Dr Alok Pandey Replies to T.N. Chaturvedi

I may like to add in passing that in these matters the views of historians such as Romila Thapar, whose tilts and biases are very well known, or of the honourable ministers such as Jairam Ramesh whose knowledge of Sri Aurobindo’s life and works is at best fragmentary and at worst picked up from popular tabloids, means nothing. Being a Scholar does not necessarily make one an all-knowing Omnibus; being a historian does not automatically guarantee faithful chronicling of all things; least of all, it assures authenticity since that involves certain human qualities of compassion, honesty, sincerity, especially a spiritual sensitivity which is very much wanting in the author of the said book. As someone rightly put it, he deals with his subject as if he were bludgeoning him into a shape desired by him.  [extract - read full letter below]

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The self-defeating Victory ─ by Dr. Alok Pandey

We must be a happy lot having won the victory of retaining Peter Heehs, the controversial author while ensuring that ambitious men like Sraddhalu, Deshpande, Sudha Sinha, Niranjan Naik have been rendered out of work, their services terminated from the Ashram precincts. After all freedom of Speech is only for the special few and in any case far more important than such outdated stuff like ‘work-offering’ which is mere eyewash for some stupid devotees whose mad brains have picked up words like sadhana, yoga etc. We have kept up the great Indian Tradition of fighting amongst each other while the outsider rejoices. We have also succeeded in distorting great Vedantic truths such as ‘All are one’ by eagerly rushing forward to defend what is false and perverse so that we can be seen as champions of liberal secular thought and be awarded a medal from the fairer race. Has not Peter finally conceded that India upholds freedom of speech? Oh how happy we must be to get this medal from him! We should be grateful that with this new weapon or dharma of freedom he will now write ‘two more encyclopedias on Sri Aurobindo’ as he has publicly declared. We poor Indians and an average illiterate ashram devotee will be enlightened once again with the light of darkness flowing from his powerful pen.  

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Dr Alok Pandey's Letter to Ramchandra Guha

I am sure you appreciate that any freedom comes with a certain sense of responsibility and it is precisely because some do not understand this simple equation that there arises need of law to regulate and prevent the misuse of such a freedom. A writer is no exception. (extract)


Dear Mr Ramachandra Guha

This is with reference to your article on Book Bans and writer's freedom etc.

I am sure you appreciate that any freedom comes with a certain sense of responsibility and it is precisely because some do not understand this simple equation that there arises need of law to regulate and prevent the misuse of such a freedom. A writer is no exception. To write irresponsibly, without the least regard for truth and the least sensitivity to the feelings of others naturally invites a reaction and a retaliation. Whether this reaction is in the form of an intellectual rebuttal or legal seeking for justice or even a silent prayer for a Divine intervention will depend upon the temperament of persons. Quite naturally no one can decide what is the right way to seek such a redressal of a real or even a perceived wrong. You may think that an intellectual rebuttal is best, others may think a legal intervention is better. To each his own freedom and his way of life!

You miss another point. The author of TLOSA, like all persons and things, does not hang in isolation to the rest of the world in some abstract space of intellectual speculation. Its influence far exceeds the place of its birth and continues to exercise its effect upon men and events much after the author is dead and gone. Has the effect of Hitler's speeches vanished after his departure even though much has been written and spoken against his diabolic doctrines? Does the effect of pornography become less just because there are books on healthy living and the practice of brahmacharya? People continue to drink and die of alcohol abuse even though enough antidotes are available in the market. I am not suggesting drastic draconian laws to regulate what is harmful but am simply pointing out the plain fact that writing an intellectual rebuttal does not necessarily negate the possibility of acting through other means including legal processes. A book ban is simply one way of communicating to people or at least sensitising them to the fact that the product that they are going to purchase is false and pretentitious, harmful and damaging to the psyche. Whether people still read it or not is upto them. People indulge in crude literature even though it is banned, or find ways and means to drown themselves in crude country liquor and die on the roadside drunk and devastated though it is not available in the open market. Well they have made their choice, but at least the state and responsible sections of the society have done their bit.

Let me also remind you that the author of TLOSA is neither a historian nor a psychologist or a poet and literary critic even though he has written a number of books. There are any number of popular paperbacks on health in the market that dish out all kinds of true and false information. That does not make these authors professional physicians. And if a book claims that it can replace professional views on the subject, then it will invite a stricture from the medical fraternity. The life of Sri Aurobindo is a subject far more complex since it transcends the human formula of life. It needs a rare sensitivity, a deep understanding, a sympathy and sincere engagement with the way of yoga to even attempt something of this sort. To treat it as an object of intellectual scrutiny for whetting the appetites of the psychoanalysts and the cruder kind of humanity is to do a great injustice not only to the subject but to the coming generations. After all there are few ideals in life worth following, few icons that are worth emulating. If these too are disfigured and defiled by thought's profane touch, then little will be left for man worth living and striving for, little that will inspire and invite him to exceed himself. The Ashram that stands in the name of its sole founder Sri Aurobindo stands precisely for such an ideal and it has grown organically, spontaneously, naturally around the divine personae of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. Of course there is no compulsion for anyone to accept the ideal and the Master and the author of TLOSA is absolutely free to carry on his research in the department of history and psychoanalysis anywhere in the world or, better still, be a free-lance writer. But is it not more than a bit inconsistent or rather outright hypocritical that he continues to indulge in this Master-bashing over the decades while continuing to be part of the community and feeding upon its rations? The Ashram like many charitable institutions of the kind sustains itself largely through donations received from devotees and disciples who feel happy parting something of what they earn as their offering to the community that has evolved around the faith and practice of Yoga to which they subscribe. To strike at the very center and core of this faith and practice is to cut off not only the branch on which one is seated but the very roots of the tree that feeds and nourishes. If the author was alone it would not matter but his life and fate is interlinked with many others and if he is so keen to be part of this community should he not be sensitive to the feelings of the community and respect their faith and allegiance, his personal beliefs and ideologies (two sides of the same coin) notwithstanding. It is not a question of fragility of an icon or of faith. It is a question of simple common sense and decency when you are part of a living commune anywhere in the world. And if you keep on transgressing this unseen line of decency, then why complain of the backlash and cry foul over it?

Of course this is more of a general response to some of the issues that you have raised such as the justification of book banning or taking to the courts etc. This is more to show you the other side of the coin in case you have missed it. My personal reactions are another matter. Also, much can be and has been written about the fraudulent scholarship and the utter lack of objectivity, the abuse of his own office and position and the misuse of others’ trust in him. All that is however already available on the Net and the various websites dedicated to this purpose and you are invited to check it out on your own. You are also entitled to your opinion about the book and your reactions to it. But you cannot force the same on others and the community at large. Others too have an equal right to their reaction and to judge their reactions as fragility of faith, etc, is to pass unwarranted comments on what may not be going on in people's minds. That would be an illegitimate transgression of our boundaries. Being a good historian and writer (I assume you are one though I have not read anything of your writing) does not automatically entitle you to pass unsolicited comments on any and every subject. The motives that make men act belongs to the discipline of psychology just as a fuller understanding of the human condition and the life of a great yogi belongs to the domain of yogic psychology, and that is best left to more qualified persons in the field.

I hope that answers some of your arguments against the reactions to the book.

