Coward's valiance

Harman, Withdrawal, and Vacuum Packed Objects: My Gratitude from Larval Subjects May 30, 2012

It’s funny how very random and short encounters can have such a decisive impact on you.  Harman completely changed my thought and direction. You could say that I got my ass handed to me, though in a very generous and friendly way.  He made crushing arguments against my relationism from which I’ll never recover, he directed me to compelling defenses of realism such as Bhaskar’s Realist Theory of Science (a completely decisive book for me), he introduced me to Latour, and he forced me to completely rethink my social constructivism and linguistic idealism.  Harman created work for me or the necessity of a complete revision of my thought… Harman and I might not see eye to eye on a number of points, but these are the points where he fundamentally transformed my way of thinking about the world and being. [Levi does in fact a better job than anyone of carrying out real debate in the blogosophere rather than in more traditional academic media. on Bryant’s philosophy from Object-Oriented Philosophy by doctorzamalek (Graham Harman)]

Larval Subjects March 12, 2007 Scattered Thoughts on Dialectical Reason Posted by larvalsubjects 7:20 PM, April 27, 2009 9:24 AM  8:05 AM

For me, Hegel’s Science of Logic has always been the great white whale, Ulysses, or Finnegans Wake of philosophy… Anyone who musters the will to read the Science of Logic with open eyes, free of the invectives that have been levelled against Hegel by figures such as Lacan, Deleuze, and Derrida, will be deeply rewarded with the conceptual clarity he brings to the table and the various conflicts that he unfolds and which repeat again and again in a variety of different structures of thought. Despite its Joycean prose, it is a work worth studying carefully and returning to again and again as an endless source of ideas. 

Ross Wolfe Says: May 21, 2011 at 9:00 pm Levi, I could see you making a case for a “catastrophic betrayal” of Marxist materialism for Fromm, Marcuse, Habermas, and the late (1970s) Horkheimer, but not for Adorno, the early Horkheimer, or Lowenthal. And certainly not Pollock. The main inspirations for their work, Georg, Lukacs, Ernst Bloch, Siegfried Kracauer, and Walter Benjamin were all staunch Marxists, as well. It’s with the French that Marxism gets dicey, with Althusser and Balibar and so on. Badiou is a Maoist; I think that speaks for itself. I would still say that Henri Lefebvre is salvageable. With all of these thinkers, far from assimilating Marx to bourgeois thought, their work was a relentless critique of bourgeois ideology from beginning to end.

larvalsubjects Says: May 21, 2011 at 10:02 pm I see figures like Adorno as betrayals of Marx because they turn away from Marx’s materialism and return to idealism. What is it that Adorno is constantly analyzing? Ideology or cultural content. 

larvalsubjects Says: May 21, 2011 at 10:51 pm The moment I hear terms like “vitalism” I hear evocations of spooky immaterial life-forces for which there’s no need or evidence whatsoever. I take it that Bennett is talking about things we’re all accustomed to by now under the title of “self-organization”, “emergence”, etc. I’d prefer to just talk about these things rather than drawing on the discredited tradition of vitalism. I’m even more hostile to panpsychism.

Comment on My words will remain imprinted on your soul by Sandeep from Comments for IYSATM by Sandeep

> Thankfully, Derrida seems to be on a welcome pitch here instead of being derided.

Yes, and for that I must thank Harold Coward for his book which magically decrypts Derrida’s elliptical prose. As you yourself replied to someone: “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir? – John Maynard Keynes”

> That would lead one to Chomsky and Chalmers, however.

I haven’t gotten that far yet. Hopefully, in the near future. 

Permanent Link 10:15 PM The tension between Hegel and Nietzsche, or that between historicism and individual will is a constant and living dialog in Sri Aurobindo and it is this dialog which he is directing us towards. Unfortunately, humankind finds it more convenient to rest in belief systems which they can adulate and have no need to emulate. DB Re: 100 Years of Sri Aurobindo on Evolution: The Illusion of Human Progress and the Ideal of Human Unity (part 5 of 6) by Debashish on Fri 03 Apr 2009 12:19 PM PDT 

Savitri Era: The tension between Hegel and Nietzsche is a constant ... 26 Apr 2009

In my college days I was a great admirer of Hegel, whom I regarded as the greatest philosopher that had ever lived... The influence of Hegel, however, did not last long... I refer, in the first place, to the great sage of Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo, with whose philosophy I first became acquainted in the winter of 1939-40, when his great work The Life divine, which had already appeared in the pages of the “Arya,” was published in a revised and greatly enlarged form. I regret very much that I had not read this great work when it appeared in the pages of the “Arya,” for if I had done so, it would have saved me a number of years of philosophical wanderings in search of a standpoint. S.K.Maitra Emerging Theory of Values 11:34 PM 12:30 PM 3:53 PM]

Comment on ‘Sri Aurobindo: His Political Life and Activities’—A Review by Dr. Larry Seidlitz. by RY Deshpande from Comments for Overman Foundation by RY Deshpande

The reviewer should have highlighted the differences between this book and The Lives of Sri Aurobindo authored by a ‘historian’ and published by an academic institution, Columbia University Press. That would have put things in a better perspective. Lack of such a comparative study makes all these efforts goody-goody and perhaps not of much consequence in terms of the real contents of the works. Sorry, but this is which should not be glossed over.

Nature is inventive, contingent, and historical

General Editor May 24, 2012 9:38 AM Jadunandan Samal: … COMMENT:

Such is the case of Peter Heehs similarly who after staying 40 years in Archives and as Ashramites, he has disgraced the name of Sri Aurobindo as well as The Mother drastically in public by publishing the book "The Lives of Sri Aurobindo" and pained innumerable people worldwide. Then why the Managing Trustee is not taking same action against Peter Heehs (rather protecting him) as proposed to take in the case of Dr. Das, the teacher? It brings about abundant doubt in such duplicate actions of the Managing Trustee as well as the Trust Board of the Ashram. It is partial, unfair and vindictive. J.N. SAMAL Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

SRI AUROBINDO UNIVERSITY THE MATRUBHABAN PATRA MARCH 2012

The 6th anniversary of Sri Aurobindo University (SAU) will be held at Sri Aurobindo Shreekshetra, Dalijoda, District-Cuttack on 4th April, 2012 (Wednesday) at 10.45 AM. The members of the executive body, all learners and counselors  of SAU , the Principals and Teachers of Sri Aurobindo Integral Education Centres and all others concern with the activities of SAU are requested to attain the function.. The details of the programme will be announced later. Prasad Tripathy

Nirupama Rao: You've the power to influence history - Rediff ... 'The algorithms you will use to unlock the mysteries of the universe are going to be very different from the ones my generation sought to master,' Nirupama Rao, India's Ambassador to the United States of America, tells students at Pondicherry University, May 19.

