The Mother’s work is not a chimera, nor a utopia

The following is the introductory text to the exhibition of photographs I took in 1983: “Sadhaks of Integral Yoga – Sri Aurobindo Ashram”, displayed at Pitanga, Auroville, February 14 – March 3, 2012. Monday to Saturday 8-12.30 and 2 – 6 pm. Closed on Sundays, and on 28th February.

SADHAKS AT THE SRI AUROBINDO ASHRAM, ‘PARADISE ON EARTH’

Italy, June 1973. I meet my mime teacher, whom I had not seen for ten years, in a park. He tells me about a theatre actress who is just back from India. When, alone, I sit on a bench gazing at a large tree, I lose consciousness of my surroundings for one and half hours. A few days later, I meet the actress. She shows me a small photograph of Sri Aurobindo, taken shortly before his passing; I see God. She tells me about Sri Aurobindo, ‘the revolutionary’, and other things. Here is the answer I was always looking for.

December 1973, Sri Aurobindo Ashram. I address in French a young Indian woman standing at the gate. She replies in French and takes me to the inner courtyard, the location of the ‘samadhi’, a white marble memorial where Sri Aurobindo’s and Mother’s bodies are laid to rest. Upon seeing the sacred shrine covered with flowers, along with all the people clad in white, who appear to me like angels, tears roll down my cheeks. I feel that I have returned home, finding the way back to realms I had visited as a child, and then lost. Vainly had I tried to pierce through the veil to that world again; but the more I tried, the more it kept eluding me, like a distant dream.

The following day the young woman – who happens to be the granddaughter of the late Rishabchand^[1] – takes me to her home, where she lived with her younger sister and her aunt. At the age of three she was presented to the Mother and, unable to separate from her, she refused to return to her prosperous family in Calcutta. So the Mother confided the child to her aunt, a yogini who spent eight hours a day for twenty-eight years, until 1962, in the Mother’s room at Her service. During those years there was, as yet, no kindergarten at the Ashram; so, following her auntie about, Mounnou also spent her days in the Mother’s room. The young woman who, as a child, sat on Champaklal’s lap, while playing with his beard, became my first friend there – and her aunt, one of the Mother’s attendant, my second. I was subsequently introduced to the world of the early sadhaks of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, paraphrasing the words of Nolinida^[2], “paradise on earth”.

These relationships were my gateway to that other world, the Sri Aurobindo Ashram of the golden years, which was under the direct guidance of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, who were charting the path to the Supermind and a unitary world of free multiplicity. But let’s never forget that at the same time Nirod, the prankster, graciously entertained Sri Aurobindo on a variety of subjects and, with both of them cracking jokes, everything turned into laughter. The Divine is humour too; it is an important aspect of Grace. There are no words to describe the way I felt, as I was privy to secret teachings not through words, but by example and radiance of being, which I received from each and all of them. I never felt lonely or abandoned as, for me, the Guru was there, in them, through them, immortal.

Guru, father, mother, spouse, child and revolutionary companion, Sri Aurobindo was everything for me, the beginning and end of my universe. I pursued my path my own way, spontaneously, shunning those giving advices and ludicrously posing as teachers: the Guru is within, in the sanctuary of one’s heart, and there is no other teaching. I was forced to build a barrier to prevent the intrusion of blabbering parrot-like people with their endless chant, “Mother told me this, Mother told me that.” The consequence of the inner violence perpetrated by such individuals was that, for the first one and half years, I could not open to the Mother. I recognized two opposite worlds: that of the early sadhaks, for whom everything was divine, and their atmosphere in which I bathed, where only Love exists, and Love and more Love, the world of pure psychic beings – and that of the others’, a lifeless, dull parody of what cannot be taught. Nor did the sadhaks take offence when told that I was unable to accept the Mother because of the others’ idle chatter. My bond with Sri Aurobindo was such that the Mother’s attendant, her family and others in their special milieu kept on laughing, while telling me, “One day you will remember her.” And when that day actually came, I fell on my knees. But I will never forget the loving compassion and liberalism of those early sadhaks, who accepted me as I was: a young married Italian woman, but who came alone, as yet without a clue on the nature and significance of the Avatar and, on top of that, even refusing the Mother! They simply kept on cheerfully laughing at my foolish resistance and that was it.

With the special permission of the Ashram Trust I was allowed to live for a few months with J. K. K., the Mother’s attendant, in the house allotted to her. The Mother had come there three times and sat on her bed, to stop the young woman with a fiery character from leaving the Ashram. Two younger sadhikas shared my friend’s house with her; in the past, up to six female ashramites had been living there, sharing the kitchen and common exterior bathroom. Experiencing the life of early ashramites from close up gave me a hint of how their sadhana proceeded, in a path that makes no distinction between the inner and outer life, both being mutually interdependent. In Their yoga, perfection through purnayoga is to be attained in one’s daily work and living, at every instant, as a perpetual offering to the Divine of one’s thoughts, feelings and deeds. When J. K. K. came in the thirties she was only eighteen, and the Mother almost immediately chose her as one of her attendants. The way she had come was special too. The Ashram, then, had only a hundred and twenty inmates, living in basic facilities and having no contacts with the external world, and there were no new admissions. Consequently, few people were appointed to deal with eventual visitors. The Mother dealt with each case individually, with her assignments and accommodations differing according to the inner needs and development of the disciple. The Ashram had so little money, those days, that tea was served only once a day; once a week the ashramites cued like little children to get a mint candy that the Mother put in their mouth.