Wishing you well in your pursuit of truth,

Dr Alok Pandey

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The Trial and the Verdict -- by Alok Pandey

We have in this book TLOSA what may be called the Second Trial of Sri Aurobindo to see where He stands in our assessment. Unfortunately the trial is being ordered not by the British Municipal Magistrate but by an inmate of his own ashram. It is being done in crass violation of all ethical and spiritual norms. Ethically it is not in good taste to pass comments upon someone who is no more there to defend himself and set things in their right perspective. Spiritually, it is an anathema to doubt and criticize the Master, an act regarded in all spiritual schools as the straight road to perdition. [Extract, read full article below]

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One-Sided Reporting by Peter Heehs -- by Alok Pandey

Let me now give an example of one-sided reporting from the chapter entitled “Son”. Our biographer goes at great length to describe the madness of Sri Aurobindo’s mother and keeps referring to it time and again well past the half-way mark of his book. He mentions the unfaithfulness of Sri Aurobindo’s father to his wife and dubs him as “Darwinian Mr Ghose” because he was “proud to have brought children of a better breed into the world” (p 9). What does the author convey through the presentation of this data? He is forcefully drawing our attention to the poor heredity of Sri Aurobindo, more specifically the inheritance of madness from his mother, and the unhappy environment of his childhood days, both of which may have caused the spiritual “hallucinations” he saw in the latter part of his life! This view we of course discredit, but even from the angle of the psychologist seriously interested in engaging with someone who does not believe in spiritual things, there are three important factors Peter deliberately ignores.

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Clever Denigration of Sri Aurobindo by Peter Heehs -- by Alok Pandey

Peter Heehs uses in his book certain subtle psychological techniques to create a negative opinion of Sri Aurobindo. One such device is never passing an outright negative judgment without making some qualifications to it. Generally he flip-flops between positive and negative statements, swings to the left and right, and in a most unsuspecting way nullifies his positive statements on Sri Aurobindo. For committing this ‘murder in cold print’, he begins with some sweet talk lulling the reader into a false sense of sympathy, and then delivers a blow to Sri Aurobindo in someone else’s name, adding his own opinion quietly in the presentation of a multitude of documents. He does this so cleverly that at times it is hard to distinguish his personal opinion from the quoted documents. For example, while summarizing Sri Aurobindo’s life at Baroda, the author makes the following statement:   ...full text...

Preface of TLOSA -- by Alok Pandey

The fact is that PH has more often quoted the enemies and critics of Sri Aurobindo and shied away from those who have made positive statements on him. He does not give credence to even Sri Aurobindo’s statements on the events of his own life, though he is quick in highlighting Sri Aurobindo’s negative statements on himself in a highly decontextualised manner. Why this biased choice on implicitly accepting “negative statements” and rejecting outright “positive statements” of Sri Aurobindo or his admirers? His criterion of selection is not based on whether a document is authentic or not, but on whether it is critical or not of Sri Aurobindo. If it is critical, he is too eager to accept it; if it is appreciative he is too willing to reject it or doubt its authenticity! [extract]   ...full text...

Peter Heehs and Jeffrey Kripal -- by Alok Pandey

The statement giving the reason for Sri Aurobindo’s marriage as the desire for sexual gratification and the mention of Sri Aurobindo’s ‘general knowledge’ about sexuality being more than academic is very interpretive. If JK does it, it is to fulfil his focus on homosexuality and homo-eroticism in spirituality. If PH did not have any such focus, then it is very strange that he should interpret it in the same manner, leading thus to the same conclusions as JK. Also, one wonders what could be the reason behind focusing so much on the Master‘s sexual life, on how much he knew about sex, that his marriage was for sex, and that he used to have spontaneous experiences relating to sexual pleasure in the body. When all this is seen side by side with the kind of remarks PH makes on Sri Aurobindo’s relationship with the Mother and his psychoanalytical interpretation of Vasavadutta and other plays, then the mischief becomes more than clear. If one still does not see it, it is either because one is simply too dumb and stupid to notice or else because one chooses to defend the author by turning a blind eye on his defects. But the nexus is there and shows his clear intent and line of thinking. [extract, read full article below]
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Coal Mines of Research – A Preliminary Note by Alok Pandey

It is not just about the book. It is also not about East versus West, the Mind versus Heart, the Academician versus the Devotee or Intellectual freedom versus authoritarian control. The Book and the Man are merely a screen. It is about our reading of the play of forces behind the Book and the Man versus the reading of others. If it is just about the book, then it is a waste of time and energy. But if this book is the expression of a dark and diabolic force, if it is the manifestation of a hostile energy, then it must be acted upon energetically before its poison seeps into the system and corrupts the mind of the collectivity that has gathered around the Master.

Of course, the intellectual mind cannot understand it. It lives forever in its greyness and, dwelling upon the surface data, it draws its conclusions that are often cancelled in the courts of Time. The intellectual mind can only take different positions with regard to any phenomenon or event and, depending upon its angle of vision, it arrives at this or that perception, view-point, understanding, conclusion and response. Naturally, since human beings are different in their present constitution, habits and temperament, past formation and future direction towards which they are impelled, they cannot arrive at any complete agreement over anything. Even in the field of hardcore physical sciences where the data is clear and precise, there is so much room for debate that a little deeper probe into the same event and object often upsets and topples the established understanding. Here we are dealing with much subtler forces and energies than physical objects. We cannot understand this event, leave alone the book and the author, without appeal to this deeper and subtler dimension. Especially in the context of the Ashram, it becomes doubly important, and we can ill-afford to trivialise it by saying that, after all, it is just a book, and a book is minor thing. A white ant is much smaller than an elephant but its potential to damage is phenomenal; so is the virus. It is the energy behind an event, the forces that impel it, the idea that lurks in its depths that gives it importance. That is why things such as sex which are normal and natural in the average human context are considered serious issues in the spiritual field. The book has to be seen in this context and in relation to the core values of the Ashram life. Otherwise we can never arrive at any meeting ground, leave alone a deeper understanding.

The common ground between the author and those who have challenged his book is the Ashram life, its spiritual ethos and fundamental values that help facilitate the path of Integral Yoga. It has to be understood that the Ashram life is a collective life where each one is interlinked to all, and each one’s action has an uplifting or degrading effect on the others. It is not, as some free-lance aspirants would suppose, simply an individual journey where each one should focus only on oneself. Though it was so in the beginning, the Mother Herself has stated that the change occurred sometime after the supramental descent of 1956, and thence each one’s progress in the Ashram got interlinked with the others. In any other context, our approach and answer would be quite different. But here it is about life in the Ashram, whose average inmate, quite naturally, spontaneously, and almost with a psychic discrimination, repelled and rejected the book. It is only when outside influences crept in with different value systems that the whole thing got confused and has now become confused beyond measure. If the authorities had acted timely and wisely, there would have been no outside intervention. Had they listened to Pranab-da who embodied the core values of the Ashram life in his very veins, we could easily have avoided this chaos. But perhaps this too had to happen, so that all the hidden weaknesses got exposed and placed before the Supreme altar, the one true tribunal, in order to find their own truth. It is nothing but a process of purification.

What then are the core values of the Ashram life, one may ask? Is the Ashram life about intellectual freedom of the kind preached (but never really practised!) in certain countries? Is the Ashram life an opportunity to express one’s expertise in psychoanalytic research of the Master’s life because He is no more in his gross physical sheath, and so we can take liberties with what He has entrusted us? Are the documents available at the Ashram Archives meant to clarify our understanding of the path and the goal of the future? Or are they to be used for analyzing the Master’s life, concoct reasons for his marriage and judge His knowledge about sex, apportion blame on Him for the partition of India, criticize virulently His writings and pass negative judgments on His achievements, His character and His life with an air of final authority? Are the original documents meant to bring out before us the living Presence of the Master and to help us realize it in everyday life or to treat Him as a dead piece of history and showcase Him before the world as a failure and a freak with a touch of madness? These are the questions we need to raise and ask ourselves and place them before our hearts and see them in the light of the knowledge that yoga gives us. If we are sincere, then this exercise will not be a waste of time as it will help us look at our own insincerities which can be then offered to the Mother for purification.

