soul’s brotherhood and the death of egoism. A forced association and a mechanical comradeship would end in a worldwide fiasco-Sr Aurobindo …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

Man The Fallen Brahman

23 Nov 2008 by the seventh waves  
“Learn to feel yourself in other bodies, to know that we are all one. Throw all other nonsense to the winds. Spit out your actions, good or bad, and never think of them again. What is done is done. Throw off superstition. …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

Sri Aurobindo Ashram Darshan Dates

23 Nov 2008 by the seventh waves  
01 January New Year’s day 21 February The Mother’s birthday 29 February The Supramental Manifestation day 24 April The Mother’s final arrival in Pondicherry 15 August Sri Aurobindo’s birthday 17 November The Mother’s Mahasamadhi day …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

The Descent of Krishna-Siddhi Day 24th Novembar

22 Nov 2008 by the seventh waves  
Siddhi Day( Day of Realization) On 24 November 1926, The Mother saw Sri Aurobindo emerge from his room in the evening, She new immediately that something important has happened in the History of the Earth and Universe. …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

The Supreme Mother’s Darshan

16 Nov 2008 by the seventh waves  
The Prophet Muhammad said, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him: Your Heaven lies under the feet of your mother (Ahmad, Nasai). “Om Anandamayi, Chaitanyamayi, Satyamayi Parame” “Where she presses her feet course miraculous …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

Sri Aurobindo Ashram

13 Nov 2008 by the seventh waves  
THE MAHASAMADHI OF SRI AUROBINDO AND THE MOTHER the inscription on the samadhi reads… ” To THEE who hast been the material envelope of our Master,to THEE our infinite gratitude. Before THEE who hast done so much for us, …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

The Mother And Sri Aurobindo

13 Nov 2008 by the seventh waves  
SRI AUROBINDO(1872-1950). THE MOTHER(1878-1973). “very few are aware of the fact that THE SUPREME had indeed come down as human beings..in our lifetime..yes,RAMALINGA SWAMIKAL (before his dematerialisation) told his discples to be ready …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

Sri Aurobindo Or The Adventure Of Consciousness

13 Nov 2008 by the seventh waves  
“written by satprem..the mother said this book is destined to be widely read 10 years from now…”
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

Tribute To Satprem And Sujatha

12 Nov 2008 by the seventh waves  
SATPREM(1923 – 2007). A sailor and a Breton, though born in Paris in 1923. A member of the French Resistance, Satprem was arrested by the Gestapo when he was twenty and spent a year and a half in concentration camps. …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

Auroville The Universal City Of Dawn

12 Nov 2008 by the seventh waves  
How did Auroville begin? The concept of Auroville – an ideal township devoted to an experiment in human unity – came to the Mother as early as the 1930s. In the mid 1960s the Sri Aurobindo Society in Pondicherry proposed to Her that …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

 

The Descent Of Krishna-Siddhi Day

9 Nov 2008 by the seventh waves  
On 24 November 1926, The Mother saw Sri Aurobindo emerge from his room in the evening, She new immediately that something important has happened in the History of the Earth and Universe. She sent words to all the sadhaks and asked them …
the seventh waves – http://theseventhwaves.blogspot.com/

Sachidananda Mohanty

Posted by: Tusar N. Mohapatra on: March 11, 2009

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    • Sri Aurobindo

    A Contemporary Reader

    Edited by Sachidananda Mohanty

    List Price: $115.00

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    • ISBN: 978-0-415-46093-4
    • Binding: Hardback
    • Published by: Routledge India
    • Publication Date: 28/03/2008
    • Pages: 180

       
    • Description
    • Contents
    • Bio

    Bio

    Sachidananda Mohanty is Professor and Head of the Department of English at the University of Hyderabad, India. He was Fulbright Visiting Professor at the Rhode Island College (2005); Senior Academic Fellow at the American Studies Research Center, Hyderabad (1999); Fellow, Cambridge Seminar on the Contemporary British Writer (1999); Fellow, University Salzburg, Austria (1996); Fulbright Visiting Fellow at the universities of Texas, Austin and Yale (1990–91);0 and a British Council Scholar in the U.K. (1990). He received the Katha British Council Translation Prize for outstanding translation (1994) and the University Grants Commission’s ‘Career Award’ (1994–97).