Day in and day out, year in and year out, mostly at teatime, J. K. K. told me precious details about the Mother and her surroundings. Though afterwards her family lost its wealth, the Mother had been brought up a distinguished lady with a superior education. Both intellectually and artistically she was at the cultural summit of being. Yet, my friend informed me how careful the Mother was with the humblest things, which moved me to tears. The lingerie the Mother wore under her exquisite external vestments, given to her by loving disciples, was carefully mended when necessary. She did not discard one single object; even ordinary boxes and scraps of paper were reused. My sadhika friend dealt in the same way with her own clothes and objects, treating them as old friends. For decades after the Mother left the body, J. K. K.’s sadhana continued to involve wiping every object down to the tiniest in the Mother’s old room, which is adjacent to Sri Aurobindo’s.^[3]

I started extensively reading Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s books, publishing long compilations in book-form from their works, only when I moved to Auroville. Bathing in the atmosphere of the early sadhaks, as long as I lived in Pondicherry the Mother’s Prayers and Meditations and Sri Aurobindo’s Last Poems were all I longed for. My sadhana proceeded according to my experience, as a humble initiate, of the spiritual significance the Mother had given to flowers, which she saw as a powerful tool to trigger the emergence of the psychic being. Inwardly integrating the message of some of the flowers, artistically displayed in the shape of a mandala on the samadhi, I got the message for the day. The first year I did not even ride a bicycle, I only walked, as every flower or blade of grass, every spot on the walls or sidewalks was a source of wonder and delight. By repeating the same act every day, at the same time, in the presence of the same people, I gradually understood what the path of Integral Yoga is all about: day-to-day methodical routine fully concentrated on the Divine. The sadhaka is alone with the Divine, with no other guru but one’s psychic being. Meditation or other practices, even states of samadhi, are no more than optional, the way of Integral Yoga being relentless concentration, at every instant of time. Whether awake and engrossed in work and one’s daily activities or sleeping and dreaming, a state of inward concentration is required, encompassing all layers and planes of being from the subtlest to the densest, down to the last cell in the body.

This is what I learnt, without words, just absorbing like a sponge the atmosphere radiating from those sadhakas. Some had come very young; others got married and had children but, by the time they joined the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, they were there for the Divine and only the Divine. Through their integrity and total dedication, their utmost simplicity that is true greatness of being I felt, tangibly, that the Mother’s work is not a chimera, nor a utopia. I realized that it is the future awaiting all of us the moment we surrender to the Call. Ultimately, it is the only thing worth living for, the very purpose of our taking birth, our mission and our destiny.

That world, Nolinida’s ‘paradise on earth’, and my own too, because of which I left behind whatever I had, is no more. I had the privilege to be a witness of it for a while, as long as it was able to manifest, before having to plunge back to our day-to-day reality, with all its harshness but also its challenges and call for transformation. Whenever it becomes too tough and I feel I can no longer take it I take shelter in that world, which is eternal and exists forever; calling for the Mother’s Grace that we too, in Auroville as at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, can become living messengers of beauty and graciousness, with the pure flow of psychic and divine love. Paulette paulette@auroville.org.in

---

[1] A man of considerable intellect and a sadhak who lived at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Rishabhchand is the author of the first ‘political’ biography of Sri Aurobindo, written on the Mother’s request, and of a compendium on Integral Yoga, also written on her request, to introduce the Path to the West. Several members of his family became members of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram a long time ago. J. K. K. was his sister-in-law.

[2] Sri Aurobindo considered Nolini Kanta Gupta his most advanced disciple, and the one who had the best understanding of his Yoga. Freedom fighter Nolini was closely associate to the Master since their nationalist years.

[3] The Mother lived there until 1962, prior to the attack by the false “Sri Aurobindo” that nearly cost her life.

Inmates and devotees of Sri Aurobindo Ashram demand Dismissal of the present group of Trustees

Application for Permission for Silent and Peaceful Protest of January 1-6, 2012

[The following application to the Pondicherry administration for the silent protest of January 1-6, 2012 was made by a few inmates of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Six of these inmates received show-cause notices from the Trustees. Why? Because they were bold enough to sit for a silent and peaceful protest against the inaction of the Trustees with regard to Peter Heehs. So what makes the Trust inactive in one case and super-active in another? That is a million dollar question! In any case, this application, which has a very good summary of events that have led to the present crisis, was attached to the show-cause notices of those inmates who signed it.]

