Friday, February 17, 2012

Betrayal of the Guru


Then Kiran Poddar and Vijay were summoned once again for “clarifications”. The meeting went off very badly. They were shouted at and accused of many things. They were even asked why they did not stop the Dharna under the Balcony. Hot words were exchanged until finally Vijay had to tell the trustees that if it came to a showdown between the Mother and Sri Aurobindo on one side and the Trustees on the other, he would not hesitate to go against them. …
The Ashramites have a right to know what is going on and why this spirited support to a bigoted book written by a foreigner who takes pride in declaring that he is NOT a devotee.  Satisfactory answers are required very badly and urgently! Ranganath Raghavan

Frequently Asked Questions Regarding The Lives of Sri Aurobindo by Peter Heehs Q 1. Peter Heehs has written a “scholarly biography” of Sri Aurobindo intended “for the Western mind”. What is wrong with that?
There would be nothing wrong with that if the book was truly an honest and scholarly biography. Unfortunately it is full of misrepresentations and deliberate distortions regarding a) facts surrounding important events, b) their historical context, c) the teaching of Sri Aurobindo, d) the nature of his own yogic practices, e) life in the Ashram, and f) the Mother. Naturally these also lead to false interpretations and wrong conclusions. On reading the entire book, the pattern that emerges is that PH has distorted facts to force them to fit the Freudian view of spirituality.
Such a book cannot be accepted as “scholarly” since standards of scholarship demand honesty, accuracy and completeness in presenting facts. All three elements have been seriously compromised in this book.

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