It is indeed a great honour to have been requested to address the Pondicherry University on the occasion of their twenty second convocation…Many years ago, the wise and learned Sri Aurobindo, speaking on the soil of Pondicherry, referred to national education as 'something more profound, great and searching ...an education proper to an Indian soul and need and temperament and culture that we are in quest of... something faithful (not) merely to the past, but to the developing soul of India, to her future need, to the greatness of her coming self-creation, to her eternal spirit.'

The question, as Sri Aurobindo framed it, is not between modernism and antiquity, but between the present and the future, not a return to the glories of the fifth century but 'an initiation of centuries to come' that is demanded 'by the soul, by the Shakti of India.' And this is where we see the expounding of a universalist vision: That education must help the student to enter into that perfect relationship with the mind and soul of the larger humanity of which we are a part, of which our nation, our India, is 'a separate yet inseparable member.'

Aurobindo's words, penned almost a century ago have a profound relevance even today and I have therefore drawn reference to them. His eloquence was unmatched when he issued a call for education to usher in 'the alchemy of infinity into the finite life', as is reflected in our tradition through the examples of the brave and forthright like Nachiketa, Markandeya, Savitri and Arjuna…

As less and less attention or importance is given to humanities is there a long term cost to democracy? A good humanities education inculcates critical thinking in the student, it provides knowledge of world history and religions and helps us to be less obtuse about other cultures and other people. Literature, for instance, trains, as it is said, 'the muscles of the mind.'

Comment on How an Egyptian discovered Sri Aurobindo Sandeep says: May 21, 2012 at 2:23 pm

To answer such generic questions would require quoting Sri Aurobindo’s Life Divine one snippet after another, and even that won’t resolve anything because their practical interpretation is subjective and imperfect. Life is analogous to a complicated system of differential equations. The general solution can be determined philosophically but when we try to practically determine the particular solution at a given space-time, we only obtain are unsatisfactory approximations.

Denaturing Nature from Larval Subjects May 24, 2012

As Latour has so compellingly argued, we like to divide culture and nature and treat the natural world as the domain of essence and causality, while we treat the cultural world as the domain of freedom, history, and contingency.  Birds, we say, are “predetermined” to build nests, humans invent ways of building buildings.  Birds have no history.  Humans, because they invent, have history. But Darwin blew this entire thesis out of the water.  What Darwin demonstrated is that species are historical and contingent, that they could have been otherwise under other conditions.  After Darwin we just can’t sort the world in this way anymore. What we need to see, I think, is that nature is a lot more like culture than we thought (it is inventive, contingent, and historical), and that culture is a lot more natural than we thought (it requires all sorts of material connections and is a physical, material thing).

If a teacher revolts

from:  Jitendra Sharma aurofrance@gmail.com date:  22 May 2012 22:59 subject: Response to Mr. H. Acharya

I will continue to fight tooth and nail against Peter Heehs’ book. That is a different issue. If a teacher of an educational institution revolts openly against its Registrar in this way, he has to be removed. There is no other option.

from:  Sunil sunilauro@gmail.com date:  23 May 2012 07:22

Jitendra,

When you were in the school, were you aware of anything such as Trustees. All our care, all the Ashram’s arrangement was by the Mother and everybody benefited from this arrangement and did their part. When you went to eat it was the Mother’s Prasad, when you went to school it was her school, it was on Them we were taught to concentrate. After two periods it was her soup and ‘vitamins’ in dispensary that was given. All was around the Divine Mother naturally as it is an Ashram School. And she took care to give us the best of everything, from the continuous flow of international teachers, coaches to the best sports facilities. Everything was always worked for the manifestation of the Divine the very best, even in the physical. Life was so rich in all experiences that just to be there was being in heaven. Every evening there would be some kind of programme, people from all over the world would offer their performances. Home talent was encouraged in fields of drama, music and dance. Foreign languages would be taught in the evenings. The school compound would be live every evening throbbing with activity of culture and music.  Did anywhere Trustee name ever came to you, if these trustees were there they were busy doing their thing like you and me not in any way associated with the Divine arrangement of the Ashram.

Now what has happened, you tell me. Who does Radhikaranjan have to face when he is called to leave his post. Manoj, Aartii di, Swadesh, Jhummur.  Isn’t this a thing like power in the family run business. What happened to the Ashram, what happened to the Divine manifestation in the physical, what happened to the International culture, what happened to heavenly atmosphere of love and flowers.

Once you entered the Ashram compound flowers and incense would be given to you most of the day so that you can offer them at the Samadhi along with your prayers.

Now ... ? You are showing loyalty to who? The one who made the Ashram or the one who is breaking it.

Let us continue to trust their wisdom

Dear Radhikaranjan,

     I fully believe that the report of your discussion with the School Committee is accurate. I have always appreciated your sincerity and hard work.

           On many public forums, I have strongly criticized Peter Heehs and his book. But have I ever written a single word against Manoj Das Gupta and the Ashram Trustees? They had lovingly taken care of you and me when we were young children, expecting nothing in return. Can we ever forget those past years?

     The Ashram Trustees are so much senior to us. Let us continue to trust their wisdom. You have made a terrible mistake in writing those unhealthy words against the Ashram Trustees. Please apologise unconditionally and resume your normal life. So that, your students  may continue to benefit from your teaching.

     Rest assured that I will never misguide you.

     With best wishes,

                        Your friend

                        Dr. Jitendra Sharma

Copy of my letter to the Forum A critique of the book "The Lives of Sri Aurobindo" by Peter Heehs

Marx and Nietzsche are strong influences on MacIntyre

Manoj Das Gupta Stops Dr. Radhikaranjan’s Classes — Sridharan from Critique of The Lives by General Editor

The latest victim of Manoj Das Gupta is Dr. Radhikaranjan Das, who teaches Sanskrit and Biology in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram School, Pondicherry. He is also a full-fledged Homeopathic doctor and has been successfully treating both Ashram and outside patients from the last twenty years…What the Sri Aurobindo Ashram needs now is basic justice, basic morality and minimum freedom of speech, which is unfortunately lacking despite all the inspiring words of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother the authorities keep quoting in order to defend their unjust actions.

