Friday, August 30, 2013
Sri Aurobindo Ashram under judicial inquiry
Sri Aurobindo Ashram trust welcomed the Madras High Court's order appointing a retired judge of Kerala High Court to hold an inquiry into the allegations of harassment of women inmates besides misappropriation of funds by the trustees. "We are happy with this order. We are never afraid of facing any inquiry. We were concerned with the unfair and partisan manner in which the inquiry was sought to be conducted by the district collector," said a representative of the trust. ~By Bosco Dominique, Puducherry ToI
Monday, August 26, 2013
Democracy can rescue Sri Aurobindo Ashram
Redant3August 22, 2013 at 10:17 AM If the Trustees had nothing to fear or hide from an investigation as they claimed recently, why did they bring a stay in the High Court to stop the Pondy admin from probing their activities???
If the change cannot be brought about from within, then it has to come from outside, or by a combination of both methods, one helping the other. But sooner or later the change has to come! -Baikunth
Read also:
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Sri Aurobindo Ashram attacked
Peter Heehs @peterheehs - now Attack on Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry by stone-throwing crowd chanting slogans from 12.10 p.m. today. Situation still unclear.
PDK volunteers attack Aurobindo Ashram ... - Chennai Puducherry, Mar 21
Volunteers of the Thanthia Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (TPDK) today attacked the famous Sri Aurobindo Ashram here in connection with the Sri Lankan Tamils issue. The attack was said to be a sequel to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee reportedly supporting Sri Lanka in the Eelam Tamils issue. The vounteers, who took out a procession, barged into the Ashram and damaged the flower pots placed near the Aurobindo Samadhi and also ransacked the office and damaged the glass panes of the office. Meanwhile,Puducherry Dalit Sena General Secretary Sundar and a few others were arrested when they attempted to vandalise the Rajiv Gandhi statue.
A group of pro-Tamil activists today barged into the Aurobindo Ashram, damaged furniture and smashed ...
General EditorMarch 21, 2013 at 10:07 AM Anonymous Comment:
General EditorMarch 21, 2013 at 10:07 AM Anonymous Comment:
I would not be surprised if there is a similar fishy deal with Peter Heehs with the Ashram Trust because of which he gets such unstinting support from Manoj Das Gupta. There was already at one point of time a leaked email of Heehs about "Money Matters" going about on the Net. All this talk of neutrality and freedom of speech would be then merely a cover-up for a secret transfer of cash! There should be a thorough investigation of all foreign contributions to the Trust.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Science today preserves the feeling of the sacred
In the last century Sri Aurobindo wrote of our times in a style
similar to what we find in both the Old and New Testaments. In his short prose
piece, The Hour of God, written some time in the first quarter of
the last century, he gave a warning to nations to be prepared because the ‘hour
of the unexpected’ had arrived. It is timely to re-examine his piece in the
light of recent happenings. The Hour of God indicated that the
time of ‘fulfilment’ was near, but only after what Sri Aurobindo foresaw as a
possible apocalyptic upheaval. Indeed, the First and Second World Wars
justified his warning. Have we reached a similar turning point that requires the descent of a
Godhead in the form of the War God, as he is described in The Revelation as
well as the last Avatar of Vishnu?
India will become the spiritual leader of the world, as India’s Great
Sage, Sri Aurobindo, had predicted nearly a century ago: And one is
tempted to shout in the ears of all those “secular”, cynical, westernised,
Indians of today, the eternal mantra: Ah, we are coming back again full circle
to the wonder that WAS India, the India of the Vedas and the Upanishad, which
A.L. Basham, the best-selling author of “The Wonder That Was India”, criticised
as being militant and politically disunited. But the truth was that they were
united in their diversity, that it was much more democratic and allowed much
more freeplay and freedom, individually and collectively, than the India of today
allows. Let us again reread history, let us look at India , not through the Western
prism, but with the ancient wisdom that She has bestowed upon us.
But for that India has to succeed in her attempt to liberalise her
economy, it has to learn to decentralise the heavy hand of its Government in
Delhi, it has to rewrite its Constitution, which it adapted blindly from the
British, it has to re-indianise her education methods, reform her political
system, which has made a mockery of democracy… In one word, She has to become a
superpower on par with any western nation. Then, when She will have the respect
and the attention of the West, can Her message of spirituality and the ancient
wisdom of santanam dharma, once again shine forth and bring down a New World to this beleaguered planet, which is on the
brink of self-destruction. François Gautier fgautier26@gmail.com
Ph: 0413 2622209 / 9811118828 February 14, 2013
A cosmic vision as unveiled by science today preserves the feeling of
the sacred that we see in the scriptures of humanity but transcends the visions
of deities which claim to be creators and sole custodians of the ultimate
truth. Evolution shows us the value and wonder of life. The value of life we
see around us – the result of billions of years of organic evolution – provides
us with an ethics that compels us toward the preservation of nature and a
resource sharing that unites us across petty national barriers into one planet.