    Dr Mohanty has published a number of books. These include: Lost Tradition: Early Women’s Writing in Orissa 1898-1950 (2005), Amal Kiran (K. D. Sethna): A Centenary Tribute (2004), Travel Writing and the Empire (2003), Travel Writing and Colonialism (2003), Literature and Culture (2001), Essentials of Sri Aurobindo’s Thought (1998), In Search of Wonder: Understanding Cultural Exchange (1997), Sri Aurobindo and the New Age (1997), Lawrence’s Leadership Politics and the Defeat of Fascism (1992), and D. H. Lawrence Studies in India (1990). Some of his works in Oriya are Sailabala Das: Atma Jibani o Anya Prbandha (2004), Sarala Devi: Lekhika Sanskarika Biplabini (2004), and The Best Poetry of Bidyut Prabha (2001).

    A number of essays and articles by him have appeared in some of the leading journals and forums in the country including India Today, The Hindu, The Indian Express, Span Magazine, The India International Center Quarterly, PEN, India, The Aligarh Journal of English Studies, New Quest, and The Economic and Political Weekly.

    A critique of the book “The Lives of Sri Aurobindo” by Peter Heehs

    Posted by: Tusar N. Mohapatra on: March 10, 2009

    One of Heehs’ worst misrepresentations is that of the relationship of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother

    Posted by: Tusar N. Mohapatra on: February 24, 2009

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    In Defence of the “Extracts from The Lives of Sri Aurobindo by Peter Heehs”—Raman Reddy
    on Wed 31 Dec 2008 03:29 AM IST  |  Permanent Link  |  Cosmos
    One starts doubting his knowledge of Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy in particular and Indian philosophy in general, for his confident dismissal only shows a superficial study of them. Is he sufficiently familiar with the world-views of the great scholar-saints of Indian philosophy, such as Shankaracharya, Madhvacharya and Ramanujacharya, where the same bias would apply? The one authority he quotes on Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy is an obscure American scholar who happens to be his friend and mentor in this particular field. I wish Heehs had more respect for the more well-established scholars such as Amal Kiran, Arindam Basu and S.K. Maitra, especially the last who has probably done the best comparative study on Sri Aurobindo and Western philosophers.