Another attack by the would-be Sri Aurobindo? from auroleaks

Now, a generation later, a new group of people accuse the Trustees of the Ashram of being the traitors, and once again the aim is to turn Sri Aurobindo’s teachings into a religion, a thing of the past. Putting themselves forward as the priests of this religion, this group wants to control the thoughts and feelings of those who turn to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother for guidance, in order to gain power, position, and influence. Lately they have seized on a nationally and internationally acclaimed biography of Sri Aurobindo, conveniently (for them) written by a firangi Ashramite. By selectively misquoting, misattributing, misrepresenting, decontextualising, and distorting passages from the book, by filing court cases based on trumped-up charges and feeding misinformation to Government officials and the press, they forced the Trustees of the Ashram to come to the author’s defence. This enabled them to attack the Trustees for being complicit in an attempt to “denigrate” Sri Aurobindo and, by annexing Sri Aurobindo to the Indian religious traditions of the past, to frame them as co-conspirators in a universal plot by “Western supremacists” against “the age-old glorious culture and tradition of our Motherland”.

Comment on Amal Kiran and Prithwi Singh Nahar’s Interviews with the Mother about the Return of Sri Aurobindo. by s.subramanian from Comments for Overman Foundation by s. subramanian

in the present condition of the world there is no possibility of peace and harmony amongst the nations and also within each nation. every religion has become almost extremist. to solve this you need a world government overuling individual nations to have world government is not possible witout a supramental beeing in our midst. let us pray for such an event as early as possible so that the world turns into a divine life as evisaged by him

The Freedom of the Gnostic Being from Sri Aurobindo Studies May 21, 2012

Human nature, based in the Ignorance, has to address numerous conflicting impulses, each attempting to carry itself out in action despite opposition from some other part of the being. In order to try to rein in these impulses, moral standards, ethical rules, legal frameworks are set up. These systems of laws and social expectations are then used to more or less harmonise the individual’s action with the larger society’s needs. The call of the ego for freedom is illusory in that freedom is not to be found in setting one’s individuality in opposition to everyone or everything else. The gnostic being, acting from the knowledge and will of Divine Knowledge and Force, would automatically harmonise its action with the higher intention, and thus, there is no question of opposition, conflict or need for a moral, ethical or mental law or framework…

Spiritual freedom does not mean a prerogative or license for the expression or enjoyment on the part of the individual ego. It does not arrogate to itself the right to trample down all limits for the aggrandisement of the personality. Rather it is a higher law, not a lower law, and thus, the transcendence of ethical, moral or social standards of law is based on alignment and adherence to the higher law of Oneness and universal harmony in the expression of the Divine Intention.

Intellectual Conservatism by Nikunj February 28, 2011 | 11 Comments

The conservative mind must open again for Hindu Nationalism itself is an inheritor a reformist intellectual tradition, the 19th century Hindu reformist movement of Bengal. At the core of that tradition was a emphasis on social reform to create a basis for national re-generation. This national re-generation of India as a civilization has to be the sole focus of the Right. Religion has its place in this framework, yet it cannot be the cornerstone of it.

On innovation through conservatism from Love of All Wisdom by Amod Lele

Alasdair MacIntyre, whom I have already contrasted to Wilber on a related subject, is one example. For MacIntyre, modernity is a story of slow decline, one which makes the idea of ethical action increasingly meaningless. He is not a naïve Romantic; he knows we can’t go back. But he nevertheless rejects the modern secular liberal world and most of its presuppositions, and hopes to build a world more like the ones that preceded it. He works from a long background of studying post/modern figures like Marx and Nietzsche, who are strong influences in his own analysis... MacIntyre is scarcely alone in this. Writers at Front Porch Republic, like Patrick Deneen and James Matthew Wilson, have a sharply articulate grasp of the Western philosophical tradition from ancient times to the present, often holding PhDs in it (and their grasp of it usually strikes me as deeper than Wilber’s). But they express a Romantic rejection of much of the modern worldview, seeking to return us to a world of conservative traditional communities. Their anti-modernism and anti-postmodernism (the two are of a piece) is not naïve but sophisticated. What MacIntyre and the Front Porchers are doing is described very well by Randall Collins in The Sociology of Philosophies: it is innovation through conservatism. Their approach has a venerable pedigree in philosophy throughout the world, and it is one that I don’t think Wilber adequately recognizes. 

Deicide: This Time No Screw-Ups! from One Cʘsmos by Gagdad Bob

In his parable of the madman, Nietzsche implies that one must be both a little crazy and ahead of one's time to recognize that God is dead -- like a wild-eyed prophet, really, bearing the stark news that men are not yet prepared to accept: […] Again, Nietzsche is refreshingly candid, not to mention poetic, about the implications of deicide. I'll take a deicidal literary genius any day over an atheistic mediocrity, because at least the former points up in spite of himself.

The problem with our contemporary atheists is that they are shaped by an altogether different culture than was Nietzsche, essentially the cramped world of scientism instead of the wider world of art, letters, and literature. You might say that the styleless style of atheism that flows from vulgar scientism is just too facile to be true. With a little education, anyone can believe it, which our trolls prove.

Being a consistent atheist poses as much -- if not more -- of a challenge than being a consistent theist. After all, a theist has the aid of heaven, whereas the atheist must accomplish his promethean -- not to say sisyphean -- task on his own. (Interesting that no matter where man goes, myth has been there first, from stealing light to rolling stones. Myth always comprehends man more than man comprehends myth, unlike, say, science, where this relation is reversed.) … If it is true that myth shapes man -- that there exist preconceptual categories through which thought courses -- then each man is heir to the ontological inclinations of all men, irrespective of whether one calls it theism or atheism.

Thoughts on Immortality: From a Skeptical Philosopher Who Doesn’t Want to Be Decieved, But Sees Potential in Ibn Arabi, and Spacetime Smearing from Networkologies by chris

Anyone who’s studied basic neuroscience knows that human brains are “pattern completion” machines. When something is missing, we guess. When there are parts, we try to devise a whole. When there’s a tendency, we extrapolate.

God is the largest pattern of which our brains can conceive. God generally has all the perfections we can imagine, all combined, no matter the contradictions, on one notion. And   with pattern completing brains, it’s natural to see this in the world, as it’s necessary complement, because that’s the way our brains are made. Evolution, of course, made the brain this way, and this would lead us to believe that completing patterns, and perhaps even a belief in something like God, was somehow good for the survival and flourishing of our species. And perhaps still is. Certainly people seem happier when they believe in something like a God, for whatever that’s worth.

And yet, the very same brains now generally see something like God as irrational. We see no evidence for it, and the hankering for evidence produced the science which produced so much change in our physical worlds. Yet there is a sort of psychological efficacy to God. It impacts how people act, think, and feel. Certainly that is real, as real as a psychosomatic illness! But does that mean we should all just delude ourselves in believing in something we can’t see?