The codes of Hammurabi, Moses, Muhammed and Manu never achieved such wonderful
heights and spiritual depths as the codes which the vision of the web of life,
as revealed by science, compels us to live by for our survival as a species.
Perhaps it was there in our heritage too – as reflected in the traditions of
mother goddess which we inherited from our paleolithic ancestors, which
manifest in the words attributed to Chief Seattle.
Skanda - 2 days ago Idea of
evolution is not just "consistent" with Vedantic idea but is inherent
in Hindu knowledge. The sequence of Avataras as Sri Aurobindo notes is an
emphatic expression of evolution. The anti-evolution of ISKCON does not emerge
from veda pathasala either. ISKCON is Hinduism's abrahamic version in many ways.
Comment on Sri Aurobindo on Nationalism by Sandeep
Comment on What is wrong with promiscuity? by Sandeep
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Damaru signifies dissolution and creation
The Trust Board of the Ashram Trust is scrambling for damage control
following the conscientious resignation of the senior-most Trustee of the
Ashram, Albert Patel.
At first the Trustees begged Albert-da not to resign. When they found
him adamant, Manoj Das Gupta, the Managing Trustee, put great pressure on him
to sign a second letter of resignation where he would declare his resignation
on grounds of “loss of memory and ill-health”. This is a dangerous trick that
he has played with others earlier, but which everyone sees through now. Failing
all these options, Manoj Das Gupta has now ordered his men to spread the word
that Albert-da is resigning only in March and not before.
Meanwhile the Trustees are in a desperate search to find a suitable
successor. But this is not an easy task any more. To begin with, any successor
must be someone who will swear personal loyalty to Manoj Das Gupta as against
Sri Aurobindo. Some of the names being discussed include Vishweshwar, Chitra
Sen and Swadesh Chatterjee who have for long proved their personal loyalties.
But the thinking within the Board is to try for a better public profile to
soften the widespread criticism.
Two names are being discussed openly: Jhumur Bhattacharya who has been
one of Manoj Das Gupta’s preferred girl-friends from his young days at theatre,
and whom he has been steadily promoting first as a spiritual figurehead and
later as head of the Ashram’s college and its alumni journal, and now as keeper
of the Mother’s room. But the dark horse is Meera Gupta whom he had earlier
assigned as head of the Ashram’s book distribution agency, and who was recently
working overtime organising the Ashram-wide signature campaign to garner
support to save the Trustees from going to jail. But therein lies the rub.
Although there are enough people waiting to serve the Trustees in their abuse
of Sri Aurobindo, none of them is keen to go to jail with them!
Vishweshwar and Chitra Sen are already telling all those who care to
ask that they are too old to take up such responsibilities. Swadesh, it is
felt, does not bring any value to the Trust Board. Jhumur Bhattacharya is
excusing herself saying she already has too many responsibilities. Meera Gupta
alone has kept a strategic silence. When asked of her chances of becoming a
Trustee, she merely said, “It is for them to decide.” But she did not appear
too enthusiastic. After all selling one’s conscience is easier than going to
jail for life. Albert-da may well turn out to be smartest of them all.
The Supramental Action (The World, India, Ashram and the
Individual) from At the Feet of The Mother Tuesday, 15th January 2013 at
Hall of Harmony, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, India. Duration: 39 Minutes
Articles
in Professional Journals and Books Peter Heehs is an independent scholar
based in India .
He has written or edited nine books and published more than fifty
articles. 2011. “The Kabbalah, the Philosophie Cosmique, and
the Integral Yoga: A Study in Cross-Cultural Influence”. Aries 11:2
(September): 219-247 (Pdf file
available here).