    In short, Heehs deliberately and systematically leaves us ignorant of the deeper aspects of the subject he is dealing with, be it philosophy, psychology, poetry, politics, or the personalities of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. In the realm of psychiatry and spiritual experience, his ignorance has been exposed by a young Ph.D. scholar of Delhi University. With a little effort, the same can be done in other subjects. One of Heehs’ worst misrepresentations is that of the relationship of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. I need not go into the details of it, but any disciple of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother will immediately notice the complete lack of the spiritual dimension in the narration on pages 326-327 of the book. In the Extracts, the passage begins “Sometimes when they were alone”. In the Extracts corrected by Heehs, it begins, “After dinner those present”, and is in fact more painful to read. But to somebody who is not familiar with the spiritual personalities of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, the passage would appear quite harmless, and he would walk away with the impression of an ordinary romantic affair in which the Frenchman Paul Richard loses his wife to the Indian saint. And why not, he would say, what is so wrong about it? But introduce the spiritual dimension into the narration of the same events, that is, mention, (1) that during the Mother’s first meeting with Sri Aurobindo, she had experienced the complete silence of the mind, which is supposed to be one of the great achievements in Yoga; (2) that she considered Sri Aurobindo to be the Lord himself who had come on earth to bring down the truth of the Supermind; (3) that Richard was an emanation of the Lord of the Nations, one of the four big Asuras yet to be conquered by the Divine power; (4) that later, in his confession to Dilip Kumar Roy in France, Richard deeply regretted to have left Sri Aurobindo in 1920;—and you get a very different picture. Strangely, even the same outward gesture such as the Mother taking Sri Aurobindo’s hand into hers, puts on an altogether different meaning, a spiritual meaning this time, unlike in the Hollywood style presentation of Heehs, which has dragged down an extraordinary spiritual relationship to the level of an ordinary one
    Now Heehs has every right to select his material and refuse to bring up the deeper issues of life in the treatment of his subject. But then he has to take a public stand which will necessarily be unsympathetic to Sri Aurobindo. He has also to explain why he thinks these deeper aspects of life are not worth mentioning in his biography. He cannot simply hide behind the excuse that a historian has to record only external events, for if he had actually done that, he would not have passed so many easy judgments on one of the greatest figures of the twentieth century. In fact, the whole problem with Heehs is that of a historian going awry with value judgements, instead of sticking to the strict narration of facts, which, in this case, should be facts, both material and spiritual. For how can you write the biography of a spiritual man overlooking the inner events of his life? Heehs has thus deliberately neglected the spiritual context of the life of Sri Aurobindo, thus decontextualising him in the eyes of his admirers and disciples. It is not the Extracts that have decontextualised his book, but the book itself that has decontextualised Sri Aurobindo. His accusation that the Extracts have been mischievously compiled to denigrate his scholarly work can actually be turned back at him. It is he who has denigrated Sri Aurobindo by writing on him in such a one-sided way. In short, if the Extracts are a misrepresentation of Heehs’ scholarly work, then they are a misrepresentation of his misrepresentation of Sri Aurobindo. The only concession that can be made to his frustration as to how a few harmless extracts brought down the house of cards is that they could have been given a different title by the compiler. The word “extracts” generally suggests “good extracts” which are representative of the author’s work, which is not the case here. Therefore it should have been qualified by the word “objectionable” and the title changed to “Objectionable Extracts from The Lives of Sri Aurobindo by Peter Heehs”. If that offers any solace to him, then so be it, but no further regrets need be expressed about this compilation that has so thoroughly exposed him.
    Part II

    I would like to present here one argument which Heehs and his supporters have never cared to consider,—the “argument against intellectual argument”. Any sadhak who has followed a spiritual path will accept that sadhana is best done when you base yourself on something higher or deeper than the mind. Read the rest of this entry »

    To grow into a creative, constructive and higher divine being

    Posted by: Tusar N. Mohapatra on: February 21, 2009

    All choice: She is the golden bridge
    By Barindranath Chaki

    On this 21st day of February 2009, which happens to be the birthday anniversary of The Mother, Mira Alfassa, the spiritual collaborator of Sri Aurobindo, let us remember Her and The Master, in Silence and in utter sincerity and faithfulness . …. of Man to outgrow and master all his imperfections and darkness, to grow into a creative, constructive and higher divine being, along with the society, conquering all inner and outer darkness, crossing all barriers and divisions. …
    BABUL’S WORLD: 21 February 1878, The Mother’s birthday (Darshan Day)
    By kripatirtha97@yahoo.com  (Debabrata Ghosh)
    21st February 1878, The Mother’s Birthday. In Sri Aurobindo Ashram it is observed as Darshan Day. On this special day devotees are allowed to visit the room of Mother and Sri Aurobindo …
    BABUL’S WORLD

     
    Savitri: the Light of the Supreme :: Savitri from Collected Works …
    By RY Deshpande
    Last night, we (you and I and a few others) were together for quite a long time in Sri Aurobindo’s permanent dwelling-place in the subtle physical (what Sri Aurobindo called the true physical). Everything that took place there (far too …
    Savitri: the Light of the Supreme