The same goes with notions of immortality, at least of the personal sort. No-one who believes in science can find any reason to support any notion of personal immortality… Ibn Arabi speaks of ecstasy as well as sadness in his erotic poetry, which is Sufism is frequently a way of discussing mystical experience. And it is, as Sells argues, precisely the ambiguity of reference, the fact that what is being discussed could be erotic love for a beloved, or for God, that gives the poetry its power. For in fact, it is the ambiguity that makes it creative, possible of more meanings. Bringing these meanings into the physical world is the only way to anchor them, just as reimagining the physical world is the only way to liberate it. This dialectic cuts both ways.

And so eternity is always present, even as every moment vanishes forever. Nirvana is samsara, and we need to learn to give up everything to gain it completely, and vice-versa. Dreaming can liberate matter, just as matter can anchor dreaming. And while dreaming is closer to eternity, and matter closer to passing away, humans always live between these. The more intensely we bring the dream into reality, the more we eternalize and materialize our dreams, and the more we dream about matter, the more we liberate it, eternalize it.

And this is why everything in the world is potentially holy, sacred, a site for the appearance of eternity, and it is our recreation, our dreaming, that can make it so. But we need to learn to give up our dreams to create new ones, to transform with them, or we become prisoners of them, we lose the link to eternity in the present, that which breaks our tie to craving and binding. This is why the eternity of the present comes at the cost of perpetual dying and rebirth.

Two towers of Europe and America David Brooks New York Times: Mon May 21 2012 Structures created to keep the worst of human nature in check are no longer working

Though the forms were different, the democracies in Europe and the US were based on a similar carefully balanced view of human nature: People are naturally selfish and need watching. But democratic self-government is possible because we’re smart enough to design structures to police that selfishness.

But, over the years, this balanced wisdom was lost. Leaders today do not believe their job is to restrain popular will. Their job is to flatter and satisfy it. A gigantic polling apparatus has developed to help leaders anticipate and respond to popular whims. Democratic politicians adopt the mindset of marketing executives…

Western democratic systems were based on a balance between self-doubt and self-confidence. They worked because there were structures that protected the voters from themselves and the rulers from themselves. Once people lost a sense of their own weakness, the self-doubt went away and the chastening structures were overwhelmed. This is one of the reasons why Europe and the US are facing debt crises and political dysfunction at the same time. People used to believe that human depravity was self-evident and democratic self-government was fragile. Now they think depravity is nonexistent and they take self-government for granted. Neither the US nor the European model will work again until we rediscover and acknowledge our own natural weaknesses and learn to police rather than lionise our impulses.

Dr. H.K. Mahatab ex-Chief Minister of Odisha was an original thinker

Sri Aurobindo Ashram Sri Aurobindo A Centenary Tribute, Section V - Sri Aurobindo's Impact on Oriya Literature

M. N. Sahoo (Paper presented at the Regional Seminar, Calcutta, June 1972.) 

Ramachandra inspired Valmiki, Sri Krishna inspired Vyasa, and in modern times Lenin, Gandhi and Sri Aurobindo too have inspired likewise many authors… Since long many sages and thinkers like Shankara, Ramanuja, Kabir and Chaitanya have come to Orissa to pay their homage to Lord Jagannatha the National Deity of Orissa, and they have also preached their ideologies here. The highly receptive mind of Orissa has been influenced by their philosophy. Buddhism, Jainism, Advaitism and Vaishnavism have influenced the ancient and medieval literature of Orissa. The Shunya Cult and Brahmoism have already been reflected in the 18th and 19th century literature. But one can see clearly that the tendency of Orissa's intellectual development, religious aspiration, or social outlook is to grow towards a more and more integral and spiritual consciousness rather than to stick to a narrow sectarian idea or to a fanatic ideology. It may be for this reason that the impact of Sri Aurobindo's integral philosophy has so widely and deeply spread out in Orissa within a few years. Oriyas are by nature very optimistic and more receptive to abstract ideas, and they are the people who strive to live always with brighter dreams and a pious imagination. Since a long time saintly poets like Achutananda, Yasobanta, Hadu and Bhima Bhoi have dreamt of Satyayuga that would very soon approach the earth. Their followers still cherish the faith that the Divine-Kingdom will soon be established on this earth which will then be the abode of truth, light, wisdom, peace and bliss…

    Well, this is no mere Utopia, for many people living in the Ashram and outside are experimenting with this system of Yoga to achieve the higher consciousness and transform their lower nature. Naturally, the writers in Orissa who were awaiting such an ideal have very warmly embraced it.

    Fifteen years ago, two or three people of Orissa felt an enchanting attraction for Sri Aurobindo: these were the late N. K. Dass a businessman, L. M. Ghose an ideal teacher, and Dr. H. K. Mahatab the then Chief Minister of Orissa and an original thinker and writer. Then Sri K. C. Pati (now Prapatti), a teacher of philosophy, came into contact with Sri Aurobindo's philosophy, accepted it as his life's ideal, left his State, and joined Sri Aurobindo Ashram. There he established the Navajyoti Karya-laya and published a first-rate magazine Navajyoti in the Oriya language with the assistance of Ramakrishna Das and Dr. Raghunath Pani. Prof. Manoj Das, an eminent young socialist poet, scholar and story-writer of Orissa, joined the Ashram with his wife Pratijna and brother-in-law Biswambhar Samant. They all worked together and published books and booklets in Oriya with original articles on Sri Aurobindo's literature and philosophy. Afterwards many intellectuals, poets, writers, and artists like Prof. Rajakisor Ray, Mrs. Nandini Satpathy and her husband Devendra Satpathy, Mr. Chittaranjan Das, Dr. Sudhakar Acharya, Mohapatra Nilamani Sahoo, Sri Nimai Mohapatra, Prof. Chandra Sekhar Rath, Ramanath Panda, Mrs. Vidyutprava, Prof. Hrudananda Ray and Prof. Pramod Kumar Mohanty and B. L. Pattnaik accepted Sri Aurobindo as their master, guide and philosopher, and with the leadership of Prof. Prapatti and Sri Ramakrishna Das, they made it a social cultural and spiritual movement throughout the State. Within these seven or eight years, nearly two thousand study circles are working all over the State in cities, towns and villages. Thousands of our people, common and uncommon, are in a way converted to this new way of life and are determined to change the social and individual consciousness to a higher order. They are engaged in their own way in Sri Aurobindo's Integral Yoga to make themselves ready for the progress of evolution towards a supramental stage.