Since the Trust Deed does not define the method of selection of the Trustees nor the method of their removal, the present Trustees have taken full advantage of this lacuna and have formed a self-selected coterie of vested interests who are freely and openly misusing their position… As a result the Ashram community has found its interests hijacked by a small coterie of people who want to harm Sri Aurobindo’s name and his Work. (It is pertinent to note that none of the present trustees of the Ashram Trust were nominated by the Mother.) Senior members of the Ashram community, who have worked closely with the Mother, felt that they had to take suitable action to defend the reputation of Sri Aurobindo and to protect the long-term interests of the Ashram community for which the Mother created the Trust. The senior members held several rounds of discussions with representatives of various groups of devotees and the members of the Ashram community sharing their pain and deep distress. Many attempts were made by them and by various independent groups to resolve the problem internally by dialogue, mediation, discussion, pleas, etc, with the Trustees. All these attempts failed as the Trustees declared that they were answerable to nobody in the Ashram, and refused to explain or justify their misuse of Ashram funds and the Ashram’s name to harm Sri Aurobindo. All these attempts have failed and the Trust Board has instead launched a widespread campaign of intimidation and rule by fear and threat…

Application and Demand of the Inmates and Devotees of Sri Aurobindo Ashram

In view of the above and having exhausted all means and measures of an internal amicable and peaceful settlement, the inmates of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and devotes of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother seek the permission and sanction of the Police and local authorities concerned to press for their legal grievances and demands, namely:

1.     Dismissal of the present group of Trustees of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust.

2.    Unconditional reinstatement of all who have been victimised by denial of food, work, and other facilities of the Ashram community life.

3.  Cessation and withdrawal of all threats and coercive measures initiated against the inmates and residents of the Ashram community and devotees.

4.    Immediate expulsion of Peter Heehs from the Ashram community.

5.    Recovery of all documents belonging to the Ashram which are still kept in the exclusive possession of Peter Heehs.

6.    Public declaration by the Trust that the book The Lives of Sri Aurobindo authored by Peter Heehs is factually incorrect and does not represent the views of the Ashram community and the Ashram Trust and that Peter Heehs has abused his position at the Archives and indulged in criminal impersonation as the Founder of the Ashram’s Archives Department.

7.    Withdrawal of copyright permission to Columbia University Press which has published the offending book without suitable copyright permissions.

8.    Public apology by the present members of the Board of Trustees for having promoted abuse and insult of Sri Aurobindo’s name, and for causing so much pain and distress to the inmates and residents of the Ashram community and to all devotees at large.

The Lives of Sri Aurobindo has sparked a bitter controversy

Extracts from Reviews of The Lives of Sri Aurobindo Click here to go to full reviews

Most books on Sri Aurobindo are hagiographical, with little or no biographical information; in keen contrast, this book covers in great detail the various stages of his life. - Ramakrishna Puligandla in Choice more>>

The overall result is a masterful and inspiring biography that provides a solid foundation for further Aurobindo studies and offers plenty of cues for other kinds of historical, textual, and exegetical work that could enhance our understanding of the multiple sites in which Aurobindo lived and worked. - Hanna H. Kim in H-Net Reviews more >>

This meticulously reported and scrupulously footnoted account of the Bengali saint Sri Aurobindo leaves no stone unturned. - Nora Isaacs in Yoga Journal more>> 

Peter Heehs has done a great deal of research lasting many years, working in archives in Delhi, Calcutta, Baroda, London, and Paris. - Christine Devin in Revue d’Auroville more>>

  

Not only is the book remarkably well researched but, as the title indicates, he has really covered all aspects of Sri Aurobindo’s life. - François Gautier in The New Indian Express  more>>

The author has given us a model biography, which is accessible to the general public. - David Annoussamy in Le Trait-d'union more>>

In this essay I will steer clear of the controversy as far as possible, examining the book in the wider context of Heehs’s other writings, most of which are aimed primarily at academic audiences. part 1>>  part 2>> - Marcel Kvassay in AntiMatters

If you read only one book about Aurobindo, again, this volume would get my vote. It stands in a class all its own. There is simply no other book about Aurobindo available that does all that Heehs’s book does. - W. Michael Ashcraft in Nova Religio more>>

It is not as if he has set out to demythologise Aurobindo but he does seek to write a life as firmly based on evidence as he can. . . . Heehs has endeavoured to produce an objective account of Aurobindo and it is a formidable piece of scholarship. - Antony Copley in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society more>> 

While biographies of Aurobindo have been published before, including a short one by Heehs himself, none has ever drawn on such a vast resource of original letters, diaries, and other primary sources. - Ellen Daly in EnlightenNext more>>

Despite his massive political and spiritual influence, the twentieth century Indian revolutionary turned mystic Sri Aurobindo Ghose has been curiously neglected in Western scholarship. - Ann Gleig in Religious Studies Review more>>

With this book, Peter Heehs has done the job of examining Aurobindo in his entirety with remarkable success, and has aptly titled his work The Lives of Sri Aurobindo. - Jayant Bapat in South Asia more>>

Peter Heehs makes a commendable effort at rescuing a leading thinker of modern times from uncharitable critics.... Personally speaking, I have not found a more lucid description of complex constructs like the 'supermind'. - Amiya P. Sen in The Book Review  more>>

Application for Permission for Silent and Peaceful Protest of January 1-6, 2012

In this book, he has made defamatory and perverse comments on Sri Aurobindo’s character, life, writings and thought. Among other things, he seeks to show that:

1.      Sri Aurobindo does not hold integrity as a person,

2.      He was morally of loose character,

3.      His claims to spiritual experiences and realisations are questionable and irrelevant,

4.      His spirituality emerges from a streak of inherited madness,

5.   There is nothing new in any of his contributions, spiritual, literary, philosophical or otherwise,

6.      That he was responsible for the partition of India,

7.      His poetry is expressive of sexual frustration, and its style outdated, and

8.      His relationship with the Mother was romantic in nature.

An analysis of the book reveals that the defamatory statements are deliberately intended by the simple fact that in order to support such perverse statements, Peter, the author of this book, deceives the reader by false and cooked-up quotation, misquotations, quoting out of context, and deliberately concealing facts to the contrary. It is very clear that the book is written for the sake of defaming Sri Aurobindo and is intended to hurt the sentiments of the Indian people and of admirers of Sri Aurobindo.