Some of these scholars have made strong claims about influence of Max Theon
and his wife on Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. In their history of the H.B. of
L., Godwin, Chanel and Deveney write that Aurobindo and the Mother ‘were very
largely inspired by Theon and his wife’. In his dissertation, Chanel goes
farther: Sri Aurobindo and the Mother ‘may from many points of view be looked
on as disciples of the Theons or in any case as continuers of their work’. In
another passage Chanel suggests that the Theons have been denied due
recognition by Aurobindo’s followers: The Philosophie Cosmique, he asserts,
‘constitutes one of the essential sources of the teachings of [Aurobindo’s]
ashram in Pondicherry, even though this fact is, or was, generally little known
or eclipsed’.
What I have written in the preceding sections should be enough to show
that these claims are exaggerated. Theon had a good deal of influence on the Mother
for three or four years, but he had no direct influence on Aurobindo. Whatever
indirect influence he had on him was minor, being confined for the most part to
terminology. The Mother may have considered herself a ‘disciple’ of the Theons
at some point, but the relationship between her and them was just one of
several relationships she had with spiritual-occult figures before she met
Aurobindo. She carried over many ideas from the Theons into her collaboration
with Aurobindo, but their work together could hardly be called a continuation
of the work of the Theons, about whom Aurobindo had no direct knowledge. All in
all, the parallels between the Philosophie Cosmique and Aurobindo’s philosophy
are interesting but relatively unimportant compared to the enormous influence of
the Vedantic tradition of India ,
which Aurobindo fully acknowledged.
Chanel also notes that it is through the Integral Yoga of Sri
Aurobindo ‘that the work of the Theons, that is, the Philosophie Cosmique, is
present, though unbeknownst to many, in the world today’. This is true, and it
draws attention to what might be called the “multinational” side of the
transmission of esoteric knowledge. The Philosophie Cosmique, based in large
measure on a form of the kabbalah that took shape in what is now Israel , was developed in France and Algeria during the early twentieth
century, but now is scarcely remembered in any of these places. Elements of
this teaching are present in the Integral Yoga, a system of thought based
largely on the Upanishads that was elaborated in India by an English-educated
Bengali and a Frenchwoman of Sephardic extraction. This system of yoga is
followed by tens of thousands of people in India ,
and many hundreds in Europe and North America .
Thus elements of an esoteric teaching made a journey from mediaeval Spain to Palestine
and then back to Europe, where they were repackaged for dissemination in France . From France they were taken to India , and from India they have begun to make their
way back to the West.
Matrimandir
looks like a slightly flattened golden golf ball, sitting on a squat tee,
waiting for Krishna to putt it into outer space - Pilgrimage
Through India, Installment 1 Jun 18 2008
Almost every day we went for sadhana meditation in the ashram, which
offered a contrast to the brassy worship of the gods in the various temples.
Each late afternoon, pilgrims and locals line up to approach the white marble
tombs of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo and kneel in prayer, their arms extended
over the tightly woven tapestries of flowers adorning the saints’ resting
place, and then silently arrange themselves to practice unity in consciousness
beneath the spreading limbs of the emerald green jacaranda tree that shelters
the courtyard. Like the sand paintings of the Tibetans, the flowers on the
tombs are a graceful expression of beauty and impermanence which reappear in a
new design each day.
There we will leave you, then: standing, hands folded and head slightly bowed, before the tomb ofPondicherry ’s
premier saints. Until next time, we send you our love from Mother India , Robert
and Susana 8:35 am Thursday 19 June 2008
There we will leave you, then: standing, hands folded and head slightly bowed, before the tomb of
Monday, January 7, 2013
A representative system for selection of trustees with restricted tenure
Enough of Falsehood – Ashram Trustee resigns! from Critique of The Lives Jan 7, 2013 This morning saw
high drama in the Board of Trustees of the Ashram Trust…
Overwhelmed by the circumstances and under pressure of his own
conscience, this morning Albert Patel, the senior-most Trustee of the Ashram
Trust, submitted his resignation to the Trust Board, and walked away from the
Board meeting. RYD - January
7, 2013 9:07 PM Congratulations, Albert-da!
We thank you for the letter dated 21-6-10 containing the reply to our
questions…
15. You have mentioned that the Trust Deed is a sacred document
and that you are humbly discharging your duties in letter and spirit. We are
sorry to say that we do not agree with you on this issue. Your actions and
conduct in the last 20 years or so are not in keeping with this. On the
contrary you are using the Trust Deed as an instrument to keep absolute power
in your hands without any accountability.
16. The present situation in the Ashram is very disturbing and
precarious. The discontent among Ashramites with the Trust management is very
wide-spread and many among them may resort to inviting outside intervention. It
is quite possible that government intervention may occur. This would certainly
not be desirable.
