18 Jul 2012

Importance of being an Example ─ Ritwik Banerji

Mother wanted teachers to be living examples in their life. Where shall we find them now? True that one should set the example first before wanting it in others. But now our eyes are focussed on the Ashram and these eyes see Manoj Das Gupta as a liar, a hypocrite and a treacherous and shameless person. He gives protection and shelter to a criminal in the Ashram and is furious when someone raises a finger at him and, posing as a hard task-master, takes disciplinary/punitive action against him/her.

It is high time the world knows what he really means by saying that the book of Peter Heehs is neither "prescribed nor proscribed' and it is for each reader to judge it individually. What emerges from this is:

(1) First and foremost, the other trustees, under the spell and pressure of Manoj Das Gupta, are not at all sincere and open to the truth.

(2) Secondly, unwittingly, the statement is an admission on their part that the book is a betrayal of the Ideals of the Master which the Ashram stands for. Otherwise, why should they leave it to the reader to judge it for himself? The same statement should be equally valid for Sri Aurobindo’s own works such as The Life Divine, etc. which are sponsored by the Ashram. There are so many articles published in Ashram journals. Are they all left to the readers to judge for themselves? Is there no editorial discretion or control exercised over them?

(3) So far neither any reviews nor any extracts from the book The Lives of Sri Aurobindo have appeared in Ashram journals and newsletters even while reviews of other books feature regularly. Why? Obviously because the trustees have no guts or face to say that the book is a work of ignominy and villainy.

(4) A few disciples and devotees have courageously taken on their shoulders the task of exposing the nexus behind all this, and they are criticised and opposed like enemies of the Ashram and put to all sorts of inconveniences.

(5) Should one imagine now that Manoj Das Gupta is too great a sadhak of Integral Yoga to abdicate his power and position for anybody else to take over?

Ritwik  Banerjee  

No comments:

Post a Comment