The kinds of deceptions consistently utilised throughout the book include:

a)      Deliberately concealing the much larger body of information contrary to his defamatory thesis;

b)      Presenting as quotations what are Peter Heehs’ imaginations and speculations;

c)      Deliberate misrepresentation and distortion of context;

d)     Defaming Sri Aurobindo’s character by use of innuendo, speculation, exaggeration and outright falsehood;

e)    Bias to quote extensively from people who question Sri Aurobindo’s credibility and sanity; outright rejection of any person or quotation offering appreciation or praise of Sri Aurobindo;

f)        Preferring speculation against Sri Aurobindo’s own affirmations to the contrary;

g)      Academically unsound and perverse attempts at Freudian analysis of Sri Aurobindo’s personality;

h)      Perverse speculations on the sexual and marital life of Sri Aurobindo.

No chakshu-lajya, saksi-bhava, and an inner sukhahasya

Comment on How to cultivate the state of witness consciousness (Saksi-bhava) by Sandeep from Comments for Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo & The Mother by Sandeep. Ashok: Would love hear more about your background in practice, too.

There is not much to say. I prefer to be discreet about my background because it keeps the ego in check. It is easy to get carried away talking about the ups and downs of one’s trivial life. In a way, the blog is an exercise in “Surrender” whereby I transmit the inspiration I receive with as little distortion as possible.

Re: reincarnation vs rebirth... In The Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo strives to achieve this internal consistency.  He takes each argument (for and against) to its logical end and aspires to justify it. Of course, the problem is that the system is under-determined because all the available phenomenal evidence is insufficient to prove the existence of anything occult or Divine. 

Comment on Sattwic ego, Rajasic ego and Tamasic ego by ipi from Comments for Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo & The Mother

What the sadhak has to seek is the full opening to the Divine, the psychic change of his consciousness, the spiritual change. Of that change of consciousness, selflessness, desirelessness, humility, bhakti, surrender, calm, equality, peace, quiet sincerity are necessary constituents.

Until he has the psychic and spiritual change, to think of being supramental is an absurdity and an arrogant absurdity. All these egoistic ideas, if indulged, can only aggrandise the ego, spoil the sadhana and lead to serious spiritual dangers. They should be rejected altogether. (Sri Aurobindo. Letters on Yoga, SABCL vol 23, p 503)

09 E-Library - Sri Aurobindo Ashram November 7, 1934 Correspondence with Nirodbaran  I am trying to be silent within, but the mood of jocularity persists. Is this not, however, a sign of cheerfulness? 

Sri Aurobindo Not always — moreover the cheerfulness is vital. I do not say that it should not be there, but there is a deeper cheerfulness, an inner sukhahasya which is the spiritual condition of cheerfulness. [10-11. Record Of Yoga by Sri Aurobindo Shanti Chatusthaya Samata, Shanti, Sukha, Hasya (Atmaprasada)]

Strong people do not abuse, stronger people do not even respond to abuse. Full marks to Javeed and Naseer on that score. Decency is fine, but sarcasm - even wounding ones - too have a place in debates. Only the words have to be parliamentary, nothing more - you cannot use derogatory words that demean your opponent, you have every right to attack his ideas or his attitudes. No false gentlemanliness, please. No chakshu-lajya. Self-restraint is required - so that the discussion doesn't degenerate into mud-slinging. But ideas and narratives need to be challenged. 

We have to challenge the Muslim Narrative that all is fine, even great, with Islam and everything wrong is America's fault. We have to challenge the Hindu Narrative that the ultimate discovery has happened here and that all is great about India. And that mindset that finds nothing great or learnable in other cultures and religions. 

We have to challenge the Secularist's Narrative that both Hindu and Muslim narratives are equally pernicious. No Sir. The Islamic Narrative  today is  far more dangerous  than any other. Not a cinch of a doubt about that. Go to any Islamic country and you will feel the narrow mental footpath in which entire societies are herded. If such obseravtion makes me ungentlemanly, indecent or communal, so be it. I have to side with the truth as I see it, not protect my image of a secularist as most secularists do.

Vishwa’s posts are 'airy-fairy' as someone pointed out - there is a compulsive need in his posts to appear polite or accommodating at the cost of reality. That is Indian Secularism, a pitiable mindset that adds to the conflagration of today's time. Secularists are good people - the kind of good people whose actions do more harm than good. It nauseating to read such people. It is nothing but hypocrisy and double-speak of a very high order. Regards, Dilip [sbicitizen] RE: History and Narratives

For your information, I studied History at a College in Mumbai that was the first in India to be granted Autonomy by the UGC - counted as amongst the best in liberal Arts in India. The methods of teaching were rigorous, not airy fairy. And we were taught - rather trained - to eliminate biases, (not 'appear' balanced or reasonable - as you compulsively do), when looking at facts. Facts are sometimes harsh and you have to see them as they are. And then went for a Masters too in the same subject. I have not 'read books on History' as you would suggest. That is your privilege, not mine. Mine was the endeavor of a serious student. Regards, Dilip [sbicitizen] RE: History and Narratives