What about the Unity that is being threatened by the responses and reactions to the book? It is a sad fact, but perhaps it is not the Unity that has been threatened as much as the deeper causes of disunity that have come to the surface. These are the feelings of East versus West, Religion versus Spirituality, Devotion versus Intellectuality, Faith versus Reason. Worst of all, it has exposed to our sight the center around which the vast and complex body of the Integral Yoga has organised itself. It has also brought to the surface the core values that we hold so close to our heart. It is not my concern to show how and what these differences are as we all turn towards the Divine as a collective unit. Besides, these differences are only natural and can easily be overcome if we are clear about one thing, and that is the center and pivot around which the seekers and sadhakas drawn to this life organize themselves. For the individual, it does not matter. It is enough if he finds his inner center and organizes his life around it. But the Collective life must also find or recognize its own center, its Soul, so to say. Obviously, for the Yoga to sustain itself and for the collectivity to grow and advance, this center cannot be merely a mental ideal, however high and sublime it may be, nor can it be any narrow conception of divinity. It must be a center capable of the highest and widest possible expansion, a universal center. It must be something that allows an utmost diversity of possible approaches. There can be no doubt that such a center around which the Ashram life (and as its natural extension, the life of the larger Integral Yoga community) revolves is the Divine Personae of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. It is neither the idea of freedom that often misleads us, nor our mental conceptions of religion and spirituality, not even our human understanding of truth and unity that can unite and bind us. Least of all, can we stay together if we try to create unity on some outer basis such as custom and language, social norms or legal documents, or worse, around some human figures, whoever they may be and however high and influential they are. The Ashram is not a collective ego whereby each person can organize himself temporarily around its shadow. The only sure way of uniting ourselves is to discover the Divine Center or rather to instal the living Presence in the Ashram above all men and things. Perhaps the event has come to make us realize this fault-line and rediscover this Soul-center, because it is this that the book has most directly challenged and attacked. It is the most definitive resistance that lurks in the human depths, the shadow termed in Savitri as Death and Falsehood that has found its way through the pages of the book. It denies the Godhead it imitates; it doubts and mocks at faith, criticizes the embodied Divine and tries to declare His Work as vain and hints at the impossibility of change of the collective life of humanity into a diviner existence. The only liberty and possibility of change it faintly admits is a doubtful individual change, but that too after much argument and doubt. In fact, those who have read Savitri can see the arguments of Death come alive again and again in the pages of this book while the response of the Divine Himself to these doubts and arguments is muted under the plea of objectivity. It is a very clever way of trying to be one-up on the Master. No wonder this Shadow comes out in the open when the author, while describing Savitri as a fictional creation, replaces the “Supreme” with “Death” in the context of the Book of Everlasting Day! This makes Savitri an instrument of Death, because the latter lays on her neck his “mighty yoke”! Mind you, this is not just a slip of the pen, for the author misquotes from the very first draft of the poem in spite of having drawn the Ashram into bitter and lengthy court battles over the last edition of Savitri.

It is with the intent to expose this deeper play of forces that certain extracts of this hostile book will be selected and explained. After that, it is left to us to choose or reject a whole set of values: whether the Ashram stands for intellectual freedom or for a deeper spiritual life that insists on faith, aspiration and surrender; whether we must obey human authorities or the Divine Master in this crucial moment of our life; whether the institution is just a name or the outer body of a living Soul; whether the central Will of the Institution is represented by a few privileged individuals or by the collectivity of inmates and devotees, each of whom is a cell of its complex Body; whether the Spirit of the Ashram, its center and core, is love for the Divine Personae of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother or listening and allowing the multitudinous voices of Ignorance that rule the earth in the present times. We believe that the book attacks these core values, and to accept it under any pretext is to admit that which is openly hostile to Sri Aurobindo and his Work. It is an anathema to the very values that the Ashram is meant to uphold as a beacon light before a humanity struggling for Light. It is this that we wish to bring out through the presentation of these extracts from the book. It is not merely an intellectual analysis but a placing of certain things before the deeper heart of the collectivity that goes by the name of the Integral Yoga community, and more specifically in the context of life in the Ashram. We do not wish to incite anyone in any way. We only wish to ask one question after stating our findings -- whether this approach is right for a disciple of Sri Aurobindo. It is a simple question and one is free to find the answer from whichever part of the being one has access to. We will then be able to answer whether all this research into Sri Aurobindo’s life and its patronising presentation has yielded diamonds or is it simply a coal-mine that can only throw smoke and dust in the already semi-blind eye of humanity!

Alok Pandey

[This will be followed by a presentation of extracts from the Lives of Sri Aurobindo with Alok Pandey’s comments on them.]

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Reply to Dr. Raghu -- by Dr. Alok Pandey

The conclusions drawn by Dr Raghu [1] are not only ill-informed but also illogical and unscientific. I am not sure whether he is a medical doctor or a research doctor, but this much I can say that he does not even know the definition of delusion. A Delusion is a false belief, held by deep conviction, despite evidence to the contrary. It is unshakable by reason and most importantly not shared by other members of the culture and social milieu. Leaving aside Sri Aurobindo for a moment, if one were to follow Dr Raghu's innovative self-styled criteria, then not only yogis and mystics all over the world but even the simple peasant having faith in God are all deluded people and need to see a psychiatrist. The only sane people left in the world would then be scientists like Mr Raghu and historians like Peter Heehs. One can imagine what a pitiable world would that be!

His conclusion itself is faulty and based on mixing up two different premises. Use of yogic force to cure illness is not the same as conquest of death. Death is not necessarily the result of an illness. It may be due to other factors such as ageing, genetic programming, accidents, poisoning, and so on. While the yogic force may succeed in curing illness, it yet may not be sufficient to conquer physical death and reverse the habit of millenniums (call it genetic programming if one likes). Dr Raghu needs to be first clear about his fundamentals, not only of science but also of logical reasoning.

Secondly, as Sri Aurobindo himself has pointed out, the use of yogic force does not guarantee cure. Can any allopath guarantee that in his system? Does it mean that there is no such thing as allopathy and all medical doctors are humbug and medical practitioners a self-deluded lot because they cannot cure even a common cold? May be they are, in all likelihood they are, for they are generally unwilling to look beyond the box. If only Dr Raghu looked beyond his early 20th century beliefs of the strict reductionist paradigm of the materialistic scientist, he would see that many scientists, researchers, leave aside yogis and mystics, are now coming to believe, accept, experiment, and use yogic force to cure illness. They may not always call it a yogic force, but that is another matter. Dr Raghu needs to update his knowledge.

Thirdly, belief in and the use of yogic force to cure illness is nothing new to Indian thought and also to western yoga. Many of us have witnessed and continue to witness instances of this kind. Thankfully the world is not limited to the beliefs and non-beliefs of Heehs and Co. There is much more on heaven and earth than some would like to believe. But that is another story, for people like to draw conclusions and believe what gives them solace and justifies their self-identity. Instead of expanding their limited tunnel vision, they try to restrict everything to that, and if something does not fit in there, they simply believe that it does not exist. But the limits of our sight are not the limits of Light.

He also ought to know that as Sri Aurobindo himself has pointed out at several places, Yogic force is one force in a vast and complex play of forces. It may not always succeed and is not unconditional. Fire burns but does not do so always. In certain conditions, it does not burn. Does it mean that there is no such thing as the burning property of fire? Sri Aurobindo has stated clearly that he seldom used the Supramental Force (which alone has an absolute action) because hardly anyone can hold it, and if one does, the results may be devastating. Not all can tolerate certain remedies. They are very effective but seldom used as the body may not be able to handle it. Is the doctor ignorant of these simple facts of everyday practice of medicine?

