Heehs has problem in acknowledging the authority of the Mother

Redant3 Apr 6, 2012 11:45 AM

This man denies everything and doesn't find anything factually wrong with his book. How can one compromise with him? Gen Bakshi should have made it abundantly clear that many devotees have also pointed out serious defects in his ordinary scholarship. It's much, much, more than just about hurt feelings. 

Those who are coming out to debate PH and his supporters should unambiguously state at the very beginning that the book and the visa issues are distinct in many ways. The visa issue is an issue of violations of Indian law and the book issue is one of criticism of a 'scholarship' full of deliberate distortion, factual suppression, and malicious misrepresentation.

Govind Apr 6, 2012 12:46 PM

Observe also the double-standards at play. When it comes to the question of religion the fellow and his accomplices pretend to be faithful to Mother Sri Aurobindo. However when it comes to not judging the Divine or the Guru by the mind or not criticizing Mother Sri Aurobindo in public then this fellow conveniently finds a higher authority in the principle of absolute freedom of his own speech, and thumbs his nose at Mother Sri Aurobindo. Fundamentally manipulative and self-serving narcissistic personality.

Govind Apr 4, 2012 06:46 AM

In a nutshell, PH and his supporters stand for the following noble principles:
1) Criticize your benefactors (Mother Sri Aurobindo)
2) Violate the norms of the Ashram that supports you
3) Break the laws of the land where you have been given shelter
4) Flout the sentiments of devotees and sadhaks who have admitted you into their midst
5) Betray the trust of the readers who depend upon you to accurately represent yourself and your subject
And when your perfidy and criminality is sought to be exposed
6) Deny the plain fact of your criticism, basically lie
7) Justify your crimes and misdemeanors by invoking freedom of speech, academic license and various other covers
8) Attack, vilify and demonize your critics
On the whole this is a campaign to distort the plain truth and to usher in a reign of falsehood and division.

Govind Apr 3, 2012 12:04 AM

When called upon to participate in an open discussion about his book PH and his supporters hide behind the excuse that anything he says may incriminate him. However, here is the man openly giving an interview about the subject matter and controversial aspects of the book to a national television station. And yet this fellow cannot engage with fellow Ashramites in an open discussion about his book. The double-speak and duplicity of these people needs to be seen to be believed.

rajendram chackravartisri Apr 3, 2012 09:50 AM

There is no connection about Sri Aurobindo's mother being afflicted with illness and the Yoga of Sri Aurobindo. The work of Peter Heehs appears to be to malign the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo by painting a poor picture of the Seer. That Sri Aurobindo is a genius- is a condescending certificate from the world's self proclaimed....!
The nomadic traveller, who is not a sadhak but who wishes to stay in India for the bounty he enjoys for free at Pondicherry - is trying to derate the very person in whose name the Ashram stands. Such an effort could possibly be only of those with preverse attitudes with a massive streak of lunacy precluding objectivity.

vishnupadaApr 4, 2012 04:41 AM

Peter Heehs has come from a different cultural tradition where there is no scope to know about these traditional culture, ideology, belief and practice. so he could not understand the meaning and practice of SANSKAR. due to this he could not stand in favour of the mother and sri Aurobindo, the ashramites and the followers. he could not understand the morality of GURU and SHISHYA and the sense of guru gita, in spite of his staying at ashram and doing research work for about forty years. he made himself merely a foreigner and a thriller writer only. so he brought out madness, romance and every kind of useless unrelated factors to pose himself an expert in psychology and history and argued that his creation is meant for the western only. a copycat always blames his teacher when he fails in the examination. so did peter. his 'lives of sri Aurobindo' follows the trend of the books like 'freedom at midnigt' and 'the last days of British raj' not the historians like mr. manmathnath das, v.d. mahajan or r.k. mukharjee not even pashupati bhattacharya.

RYD Apr 6, 2012 10:24 PM This comment may not be exactly contextual here, but is certainly not irrelvnt.