FREE: 5 easy ways to a happy, stress-free life from churumuri K. JAVEED NAYEEM writes:

If only we remind ourselves that the whole purpose and happiness of this life lies not at the end of the journey but all along the road, we will all find a completely new meaning and purpose in living. This calls for a new and completely different way of looking at life from an altogether new perspective, perhaps with our feet up and our heads down! (K. Javeed Nayeem is a practising physician, who writes a weekly column for Star of Mysore, where this piece originally appeared)

Rahul may next jump from stage to show his anger: Akhilesh Feb 17, 2012
THE TIMES OF INDIA "Rahul seems angry. Earlier, he used to get angry by folding his hands. Yesterday, he got angry and tore up a piece of paper. Who knows, next he may jump off the stage in anger?" said the SP state president while addressing reporters after a rally at Tiloi, Amethi. Akhilesh Yadav gives Rahul Gandhi a 'tear'ful Economic Times

It is the duty of every individual to empower himself

SPIRITUALISM – HUMAN EXISTENCE AND HUMAN NATURE - bhavanajagat.com Posted on February 11, 2012 The living matter is conscious of its internal condition, a condition that demands the supply of energy from an external source to keep its existence… The fact of energy dependent existence and the consciousness of that conditioned existence displays the lack of human freedom in matters that pertain to human existence. 

Our Aim Founded by Anurag Banerjee on 29 March 2010 at Kolkata, Overman Foundation embarks on the mission to inculcate the ‘urge’ to rise over our mundane aspects of life and delve deeper into our inner ‘I’. The Foundation reaches out to the society with its sole aim of conceiving species of Overman –a transitory state in the creation of Superman. The association firmly believes that it is the duty of every individual to empower himself /herself with an urge for seeking the divine. One needs to replenish herself/himself amidst the trivialities of our surroundings and reach out to a knowledge seeking, a prerequisite to be a ‘Superman’. The Foundation painstakingly indulges in this knowledge seeking through knowledge sharing of Aurobindonian philosophy.

All members of the extended spiritual family of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother are cordially invited to our platform. The administration of Overman Foundation is monitored by its Advisory Board whose members are Nirmal Singh Nahar (Founder-Trustee of Sri Aurobindo Bhavan, Kolkata), Prof. Kittu Reddy and Krishna Chakravarti.

Our Objectives

1. To promote spiritual progress in its absolute sense for everyone without any discrimination based on caste, creed and gender.
2. To spread the evolutionary vision of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother with respect to the establishment of a divine life in a divine body in all fields of life.
3. To spread and help to spread the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother in the towns and villages of West Bengal, the land of Sri Aurobindo’s birth.
4. To conduct researches on the lives of Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and the eminent sadhaks of the Integral Yoga and collect and preserve documents related to them.
5. To conduct seminars and workshops to promote the views of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on Integral Management and Social Unity.
6. To recognize the contribution of the scholars and workers of the Aurobindonian movement in various fields. (For this purpose, the ‘Auro-Ratna’ award has been created which would be given out every year based on the recommendation of the Advisory Board.)
7. To publish literature and books for the promotion of the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. 

(title unknown) from enowning Ian Alexander Moore on the overman in the technological understanding of being, from "Fink's (Heideggerean) Nietzsche, or The Possibility of a 'verwindung' of Metaphysics".

Nietzsche’s philosophy was unique in the metaphysical tradition of the West, because he was the first person to recognize that the will to power posits all values, which are the means to prolong the act of willing and to become stronger. By fixing all value within “the preservation-enhancement conditions” of everything that is, Nietzsche established truth as that in which a “constant reserve” holds sway and remains at the disposal of the will. The will to power fixes in place that which provides for its own preservation and enhancement. Whatever does this most effectively is most true.

Heidegger's reading of Nietzsche's overman coincides with this notion of the will to power. The overman symbolizes humanity in its current, technological understanding of being. The will to power determines the overman, urging him to gain control of all that is. Yet this making secure by willing domination over everything remains inextricably linked to the positing of values. The overman, through the value-positing of the will to power, obviates the possibility of understanding being as something outside of his power, something in virtue of which anything stands out as meaningful for him. For Heidegger, the overman's will to power, as that which posits value onto being, does not remain receptive to being, but rather blocks off its essence in advance by treating it as a value. 

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"The Mother (Mirra Alfassa) - The Font of Transformation" | India ...

Kundan Singh, PhD, associate core faculty at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, is a practitioner of Integral Yoga of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. His recent book is titled: The Evolution of Integral Yoga: Sri Aurobindo, Sri Ramakrishna, and Swami Vivekananda. Kundan will describe how Mirra Alfassa, also known as the Mother of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, collaborated with Sri Aurobindo to develop the Integral Yoga and application of spiritual consciousness to life. He will focus on the Divine Mother as the font of psycho-spiritual transformation. Sunday, Mar 4, 2012 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Organized By Cultural Integration Fellowship

Supermind - Supramental Transformation, Consciousness Supramental, Supramental Force, Supramental Manifestation

Sharing everyday on this blog is not a teaching. What is expressed in this blog, is, in general and in its major part, a reflection of a journey, experiences and observations on a daily basis, and that everyone is free to live through his own experience and journey ... L’auteur de ce blog n’appartient à aucune secte ni aucun mouvement religieux ni autre… The author of this blog does not belong to any sect or religious movement or any other ... Bookmarks

• Sharing Forum on Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and other routes of transformation of the corresponding state of mind.
• Awakening to Self
• The Supramental Manifestation of Earth
• Savitri Era Religious Fraternity
• Sri Aurobindo and Mother - The Agenda        

Betrayal of the Guru

The Ashram Management’s Fear Psychosis -- Ranganath Raghavan on Feb 17, 2012 8:40 PM

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.

