Peter Heehs Reinstated as Head of Sri Aurobindo Ashram Archives – Anirjeet

Is the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust in Pondicherry bent upon destroying the spiritual legacy of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother? If not, how do you explain the sudden reinstatement of Peter Heehs as the head of its Archives & Research Department on the 29th of June?

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"Deliberate Distortions of Sri Aurobindo's Life and Yoga" – edited by Raman Reddy

The above book is freely available at: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iWfRqqqmDLirSQyWkax9V8-q-3zipaop/view?usp=sharing

Preface

This book is a counter to the vicious attack on Sri Aurobindo’s spiritual stature that came in the form of a hostile biography of him by Peter Heehs entitled The Lives of Sri Aurobindo, published by Columbia University Press in 2008. All the articles in this book are in defence of Sri Aurobindo and many of them have been written by well-known historians and academicians. Though the book is written in support of the disciples and followers of Sri Aurobindo and their spontaneous rejection of the gross distortions of their Master’s life and teachings, the refutations themselves are based on a scholarly study of Sri Aurobindo’s works and a thorough examination of the historical facts of his life. I hasten to make here a necessary clarification with regard to the study of great spiritual personalities such as Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.

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Response to FIRSTPOST on the Scheme Suit issue – by Bireshwar Choudhury

On 14 January 2016, the Editor of the FIRSTPOST has referred in passing to the petitioners of the Scheme Suit in a most disparaging manner in an article titled “SC has shown great foresight in striking against proxy PILs as instruments of intimidation”.  As an admirer of this website, which has dared to take on the likes of Wendy Doniger, it is strange that it has now decided to support one of “Wendy’s children” – Peter Heehs (read this post). But I hope I can attribute this error to factual ignorance and unfamiliarity with the recent problems in Sri Aurobindo Ashram. If that be the case, I would like to point out a few outright errors in the write-up for the clarification of the larger readership connected with the FIRSTPOST, which hopefully would set the record right or at least give us a chance to give our version of events on its website. I quote from the article:

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Ashram Showroom, Guest House come under Attack

The New Indian Express

Chennai, Wednesday, 24 December 2014

Oriya Nilayam Guest House

No one was injured in the attacks on Splendour Auroservice and Oriya Nilayam

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Left Parties to launch separate agitation

The Hindu 20 December, 2014

Special Correspondent

Left parties on Friday announced that they would observe bandh separately on Saturday here demanding that the government bring a special enactment for keeping Aurobindo Ashram Trust and its Society under control.

Leaders of Communist Party of India (CPI), the Communist Party of India (Marxist), CPI(Marxist-Leninist) Revolutionary Socialist Party, and All India Forward Bloc discussed various issues including the death of three women who were expelled from Ashram.

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An Interview with Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya in May 1991 (3)

Interviewer(s): Pranab-da, you said that on the 24th April, 1945 you marched in front of Sri Aurobindo. Where and how was it?

Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya: It was in 1948. It was in the Darshan Room. He was sitting in the Darshan Room and we did the march past in the hall that is above Meditation Hall [downstairs]. We came in by the staircase door that is nearer to the staircase, and then took a round and came out by the other door. Two in a row and we told everybody not to do pranam and all that, as that will spoil the march past. Just turn your head and see. In bhakti, you know, if they did pranam, they would spoil everything (laughter).  So the whole march past took some three or four minutes and we got the advantage of going again for the second time, so we had two Darshans.

Interviewer(s): She said anything after that?

PKB: She liked it very much. Sri Aurobindo was amused, that is what Mother said. There was a little smile on his face, we could see that. And when it was finished, I went and told him that it was over and he gave me a nod. Then Mother told me that the way I had come and said the thing was over was liked very much by Sri Aurobindo.

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GURU NINDA ― by Niranjan Naik

[There is a story behind this article. It was originally written in Oriya for the November 2008 issue of Navaprakash by Niranjan Naik, who was its editor for the last 38 years. The Peter Heehs controversy had erupted around mid-August / September 2008, shocking the devotees and disciples of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. The question that figured most prominently in their minds was how an Ashramite could insult the Guru. Niranjan Naik answered the question indirectly in his article without mentioning any names. The November 2008 issue was printed and even bound at the Ashram Press when the matter was brought to the notice of the Ashram Trust. The Managing Trustee, on the advice of Manoj Das, immediately ordered the scrapping of the article and 9700 copies of the magazine had to be redone. The cover pages were torn and the pages of the article were shredded to bits. Luckily, a few copies of the article were preserved, xeroxed and distributed in Orissa where it elicited a highly favourable response. It is in the light of this event that readers of this site should judge the dubious public statement made by the Ashram Trust in 2012 with regard to freedom of speech and belief in Sri Aurobindo Ashram.

The story does not end there. Niranjan Naik was later removed from the editorship of Navaprakash in January 2011 under pressure from Manoj Das. His daily work of carrying the letters and offerings of devotees in Orissa to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother’s rooms was abruptly taken away from him by Manoj Das Gupta. Even now, he constantly faces harassment by the henchmen of the Trustees in spite of lodging two police complaints. This is the mundane reality of the present Ashram administration. – Bireshwar]

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Sridharan’s Response to Aurofilio’s Email on Auroconf

Filio: Hello SSK [Sotantar Singh Khalsa],    17.03.2014

 In your email you have asked a question about the troubles of the Ashram and have touched upon other points concerning Auroville and Integral Yoga.