     For the benefit of these awakened mass of readers, Navajyoti Karya-laya has published nearly forty books and more than fifty booklets in Oriya. Besides, regular journals and magazines like Navajyoti, Pathachakra Patra and Nava Prakash are published with original and translated articles of a very high standard. In Orissa different study circles also have published books, journals and souvenirs regularly each year at the time of their annual functions. Along with these, Satyasri edited by Biswambhar Samant and Ravi Padhi, the Oriya Aurovillian edited by Amar Singh and Mohapatra Nilamani Sahoo, and Ahil Vart Patrika edited by Moheswar, Bhim Singh and others are being published regularly from Orissa, and many philosophical, social, political and literary articles based on Sri Aurobindo's philosophy are being published there. Prof. Manoj Das is writing regularly in the Sunday Samaj under the heading of "Sandhan and Samikhya" articles on various subjects from the angle of Sri Aurobindo's thought. Likewise Dr. H. K. Mahatab, Prof. Prapatti, Dr. S. K. Acharya, Nimai Mohapatra and Mohapatra N. Sahoo are writing articles based upon Sri Aurobindo's philosophy in Prajatantra, Jhankar, Sarnanda and Samabesta, the literary magazines of Orissa.

     All the works of Sri Aurobindo are being translated in commemoration of his centenary under the guidance of Navajyoti Karyalaya. The Life Divine has been translated by the renowned essayist Sri Chitta-ranjan Das, Essays on the Gita by Lalitmohan Ghose and others, and Savitri the great epic by Nimai Mohapatra. Dramas written by the Mother and Sri Aurobindo are being translated by different authors, and enacted by Sri Biswajit Das and Mr. Gobind Tej the noted modern dramatists of Orissa.

    There is no doubt that Navajyoti Karyalaya through its publications has created a new phase in our literature by its fresh contents and expression. One can very well mark in these books a new trend in language and style to express completely a new thought process, feelings and realisations. Old words like Atimanasha, Adhimanasha, Aloka, Gativritti, Chetana, Virodhi Sakti, Nischetana, Rupantar, Deha, Prana, Mana, Chaitya Purusha, and numerous other words, old and new, have taken a new connotation in meaning and have acquired new intensity in essays, poems, stories and dramas. Our prolific writers and poets like Prof. Chandra Sekhar Rath, a story writer and essayist, and Sri Sitakanta Mohapatra, a noted poet and essayist, have been clearly influenced by Sri Aurobindo's philosophy in their essays and poems. In their writings we get a new way of analysing things and arriving at a new point of conclusion, and in their poems — particularly in the poems of Sitakanta Mohapatra — we get surely a freshness in idea, realisation and expression of a meditative mood, mostly oriented by Sri Aurobindo's philosophy of higher consciousness.

    Two of the most prolific story-tellers, like Prof. Manoj Das and Prof. Mohapatra Nilamani Sahoo, have already used new forms to express new materials in their stories. They have started to understand the incidents, situations and characters in the light of a completely new Aesthetic sense aroused in them by the Master. They have left the old way and their writings are remarkably distinguished from that of others in their form and spirit.

    In poetry, Ravi Padhi, Manoj Das, Jivan Pani, Bhagaban Naik Burma, Vidutprava and Pramod Mohanty have expressed new ideas and feelings with new types of images with a flavour of purity, freshness, and aspirant optimism in the line of Sri Aurobindo's aesthesis. Page-110

Mahatab said that Heehs' depiction of Sri Aurobindo was objectionable

BJP MP seeks cancellation of Heehs' visa Times of India TNN | May 20, 2012, 06.35AM IST NEW DELHI:

The controversy over a book written on Sri Aurobindo by American author Peter Heehs echoed afresh in Parliament this week, with BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahatab demanding that the visa granted to the writer be withdrawn.

Mahatab said that Heehs' depiction of Sri Aurobindo was objectionable as it presented a selective and distorted picture of the spiritual thinker based on the appraisals of his critics. Raising the issue during zero hour on Friday, the MP said the "blasphemous" book is part of a "malicious design to discredit and defame" thinkers of modern India.

Mahatab found the support of some members, including those from Trinamool Congress and Congress, and said there has been "widespread indignation" among devotees of Sri Aurobindo over the biography written by Heehs. The MP has said that author has chosen to ignore more balanced views on the thinker.

Heehs' visa was recently extended by a year after the controversy. The author is an inmate of Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Puducherry. Mahatab wondered as to how a person was granted a visa, despite repeated complaints against him. "We should stop such people from coming to the country," he added.

H Acharya May 16, 2012 8:15 PM

Very unfortunately, there are some people at Sri Aurobindo Ashram who have gone out of their way to extend direct and indirect support to this mischievous writer Peter. It is quite sad state of affairs that these persons are in position of power and privilege, to pressurise other saner persons with the lure of personal favour, and misuse the wealth of Ashram for this purpose. These betrayers of the mission of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother are no longer worthy for their position,and should quit forthwith. Peter problem does not look solvable, till such betrayers are in power. H Acharya May 7, 2012 9:22 PM

It is absolutely clear that Peter has completely wasted his 40 years as an inmate, in association with the Ashram and the archives. he could not learn or understand the very basic attitudes needed of a inmate and devotee. As a result, his perverted mind and the influence from his perverted and mischievous associates, along with unhindered and unchecked access to the classified records at the Archives, has created a new Asura in him, and expressed through his now infamous book. How would such a person understand [much less appreciate] the above attributes of a Guru? and the attitudes expected of a follower?

rajendram chackravartisri May 13, 2012 9:54 PM Major Gen has very aptly put forth the feelings of a large number of devotees of Sri Aurobindo. 

One gets a feeling that Peter Heehs has probably tried to put in sensational nonfacts for fast sale of the book. Since it is not available in India, he has very generously offered to bring up for local consumption in the country another book.
getting endorsemets from prominent names for his work, will in my opinion not save such a biased book from being consigned to the dustbin of history- the self styled historian probably wasted his best years in India sofar- to paint Sri Aurobindo in black.

The Achievements of the Aryan System from Mirror of Tomorrow by RY Deshpande

We have stated, as succinctly as is consistent with clearness, the main psychological principles on which the ancient Indians based their scheme of education. By the training of Brahmacharya they placed all the energy of which the system was capable and which could be spared from bodily functions, at the service of the brain. In [...]

The biographical in Savitri (1) from Savitri Posting date: 20 May 2012

The Lives of Sri Aurobindo published by the Columbia University Press two years ago declares Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri as a “fictional creation”. For its author it is not of any use from the point of view of it being a source-book for the biographical material. Let us briefly try to examine this statement taking into account some of the known facts we have about Sri Aurobindo’s spiritual life, specifically corresponding to his Calcutta years, 1905-10. Some of the aspects presented in Savitri can be directly correlated with the Yogi’s spiritual biography belonging to this period. We shall take a few illustrative particulars essentially belonging to the early part of his yoga-tapasya. 