Savitra patents Sunlit Path

Sunlit path to where? « auroleaks From: Savitra Date: February 16, 2012 Subject: re. your center’s upcoming retreat conference - To the Sri Aurobindo Center South East: A friend received the follow announcement through you and forwarded it to me. I struggled with the futility of replying to you or the easier path of simply deleting. As you can see, I have chosen the former. (Please do not take this personally as I am addressing it to your Center. However after reading this yourself, I would sincerely appreciate you passing it on to those in charge of the Center and its upcoming Conference. Thank you.)

I must say that I am profoundly shocked by the contradiction of hosting a conference/retreat titled “Sunlit Path to Life Divine” when many of your primary speakers/presenters are directly or indirectly engaged in a court case against the Trustees of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. In addition, as you must know, the same speakers have been engaged in ideological warfare and a sustained persecution of one of the Ashram’s longtime residents whose biography of Sri Aurobindo (published by Columbia University Press) they deem blasphemous.

By way of introducing myself and my concerns in this matter, I have been involved with the work of Mother and Sri Aurobindo since 1967. I have also been a resident of the Ashram and later Auroville (1969-1990), accepted both in the Ashram and Auroville directly by the Mother from whom I received the name Savitra. I am also a published author here in the States with a new book on the way. In this light, I ask:

How can your Center disconnect from these troubling realities and the shadow these speakers cast, inviting such speakers to present on the theme of “Sunlit Path to Life Divine”? How can your Center consider itself a Center of Sri Aurobindo yet provide a platform for speakers who choose the path of open warfare with the Trustees of the Ashram bearing Sri Aurobindo’s name? Such disconnection makes a mockery of the concept of “Integral” in Integral Yoga. And to host such speakers under the banner of “Sunlit Path to Life Divine” only adds to the absurdity and surreality.

In this Yoga, are we here to simply preach in words or practice in action? Surely you know the answer to this question. In which case, how can you in good conscience sponsor such a dis-integral and divisive contradiction in the name of Sri Aurobindo? Namaste, ~Savitra (Alan Sasha Lithman)

It starts with a great opening sentence “a book is an inanimate object”. (Whoever wrote this should be given the Nobel prize for literature and science combined.) The Nexus Between Some Ex-Students and Matriprasad 

To speak about knowing Reality in our Consciousness is a joke

Assemblages score over assembly

rainbOwther: Oedipus complex may not apply to other cultures

Savitri Era Learning Forum: M.P. Pandit is a wonderful thinker

Savitri Era Open Forum: Revivify India's glorious past

Savitri Era Open Forum: Wilber has not acknowledged the full extent

No question-answers or discussions

A critique of the book "The Lives of Sri Aurobindo" by Peter Heehs

Trustees Cancel Vijay Poddar's Talk The Trustees of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram called off Vijay Poddar's talk on the Lives of Sri Aurobindo by Peter Heehs. Rattled that the talk may expose the book to a larger audience in the Ashram, the Trustees requested Vijay Poddar to cancel his presentation. The talk would have created a greater awareness on the book both from the point of view of its malafide intention and dubious scholarship. It would have made a large number of Ashramites look askance at the Trustees regarding their exact position with regard to the book.

Do they support it or not? Do they approve of it or not? If they do, why don't they declare their praise and admiration for Peter Heehs. And if they don't, why don't they condemn it outright? Why this duplicitous silence! And why gag the efforts of one of the most intelligent students of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Centre of Education to throw light on it? Vijay Poddar happens to be a senior teacher at the SAICE apart from holding a position of authority in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Society, which has hundreds of centres in India and abroad. Both Ashramites and devotees and disciples from outside Pondicherry hold him in great esteem and would have been glad to know his opinion on the book that has rocked the Ashram since the last four years. His opinion need not be officially accepted by the Trustees, but why curtail his freedom of expression, especially when they themselves don't know what to say, think or do! Bireshwar Choudhurystake.

RYD Feb 13, 2012 11:07 PM I understand that a few days ago he had made a detailed presentation to the trustees in the Trust Office. Can we have some idea about its contents and the views of the officials? Thanks.