     If I am not mistaken, I believe that the hostility that the Ashram, Auroville and IY collective are witnessing from within the IY collective is because some people from within believe that these places are no more the “Lab(s)” of our Masters.

Sridharan: What do you mean by “Labs” of our Masters when the Masters themselves are physically absent? They are of course spiritually present, but how many of us can constantly feel their presence apart from the  improbable fact of being constantly guided by them, in which case only we (especially those who are in charge of the administration) have a right to talk about the “labs of our Masters”? Otherwise, all that we have right now are the fading remnants of a great experiment in spiritual evolution which is facing gradual annihilation at the hands of the usual vital and physical forces that successfully operate in the world. I am not being overly pessimistic because I still believe that this great experiment can be continued, provided the present authorities of the Ashram accept that it is not their Ashram but Sri Aurobindo and the Mother’s Ashram. It is only when this happens that a larger perspective can be arrived at and most of the present problems of the Ashram can be solved by the formation of a larger group of committed followers and disciples who will act in a more sensible and democratic way than the present miniscule group of autocratic Trustees. Basic democratic principles have been always spurned and flouted by the current administrative setup with the excuse that spirituality is not for the masses but for the elite, the underlying implication being that they, who are in power, represent the spiritual elite of the Ashram. But do they really? Are they ready to say that in public? Can anyone among them pretend to replace Sri Aurobindo and the Mother?

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An Analysis of the Preface of Peter Heehs's "Sri Aurobindo: A Brief Biography", OUP, 1989 (Part 2) ― A Zombified Disciple

MURDERS IN THE LAND OF THE NAÏVE — 2

Peter Heehs wrote two biographies: Sri Aurobindo: A Brief Biography, OUP, 1989 (Bio-1), and The Lives of Sri Aurobindo, CUP, 2008, (Bio-2).[1] He also planted a life-sketch of Sri Aurobindo in an anthology of some Indian saints, maybe to test the tactic used in Bio-1 and imply Sri Aurobindo’s rank among them. This part of my article analyses the rest of Bio-1’s preface. Parts 3 and 4 will take up the preface of Bio-2. Part 5 will compare a few of the facts and interpretations in them with relevant facts from variant accounts.

            Peter’s opinions on specific points are cut up, masked, and implanted in unrelated passages. To unravel these opinions and weave their pieces in an unbroken paragraph, I had to often repeat and remerge the pieces with their soul-mates in other passages. Peter’s text is in Italics and mine in Roman.

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Ashram Trustees Criticise the Republication of the First Edition of Savitri – by Sridharan

A letter of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust has recently been published in the All India Magazine of Sri Aurobindo Society in the issue of November 2012, strongly criticising the republication of the first edition of Savitri by Helios Books. Not only the letter is written in extremely bad taste, but totally irrelevant and misleading comparisons and statistics regarding the various editions of Savitri have been quoted in it to impress the lay reader without actually touching upon the central issue.

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Sri Aurobindo Society Condemns "The Lives of Sri Aurobindo" by Peter Heehs

In a significant development the Sri Aurobindo Society as an institution has passed a resolution publicly condemning "The Lives of Sri Aurobindo" by Peter Heehs. This was in response to the overwhelming expression of outrage from hundreds of Branches and Centres all over India.

The Executive Committee of the Society has shown great wisdom by responding to the situation on the ground. We are certain that the Branches and Centres of the Society will surely takes steps to ensure that Sri Aurobindo's reputation and work is protected by all.

The Society, headquartered in Pondicherry, was founded by the Mother and She remains its permanent President. It has about 50 Branches and 300 Centres all over India and abroad.

The full text of the statement of the Sri Aurobindo Society goes thus:

Important note for all the Members, Branches & Centres of the Society on the book "The Lives of Sri Aurobindo" by Peter Heehs

Our Branches & Centres have made queries regarding the controversy that has been created by the book "The Lives of Sri Aurobindo" by Peter Heehs, an ashramite. Head Office has been repeatedly asked as to what is the stand of Sri Aurobindo Society in this connection.

This matter was discussed in detail by the Executive Committee of Sri Aurobindo Society and the following decision was taken:

"After having read the book 'The Lives of Sri Aurobindo' by Peter Heehs, the Executive Committee of Sri Aurobindo Society has come to the conclusion that the book, at many places, presents facts and information based on unreliable sources and contains misrepresentations and distortions of the life, work and yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. The book also puts down other biographies written by scholars and devotees, which are certainly not hagiographies and have inspired a large number of devotees, seekers and scholars. All these biographies are available with SABDA, the official sellers of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother's books and other related books. "The Lives of Sri Aurobindo" has not been allowed by Sri Aurobindo Ashram to be sold at SABDA.

Sri Aurobindo Society strongly disapproves of the book."

http://www.sriaurobindosociety.org.in/announcement.htm

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