Savitri Era Open Forum: Hidden distortions and deconstruction

Spiritual Distortions – All Life is Yoga! – by Baikunth

There is a need to define at present what is not the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, more perhaps than the need to define what it is. Of course, the two functions are interdependent and cannot be dealt in an exclusive manner, for one often defines something by what it is not. But the mere positive definition leaves out the hidden distortions which you only come to know after a long period of gestation, and not in a one-hour lecture on the Integral Yoga, however inspiring it may be. There have been in the past, and there still are a number of brilliant speakers who mostly fulfil their role in the positive definition of the Yoga and philosophy of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, but very few as yet have sufficiently dwelt on its negative definition, by which I mean explaining elaborately what it is not.

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General EditorJanuary 28, 2013 at 9:27 AM

Comment by Tusar Mohapatra (Savitri Era Forum):

Unshelling the Ashram

A basic element of any self-appraisal is to focus on weaknesses and threats. The present goings on in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Puducherry has facilitated informed delineation of limitations and inadequacies experienced by the inmates while pursuing a life of aspiration and Yoga. It means mere provision of outward necessities of life is not enough, or in other words, it actually comes at a very high cost as one needs to mortgage not only his intelligence but also the conscience to please the Management.

Another feature of the Ashram is it’s like living in a huge joint family. The personal history of too many people constitutes an unnecessary burden on the memory of any one individual. The security and vitality of collective living thus comes at a substantial price. Merger of the home and work environment is certainly not a happy situation as unsavory feelings seamlessly run. To be in relationship with such a large number of people also gives rise to excessive attachments or deceptive benevolence.

Since Integral Yoga defies standardization and any form of evaluation, the Pracharak system of the RSS seems to be a feasible option. Inmates can be sent outside for a certain period of the year so that they periodically brush up their knowledge while interacting with the people. Chasing targets also can expand their creative abilities as well as the protagonist spirit. On the whole, a more proactive role of the Ashram in engaging with the outside world is a must.

The Kabbalah and other Traditions

Many of the ideas and themes of the Lurianic Kabbalah are also present in systems of thought (Indian philosophy, Platonism,Gnosticism) that, according to many scholars, antedate the Kabbalah, and (at least in the case of Platonism and Gnosticism two) seem to have impacted upon the development of Jewish mysticism. The Kabbalah, however, is unique in its position in the history of western thought, acting as it were as a "switching station" in which the biblical tradition, oriental mysticism and western philosophy converge. In the Kabbalah of Isaac Luria these traditions combine with Luria's profound spiritual insight and intense mythical imagination to produce a comprehensive philosophical and psychological vision of the nature of God and humankind that was only imperfectly represented in the prior traditions.

Of equal significance, however, is the relationship between the Kabbalah and more modern systems of thought and practice. The Kabbalists had a profound impact upon such Christian mystics as Jakob Boehme, and through them, on the German romantic philosophers, Schelling and Hegel. The basic metaphors of the Lurianic Kabbalah are psychologized in Freud, and Jung. Jung, whose psychology is in large part derived from a meditation on the spiritual aspects of alchemy, was greatly influenced by the Kabbalah, and can be said to have extracted the Kabbalistic "gold" that lay buried in the alchemist's arcane formulae for the transmutation of metals. Finally, Jacques Derrida, the founder of deconstruction, explores many themes that are quite reminiscent of Kabbalistic ideas. These include Derrida's notions of "difference" and the "trace," which have much in common with, and are llluminative of, the Lurianic symbols of Ein-sof and Tzimtzum, as well as the notion of "deconstruction" itself, which can be understood as a contemporary interpretation of the Lurianic "Breaking of the Vessels."