Monday, February 13, 2012 9:29 AM Subject: Just fyi - Info session tomorrow on efforts regarding the PH / book issue Dear friends, This is just to let you know in case you have not already been informed:

We have just heard from Kiran di that tomorrow Tuesday evening, at 8.40 pm, Vijay bhai of SA Society will present a summary of a 3 hour talk on the 'TLOSA issue' that took place a few days ago between a group of devotees (which includes Kiran di) and the Ashram trustees, in an effort by the former to seek some progress that may break the present, ever-worsening deadlock. Tomorrow's info session has been organised ad-hoc on request of many people who are asking what transpired; anybody with a sincere concern & aspiration is welcome ('there are no closed doors'). However the organisers stress that the occasion is only for the sake of information, i.e. there will be no question/answers, discussions etc. Please feel free to let anybody know you think would want to attend. Venue is the SAS Beach Office. Om Namo Bhagavate At Their feet, J

Aravinda & Jasmin Maheshwari, Matur Udyanam, Ousteri Lake, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Puducherry 605002

Shahabuddin verses (by Indrajit Hazra) from Communalism Watch by c-info From: Hindustan Times January 22, 2012

Syed Shahabuddin is one of history’s most underrated literary critics. It was this Janata Party MP who had first sent across a letter to the then prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, in 1988 tipping off the latter about what he felt was a very rotten book. … So things haven’t changed one jot since the great Shahabuddin, echoing Oscar Wilde’s line, “I never read a book I must review; it prejudices you so”, wrote way back in 1988 in an ‘Open letter to Salman Rushdie’, “I do not have to wade through a filthy drain to know what filth is.” 

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

I don’t know how many remember the story of Syed Modi, who was murdered in 1988. … So, quite clearly, Shourie had been perfectly willing to lead his newspaper on a campaign to subvert justice even as it was fighting the government on corruption. I am sure he did it with the highest of motives – I think he thought that getting the Rajiv Gandhi government out was then the highest national interest. But something didn’t seem right.

The story faded to a dim memory for me, but 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”. It accounts for my scepticism over the idea that the dynasty represents everything that is wrong with the country, or that if only the country rediscovered its Hindu soul, we would be great. It accounts for my discomfort with idolizing or demonizing (Narendra) Modi. In general, I am sceptical of any solution that relies on people’s character rather than structures and incentives.

Revivify India’s glorious past

Why a Frenchman built a Bhavani & Shivaji museum - Analysis - DNA - COLUMNS  - Francois Gautier Monday, February 13, 2012

The first phase of FACT’s (fact-india.com) Shivaji Maharaj Museum of Indian History has been inaugurated by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Mrs Ajit Pawar and Nitin Gadkari. The exquisite Bhavani Bharat temple is one of the only two temples in India dedicated to Mother India (the other is in Haridwar) which Sri Aurobindo and Lokmanya Tilak wanted to build in Maharashtra 100 years ago. The VIPs then inaugurated three exhibitions: a miniature painting exhibition on the life of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj; an exhibition on Hindu Tolerance Throughout the Ages; and another exhibition that proves scientifically that the famous Aryan invasion never actually happened.

Why does a Frenchman build a Bhavani Bharti temple and museum? I am proud to say I owe a debt to India, because this country has granted me so much, spiritually, professionally and even sentimentally. I was a young boy of 19, living in Paris, the city of my birth, when I heard that a caravan of cars was driving from Paris to Pondicherry. I had never thought about India, and had no interest in spirituality, but something in me pushed me to go. It took us six weeks to cross 10 countries and after many adventures, we reached Delhi.

Right from my first night here, I felt I had come home and that India was a land of vast knowledge, a truth that eludes most westerners, because some of the paradox of the still apparent poverty and filth that blinds them. I had this feeling of being home, of Mother India, in the most unlikely places, even in Srinagar. I covered Kashmir as a journalist for the largest French political daily during the worst period of unrest, from the late eighties till the Kargil War. — The author is the editor in chief of the Paris-based La Revue de l’Inde and the author of The Guru of Joy. FACT - India was started in 2003 by Francois Gautier, a French journalist, writer & historian who has been covering India and South Asia for the last 35 years. "Currently, we are displaying exhibitions based on themes revolving around Shivaji Maharaj, Hindu tolerance throughout the ages, Aryan invasion along with 10 rotating exhibitions," says Gautier.

Helios' Books: Publishing High-Quality Books in Various Genres Yourstory.in

In conversation with Abhilasha Dafria for YourStory.in, founder Geetanjali J B tells us more about how her aim in setting up Helios Books is twofold: to publish high-quality books in various genres and to share the joy while doing so! Geetanjali J.B was the finalist of British Council’s Young Publishing Entrepreneur Awards, 2011. To know more about the Young Creative Entrepreneur Awards, click here. Follow the Young Creative Entrepreneur Awards (YCE) on Facebook Gitanjali, tell us about your Publishing Firm Helios Books. What is your background like and what is the story behind starting up HB? 

I am the founder and publisher of Helios Books, an English-language independent publishing firm set up in Chennai in 2009. After a brilliant start in academics (a topper in school, a gold-medalist in college and amongst the top ten in MBA from the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar), I worked in management consultancies and multinational firms in the Indian corporate sector for 8 years, including a one-year stint in Copenhagen as the Head of European Operations for a software company. I then worked in our family business of setting up power plants for 6 years, a business I had established with my husband. Thereafter, I chartered out on my own in the field of publishing, thus fulfilling a long-standing dream.

To me, Helios Books is a labour of love. We aspire to bring out beautiful books in various genres, which are uplifting, progressive, inspiring and contribute to nation building. Helios Books was founded to publish those books that we wanted to read but could not find in bookstores! The vision of Helios Books, over and above bringing out quality books in various genres, is to showcase the best of India and its forgotten glory and other universal human values to the world.