Keeping this in view, we would request you to please act with
responsibility and understanding. Apart from the demands already made by
Pranabda regarding Peter Heehs, we request you to initiate the changes needed
in the Trust Deed, which having been drafted more than half a century ago, is
not fully relevant to our present conditions. The changes suggested are as
follows:
a) Restrict the tenure of office for trustees
to a fixed limited period.
b) Set up a legal mechanism for the selection
of trustees, based on a representative system.
c) Ensure transparency and accountability
in the administration of the Ashram.
If these suggestions are accepted, a dialogue could be started between
you and a selection of senior sadhaks of the Ashram.
This process will pre-empt all possibility of government intervention.
But if these suggestions are not accepted, the consequences may be very serious
for the future existence of the Ashram. It would be best to solve the present
problems within the Ashram community itself. If we fail to do this, there are
dark days ahead for us. Kittu Reddy Ranganath Raghavan Sumita Kandpal. Posted
by General Editor at 1/06/2013 11:43:00 AM
Ned used to blog as spiritofnow initially. She was writing about her
personal concerns occasionally referring to The Mother & Sri Aurobindo
before she formally launched The Stumbling Mystic with more or less similar
content and style. Ned (Nehdia Sameen) passed away on June 15, 2012. http://rainbowther.blogspot.in/search?q=ned
Office
bearers of Sri Aurobindo Society should quit Ashram
Machiavelli decoupled power from faith and Montesquieu pleaded for
separation of powers. Adam Smith sought to keep commerce free from all
encumbrances.
Ambivalence
mires Sri Aurobindo Ambivalence pertaining to Sri Aurobindo in the public
mind persists for a plethora of reasons. Bengal renaissance
is a lengthy and complex subject
The
Mother & Sri Aurobindo: 1893 – 1973 Sri Aurobindo returned to India in
1893 and this is the 120th year. The Mother passed away in 1973
and that is 40 years back.
Ashram
doesn't own the teachings of Sri Aurobindo Numerically,
the members of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Puducherry are a miniscule among the
devotees of The Mother & Sri Aurobindo
The
sovereignty of The Mother & Sri Aurobindo The Mother & Sri
Aurobindo are Supreme Divine. Savitri Era of those who adore, Om Sri
Aurobindo & The Mother. There is no further scope to argue about this
Purity
and prosperity The tag, “a realised
person” has a great value in India
A
case for Integral Education Religion is a
collective affair with a liberal sprinkling of festivals. Celebrations,
obviously, are happy and colourful occasions
Savitri
Era entering the tent Mike is right. “Just
put up some pictures of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother in your house” and
that’s the first ritual. But wait! Reverse the order
Heehs
can easily say to err is human “The intersection of religion and
nationalism remains an unresolved issue,” wrote Mohanty in Sri
Aurobindo: A Contemporary Reader (Rutledge: 2008 & Rimina’s
first assignment)
Sri
Aurobindo advocates a religious ethos for nationalism Tweets 23 Dec - @satyamevajayate Reciting Savitri and
reading The Life Divine by Sri Aurobindo is perhaps the best
means for spreading sanity and harmony. 23 Dec - Savitri Era Party @SavitriEraParty May the
youth of my country follow the words of The Mother & Sri Aurobindo instead
of chasing quick-fix solutions in Rajpath and India Gate.
Savitri
Era Religious Fraternity It appears that I am the only one so far in favour
of Savitri Era Religion. Founding
a new religion is not an easy task RC is right in catching discrepancies in
The Mother's utterances, but he must understand the balancing act she had to
perform in the face of multi-pronged resistances.
No
online evaluation of experiences But how all the Heehs’ hounds so uniformly
accede to Das Gupta’s divine right to rule for ever is something beyond
comprehension.
Auroville
is sinking into paranoia of insecurity and aloofness The Mother & Sri
Aurobindo, in their role in history, stand for human unity… Appointment of an
Odia trustee is being resisted tooth and nail.
The
Mother & Sri Aurobindo infuse a thought revolution Tweets 1h - Savitri Era Party @SavitriEraParty The
Mother & Sri Aurobindo have inaugurated a new epoch to break free from the
shackles of the past and its prohibitions.
Integral
Yoga is no uniform potion But non-linear Integral Yoga Ontology and its
spiral evolution paradigm is more prone to post-modernist rapprochement with
tentativeness, contingency, and uncertainty of interpretation.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)