    The Mother’s Birthday – 21 February 1878 – Thursday

    Posted by: Tusar N. Mohapatra on: February 20, 2009

    Mirror of Tomorrow
    Some Dates Connected with Sri Aurobindo and the Mother
    by RY Deshpande on Fri 20 Feb 2009 08:45 PM IST  |  Permanent Link  |  Cosmos

     

    [1]15 August 1872 Thursday

    Sri Aurobindo’s Birthday

     

    [2] 21 February 1878 Thursday

    The Mother’s Birthday

     

    [3] 4 April 1910 Monday

    Sri Aurobindo’s Arrival at Pondicherry

     

    [4] 29 March 1914 Sunday

    The First Meeting of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo

     

    [5] 24 April 1920 Saturday

    The Mother’s Final Arrival at Pondicherry

     

    [6] 24 November 1926 Wednesday

    The Siddhi of Krishna’s Consciousness in the Physical

     

    [7] 24 November 1938 Thursday

    Accident to Sri Aurobindo’s Right Thigh Bone

     

    [8] 24 April 1939 Monday

    Introduced as Darshan Day

     

    [9] 5 December 1950 Tuesday

    Sri Aurobindo’s Mahasamadhi

    Strategically Fixing-up of the Supramental in the Physical

     

    [10] 9 December 1950 Saturday

    A New Phase of Work Begins with the Samadhi

     

    [11] 12 December 1950 Tuesday

    The Mother Gives First Blessings after Sri Aurobindo’s Passing Away

     

    [12] 29 February 1956 Wednesday

    Supramental Manifestation in the Subtle-Physical of the Earth

     

    [13] 17 November 1973 Saturday

    The Mother’s Mahasamadhi—

    She Walking into the New Body

     

    [14] 20 November 1973 Tuesday

    A New Leap towards the Work of Transformation in the New Body

     

     

     

    The list is open for additions by way of comments from the interested readers.  Thanks. ~ RYD

     

    Posted to: 

    AurovilleRadio: Ameeta Mehra – “What does Savitri mean to me?”

    Posted by: Tusar N. Mohapatra on: February 20, 2009

    Weekly Schedule Print E-mail
    Written by Radio Team   
    Tuesday, 17 February 2009
    This week we are broadcasting:

    • Zamasanga – Reggae night at Visitor’s Center (new)
    • Ameeta Mehra – “What does Savitri mean to me?”
    • Deepanam School – Cultural Program of January 2009 (new)
    • Françoise Bouquet -  Dé.Mé.Lés. method – An innovative therapy – French
    • Health Services Team – The Auroville Clinic (new)
    • Nadaka & Gopika – Shantakaram – Chants & Mantras (new)
    • Frederick – Mix up
    • Fabienne and Warren – What would a free lance journalist ask about Auroville?

    You can listen to these by checking the broadcasting schedule here.

     

    Weekly Schedule Print E-mail
    Written by Radio Team   
    Monday, 02 February 2009
    This week we are broadcasting :

    • Michele Decoust et Jean Yves Bilien – Ecologie, Santé et Spiritualité (new)
    • Satprem – Radioscopie – Jacques Chancel
    • Holger Jetter & Barbara Jungfer - German/Indian Jazz Exchange (new)
    • Loretta & Savitri – Savitri, Book 1 – Canto 2
    • Sadhana Forest – Pionneer Spirit – Mix Up (new)
    • Jean-Francois Noubel – Collective intelligence, wisdom and consciousness
    • Jivan & Suryan – Peace Day Concert
    • Joel – Y’a toujours pleins d’trucs qui cassent

    You can listen to these by checking the broadcasting schedule here.

    Crisis in the Integral Yoga community

    Posted by: Tusar N. Mohapatra on: February 19, 2009

    Saturday, February 14
    View Article  The Strange Case of Dr. M and Mr. S
    by Angiras on February 14, 2009 11:10PM (PST)

    Sachidananda Mohanty is a Professor of English at the University of Hyderabad, India.