Devotees of Sri Aurobindo await Divine Justice

Peter Heehs’ P.C. Sorcar acts amaze us

-Dr. Jitendra Sharma aurofrance@gmail.com

Like the magician P.C. Sorcar, Peter Heehs swishes his magic wand again and again to hypnotise masses the world over. The entire world seems to be under his magic spell. He seems to be the greatest scholar on Sri Aurobindo, alive and kicking on this planet earth. He has the magical power of making black appear as white. His sleights of tongue regale intellectuals and idiots alike. He has managed to win the favour of some eminent historians like Romila Thapar and Ramachandra Guha who shout from housetops that Peter Heehs, even without any academic qualification, is a historian. Despite his blasphemous book which is full of intentional historical distortions and venomous insinuations to discredit Sri Aurobindo, the Government of India has extended this Sorcar Junior’s visa by one more year. All devotees of Sri Aurobindo await the Divine Justice now. - Dr. Jitendra Sharma

Excerpts from the forthcoming book: The Mother of All Beings

-Aju Mukhopadhyay ajum24@yahoo.co.in

When she settled here in India she did everything for, spoke for and aspired for India. All her words though relate to many countries are specially meant for India and her people. She intensely loved India. Mother taught the children of all age groups. She discussed with the leaders, teachers and sadhaks, disciples and others. She gave talks on occasions, wrote innumerable letters and messages. Meeting the visitors and sending blessings to the people on various occasions comprised her routine work, besides her other duties. Sometimes such chores used to tax her health, particularly in the later years, when her body was failing. People not only prayed for but even demanded her presence. Sometimes under compelling circumstances she complied with their demands. She seldom refused. On most of the occasions she gladly met, blessed and gave them messages, when required. While many such letters, messages and talks were personal in nature and temporal in effect, many were universal in their appeal. They were national or international in their significance, as they came out of a divine consciousness. A few of her invaluable words are given below…

Mother had a great reverence for India; she had a great role to play in the future world-order, she believed. She greatly valued Sri Aurobindo’s ideas about India and allowed her thoughts to be shaped accordingly. Rather she worked to fulfil Sri Aurobindo’s vision about the future of India. Whenever the chance arose she sent her words to the Indian leaders to work for the unification of Mother India. The work could not be accomplished, in spite of the opportunities that had knocked at our door due to human weakness, she said later. A few of her messages and talks about India are given below…

This journey of finding what Mother said and what she meant is very lengthy and repetitious, labyrinthine. I have tried to bring home some common areas where “Mother Said” is quite popular. A nice example will make the point acute; “Do not trouble yourselves with what others do, I cannot repeat it to you too often. Do not judge, do not criticise, do not compare. That is not your lookout.” (1957) 21

If this were Mother’s dictum for all it would be a paradise for the looters and whimsical actors, a play ground for all wrong doers but fortunately the publisher of the volume 14, titled ‘Words of the Mother’(The Mother. Collected Works. Centenary Edition. 1978.) wrote in his Note, “The reader should note that most of these statements were written for individuals under particular circumstances and were not, at the time of writing, intended for general circulation.” Still this write up is often put up for general consumption.

After many years of her departure Mother has become a myth and superstition; Mother’s words, her smile, her Prasad are much in demand for multiple uses around her last abode and perhaps beyond. This is an effort to bring out what Mother actually said, what she intended her children to do, to become, to the extent possible, for deviations are part of life. She was Mother of love. She never refused anybody. She always smiled. Even when she was utterly busy, she received people, corresponded with a large number of them. Large number of people regularly met her in spite of her failing health, simply for the satisfaction of receiving her blessings, for a work or ritual, perhaps very personal and not so important generally. She could not refuse when people around her pushed them. Many received her Divine smile, flowers and other things during their sole visit to the Ashram. Many, who happened to be there, near her, received her smile, touch, blessings for days, months and years together, as the chance occurred during the days of her ministry.

Mother accommodated her children in many ways, giving relaxation to norms, showing special kindness to some out of benevolence. But perhaps she, only she, who knew the inner sides of everything and everyone, could do it. Let all those who received such bounty keep them as treasures in the special chambers of their hearts. But that might neither be due to any speciality of the recipients’ character nor their legitimate due but because they remained or occupied a physical nearness to her at that particular point of time. Wonderful was her world, from wonder she traveled to wonder. © Aju Mukhopadhyay, 2012

H Acharya 9:35 PM, May 04, 2012

Contrary to what you say, the real anti-ashram personalities now are Peter and trustees who choose to support that book, in complete dis-regard of the data-based resentment of thousands of devotees, disciples and ashramites. Are you not aware of the forceful suppression of individual opinion by the trustees in the recent history?

In that context, the belated stand taken by Sri Aurobindo Society as a respected body, is a sign of some sanity in the thinking of responsible people at Pondicherry, and this is widely acclaimed, in spite of your comments to the contrary. We request you to throw some light on the text of the letter by trustees on 14 April 2012 to secure an extension of Peter's visa.

3:33 PM, May 09, 2012 Like the SAS, H Acharya seems to believe that upholding the principles of bigotry, narrowness, censorship, etc., is being true to Sri Aurobindo. But it is not surprising if he chooses to dismiss the several (and increasing) positive reviews that Peter's book and work has been receiving both in India and the world.  Subrata

10:56 AM, May 19, 2012 Perhaps to be smarter enough PH not knowing his slavery to so-called mental objective analysis has only proved himself as a perfect prototype of ‘thinking animal’! He denying Sri Aurobindo who deals with evolution of consciousness proves his incapacity to fathom Sri Aurobindo the realised Master of supermind or gnosis as Upanishads depict? His shrewd plan to brainwash and blackmail readers must finally fail and the castle of cards he built with ‘Lives of Sri Aurobindo’ would collapse soon. --Someone

BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahatab demands cancellation of Heehs' visa

BJD MP for cancelling visa to US historian Business Standard Press Trust of India New Delhi May 18, 2012, 16:15

A strong plea was made by a BJD member in the Lok Sabha today for immediately cancelling the visa to controversial US historian Peter Heehs, accused by followers of Sri Aurobindo of depicting a distorted picture of the freedom fighter and spiritual leader.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Bhartruhari Mahatab said the "blasphemous" book written by Heehs has been part of a "malicious design to discredit and defame" thinkers of modern India. Mahatab, who was supported by some members including from Trinamool Congress and Congress, said there has been "widespread indignation" among devotees of Sri Aurobindo over his biography written by Heehs, which is "full of falsehoods".