Indian history was written by colonizers and when you read it in school, it doesn’t make you proud of being an Indian. India seems to be always on the receiving end. Its achievements are always trivialized and its failures exaggerated. But when one reads Sri Aurobindo’s “Foundations of Indian Culture”, one is introduced to India, as it were. One can see Her greatness in literature, arts, architecture, sculpture, dance, music and politics. Our endeavour in bringing out books in History is to revivify India’s glorious past and aim to amend many of the oversights and exclusions associated with traditional historical accounts. And in our category of Historical Fiction we plan to explore some of the lesser-known but important aspects of Indian history in an interesting way.

The hallmark of our non-fiction is the lucid presentation of original research. Our projects in this genre include War Heroes of India that aims at celebrating the spirit of heroism and courage in India. Another area we focus on is the recovery of ancient Indian scriptures and their relevance to the modern world. Our market differentiators are our beautifully produced, high quality of books based on original research.

Similarly we plan to sell the War Heroes book in bulk to the Indian Army and so on. The target audiences for the republication of the first edition of Savitri were devotees of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo across India. This strategy has helps us reach target audiences directly without wasting time and money in mass advertisement and distribution. 

Swami Vivekananda And Sri Aurobindo's Contribution Towards Regeneration of India THE INDIAN MINDSCAPE: By JAGMOHAN

Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo were the two towering figures of the Indian renaissance who contributed most to the regeneration of the Indian mindscape and the consequent reflowering of the Indian culture... What did Sri Aurobindo mean when he talked of India’s destiny and India’s religion? He himself provided the answer... Such views, propagated through his extensive writings, thrilled a good part of the nation and created new confidence, new urges and a new sense of mission. They also made the Western world take greater interest in India and look at her with greater respect.

Sri Aurobindo wanted Poorna Swaraj, complete freedom, for India. This, he thought, was absolutely necessary not only for the well-being of the country but also for the well-being of the rest of the world. She alone could “free the world from its enslavement to materialism and to point out the way towards a dynamic integration of Spirit and Matter and to make life perfect with Divine Perfection”.

Unfortunately, only a few strands of the great movement for the cultural regeneration of India are visible now. Today, she is without any great inspiration, without any elevating philosophy which could serve as a guiding star for activities in various walks of life. The writer is a former Governor of J&K and a former Union minister.

The genius of Eknathji Ranade located the holistic concept of yoga, another name for spirituality in the words of Swami Vivekananda 'Each Soul is potentially Divine,' and adopted it as the basis of Vivekananda Kendra (VK). He could see the vision of Sri Aurobindo enunciating Integral yoga as a furthering depth of Swamiji's thoughts on yoga. Eknathji trained in the organizational skills and powered by a patriotic favor with the holistic vision of Hindu nation enunciated a century ago by Swami Vivekananda, in tune with the emerging trends of popularity of yoga gave a direction to the Kendra in his first pamphlet 'Yoga, the core of Vivekananda Kendra'.

Review on Concept of Man in Sri Aurobindo’s Poetry by Nishi Sharma Contemporary Literary Review: India (CLRI) is primarily an online literary journal in English SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2012

Concept of Man in Sri Aurobindo’s Poetry is a distinctive work of art by Jitendra Sharma, based on Sri Aurobindo’s phenomenal poetic endeavor. It is a brilliant attempt to discover the concept of Man in Sri Aurobindo’s poetry. This book brings out Sri Aurobindo Ghose’s integral philosophy of Man and his existence in this universe—and beyond it. Man is everywhere in his poetry with minute projections, innumerable possibilities and natural tendencies towards self-exceeding. He sees Man through the quintessential prism and finds him as: ‘the increasing God’, ‘self-liberating person’, ‘the eternal portion of the Divine’, ‘a God in the making’, ‘a portion of the Divine Consciousness and Essence’ and ‘intermediate creature between animal and the Divine’.

The author, Jitendra Sharma, focuses light on the concepts of evolution, consciousness and transformation of Man and his mind which are intertwined in Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy. Concept of Man in Sri Aurobindo’s Poetry is a tribute to the greatest soul and an insightful gift to Sri Aurobindo’s followers.

Author’s Bio: Dr. Jitendra Sharma obtained the Master's Degree in French from Karnatak University Dharwar and had M.Phil. in French from the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad. He has also studied in the Stendhal University of Grenoble in France. His literary articles have appeared in various journals and he has participated in more than 80 national/international seminars, workshops and conferences. He heads the Department of French at St. Joseph's College, Devagiri, Calicut (Kerala) where he tries to implement Sri Aurobindo's education methodology in his teaching profession.

Thill - February 6th, 2012 on 3:55 am I was a “fan” of Wilber’s writings during my days as a doctoral student in Canada working on my dissertation, in a predominantly analytically-oriented philosophy department, on Aurobindo. But I can hardly bring myself to read either of them these days and I don’t feel I am missing anything important! LOL Thill - February 6th, 2012 on 7:17 pm Aurobindo wrote that he was a practitioner of “mystic empiricism”, an undertaking, he believed, was empirical in just the way scientific inquiry is empirical! But then Aurobindo never explained, although he wrote several big books, the actual process by means of which he allegedly arrived at knowledge of “occult worlds, entities, and forces”, not to mention the modus operandi of harnessing them, e.g., “Yogic force”, to allegedly cure illnesses, influence world events, etc.