    Like the main character in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Sachidananda Mohanty seems to have a split personality. There is the academic – let us call him Dr. M – who praised the work of Peter Heehs and warned of the danger of “collective bigotry” in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. And there is the writer of a letter to the Trustees – we may call him Mr. S – who has condemned The Lives of Sri Aurobindo and joined the movement calling for Heehs’s expulsion. The contrast between the two makes an interesting study.   more »

    Comments (12)  |  Permanent Link

    Sunday, February 1
    View Article  Larger Issues of “The Lives of Sri Aurobindo” Controversy
    by Debashish on February 1, 2009 09:52AM (PST)

    The Heehs biography controversy is unfortunately a symptom of a much deeper crisis in the Integral Yoga community, with future repercussions which are hardly optimistic. In this consideration of some of the larger issues involved, the editors of sciy and other concerned viewers of the phenomenon draw attention to what is at stake for all those interested in the Integral Yoga. These are only a few of the more serious ramifications. Readers are welcome to add their own concerns as comments.   more »

    Comments (36)  |  Permanent Link

    Friday, January 30
    View Article  Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism by Robert Jay Lifton
    by Debashish on January 30, 2009 09:42AM (PST)
    This is an edited excerpt from Chapter 22 of Robert Jay Lifton’s book,”Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of ‘Brainwashing’ in China.” Lifton, a psychiatrist and distinguished professor at the City University of New York, has studied the psychology of extremism for decades. He testified at the 1976 bank robbery trial of Patty Hearst about the theory of “coercive persuasion.” First published in 1961, his book was reprinted in 1989 by the University of North Carolina Press. Lifton’s analysis of “thought-reform” applied to cultic behavior is very instructive in our present space-time.   more »

    Comments (12)  |  Permanent Link

    Monday, January 26
    View Article  A Cultural Misunderstanding
    by Angiras on January 26, 2009 02:21AM (PST)

    Ananda Reddy is founder-director of SACAR

    Ananda Reddy addressed a letter to the Managing Trustee of Sri Aurobindo Ashram on 6 September, 2008. A significant feature of this letter is the cultural issues it raises. The Lives of Sri Aurobindo was written for publication in America and has been widely appreciated there. Some reactions to it in India, such as Reddy’s, have been markedly different. An understanding of the cultural factors underlying these varying responses might contribute to healing the division that has recently arisen in the international Sri Aurobindo community.   more »

    Comments (33)  |  Permanent Link

    Friday, January 23
    View Article  Yoga, religion, and fundamentalism in the Integral Yoga Community by Lynda Lester
    by Rich on January 23, 2009 03:44PM (PST)

    Lynda Lester made a great presentation at AUM 2007 on fundamentalist tendencies in Integral Yoga. We are happy to post it here:

    Today I’d like to focus on the difference between yoga, religion, and fundamentalism in the Integral Yoga community. And because in a discussion like this we’re all coming from different cultures and orientations, my yoga might be your religion and someone else’s fundamentalism. So I thought I’d start out with some definitions….   more »

    Comments (12)  |  Permanent Link

    View Article  Savitra speaks out on The Lives of Sri Aurobindo
    by Rich on January 23, 2009 08:34AM (PST)

    Until recently, I had not actually read Peter’s book. So, despite the polarizing atmosphere and escalating polemics surrounding its publication, I refrained from taking a position or passing judgment. For how could I come to conclusions about something that I myself had not personally experienced?