Through the use of Yogic Force, Sri Aurobindo was not just curing a few faithful disciples, but preparing humanity to receive and contain and later use the force as we today use electricity or nuclear energy. A deluded man thinks the force to be his personal private property. Sri Aurobindo, instead, related it to the planes of consciousness, to hidden possibilities of Nature (or Supernature), even the future potential to which all human beings can have access in due course of time if they can fulfil certain conditions. Is this the sign of someone deluded or that of a most meticulous scientific researcher? Surely the doctor needs to know that all research is done in this way. And we already see the result of this research done in the little laboratory of Pondicherry. Despite the sceptics and agnostics, the world is beginning to accept in all fields, including science, the paradigm shift initiated and completed by Sri Aurobindo. This is a subject too vast to explain now, but the dogmatic and arrogant scientist who holds fast to the crumbling mechanistic view of life, needs to update himself about all that Sri Aurobindo has written and all that is happening in the world of science rather than base his conclusions on the insufficient data derived from a clearly biased work as Mr Heehs’s book. Dr Raghu’s personal liking or disliking of a book is one thing, truth is another matter. The whole world may like a book and yet it is only worth the WPB. That is our stand.

We are not against the book simply because it challenges our beliefs, as if we need the testimony of a non-entity like Mr Heehs to have faith or understand things. Our main objection is that first of all it is Untruth (falsehood as it is called) and any sensible right thinking man must have enough courage to stand by Truth. What makes it worse is that not only it is falsehood but a conscious one, for it comes through the pen of someone who has spent decades at the Ashram and cannot claim ignorance of all that has been said by Sri Aurobindo. This book besides is a retrogressive step as it tries to re-establish the old materialistic paradigm that men all over the world are fast discarding. It is necessary to challenge it and set the record straight. Dr Raghu needs to know that not only old sadhakas but also new ones, including scientists and experts in their own field, trust Sri Aurobindo's vision and have ample evidence to testify it. It is not some cult or blind irrational belief, but the call of Truth that motivates us.

There is so much more to write on the subject with proper quotes etc. but I have no time. So let Mr Raghu rest in peace in the narrow corridors of his mind if he finds consolation in that hard material cocoon spun around our souls by the most ingenious artists of all – Nature -- and let Mr Heehs remain in his self-created dungeon. Meanwhile the world advances quickly towards the great vision and the glorious path opened for earth and man by the tapasya of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.

Dr. Alok Pandey

30 May 2010



[1]
Dear Mr. Heehs,

I am writing to express strong and staunch support for your right to engage in the kind of work you have done in your book The Lives of Sri Aurobindo. The book is interesting and I would heartily recommend it to anyone interested in Aurobindo. The attempts of the members of the "cult of Aurobindo and the Mother" to discredit your work on the basis of inane, superstitious, and discredited beliefs about the "divinity" or "avatarhood" of Aurobindo and childish "discipleship" sentiments is deplorable. In fact, I think that the limitation of your work is that it is not sufficiently critical of the legends and myths surrounding Aurobindo, "the Mother", and the communities they helped to spawn.

One central delusion shared equally by Aurobindo and his pitiable disciples (some of whom, e.g., Champaklal, used to reverentially collect specimens of his hair and nail fragments!) is the belief that diseases can be cured by "Yogic force". As the record left by Nirodbaran of Aurobindo's last days clearly shows, Aurobindo believed that he had cured his prostatic trouble by his "yogic force" and said so to Dr. Sanyal. Well, the weeks following this delusional claim provided hard reminders from Mother Nature on the realities of his condition. It should be noted that Aurobindo suffered from partial blindness for several years before his death. This partial blindness is, no doubt, further proof of the "descent of the supermind" into his body and its capacity for producing remarkable physical transformations!!!

"One day we came to notice that Sri Aurobindo’s urination had increased in frequency…The urine was examined and found to have an excessive amount of sugar with a trace of albumin. I reported the result to the Mother in Sri Aurobindo’s presence and said, “It looks like diabetes.” The Mother sharply reacted, “It is not diabetes.”…The Mother, however, reduced considerably the amount of starchy food, particularly rice and sweets for which Sri Aurobindo seemed to have a liking…I was asked to examine the urine every week and apprise him of the result. In a few weeks’ time it became sugar-free but the frequency did not altogether disappear. Sri Aurobindo too had noticed it. It made me suspect mild prostatic enlargement…I consulted [Dr. Prabhat Sanyal] and at my request Sri Aurobindo saw him. After an enquiry he confirmed my suspicion, but added that it was just at the initial stage. He told Sri Aurobindo of the nature, course and complications of the disease, ultimately operation being the only radical cure. After a few months, on Sanyal’s second visit, Sri Aurobindo told him emphatically, “It is no more troubling me. I have cured it.”…During his last months the symptoms of prostatic enlargement reappeared and began to increase slowly…urinary symptoms were worsening and now a trace of albumin was detected…Then acetone appeared, a grave signal…[in the week following the Darshan of November 1950] The symptoms grew more serious and a partial obstruction to the flow of the urine made us think of medical intervention. When it became complete and was causing distress, Dr. [Satyabrata] Sen and we had no other alternative but to pass a catheter, much against his will. It was followed by immediate relief…" (Nirodbaran)

None of this merits any unusual consideration or critical attention were it not for the claim made by the Aurobindo and his disciples that he had used "yogic force" to cure himself. Clearly, the deterioration of his condition after making that claim to Dr. Sanyal and the fact that a catheter, a real one and not a "yogic catheter", was needed to provide some temporary relief is sure proof that he had delusions about "yogic force" and its capacity to cure his own disease, not to mention bombastic claims about "supramentalization of the body", "physical immortality", and chimera of that ilk.

Does the fact that he had deluded himself on "yogic force" and its capacity to cure his disease show that all his contributions are without value? Not at all. Isaac Newton was giant of science, but he filled some of his notebooks with the most weird and unscientific claims, beliefs, and analysis pertaining to the Bible. The latter does not detract from his status as a genius of science. In the same way, I think, Aurobindo's contributions to Indian literature, his attempt to synthesize Upanishadic metaphysics and evolutionary science, his contributions to Indian political life and thought, and his pioneering efforts in systematizing the course of higher development of human consciousness remain valuable despite some of his striking delusions about using "yogic force" to cure diseases and to alter the course of world history.

Dr. Raghu
26 May 2010

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Alok Pandey Responds to Debashish Banerji

DB contradicts himself by saying that most people in the Ashram are not there for sadhana and at the same time concluding that they created a homogeneous approach. This could mean either of the two:

a. The approach of this “inchoate” mass is not an approach to sadhana.

b. Or else the large majority have taken an approach to sadhana which is not the right approach to be taken in the Ashram.

In the first case, he is contradicting himself. In the second, he himself is redefining the sadhana as it should be in the Ashram. [extract]

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On Maithunananda and the Ubhaybharati Episode -- by Alok Pandey

I am no expert either in Sanskrit or in spiritual experience and I also understand that each one is free to interpret in his own way, but my question is how can these shallow interpretations and meanings be authenticated and given as part of the Collected Works of Sri Aurobindo. Once these are out, nothing can be done about it. It is crass falsehood, for by the Collected Works is meant only Sri Aurobindo's writings. If we once open the door to these subjective interpretations (or misinterpretations), then why not also supply some kind of a Savitri-dictionary as part of the Collected Works for terms such as the hippogriff and gold hawk and many such spiritual symbols that cannot be understood by the human intellect and for which Sri Aurobindo and the Mother have not given any clear meanings? How can somebody claim to define the meaning of a word that relates to the realm of spiritual experience with so much certainty? Even if only ten percent of it is the author's interpretation, is it right to do so under the name of the CWSA? Why not honestly admit that Sri Aurobindo said nothing about it and leave people to find out for themselves the meaning rather than condition them in a particular direction? Whatever may maithunananda have meant, the meaning of “spontaneous erotic delight” will evoke in the mind of the general reader (and even in one who has recently acquainted himself with the Yoga of Sri Aurobindo) that sexual pleasure can be experienced without the act and that it is some great spiritual experience.