Heehs, who is an inmate of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, had spent nearly four decades in India and had recently faced deportation from India. Recently his visa was extended by the Union Home Ministry by one more year from April 15. Mahatab wondered as to how a person was getting visa despite repeated complaints against him. "We should stop such people from coming to the country", he added.

Cancel Peter Heehs visa, says BJD MP Indian Express Express news service: New Delhi, Sat May 19 2012, 03:08 hrs

BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahatab Friday demanded cancellation of American historian Peter Heehs’s visa because his book The Lives of Sri Aurobindo was allegedly “full of defamatory language and falsehood”.

“This book depicts wrong and distorted facts on the life and character of Sri Aurobindo, which is clearly bhasphemous,” Mahatab said in Lok Sabha. “I would like the respective leaders of different political parties to think of the malicious design that is being created by certain mischievous western so-called writers. This book contains absurd, irrelevant, and self-made stories... and has caused widespread indignation amongst the devotees,” he said.

The Home Ministry extended the American author’s visa by a year in April.

The MP said the book was banned in India but it was in circulation in international stores and on the Internet. “Here is a case where there is a malicious design by certain writers in the West to deride our modern thinkers who brought about dramatic changes in 19th and 20th centuries. These writers have vilified Ramkrishna Paramhans, they have vilified Sri Aurobindo and Paramhans Yoganand,” he said.

Knowledge is given on a need-to-know basis

The false choice – reject or be annexed LINK (Part 1) by Govind on May 13, 2012 REJECT Indian spiritual tradition or be annexed by it. Mirror of Tomorrow: (part 2) here by Govind on May 15, 2012 It is clear that Mother Sri Aurobindo do not REJECT Indian spirituality but simply the giant errors that crept into it. Mirror of Tomorrow: 

It is only by getting rid of these “religious” things that these parasites can rightfully claim absolute freedom to abuse Sri Aurobindo and yet lord it over and lead a soft and comfortable life by feeding off the free grade A organic milk-fat flowing from His Ashram… Far worse and unforgivable is their blind, fanatical devotion to and fervent promotion of a point of view which renders Sri Aurobindo a total prisoner of history… This point of view delegitimizes and strongly disputes the Mother’s claim of Sri Aurobindo’s a-historicity…

In the immediate context of the current controversy over the TLOSA book it also reveals the nefarious modus operandi of the Heehsian propagandists. Not only do these purveyors of falsehood project their own prejudices and fears onto Mother Sri Aurobindo but they also project their own cardinal faults and failings onto their opponents. While they themselves are parasitical xenophobes, looking down on the land that has embraced them and detesting the spiritual tradition that is its living essence and its very life-blood, they coolly turn around and condemn their opponents as xenophobes. While they are the ones trying to annex Sri Aurobindo to their own ideological prejudices and phobias they will first take care to accuse their opponents of doing the same so that these will be shamed into silenced or at least discredited by others. Finally, to cover their own fundamentalist adherence to Heehs and his book, they will label all his critics as fundamentalists for their faithful adherence to Mother Sri Aurobindo.

Engaged in all-round betrayal of everything they verbally profess, projecting onto their opponents the crooked tendencies they themselves harbor, these promoters of Heehs and the servants of the Ashram Managing Trustee would exile its Soul from the Ashram and fill the remaining vacuum with a triumphant anti-divine Western materialist intellectualism and a one-man authoritarianism.

The genesis of Sri Aurobindo’s superman Posted on May 4, 2012 Sandeep 

It would be too onerous to discuss the precise details of the supramental transformation in this article. People who are exposed to the topic of supramental transformation inevitably ask the question: well, then when is this huge supramental change going to happen?  Certainly not in our lifetimes, in which case it doesn’t really matter.  There are a couple of occasions when I had to answer this question on this blog so I am going to reproduce the answers here. In this comment, I said:

“Such high-level questions are best left unanswered because they serve as a litmus test to separate wheat from chaff. Those who are discouraged by such questions tend to be unfit for Yogic practice. On the other hand, those who have received the inner call to practice Yoga will continue to stake the path irrespective of any doubts regarding current status, because they have realized that there is no other choice, since the phenomenal world cannot offer the joys that Yoga brings.

So you have to find the answer on your own through your yogic practice. And if you don’t practice, then the question doesn’t need to be answered, because if I give you an answer, it becomes dogma.” In another comment, I replied:

“I don’t spend any time speculating on such lofty questions regarding the supramental, mahapralaya, etc. Knowledge in the spiritual path is given on a need-to-know basis. When you are inwardly ready for something, the knowledge will be automatically disclosed to you in a vision.

Until then, one has to focus on bread-and-butter issues. One has to learn to live better by regulating food consumption and speech, sleeping well, extending the duration of mental silence, etc. When you reach a certain stable point in the spiritual path, your intuition awakens and automatically provides you with the answers to the questions as required.”

Sandeep says: May 6, 2012 at 5:11 pm Andrew Cohen also talks about evolutionary enlightenment. He was influenced by the teachings of Sri Aurobindo but never acknowledges that. Given the spread of esoteric knowledge in recent times, there are going to be many people who will voice the same ideas. It’s become difficult to disentangle who is what. The situation today is qualitatively different from about a hundred years ago when mass communication was not highly developed. We just have to stick to the teaching that makes sense and carry on with our lives. For me, Sri Aurobindo and the Mother are sufficient. …

This is ridiculous! Mahatma Gandhi was not even Enlightened and made several political miscalculations in his life. Anyway, the less said the better about the proliferation of these Gurus. I prefer to stick to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother! May 6, 2012 at 8:42 pm

mike says: May 13, 2012 at 6:48 pm Also, there are so many authors today writing about Spiritual things that they’ve never experienced. l don’t feel it’s right to do that, no matter how good the reason. 

sbicitizen: Message: Re: The Art of Growing up - 6 May 2009 Devinder Singh Gulati 

The controversy is reminiscent of the split in the Catholic Church, when the Broadway musical, Jesus Christ Superstar was made into a movie in 1973.

[…] Quoting DAVID BROOKS, Published: June 6, 2008 The new York Times. (See previous post.) Peter Heehs couldn't agree less. Soon after David Brooks published his column, Heehs found himself in the centre of a fierce controversy- in early September- after a review of his new book, The Lives of Sri Aurobindo appeared in the Auroville Times.