    As a published author myself, my own natural writing style tends more toward the creative rather than the academic or scholarly. So to be honest, I was not sure if I could wade through more than 400 pages of biographical details drawn from decades of archival research. After all, I was, I believed, sufficiently familiar with the essential outline and major events of Sri Aurobindo’s life. And as a dedicated practitioner of Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Yoga as well as a serious student of his own writings since the mid-1960s, having read all of his major works before coming to Pondicherry to meet the Mother, I wondered how I could possibly benefit from pouring through the micro-facts and minutia of such a figure whose Life was so much greater than the sum of its parts. I also had reservations about whether such an academic approach would turn out to be a boring compilation or disconnected series of meticulously-researched historical details which would simply drone on, failing both to hold my attention or hold together as a whole….   more »

    Comments (8)  |  Permanent Link

    Thursday, January 15
    View Article  The Genesis of a Controversy
    by Angiras on January 15, 2009 05:29AM (PST)
    A two-page document, “The Role of Peter Heehs in the Archives,” was submitted to the Trustees of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram around the beginning of September, 2008. This was perhaps the first definite act of hostility in what quickly grew into a full-blown campaign against Heehs. It was soon followed by several longer and in some cases even more virulent letters which were widely circulated to mobilize opinion and force the Trustees to take action. This letter by colleagues of Heehs in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Archives is of special interest, not only because it seems to have marked the beginning of what would soon become a raging controversy, but because it shows clearly the personal nature of the attacks on the biographer. The writers of the letter had admittedly not read the book. But it seems that they know the author from having tea with him in the Archives until he had to suspend his work there as a result of the movement they began. His “attitude” – or their impressions of it gathered from casual conversation – is their main focus. This letter will be commented on in detail in order to get the facts straight and put the issues in perspective.   more »

    Comments (19)  |  Permanent Link

    Saturday, January 10
    View Article  Peter Heehs called to appear in Court
    by Rich on January 10, 2009 10:06AM (PST)

    In an act of desperation the petitioner as well as those Ashramites who are conspiring against Peter Heehs are attempting to file criminal charges in this matter. Note that these charges are being filed under the following sections: Section 501 is “printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory” – Section 500 covers punishment for defamation; Section 275 (a) does not seem to exist though 275 covers sale of adulterated drugs.

    The truth however, will not be denied. Not only will this case be dismissed but the truth regards the hypocrisy and malice of those persons who have seen fit to conspire in secret to take these actions will be unveiled for all to see.

    The truth of this matter will be revealed in a forthcoming text that will be announced on SCIY. The voices of the ashramite leaders of the ex-communication movement will speak for themselves. What will become obvious is their disregarded for the spirit of the yoga as well as the rules and regulations of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram itself in persecuting a fellow sadhak.   more »

    Comments (12)  |  Permanent Link

    View Article  An examination of the criticism against The Lives of Sri Aurobindo by Larry Seidlitz
    by Debashish on January 10, 2009 10:06AM (PST)
    This article continues the section of responses on The Lives of Sri Aurobindo by those who have read the book. In this essay, Larry Seidlitz, a resident and scholar at Pondicherry, examines the charges being made against the author of The Lives of Sri Aurobindo and attempts to put to rest the exaggerations and misreadings which have been circulated by the ringleaders of the “anti-PH movement” and which have become “authorized truths” to a vast range of “followers” of these ringleaders, most of whom have not read the book.   more »

    Comments (12)  |  Permanent Link |  HEEHS BIOGRAPHY CONTROVERSY

    Triune Crisis: O. P. Dani and M.S. Srinivasan

    Posted by: Tusar N. Mohapatra on: February 19, 2009

       
     
     

         
     

    The Financial Meltdown and the Triune Crisis : An Integral Perspective

     
    Article By:

    O. P. Dani* , Chairman, CAS Corporate Consultants Pvt Ltd., Noida and M.S. Srinivasan, Research Associate, Sri Aurobindo Society, Puducherry. 

    		  
         

     

    		  
       
     
    		 
       
     
    		 
    This is a community website for the well wishers of Sangh Parivar. The aim of Sangh Parivar is to take Bharat to the pinnacle of glory. This website is independent of any Sangh Parivar organisations.
         