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On the Darshan Message of 21 February 2010 -- by Alok Pandey

The message is fine but I have some hesitations with regard to the following points:

1. Use of such a beautiful occasion to score a point in the present controversy over PH. I do not know how they choose the message nowadays. If it is inspiration or concentrating and opening a book as the Mother suggested, then it is fine. But if it is only a mental process, is it not better to give something more appropriate for the occasion? For example, a quotation from the book The Mother -- I am just sharing my thoughts. In fact quite a few persons felt the same way about this message.

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The Gospel of Peter -- by Alok Pandey

If one has to believe in all that Peter and his followers are saying, then one would arrive at the following conclusions:

1. Devotion, faith and love for the Master are not spiritual but religious things. As such they have little to do with Integral Yoga which is beyond religion.

2. Spirituality is about an unbridled freedom of the mind and vital to do as they please and what they please and when and wherever they please.

3. Anything that either restrains this kind of freedom or restricts it is religion and fundamentalism.

4. Doubts about the path and criticism of the Master is also one of the roads that one can take in the journey of Integral Yoga.

5. To point out a crass misuse of freedom and theft of a most valuable treasure by those who are meant to guard it, is blasphemy and sacrilegious.

6. It is perfectly alright that someone who is entrusted with but does not possess or own a property, to steal and sell it. It is simply exercising his freedom. To point out such transgressions is being narrow-minded.

7. Some ‘yogis’ across the Atlantic are so developed that they know what is happening in an ashram in South India better than the Ashram inmates themselves. Not only they know but can also dictate what the collectivity should do and must do. This is not moral policing, but standing up to an ideal!

8. Indians are intrinsically intellectually inferior, incapable of analysing anything, have a poor knowledge of the nuances of English language and are simply a bunch of sentimental fools.

9. Laws are meant only for some and not for others. To go to the court to settle disputes is ethically wrong.

10. Writing letters that draw the attention of authorities to a serious transgression and insist that action be taken to prevent further theft and misuse amounts to sword-brandishing and arm-twisting. So also, to express the collective anguish through such a letter is simply mob mentality and mass hysteria.

11. Unity means accepting to conciliate with those who are hostile to the Yoga and to the Divine. It means to shake hands with brazen falsehood.

12. Human beings are superior and much more important than the Divine. Love for those who are akin to me in custom and culture comes first and foremost. Love for humanity comes next. Love for idealism, for truth, for honesty, for transparency comes last. And Love for the Divine is simply an abstraction or a hallucination, a fantasy and one must get rid of it fast so as to appear modern and secular, non-religious and thereby fit and acceptable for sharing the platform of elitist conferences.

13. The Avatar is simply an imperfect human being who with great labour and pain somehow achieves a doubtful divinity. He is not, as is generally and ignorantly believed and upheld by ignorant religious minded persons and mystics, a Perfect Consciousness descending into an imperfect mould to work amidst and upon an imperfect field of earth and humanity.

14. Scholars can never be wrong and man’s mind is capable of judging and criticising the Divine.

15. And finally, though it sounds like a cliché, the boss is always right! And the boss is Peter Heehs!

Alok Pandey

7.1.2010


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A Salutation and a Pledge to Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya (Dada) – by Alok Pandey

A strong pillar of the Ashram life has fallen -- a pillar of strength, a pillar of love, for behind the strong exterior of Dada there always flowed a soothing river of love even as fresh streams reside within and flow from a majestic mountain’s heart. This was not the usual thing that men call love, not something weak and sentimental that human beings often romanticise. It was a strong and mighty current, much like his being and his persona, that derived its truth and force from his unflinching faithfulness and love for the Mother.



[Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya (affectionately called Dada) who first came to the Ashram in 1942, settled in 1945 and became one of the closest attendants of the Mother of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, passed away at 2.40 in the afternoon on 8 January 2010.]

A strong pillar of the Ashram life has fallen -- a pillar of strength, a pillar of love, for behind the strong exterior of Dada there always flowed a soothing river of love even as fresh streams reside within and flow from a majestic mountain’s heart. This was not the usual thing that men call love, not something weak and sentimental that human beings often romanticise. It was a strong and mighty current, much like his being and his persona, that derived its truth and force from his unflinching faithfulness and love for the Mother. It was, we may say, the Mother’s love, the love She had abundantly poured on him and all whom She drew close to Herself. Of course, Dada was a special recipient of that Love and Glory. And this special Grace, of which he was the recipient and a strong vessel, was not just because of his straightforward nature, his honesty and fidelity to the truth, his courage and fearlessness, not even for his love for Her. These are no doubt admirable and rare qualities, indispensable for the Yoga and the Divine Life. They are the solid elements of human nature, the best that the old creation could provide, to be used as scaffolding for the Future Work, the New Creation of tomorrow. Dada had these in abundance, qualities that would not only mark one as a hero and a leader in any sphere of life, what the Gita calls as srestha, the very best among men. But that was not the only thing. The deeper reason perhaps lay in the fact that Dada took upon himself the most challenging field of work. Not the subtle regions of the mind, not even the flowing domains of the heart, which respond more easily to the divine touch. Instead he chose to work upon the most obstinate, the most stubborn of all elements, the physical body -- that hard, rock like material, impervious to all Light and which does not allow any Ray to pass through its thick and obscure substance. As we know, the yogis of the past did not even attempt it; most dread this domain that is the very bastion of resistance. Dada consented to enter this dark and dangerous field, dark to any spiritual light, and by Her Grace, with Her as his divine Teacher, did admirable work that will help the coming generations. He established Her fort in the most difficult terrain, the country of fixed dead matter, as we call it. Yet by the power of Her Love, he managed to bring this dead matter to life and awaken it to Her love and compelled it to aspire for Her Light.

Such men never die! Nor does their work go vain. They have inspired the hearts and minds of humanity, they have shaped many lives by their subtle influence and neither the inspiration one has derived from them, nor their occult influence cast upon men by their inner beings cease with their passing on to domains beyond the grasp of our material senses. If anything, freed from the hard grip of the human frame and the limiting cage of embodied nature, they become freer, larger and universal in their action, even as a god bears with his immensity the creation’s load. Their force liberated from the narrow circle of the few and the fortunate reaches out to the many, often even unknown to them. Having done their appointed task, they return to the hill tops of silence from where they came. But what they have gathered within their bodies, they leave behind as a gift to earth. They enrich the earth not only during their life but also through their death. While it is natural that we feel his loss as if some material aspect of our Divine Mother has left us, yet by this very act of sacrifice, if we may say so, this material power universalises itself and enters into hearts and souls that are ready. It even diffuses itself into matter, percolating silently layer by layer and from there awakens it to aspire, increasing and releasing Light from within its dark folds much as the Angirasa sages of old released Light from the caves of darkness by the power of the Mantra. But this is not just the power of the mantra releasing Light from the caves of darkness, but rather converting those very caves into homes of Light, to invade the dark bases upon which the foundations of our earthly life seem to stand. They have been instrumental in establishing upon earth the seeds of the Supramental Truth-Consciousness that the Mother and Sri Aurobindo brought down to earth by Their tapasya.

Indeed it is Their labour, Their Glory, Their Grace and Love that we see fructified in these pioneers that have gone before us in this life. But they needed instruments, earth-natures that are fit and ready or willing to be made ready, surrendering themselves to Her tremendous touch, plastic to Her Force that few can bear or hold. These pioneers and pillars provided that much needed soil to plant the divine seed upon earth. The seeds did take roots and have grown, watered by Her Love and helped by the Sun of Their Grace brooding over our earth. The work done, They withdrew but not before ensuring that the roots are secure. In time to come, many more saplings will emerge out of each of these trees, the seeds of Light will find better and better human vessels, and earth made ready by the Supramental Force ploughing our minds and bodies and life since Its descent on 29th feb 1956....

Alok Pandey

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A Prayer for the New Year -- by Alok Pandey

May our minds and intelligence refuse to admit the dark and tortuous thoughts that revolt against the Light and resist it by doubt, denial and scepticism.

