Spiritual Distortions – All Life is Yoga! – by Baikunth

There is a need to define at present what is not the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, more perhaps than the need to define what it is. Of course, the two functions are interdependent and cannot be dealt in an exclusive manner, for one often defines something by what it is not. But the mere positive definition leaves out the hidden distortions which you only come to know after a long period of gestation, and not in a one-hour lecture on the Integral Yoga, however inspiring it may be. There have been in the past, and there still are a number of brilliant speakers who mostly fulfil their role in the positive definition of the Yoga and philosophy of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, but very few as yet have sufficiently dwelt on its negative definition, by which I mean explaining elaborately what it is not.

  ...full text...

The Necessity of Proper Procedures in Sri Aurobindo Ashram – by Baikunth

It is therefore high time that some proper procedures are introduced in the current administrative setup of the Ashram without, at the same time, paralysing it with procedures as we see in various Government institutions. It is true we have made a parody of democracy in our country, but that cannot be a justification for not introducing basic democratic structures in the Ashram. It is also true that spirituality and democracy may be incompatible, but in the present predicament of the Ashram when the Integral Yoga has become an excuse to enjoy the ordinary life at other people’s expense, it is time to put in place a few checks and balances on the unlimited powers of the Trustees to prevent the most arrogant human errors in the name of divine justice. [read full article below]

  ...full text...

Indians and Westerners in Sri Aurobindo Ashram – by Baikunth

I see a silver lining in the clouds in those few Westerners who dared to stand by Sri Aurobindo at the expense of their national pride and ego. For the true test of the World Unity that all of us aspire for, is not in how we sing and dance and hold our hands together in a symbolic circle when all is well, but in how we rise above national feeling and racial prejudice when differences arise between people from various nations and cultures. Until we can do so, the project of the New World, which Sri Aurobindo and the Mother wanted us to build, will never take off. We will remain on the ground imagining that we are flying high in the sky! [read full article below]  

  ...full text...

The Case for a Govt Administrator for Sri Aurobindo Ashram ― by Baikunth

Many people have expressed their strong reservations about a Government takeover of Sri Aurobindo Ashram. But there are good reasons to believe that a Government takeover would be far better than the present administration of the Ashram.

The Auroville Example

Let me first point out the living example of Auroville where things are certainly much better off with a Govt administrator than the present state of affairs at the Ashram from the point of view of transparency, accountability and democracy. It is true that it would have been better had there been no government intervention even in Auroville, but this is merely a speculation of not much use now. The speculation also presupposes ideal conditions and does not take into account the human factors that made the takeover inevitable. The then management of Auroville refused to listen to the demands of the Aurovillians and the latter had no other recourse left but to appeal to the Government. Whose fault was it? Will the Aurovillians now say that they should not have fought for their rights and that they should have submitted themselves silently to the rule of Sri Aurobindo Society?

A similar situation has developed in Sri Aurobindo Ashram with perhaps more complications than in the case of Auroville.

  ...full text...

The Cords that Bind the Ashramites ― Baikunth

The present administration of Sri Aurobindo Ashram is not only a misfit in the current situation but a total anachronism. Everyone in the Ashram, including the Trustees themselves, agree that the vacuum left by the withdrawal of the Mother’s physical presence in November 1973 can never be filled up. Yet the administration acts as if it has legitimately replaced the Mother. The excuse that is given is that there is no other alternative to the existing system of one-man rule, which, when the Mother was physically present, was a divine dictatorship, and was gladly accepted by all her disciples and devotees. The demand for democracy was never voiced during the golden days of the Ashram, for all those who came to Her had the unflinching faith that whatever decisions She took were for their ultimate good under the existing circumstances. Nobody questioned Her wisdom, nobody said that She could be wrong in her decisions with regard to collective or personal matters. The underlying assumption was that She knew them better than they knew themselves. 

  ...full text...

The Present State of Sri Aurobindo Ashram – Baikunth

The following sentence from the last chapter of Sri Aurobindo’s Human Cycle reflects the psychological state of most of the present inmates of Sri Aurobindo Ashram:

The holding of an ideal becomes almost an excuse for not living according to the ideal; the existence of its institutions is sufficient to abrogate the need of insisting on the spirit that made the institutions.

(The Human Cycle, CWSA, Vol. 25, pp 262)

I translate it into more real terms. Pay lip service to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, bow down to their Samadhi and recite your favourite lines from their works on special occasions. (For it is only the special occasions that matter!) Go about leisurely within the security net provided by the Ashram, because that is not only practical but prudent. Get your daily food in time, get your laundry in time, do your daily physical exercises and avail of free medical care. And finally do a little bit of sadhana as and when you feel the rare inner pull!

  ...full text...

Togo Mukherji Passes Away – Baikunth

Togo Mukherji passed away on 14 December, 2012 at Puducherry. An excellent article covering the notable aspects of his life has been written by Anurag Bannerji on his site, which I would recommend for reading to all those who are interested to know the details of  his life. 

I will limit myself here to the most prominent aspect of Togo, his bravery and audacity to challenge the powers that rule, which he obviously inherited from his grandfather, the legendary Bagha Jatin (Jatin Mukherji, one of the two Jatins who were contemporaries of Sri Aurobindo and fought in the first freedom struggle of India). His grandfather challenged the British, the grandson challenged the present Trustees of Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Togo flouted the authorities by openly discussing with pusillanimous Ashramites the issue of Peter Heehs in the Ashram Dining Room and circulated articles exposing the distortions and misrepresentations in the Lives of Sri Aurobindo. Manoj Das Gupta, Managing Trustee of Sri Aurobindo Ashram and the present counterpart of the British Viceroy during his grandfather’s times, deprived him of his food as a punishment. Togo could have apologised and got back his Dining Room facility, but he did not give in. Not only he participated in the two dharnas that were held in protest against the support of the Trustees for Peter Heehs, but he even deposed in the Puducherry Collector’s enquiry on the Ashram Trustees. This enquiry has been temporarily stayed by the High Court of Chennai, but once the stay is lifted, Togo’s signed statement along with thirty other depositions will be of great use to dethrone the present Trustees and bring a new era of peace and justice in Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Thus Togo Mukherji would continue to fight injustice even after his demise. 

  ...full text...