     

    The new proselytizers

     
    Nandita Das created a stir by scripting and directing “Firaaq”. It’s a soul-stirring movie. Nandita, the director and scriptwriter, has tried to be as honest and candid with the celluloid as her deep-rooted commitment to her political ideology. Terrifyingly impressive is the way she uses silence as a tool to etch her message on the viewers’ minds. The actors live the characters they represent. And she admits frankly, “It’s a political movie.” 

    As a filmmaker and journalist, I would give her full marks for a political statement that has been registered so strongly that this film is going to have better effect than a hundred thousand people’s gathering.

    		  
         
         
     

    If Old Age wasnt there We would have been ‘Manupanzee

     
    By Vishwa Mohan Tiwari, Air Vice Marshal (retd.)

    		  
         
         
     

    Jaagore!!!

    Submitted by Vikas on Wed, 02/11/2009 – 21:49.

     

    I was really pained when BJP lost the 2004 election. Did we really deserve to lose? Maybe. We got 44 seats lesser than 13th Lok Sabha. But there’s devil in the detail.There was just a swing of -1.5% in our vote share when compared to the electionbefore. India,which boasts an electorate of more than 670 million people had only 56% voterturnout with most absentees from Urban areas.

    Can we dosomething to urge Urban youth to vote? As per me, yes we can do it by forwarding this information to as many people we can!

    Jaago Re!

    		  
         
         
     

    Sinister plan to Islamize Kerala

     
    Dr. Babu Suseelan
    The greatest threat facing Kerala, the land of Parasuram, Sankaracharya, and Sri Narayana Guru today is Islamic expansionism.  For centuries, Muslims from the Middle East, the self-approved Islamic fanatics have been waging a Jihad war against Hindus in Kerala. Even before the Portuguese pirate Vasco De Gama reached Kozhikode, Arab Muslims have marched into Kerala for looting, sex escapade and coercive religious conversion. Most of the earlier Arab Muslims were small and fluid, appearing and disappearing, splintering, and reemerging in new Islamic disguises. They were successful in settling in Malabar and forcefully converting few Hindus by the sword.
    		  
         
         
     

    Inspirational Speech by Shri Arabindo: 15th Aug 47

     
    August 15th, 1947 is the birthday of free India. It marks for her the end of an old era, the beginning of a new age. But we can also make it by our life and acts as a free nation an important date in a new age opening for the whole world, for the political, social, cultural and spiritual future of humanity.
    August 15th is my own birthday and it is naturally gratifying to me that it should have assumed this vast significance. I take this coincidence, not as a fortuitous accident, but as the sanction and seal of the Divine Force that guides my steps on the work with which I began life, the beginning of its full fruition. Indeed, on this day I can watch almost all the world movements which I hoped to see fulfilled in my lifetime, though then they looked like impracticable dreams arriving at fruition or on their way to achievement. In all these movements free India may well play a large part and take a leading position.

    		  
         
         
     

    The contemporary Hindu predicament By Dr. Gautam Sen

     

    Savitri, the Truth that has come from the Sun

    Posted by: Tusar N. Mohapatra on: February 17, 2009

    Savitri Bhavan is located in the International Zone of Auroville, between Bharat Nivas and Matrimandir. It has been created as a unit of SAIIER (Sri Aurobindo International Institute of Educational Research) to be a focal point for Sri Aurobindo studies in Auroville, taking Savitri, his revelatory epic poem, as a starting point for exploring his other writings, and using what he has written elsewhere to deepen our understanding and appreciation of Savitri, the most profound and powerfully creative of all his works. It is meant as a place where all kinds of materials for study, research and concentration on Sri Aurobindo’s revelatory epic poem Savitri can be gathered and made available.

    The varied activities being organised and developed by Savitri Bhavan aim to make Sri Aurobindo’s insights more accessible to people of very different psychological types and cultural origins. Our object is not mere intellectual or academical scrutiny of Sri Aurobindo’s language and thought. We approach his writings for help and light, for the psychological insights and support which can aid us to live in such a way that Auroville can fulfil its mission as a pathfinder towards a new kind of human society.