May our hearts banish the feelings that mock at faith, dismiss love and devotion as mere concessions to the weak, and distort the straight and simple truth they refuse to see.

May our will be free of all unclean motives, hypocrisy and duplicity, cunning and falsehood and all that corrupts and perverts by vain ambition, lust for power and greed for fame.

May we reject and expunge from our entire being the whispers of the Night that cast a hostile look on all that is True and Sacred and Beautiful and Pure and inflict upon the Divine and His messengers the thorns of its fallen nature by testing, judging, condemning and crucifying Him on the world’s altar and by returning Her Love and Grace with denial and distrust, refusal and revolt instead of love, gratitude and surrender.

May ‘We’ unite as one body, one mind, one will, one heart, one soul around the central fire of aspiration that ever seeks and labours, struggles and battles for the advent of a Light greater than reason, a Love deeper than human sentiments, a Freedom born of an inner liberation, a Unity that is founded on the bedrock of the One Self behind all things, an Equality that does not blur all distinctions through a blind indifference and the complacence born of inertia but shows each thing its right place for the harmonious arrangement of all things and ideas and forces in space and time.

May we be cleansed of all blind dogmas – whether religious or scientific, of all obscurantism ─ whether born of a clouded thinking or a rigid and narrow heart and mind, of all prejudices ─ whether arising out of a misguided materialism or a traditional escapist and nihilistic philosophy.

May the diabolic force that inspires works of the likes of TLOSA be dissolved once for all, defeated of its devious designs to hold the human mind a captive to the darkness of the Night from which a New World is struggling to emerge.

May this year, 2010, the centenary of Sri Aurobindo’s coming to Pondicherry be for all of us and for the earth a year for the return of light in our minds, of clarity in our perception and understanding, of devotion and gratitude in our hearts, of faith in our will, and of all that is necessary for Their Work.

Bonne Année

Happy New Year


Alok Pandey

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Alok Pandey’s Reply to "The Larger Issues behind the The Lives of Sri Aurobindo Controversy"

[Around March 2009, the SCIY supporters of Heehs made a solemn collective statement on the larger issues behind the “The Lives of Sri Aurobindo” controversy. Laying the broad outlines of how the Integral Yoga should not be practised (as if they have been practising it for a long time), voicing grave concerns about how it was going awry at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, they formulated fourteen points with summary explanations attached it. How I wish this new charter of Yogic Rights was followed by the setting up of a new Ashram where they could have indeed shown the world how to practise the Integral Yoga in the right way. Heehs also could be anointed as its new Guru. Alok Pandey reacted to this collective lamentation by jotting down the following replies to some of their accusations – religious fundamentalism, not permitting intellectual freedom, etc.]


1. Religious Fundamentalism:

I don’t believe in any kind of fundamentalism, religious or intellectual. A narrow, one-sided, intellectual approach to truth is as harmful as religious bigotry. At the same time, every spiritual collectivity has a right to safeguard what is sacred and dear to it, its cherished values and ethos, and its unique way of life. Sri Aurobindo and the Mother are the centre and the circumference of the Ashram. The members here have willingly chosen this life centered around Them. They have not been forced into conversion or coerced into submission. One is free to move in (if admitted) and one is also free to move out. But when one is part of the institution, a minimum sense of public decency is expected of him. If a member writes publicly disparaging comments that are critical of the core values and founders of the institution and, that too, for years together, and others rise up to challenge and criticize him, I do not see how they become religious fundamentalists. In this world of transparency and accountability, nobody can stay secure on his throne and demand that he will continue to be in his privileged position despite his betrayal of the very Cause, or his acting constantly against the Spirit that built the institution. To expect others to meekly submit to such unlimited privileges is not the spirit of freedom but of slavery and depravity. The Spirit that built the Ashram and sustains it is not the Spirit of Democracy or Theocracy or Autocracy or any such political ideal. It is the spirit of Yoga and acceptance of the Master. Faith in the Founder and His wisdom are part of its core values and central ethos. For the rest, there is the world outside where people are free to speak on whatever they want in appropriate forums.


2. Intellectual Freedom:

Freedom of any kind,  intellectual, vital, physical – is always relative, and comes along with its own share of responsibility. An unlimited freedom is one of those chimeras of vain intellectuals who refuse to submit themselves to a higher Law or a deeper Truth greater than their minds. They are free to say whatever they want, but they must not then complain if others exercise their freedom to contradict their publicly stated opinions and ideas. Unlimited freedom, like unlimited authority is the prerogative only of a consciousness that dwells always in Truth. Since none of us can claim that, let us not speak of it. It is true that an enforced discipline by mechanical means or regimented code leads to conservatism and stagnation, which no progressive group can afford. But equally, an unlimited, unqualified freedom leads to chaos, a mad orgy of vital instincts and mental arrogance,  a regression to barbarism of another kind, which again no progressive group can accept. A right balance is needed, a healthy combination of freedom and discipline, individual and collective. The Ashram is precisely such a place with a leaning towards freedom. Yet, sometimes a group may need to send away a member if his presence is detrimental to the whole group-life or threatening to attack and erode the very Soul of the place. Whether it is possible to destroy the Soul or not is not the issue. The issue is whether certain persisting attitudes and tendencies of an extremely undesirable type can be accepted when they damage the very fundamentals of the Ideal that a group stands and lives for. There are always other groups and places where the individual’s bent of mind and the group’s ethos will match. One is always free to move there.


3. Spokespersons of Truth:

No one except for Sri Aurobindo and the Mother can have that absolute authority. Nobody else claims it either. And precisely for this very reason it is important to see that distortions and wrong of interpretations are not made from their writings, the kind of which PH has been indulging in openly and blatantly through this book.


4. Need for Reconciliation:

Yes, of course, but around what and whom? One cannot sacrifice the central principle for the peripheral, the higher truths for the lesser lights. Unless there is a basic agreement on certain fundamental issues, how can one hope to reconcile? In that case, it is better to let different groups grow independently, each in its own way, without interfering in the other’s affairs. When we would all have grown sufficiently, then union, if necessary, will happen naturally, first inwardly, then outwardly. The fundamental issues are:

(a) Can a critical attitude towards Sri Aurobindo and the Mother be permissible in the Ashram, leave alone tacitly being encouraged as it is being done now?

(b) Does the book truly represent Sri Aurobindo’s life and does justice to His Works?


5. Tolerating Different Approaches:

Of course, there is every scope and freedom for diverse approaches. But is the scientific objectivity of the skeptic materialist or hostile criticism of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother an approach to Integral Yoga? Of course, in the widest sense, everything leads us towards God, one way or the other, but when we speak of yoga, we mean a more direct effort. Not everything can be called conscious yoga simply because everything eventually leads us towards God. Besides, there is a difference between having a personal approach and claiming it as the most authentic or best approach for everybody. There is no problem if someone writes a book about how one feels closer to God when he quarrels with Him, but there is a problem when he denounces, belittles or dismisses others while hailing his own way as the only valid one. The author of TLOSA has precisely done that and he starts it in the Preface itself. It is PH and not the devotees who have been intolerant! They have only reacted to his dismissive attitude towards devotion and faith. If you put your hand in a hornet’s nest, you should not blame someone else for your pain!


6. Hindutva Influence:

This is sheer nonsense. Hindus are perhaps the most tolerant group. If there is any Hindutva influence in the PH controversy, it is seen in the remarkable tolerance displayed by the devotees and sadhaks in the face of such audacity and arrogance displayed by PH and the blatant lies that he and some of his supporters have unabashedly resorted to. Can you imagine someone continuing to live freely and enjoying the privileges of an Ashram despite publicly denouncing its Guru and Master?


7. Anti-Western feelings:

This is again sheer nonsense, an old trick used to divide people on racial lines. Has any westerner ever been harmed before, during, or after the controversy, including those who resolutely stand on PH’s side? B. and R.H. continue to occupy their places, while Sraddhalu has been asked not to go to the Archives. The feeling of racism has not been created by people who are against PH’s book but by those who are supporting him. Somehow they are unable to see beyond the colour of their skin and country of origin. It is sad, but who is responsible for it? That is the question.


