Comments on A critique of the book "The Lives of Sri Aurobindo" by Peter Heehs: A Review by Manoj Pavitran

"This is where the author excels and this is ...

2009-12-10T06:41:17.650+05:30

"This is where the author excels and this is where we see his labour of love for Sri Aurobindo, who is the very subject of his investigation. No one can persist with such thoroughness for nearly three decades, collecting a huge amount of empirical data from all over the world, without a deep love for the subject."

Interest, maybe. But love? Strange and unsupported conclusion by the reviewer.

Alok Pandey’s comment: Oh yes, a labour of love ...

2009-12-06T11:33:27.404+05:30

Alok Pandey’s comment:

Oh yes, a labour of love indeed! And what labour and what love that would even put the best of bhaktas to shame! How foolish and unloving must be the bhaktas who did not travel round the world to gather facts that would disprove what the Master Himself said. What inner and outer labour it must have taken for a man to struggle against this stupendous and overwhelming Grace that one constantly feels here, to shut his doors against this tireless Love and declare to the world (as if it were some new discovery) that all this may be just a chimera, a megalomania after all. Keep your head and senses intact and do not listen to the voices of the heart that deceive and the eye of faith that conjures. Indeed what love and what a labour! If this is bhakti, then what would hostility mean?

Yes, it is no doubt a strong force of division and hostility, one may even say of hatred against all that is true and beautiful and sacred and divine, a consciousness that is revolting against the Light – this can be felt in the atmosphere of the book. Love enhances the Ananda and beauty in the being, not raises doubts and confusions. It is not the number of pages written or researched, but the quality of the consciousness that emanates from a work that reveals what is behind it. And anyone with a little spiritual sensitivity can feel that what is there in the book is anything but love, unless we redefine it and include hostility as one of its expressions.

"The most outstanding feature of the book tha...

2009-12-05T18:27:37.897+05:30

"The most outstanding feature of the book that beats all other biographies that have been written so far is the sheer mass of research data that has made even the bibliography a book by itself. This is where the author excels and this is where we see his labour of love for Sri Aurobindo, who is the very subject of his investigation. No one can persist with such thoroughness for nearly three decades, collecting a huge amount of empirical data from all over the world, without a deep love for the subject. Here is a true researcher excelling in his craft, a lover who persists tirelessly."

Manoj Pavitran has written an excellent review on the whole, assessing rightly both the positive and negative content of the book. But I would like to make one qualification to the above quoted praise from his review. Even Heehs will be embarrassed by this glowing encomium on his “tireless love” for Sri Aurobindo. If he had loved Sri Aurobindo, he would not have poured out his secret hatred for him all throughout the book in a most deceptive manner – I believe it was a love-hate relationship or the confused state of a revolted disciple who finally opted out of the path of sadhana to fulfil his ambition of producing a book which will please the Western academia at the expense of spiritual truth.

As for the mass of data available in this book, clever and selective omission of important facts (spiritual and material) has made the whole presentation suspect and difficult to recommend it to a newcomer. It is only people already familiar with the facts of Sri Aurobindo’s life who can use the new data available in this book. It should also be noted that he was at the helm of a whole department of the Ashram meant for the purpose. He did not do it alone, so many other members of the department worked hard to build this impressive edifice of research. Finally, instead of showing Westerners the beauty of Indian values (which are implicit in Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga), he made them feel different from Indians and assert their so-called Western intellectuality. It is this force of division that has done the greatest harm to the admirers and disciples of Sri Aurobindo.