    About Savitri Bhavan

    Savitri is the masterwork of Sri Aurobindo, freedom-fighter, poet, and spiritual pioneer. Taking as his framework and starting point the ancient Indian symbolic legend of Satyavan and Savitri, Sri Aurobindo worked on this epic poem from October 1916 to a few days before leaving his body in December 1950. Almost 24,000 lines of masterly mantric poetry carry the essence of his revolutionary spiritual vision. His spiritual co-worker, The Mother, has said of it :

     

    “ Savitri - the supreme revelation of Sri Aurobindo’s vision.”

     

    “I believe that it is his message.

    All his other writings are preparations,

    but Savitri is the message.”

     

    “ Savitri is a mantra for the transformation of the world”.

     
    We dream of an environment in Auroville

    • that will breathe the atmosphere of Savitri

    • that will welcome Savitri lovers from every corner of the world

    • that will be an inspiring centre of Savitri studies

    • that will house all kinds of materials and activities to enrich our understanding and enjoyment of Sri Aurobindo’s revelatory epic

    • that will be the abode of Savitri, the Truth that has come from the Sun.

    Support is welcome from everyone who feels that the vibration of Savitri will help to manifest a better tomorrow. 

    Savitri Bhavan
    Auroville 605 101
    Tamil Nadu
    INDIA

    Email : savitribhavan@auroville.org.in 

    About Savitri Bhavan
    Activities
    Buildings
    History
    Invocation journal  

    Foundation Ceremony
    Inauguration
    Second Building
    Third Building photo album | Sri Aurobindo statue | February 29, 2008 video | Home > Education > Educational centres > Savitri Bhavan

    His words will be echoed and re-echoed, not only in India but across distant seas and lands

    Posted by: Tusar N. Mohapatra on: February 17, 2009

    I hope too that friendly relations between Britain and India replacing the past struggles, will be a step towards a greater world union in which, as a free nation, her spiritual force will contribute to build for mankind a better and happier life. In this light, I offer my public adhesion, in case it can be of any help in your work. — Sri Aurobindo Message to Sir Stafford Cripps March 31, 1942

    The spiritual gift of India to the world has already begun. India’s spirituality is entering Europe and America in an ever increasing measure. That movement will grow; amid the disasters of the time more and more eyes are turning towards her with hope and there is even an increasing resort not only to her teachings, but to her psychic and spiritual practice. – Sri Aurobindo Broadcast on the eve of August 15, 1947
    Long after he is dead and gone, his words will be echoed and re-echoed, not only in India but across distant seas and lands. – C.R. Das, 1909

    It matters little that there are thousands of beings plunged in the densest ignorance, He whom we saw yesterday is on earth; His presence is enough to prove that a day will come when darkness shall be transformed into light, and Thy reign shall be indeed established upon earth. — The Mother March 30, 1914.

    Joint Programme in Sri Aurobindo Studies by IGNOU and SACAR

    Reading Hegel: The Introductions by G.W.F. Hegel (edited and introduced by Aakash Singh and Rimina Mohapatra) ►re.press 2008

    Ladder

    Savitri Era of those who adore, Om Sri Aurobindo & The Mother.

    Savitri Era

    Posted by: Tusar N. Mohapatra on: February 17, 2009

    Goldmine

    Older Entries

    Savitri Era of those who adore, Om Sri Aurobindo and The Mother.

    Tusar N. Mohapatra, President, Savitri Era Party. [Savitri Era of those who adore, Om Sri Aurobindo & The Mother.] Director, Savitri Era Learning Forum. [SELF posits a model of counselling and communicative action as an instrument in order to stimulate the public sphere. The model aims at supplementing the individual’s struggle for a successful social adjustment with more aspirational inputs so as to help one take an informed and balanced attitude towards life as well as society.] SRA-102-C, Shipra Riviera, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, U.P. - 201014, India. Ph: 0120-2605636, 2815130. tusarnmohapatra@gmail.com

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