8. Western outlook:

There may be some truth in it,  maybe related to a recent past and the turn that religion has taken in the West. Maybe it is difficult for a Westerner to surrender or acknowledge a personal and embodied Divine. But I am not sure if this is still a general phenomenon or one that afflicts the Sri Aurobindo group specifically. Nevertheless, just as an Indian has to pursue yoga forgetting that he is a Hindu or Indian, so also a Westerner or others may have to follow yoga, if they wish to, forgetting that they are Westerners, Christians, agnostics, etc. Or does this simple rule of yoga apply only to one group and not to the others??


9. Moral and Religious Policing:

Nobody does moral or religious policing here. Nobody peeps into anybody’s life or passes judgments except in private. It is rather PH who has tried to peep into Sri Aurobindo’s life with a voyeuristic curiosity and passed judgments. He has made his views public and therefore people have reacted because of his misrepresentations of Sri Aurobindo, His life and His works. How is that equivalent to moral and religious policing? Nobody is bothered or cares about PH’s private and personal life. Nobody has slapped a list of do’s and don’ts on him or anyone else. All that the devotees have asked of him is not to write such derogatory stuff while he is a member of the Ashram. Is that such an unfair demand? If anything, it is his followers in America who are trying to remote control and police and pass comments and judgments on what does not really concern them! One can understand that concern for what is written or said about Sri Aurobindo when it is not confined to the Ashram. The devotees all over the world have surely the right to express what they feel. But it is not within the prerogative of everyone, including devotees outside, to comment, interfere, influence and control the decisions regarding PH’s continuation at the Archives or the Ashram. To do that would rather be moral and religious policing. A distinction must be made between the Ashram as a source of spiritual Light for all and the Ashram as an institution. Nobody here is interfering in PH’s yoga or his personal approach to the Divine, which in any case is a matter of attitude rather than outer circumstances. Nobody is ex-communicating him. All that was asked was his removal from the Archives and that too not out of any ‘righteous wrath’ but because of the gross misuse of his privileges, such as making use of unpublished things for public consumption without taking permission. Such a change of department and even taking someone out of the Ashram has been done earlier and is an acceptable norm in other institutions. It has nothing to do with this hype on ‘religious wrath’ and ‘fundamentalism’. Does it mean that every time someone was asked to leave the Ashram (and there have been quite a few cases), it was done out of ‘religious wrath’ or a ‘fundamentalist’ impulse? It simply means that the individual does not fit anymore in the organization, because he does not agree to abide by its core principles.


10. Who is the authority?

For all Ashram related matters, it is obviously the Ashram Trust that enjoys the full authority. For PED (Physical Education Dept of the Ashram) matters, it is the PED that decides, and so also for most departments. There is no doubt about this. That is why the Ashram inmates welcomed the PED decision whereas they remained silent (though somewhat sorrowfully) at the decision of the Trust. Nobody went against the Trust; they only repeatedly kept apprising them, not because they wanted to ‘arm-twist’ the Trustees but because they felt unheeded and unheard (due to their silence). If a clear decision had been taken either way and communicated to everybody, there would have been no confusion. As I have said earlier, there is a time and place for silence and a time and place for speech and communication. To delay certain decisions for long can prove to be costly.


11. Lawsuit:

Certainly not the best way to settle issues. Yet, if all options are closed, it is the only viable way of redress and there is nothing uncivilized about it.


12. A Logical Fallacy:

Finally, one may say that supporting PH while condemning the reactions to the book is a strange and fallacious logic. The same logic used to defend PH defends also the reactions against him. For instance:

(i) PH decontextualized Sri Aurobindo’s writings, quoting them in bits and parts from here and there, so did those who quoted from his book.

(ii) PH is a representative type of humanity but then so are the others.

(iii) PH has analyzed Sri Aurobindo critically (and without a heart) with the lens of a scientific objectivity. The same is being done to him by others.

(iv) PH has intolerance towards other approaches dubbing them as hagiography, dogma, etc. So also others are being dismissive about his approach.

(v) PH has intellectual freedom to write what he wants, so also others are exercising their freedom to criticize him.

(vi) PH has been critical and dismissive towards Sri Aurobindo’s works, so also have been people been towards his work.

(vii) PH has called Sri Aurobindo names (some would have thought he was a megalomaniac, coward, liar, etc); so also have others done the same to PH, called him names.

(viii) You feel love for PH and are defending him, so also we feel love for Sri Aurobindo and are defending him. Or to use your language, you believe and stand for certain mental values such as vital and intellectual freedom. We believe and stand for certain spiritual values such as devotion and surrender when you take up the yoga (not otherwise).

I am not saying that ‘tit for tat’ is a very yogic thing. All that I am doing is to point out a logical fallacy in supporting PH’s personal actions. What should have been done instead was a discussion on the book itself.


13. Circulating the Extracts:

So do you expect that the whole book should have been circulated? That would be worse! And hasn’t PH done the same, giving a one-sided picture by selective half-quotes. And have not those who have analyzed our letters done the same,  taken them out of context. PH’s background, repeated actions of a similar nature, his being part of the Ashram and that too of the Archives, his abrasive personality that hastily dismisses other approaches, his mocking at people’s faith in the Mother, all these are part of the full picture. To simply take a few extracts (that too selected for effect) and analyze them is only to create confusion, nothing else.


14. Representative Type:

Yes, everybody here is a representative type but not all need to stay in a particular department of the Ashram to do yoga and change themselves. And if he is a representative type, so are the others and he is getting it from other representative types! Such logics is obviously self-defeating in the end!


Alok Pandey

April 2009

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The Mole and the Mountain

Researching History the Mole-way
(An Allegorical Story)

A mole was dissatisfied with its own stature. He had heard of the bear and the elephant who were apparently like him but much larger and stronger. Living in his burrow he had also heard of strange lands, of the mountains and seas, and experienced a mixed emotion of fright and wonder, doubt and faith. All this created an increasing restlessness in him, for he had to find out whether the stories were true or not. At times, he felt accursed for having read about these strange lands and their creatures that he nor anyone else in the mole-world had ever seen, because they were always so busy digging for dead earthworms and eating their remnants.

One day, however, he decided to step out of his burrow and find out for himself if the stories of the mountains and the seas, the elephants and the bears, were true. To assist him in his historical research he took with him a few useful instruments, — the best ones in the mole world, — a probe that could pierce 10” deeper than what mole feet could manage in one go, a lens that could magnify a mole tooth three times its size, and a measuring tape that was the longest available tape in the mole-world and could measure twenty times a mole-length from snout to tail. Equipped with these very best instruments ‘molely’ possible, he confidently stepped out of the mole-world and headed towards the land of the mountains of which he had heard and read. A thought crossed the mole-mind as he moved onwards, “I will measure the mountain and probe its depths and write a most authentic book on it.” He even fantasized great adulation of his unprecedented research; for in all the books he had read he had not found any clear references to the size of the mountain or its depth. Most authors seemed to have been deeply moved by the sight of the mountain; some even had climbed it but never came back to report. “Fools”, thought the mole, “if only they had measured and told us the size, it would have been so much easier and better for other moles to understand the mountain.

