Bodhi Sattva’s Hindutva: Part 5 from Centre Right India by Aravindan Neelakandan
In
his seminal but incomplete work, “Buddha or Karl Marx” Dr. Ambedkar had made a
comparison between Marxism and Buddhist Indic philosophy with Parliamentary
democracy as an important factor of distinction:
“Man
must grow materially as well as spiritually. Society has been aiming to lay a
new foundation was summarised by the French Revolution in three words,
Fraternity, Liberty
We
welcome the Russian Revolution because it aims to produce equality. But it
cannot be too much emphasised that in producing equality society cannot afford
to sacrifice fraternity or liberty. Equality will be of no value without
fraternity or liberty. It seems that the three can coexist only if one follows
the way of the Buddha.”[xv]
Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, Writings and Speeches, Vol-3, Education Dept.,
Govt. of Maharashtra, pp.452- 462
Living in an illiberal Indian Society from AV's politics by A. V. Satish Chandra
The
contradiction here is that the sacred is invoked in order to perpetuate most
unsacred and politically divisive agendas. However, what concerns me here
is the fact that this tendency of illiberalism is growing and restricting the
freedoms and autonomy that various people are entitled to constitutionally and
civilisationally. An illiberal society that is tending to become fascist
is also uncivil and unconstitutional apart from being an affront on the
sensibilities of rational and sensible people. While it is not really possible
to predict the exact consequences of this illiberalism, what can definitely be
prognosticated is a society and nation that will be increasingly burdened with
violence and lack of peace.
I
will now conclude this piece by grinding one of my favourite axes. People who
designate themselves as intellectuals and teaching professionals talk of the
ills of Indian society as being a result of liberalism. In doing so they
are unwittingly strengthening the hands of the conservative fascists who use the
idea of liberalism as being an enemy of the people.
Apology And
Clarification Regarding My Article 'Why Gave up on "Social Activism'' By Yoginder Sikand
Yoginder Sikand's apology and clarification
regarding his article 21 April, 2012 Countercurrents.org Dear Friends, This
is with regard to an article that I recently wrote titled 'Why I Gave up on "Social Activisim"'. A number of
friends and others were upset about the article, and hence I decided that I
needed to write this note.
To
begin with, I have to say that I am open to my mistakes being pointed out, for
which I am grateful, for otherwise how will I know where I'm wrong? I do need
to know this so that I am able to correct and improve myself.
I
have to clarify that I did not seek to generalise about all activists, and a
careful reading of the article will indicate this. I was talking essentially of
folks who, wittingly or unwittingly, were making a living out of 'activism' and
actually doing little for the people in whose names they spoke--and I have said
I was doing quite the same in my own way (Surely, not everyone was doing that,
of course, and I didn't claim this either). In making this point, I was trying
to suggest that this was doing nothing much good for the poor people in whose
names these folks were making money and careers for themselves. Obviously, all
of this made the task of genuine activists even more difficult and had made it
easy for their critics (Hindutvawalas etc.) to brand all forms of activism as
tainted and to question the credentials of all activists as such. However, if
what I wrote can possibly be construed as de-legitimising activism altogether,
I have to apologise because this is not what I really intended.
Secondly,
I didn't mean to downplay or ignore or minimize the reality of social
oppression, in the form of imperialism, Hindutva fascism and
caste/class/religious oppression and so on, and especially the sort of
discrimination that caste/religious minorities face. I didn't intend to blame
the victims for their own oppression, though I now realise and agree with some
friends that the article could possibly be misinterpreted by others to suggest
this. Let me clarify that I do recognise such forms of oppression as very real.
And I certainly didnt mean to suggest that there was no need to meaningfully
work against such forms of oppression. If what I have written seems to suggest
anything to the contrary, I am honestly and truly sorry. I would be very sad if
this article were seen as a means to legitimise oppression in any form.
I
also have to say that I didn't intend to equate minority and majority
communalism, or caste assertion by Dalits with caste oppression by 'upper'
caste Hindus, but if that is what some people can interpret the article as
suggesting, I really and sincerely apologise for the mistake. I
have to thank folks who faulted my article for indicating to me where I had
gone wrong, and once again say I am sorry for any mistakes I might have made,
such as I've outlined above. With love, yoginder sikand
Beware of religion
from auroleaks by auroleaks - We
find it useful to republish here this article by Carel from the October 2003 issue of Auroville
Today.
“Have
we, the editors, become Indianised? For none of our Indian readers raised a
concern and perhaps not even an eyebrow as living with images of gods and
goddesses or of swamis and yogis is such a daily occurrence. In the West,
however, it is different. It is a common experience for all those who endeavour
to raise funds for Auroville’s projects that one has to be careful in
describing the city’s spiritual aims. Funding agencies, particularly Western
funding agencies, take a somewhat jaundiced view of anything that might appear
a cult. So do income tax authorities in some countries. A few years ago,
Auroville International Germany successfully defended in court that Auroville
is not a sect, in order not to lose the income tax exemption German donors
enjoy for donations to Auroville projects.”
It
is the objective historian who will define the yoga for us. Nay he will
redefine it, even improving upon what Sri Aurobindo and the Mother revealed. We
are fools who have been poring our hearts and soul over Their writings, reading
them without context with our poor knowledge of English and our emotional
brains. That is not how we need to read and understand. It is Peter who will
provide the context…
Oh
yes and coming to originality of ideas, Sri Aurobindo borrowed the ideas of
Western thinkers and expanded them into the Life Divine and the Human Cycle. In
poetry He ‘could do nothing better than imitate’ some already outdated Western
models though ironically and mistakenly He called it Future poetry. But that is
excusable since He did not know what is coming in the Future just as He ‘did
not anticipate the advances in molecular biology and used metaphors such as the
Idea of the tree is in the seed’ that we foolish Indians interpret as some
great fundamental truth. There is no idea out there, only genes.
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