The Political Theology of Lincoln and Melville from An und für sich by Bruce Rosenstock

It’s hard to think of any historical moment that more deserves political theological reflection than the American Civil War, yet a very quick Google Scholar search turns up only one book (Mark Noll, The Civil War as a Theological Crisis) that uses the phrase “political theology” (once, in passing) in its discussion of the event. Why is the Civil War so richly deserving of entering the ranks of privileged political theological points of reference (along with Schmitt’s and Benjamin’s focus on the European Baroque with its doctrine of absolute sovereignty, or Agamben’s camp and the Musselman, or Hardt and Negri’s Empire, to name a few)? Consider the constellation of factors: the crisis of sovereignty, the friend-foe decision, the state of emergency, the status of the human reduced to bare life, and, not the least significant factor, the claim made by North and South to be waging a battle for the future of Christendom. 

Zwischen Humanität und Nationalität: Herder’s “Volk” and Ethnic Nationalism from Centre Right India by Jaideep Prabhu - May 12, 2012

I propose in this post, in opposition to recent scholarship, that Herder did indeed try to crystallise a “national form” that was constantly evolving. However, I concur with the latest research on Herder that there is no inclination of the desire to set up a political institution like the modern state in Herder’s thoughts. Therefore, to read Herder as a nationalist is perhaps accurate but to define that term (nationalist) in the manner many modern historians of nationalism have is blatantly wrong. Herder probably did not believe that nationalism as is understood by the majority of academics today was modern. Hence it is unlikely that Herder could be of his own volition the father of modern ethnic nationalism. It is Herder’s search for the eternal Geist that makes him a Romantic figure, delving into amorphous ideas and gefühl. This was perfect fodder for the monstrous distortions of Herder’s ideas by latter day nationalists.

A Tale of Love and Heartbreak from The Examined Life by Ravikiran Rao

I suppose the lesson has always stayed with me. It accounts for my cynicism over the Lok Pal and the concept of “Persons of unimpeachable integrity”… In general, I am sceptical of any solution that relies on people’s character rather than structures and incentives. 10:39 AM   

Holy war between Peter Heehs and Sraddhalu Ranade

The Christianity that changes is the one that dies from Love of All Wisdom by Amod Lele

He claims that “any premodern spirituality that does not come to terms with both modernity and postmodernity has no chance of survival in tomorrow’s world”. (IS p225) … Why Christianity Must Change Or Die. The implication of both Wilber and Spong on the topic is that only a post/modernist liberal or postliberal Christianity will be able to survive the coming decades and centuries, as post/modern ideas become more widespread through the world…

As far as I can tell, the spirituality that he preserves has to do primarily with meditative and mystical experiences… Modernity is a gain in many ways, but it is also a loss, and a loss that cannot be fixed merely with the mystical experience whose prominence is itself a modern phenomenon. Many of the things that most turn us moderns off about premodern tradition – its rigid restrictions on sexuality, its supernaturalism, its literal readings of sacred texts – are themselves the appeal for conservatives.

Book Review- The Lost Years of RSS Written by Sanjeev Kelkar, a RSS insider of more than 45 years, from Centre Right India by Shreyans Maini

Titled ‘The Lost Years of RSS’, the writers laments on the years RSS lost under the leadership of Guruji Golwalkar. According to the writer, the RSS morphed in to a secret brotherhood society under Guruji’s leadership. This manifested in terms of disdain for intellectual discourse, retreating from media interactions and a stubborn denial for division of organization on the basis of expertise. “There was no discussion, no spark of scholarship on any problem that beset the nation at the ground level.”

One might not agree with his ideological formulations  and organisational methods but under his stewardship RSS become one mind, one voice. Consolidation of a young organization, coming out of a ban, perhaps required that strategy

Nilanjana Roy ‏ @nilanjanaroy Tempting as it is to blame it all on politicians, a few thoughts on why we might want to widen the free speech debate: 

All political parties understand the benefits that accrue with being seen as the protector of Dalit rights (the Ambedkar cartoons), Muslim hurt sentiments (the Jaipur Satanic Verses readings), offended Hindu sentiments (the Shivaji-Laine book), and so far, these benefits have been tangible and have translated into actual or perceived gains in different vote banks. The fact that these separate instances have also actively encouraged any community, religious or caste-based or political, to claim offense as a means of getting attention or gaining much-needed clout, is not the point. Until there are tangible consequences for politicians, in terms of losing votes or support, there is no practical reason for them to support free speech rights—only ideological reasons. As the historian Romila Thapar suggests, we should investigate claims that religious or other sentiments have been hurt much more rigorously seeing who stands to benefit, before resorting to a book ban or a withdrawal of a book.

Nor can you blame politicians for wanting to use existing laws to shut down criticism of political parties, as Mamata Banerjee and Kapil Sibal have done in very different ways. Any closed group, given a choice between upholding abstract free speech rights and upholding its own interests, will choose the latter.

A concerned friend of Auroville on Fundamentalism’s two faces: the naïve and the power peddlers May 12, 2012 at 12:33 pm | #1

If you wanted “to clarify the facts” you would turn to an expert on religious violence like Mark Juergensmeyer. If you really want “to clarify the prevailing misinterpretations, to return to common sense and some kind of understanding and harmony, and prevent the insane and inflated rumors”, then the last thing you should do is to turn to the very source of the prevailing misinterpretations and insane and inflated rumors.

“The tendency to scape-goat an individual, without any willingness to listen to what he or she has to say, reminds us of the darkest periods of human history.” Indeed it does. But if ever an individual was scape-goated, it was Peter Heehs by Sraddhalu with the fawning support of his naive minions. Has Sraddhalu ever exhibited any willingness to listen to what Peter had to say? O sure, he has, but only to seize on his words, distort them beyond recognition, make them mean their very opposite or whatever suits his scheme. To understand people like him you should read The People of the Lieby psychiatrist M. Scott Peck…

This is what everyone wishing to gain such insight ought to have learned by now: Sraddhalu and his cohort want to codify the teaching of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, to issue Thou Shalts and Thou Shalt Nots, in brief, to turn it into a religion. Putting themselves forward as the priests of this religion, they aim to command the respect and power that goes with this rank. They want to control the thoughts and feelings of those who turn to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother for guidance in order to gain power, position, and influence. They are, in short, the power peddlers that we need to guard against, that we need to stop.

Their methods are as unscrupulous as their motives are sinister… These are exactly the sort of tactics the Sri Aurobindo Society used against some Aurovillians during the 1970s. Thankfully, most Aurovillians have learned their lesson, as the actions taken by the Working Committee show. But the Working Committee is elected, memories get shorter, and the past recedes. So, foreign Aurovillians, take heed: none of you are safe unless you buy into Sraddhalu’s rabidly anti-Western ideology.