As he approached the great mountain, he felt the air grow cool and refreshing. But the mole did not know of anything that could exactly quantify the change, so he took it as an illusion of the senses. He moved on and unknowingly started to climb a rock at the foot of the mountain slope. But soon he realised that his feet were slipping and there was nothing he could hold or grasp. He thought, “This must be the mountain,” and rejoiced deep inside at the prospect of measuring it. But how was he to climb it? As the mole sat wondering, he saw a little monkey playing around. Understanding the mole’s difficulty, the latter offered to help him climb the rock. “No, thank you,” came the curt reply from the proud mole, who considered himself to be the best in the mole kingdom. So he tried to climb and fell back, and tried again and fell, and tried and fell again and again. Tired and exasperated, he wondered what to do next. Just then he saw a group of mountain climbers passing by. Instantly a ‘moley’ idea flashed in his mole-mind, “Maybe I could just jump on one of their bags!” The next moment he was sitting on the bag of a climber, who reached the top of the rock in a few steps. For them, this was not even the beginning. They were seekers of the snow-covered summits decked with mist and cloud and full of beauty and danger. The mole, who knew nothing about it, jumped down as soon as they had climbed the rock.

The climbers moved on. For a moment the mole wondered where were they going, but his mole vision could not see much beyond its little arc. Anyway, it did not concern him. He had now seen the top and it wasn’t really as big and huge or as magnificent as he had heard. “Well, people exaggerate”, he said to himself, and taking his probe and measuring rod went about studying in great detail the base of the mountain. He even dug a few inches in the soil around the rock and discovered a few strands of hair of some strange creature which had died there long ago. He also dug out a few worms and saw a swarm of ants around it. He carefully collected all these, photographed and preserved them, happy at each find that he felt was revealing the secret of the mountain. After all, he thought, the mountain was like any other place, full of worms and ants. And yes, the rock perhaps, was a little different, but still, it could be climbed and measured. He wondered why people had not written about the worms and ants, for these could be easily verified by any mole. They had spoken of the snow-summits, waterfalls and rare flowers, and the only common thing mentioned was the rock.

After staying a few weeks around that small rock and collecting more data from the rocky soil, the mole finally decided to return to the mole-world. He was loaded with enough material to earn him fame and rewards for a lifetime. He planned to write a remarkable book about the minutest details of the mountain, — the ants, the worms, the hair of the dead creature, — things that nobody had found or written about. Excited and a little exhausted, he slept off at the foot of the mountain and slipped into a dream world in which he saw a number of rats and bandicoots, moles and lizards, gather around him to listen to his description of the elusive mountain with rapt attention. His book was already being acclaimed as the first authentic and objective book on the subject. A dream dialogue ensued in which he was proudly displaying his book, “The Many Sides of a Mountain”.

“So what is the mountain like Mr. PH” (as he was popularly known, — a short form of “painstaking historian”, though some heretic moles had nicknamed him as “petrified historian”, since he could only dig for scraps in the buried past)? What is the mountain like, sir?”

“Well, very much like any other place,” beamed PH and, with a sly smile, asked, “Does that surprise you?”

“Well, yes, perhaps, maybe not,” someone answered, a little confused.

And another, “It makes us feel closer to the mountain, it is more manageable now, and maybe someday one of us would be able to climb it. How much was its height, sir?”

“Well about twenty feet, top to bottom, a few inches more perhaps,” declared confidently the historian.

“Oh, we can climb that with a little assistance and practice,” one observed.

“Yes, or with a little intelligence and cunning,” the historian added, remembering how he had jumped upon a passer-by’s backpack.

“So what is all this fuss about? I mean, these climbers speak of some enormous figure, a seemingly impossible task for us moles!” questioned another one.

“Oh, the climbers always exaggerate. Having been to the mountain and studied it closely, I know that much of what they say comes from their imagination. In fact, the mountain is one huge rock and nothing more. All this talk of greenery and caves and exquisite flowers and rare animals and snow tops where the sun-rays dance in golden hues, is romantic poetry,” replied the historian mole sarcastically.

“I see,” a young mole pondered, “and what about the pure and pristine streams and waterfalls?”

The mole answered with an air of solemnity and impartiality: “Well, I searched and dug deep and went around the mountain several times, but found no evidence of any streams or even of water nearby. I cannot say that what the other writers claim is delusive and unreal, but one thing is certain, it cannot be objectively verified.”

“And what about the healing herbs with strange magical powers to cure?” a curious child mole asked feeling a little dampened by the mole’s account.

The historian mole laughed hideously and, stamping out the joy and wonder from the child mole’s eyes, answered wryly: “I do not know of any such thing. All I found were some ants and worms and few strands of hair of a dead creature,” and he showed him proudly the exhibits that he had brought in his bag.

Unknown to the mole, while he slept and dreamt of his future glory and fame, a group of climbers returned from the summit. One of them took a careless step and crushed the mole under his foot, burying it in the sand. When he realised what he had done, he cast a sympathetic glance at the dead mole and cautioned himself to be more careful with his steps. And as he and his comrades proceeded on their way down, they sang of what they had seen and felt on their journey to the summit. They described “the glory of the mountain tops, snow-clad, bare, austere, free; the pristine streams and springs whose water soothed and rejuvenated; the magical herbs that healed and the rare gems that were hidden in its depths; the blinding blizzards and the snow leopards; the clear lakes and untouched forests and pine groves; and, atop all these, majestic Shiva with the moon to his left and the sun to his right, illumining the summits, which no eyes can describe and no vision behold.”

As they sang and went past, the wind ran with them and the hearts of the trees and creatures were filled with quiet wonder and joy. The mole lay dead by the wayside, the pages of his book fluttering on his side.

Alok Pandey
(November 2008)

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Posted By Raman Reddy at 11/13/2009 05:54:00 PM   ...full text...

The Book and its Background -- by Alok Pandey

Writing a Spiritual Biography: Some General Considerations

Biographies, especially of great men, are written so that men of later generation can derive inspiration from it. Though sometimes professional psychologists and sociologists discuss the various forces that may have gone in the moulding of a great man, the prime objective is not a voyeuristic curiosity into the petty personal details of his life. If this is true of a great figure of repute and honour, we need to be even more careful when we touch the life of a saint or sage, of a national hero in whom not only the present but future generations will take pride and draw inspiration from. In India, at least, we draw the necessary distinction between the sacred and the profane, the sublime and the commonplace. We do not, and for good reasons, mix up the two in an indiscriminate manner. We do not, for example, discuss the reason behind the marriage of a great spiritual Master and, after much tortuous deliberation, end up with the commonplace statement that “it must be due to the usual desire for physical gratification”. We do not, to give another example, discuss whether he was a madman or genius of the spirit, but leave that for the coming generations to decide. True disciples, those whom the biographer of The Lives of Sri Aurobindo calls hagiographers, may exaggerate sometimes the achievements and qualities of a great Master. But it is also true that critics do just the same, but with a bias and a swing on the opposite side. They minimise and belittle the actual importance, because it threatens their own smallness and invites them to undertake an adventure which attracts and frightens them at the same time. To reduce the Master to the same level as they are, to bring him down to the littleness of our mortal state gives to these critics a vicarious and perverse pleasure.
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Alok Pandey's second letter to Peter Heehs

Dear biographer of the “Lives …”

You seem to have completely missed the point that the devotees and disciples are trying to make.

The point is not merely the “technicality” of what you have written, whether it is “factually” correct or not, the “reliability “of the sources you have quoted, the “balance” of appraisal and criticism that you have leveled! All these, though important, are not the central issue at all, even though, as pointed out by “several experts” in their own fields, there are glaring flaws in these areas as well. Yet, even if your work were flawless by some fluke, there would still remain the unanswered question, rendering the entire exercise futile.

The point is not whether the details of Sri Aurobindo’s outer life are historically correct or not. The point is whether the image and the picture of Sri Aurobindo that you portray and must bring out (as any worthwhile biographer should) is psychologically and spiritually correct or at least closely corresponds to the inner reality of Sri Aurobindo. And for this you do not have to pick up newspaper cuttings from the dustbin of office records or go through pages of written documents but learn and educate yourself to see and feel with the psychic vision, to experience and understand life and persons with the spiritual sense. What you have hastily “dismissed” as mere “faith” and “sentiments” are not what you “believe” it to be.   ...full text...