We hear on the TV channels Peter Heehs volunteering his view about Sri Aurobindo’s Avatarhood. But he either seems to be oblivious of the Mother’s declaration of the Avatarhood of Sri Aurobindo or he simply dismisses it, or else deliberately ignores her. He doesn’t have much of an opinion about her. Naturally, therefore, it looks as though it is he who is going to decide if Sri Aurobindo is an Avatar or not? Sri Aurobindo was a genius, says he, and not an avatar. That’s the verdict. Does he have any spiritual-occult perception to arrive at such a decision? There doesn’t seem to be any.
Yet what credentials does Heehs have to offer such a judgement that we should accept it? Does the publication of the Lives of Sri Aurobindo by the Columbia University Press entitle him to assert it? However, if it is that entitlement we can simply discount it —if not trash it. The Lives is thoroughly critiqued and proven to be full of distortions, misrepresentations, is full of falsehood. 

But here is one of the Mother’s declarations: “Sri Aurobindo is an emanation of the Supreme who came on earth to announce the manifestation of a new race and a new world: the Supramental.” [20 June 1972] And: “Sri Aurobindo came on earth from the Supreme to announce the manifestation of a new race and the new world, the Supramental.” [15 August 1972]

Heehs seems to be having some problem in acknowledging the authority of the Mother. He does not accept her occult spiritual authority, and all that Sri Aurobindo himself has said about her. If that the case then all this becomes irrelevant to him. That also appears to be his tragedy. A vision without form—the Mother from Mirror of Tomorrow

Comment on Savitri (Савитри) by ipi from Comments for Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo & The Mother Thanks a lot for the Alok Pandey’s Savitri Link “At the feet of the Mother”

History of Kidney trouble-page 406 by anahata April 7, 2012 at 6:13 pm

On page 406, Peter incorrectly claims that Sri Aurobindo had a history of kidney trouble. As the gland became enlarged, it would exert pressure on the urethra. Frequent, incomplete emptying of the bladder was a first result. If the condition … Continue reading →

SiriusCommunity | Matagiri Sri Aurobindo Center - All USA Meeting - 21 Jun 2012 - 00:00 Bookmark the permalink. ALL USA MEETING June 21 2012 – June 24 2012 "Roots and Branches"

This year's gathering of friends around the vision of Sri Aurobindo and Mother focuses on Auroville and student exchange. For years Living Routes has facilitated young people experiencing Auroville and supervising volunteer work throughout the community for college credit. The root is Auroville and its vision, the branches are the Auroville Internationals and the living nourishment are the flows of visitors and Aurovilians back and forth who have or grow into a deeper connection. The gathering will be experiential and include Awareness Through the Body, Hatha Yoga and Pranayama along with panel discussions including SKYPED-IN speakers.
Our host in Amherst is the Sirius Community where Auroville exchange students helped work on their main hall, members have a long connection with Findhorn (celebrating its 50th this year) and Auroville.

DebasmitaDasgupta Communications Consultant for Non-profit +65 85115208 

Since 1997, the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) has been instrumental in deepening such political and intellectual ties between Asia and Europe. After the historical first Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit in 1996, ASEF was established to play the strategic role in connecting civil society with governments encouraging mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit between the ASEM member states. This year marks the 15^th anniversary of ASEF. A time to look back and cherish the successful outcomes of that cooperation between countries and regions. At the same time to celebrate the spirit of sharing and setting common goals for a connected future.  Read more... Posted by Debasmita at 1:38 AM 

Participate in the following ASEF15 projects: Learn more about other ASEF15 projects: Asia-Europe Short Films Contest 6 Feb – 9 Apr 2012; Singapore Asia and Europe: Coming Together or Drifting Apart? 16 May 2012; Singapore “Connected Histories. Shared Future” Travelling Exhibition 17 May – Nov 2012; Singapore and Laos Managing Heritage Cities in Asia and Europe: the Role of Public-Private Partnerships 12-14 Jul 2012; Indonesia

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