Peter
Heehs was born & educated in USA (says his bio-data on the inside cover of
his India’s Freedom Struggle, OUP,
1988). In 1971, at the age of 22, he settled
in Pondicherry [=not in the ashram
Aurobindo founded]. He is a research
scholar [=not member of S.A Ashram]
at the Sri Aurobindo [=not S.A Ashram’s]
Archives & Research Library, specializing in the life & politics of Sri
Aurobindo. In an earlier form the present book was awarded a State Prize in a
competition sponsored by the Delhi administration. Since then he has published many uninhibited
books, booklets & ‘papers’ on Aurobindo in his native English-English for
his type of non-disciples, & at least one in an inhibited Indian ungrezi
for Aurobindo’s Indian disciples. [Click here to read full article.]
Showing posts with label Zombified Disciple. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zombified Disciple. Show all posts
28 Nov 2017
4 May 2014
Analysis of the Preface of Peter Heehs’ The Lives of Sri Aurobindo (Bio-2 – part 6) – A Zombified Disciple
Murders in the Land of the Naïve – 8
Heehs
wrote Sri Aurobindo: A Brief Biography, OUP, 1989 (Bio-1), The Lives of Sri Aurobindo,
CUP, 2008, (Bio-2) & much else
in the same vein. Bio-1 was, perforce, subtly
devious; Bio-2
is a shameless tour de force of
perfidy.[1] His pseudonym ‘Marcher’
is a fusion of his fêted forebears Catherine Mayo (1867-1940) & William
Archer (1856-1924), though Marcherism – degrading the Sanatana Dharma &
vilifying the greatest children of Mother India – was born centuries them. The
entire credit for his thriving at the expense of his subject and the Sri Aurobindo Ashram goes to his Daemon, a special
emission of “the falsehood of the mental, vital and physical Powers and
Appearances that still rule the earth-Nature”.[2]
All
text in Italics is from Bio-1, Bio-2 & their prefaces; all in
Roman is mine.
I have often interspersed my comments in Roman within Marcher’s text which is
always in Italics.
11 Apr 2014
Analysis of the Preface of Peter Heehs’ "The Lives of Sri Aurobindo" (Bio-2 – part 5) – A Zombified Disciple
Murders in the Land of the Naïve – 7
Heehs
wrote Sri Aurobindo: A Brief Biography, OUP, 1989 (Bio-1), The Lives of Sri Aurobindo,
CUP, 2008, (Bio-2) & much else
in the same vein.[1] I
analyse his prefaces using his device critical
openness of a seeker of truth &
his diktat: Biographers must take their
documents as they find them…, paying as much attention to what is written by
the subject’s enemies as by his friends, not giving special treatment even to
the subject’s own version of events. Accounts by the subject…need to be
compared against other narrative accounts…that do not reflect [his] point of view. The pseudonym ‘Marcher’ is a fusion
of his forebears Catherine Mayo (1867-1940) & William Archer (1856-1924),
though Marcherism – degrading the Sanatana Dharma & vilifying the greatest
children of Mother India – was born centuries before Mayo-Archer. The entire credit
for his thriving at the expense of his subject
and his ashram goes to his Daemon, a
special emission of “the falsehood of the mental, vital and physical Powers and
Appearances that still rule the earth-Nature”.[2]
All
text in Italics is from Bio-1, Bio-2 & their prefaces; all in
Roman is mine.
I have often interspersed my comments in Roman within Marcher’s text which is
always in italics.
9 Feb 2014
Analysis of the Preface of P. Heehs’ The Lives of Sri Aurobindo, CUP, 2008 (Part 4) ― A Zombified Disciple
Murders in the Land of the Naïve – 6
Heehs wrote Sri
Aurobindo: A Brief Biography, OUP, 1989 (Bio-1), The Lives of Sri Aurobindo, CUP, 2008, (Bio-2) and much else in the same vein.[1] I
analyse Bio-1 and 2 and their prefaces using his device critical openness of a seeker of truth
and his diktat: Biographers must take
their documents as they find them…, paying as much attention to what is written
by the subject’s enemies as by his friends, not giving special treatment even
to the subject’s own version of events. Accounts by the subject have
exceptional value, but they need to be compared against other narrative
accounts, more important, against documents that do not reflect a particular
point of view.
All text in Italics is from
Bio-1, Bio-2 and their prefaces; all in Roman is mine. I have often
interspersed my comments in Roman within Marcher’s text which is always in
italics.
21 Dec 2013
Analysis of the Preface of P. Heehs’ The Lives of Sri Aurobindo, CUP, 2008 (Part 3) – A Zombified Disciple
Murders in the Land of the Naïve – 5
Peter Heehs wrote Sri
Aurobindo: A Brief Biography, OUP, 1989 (Bio-1), and The Lives of Sri Aurobindo, CUP,
2008, (Bio-2), and a life-sketch.[1] My
attitude and approach to Bio-2
Preface is empowered by its own diktat: Biographers
must take their documents as they find them…, paying as much attention to what
is written by the subject’s enemies as by his friends, not giving special
treatment even to the subject’s own version of events. Accounts by the subject
have exceptional value, but they need to be compared against other narrative
accounts, more important, against documents that do not reflect a particular
point of view. I take this preface at face value, compare it against other
narrative accounts and facts that do not reflect its version of events, and
analyse it with its device – critical
openness of a seeker of truth. In the resultant exposé, Lives of Marcher, ‘Marcher’ is a fusion of
his forebears Catherine Mayo (1867-1940) and William Archer (1856-1924), though
Marcherism – degrading the Sanatana Dharma and vilifying the greatest children
of Mother India, was born centuries before Mayo-Archer. Peter Marcher Heehs first
encountered Sri Aurobindo in 1968. To encounter means to meet face to face,
defy, oppose, confront. Of the too few exposed Marchers, ours alone continues
to thrive at his subject’s expense. But
its entire credit goes to his Daemon, a special emission of “the falsehood of
the mental, vital and physical Powers and Appearances that still rule the
earth-Nature”.[2]
12 Aug 2013
Analysis of the Preface of Peter Heehs’ The Lives of Sri Aurobindo, CUP, 2008 (Part 2) – A Zombified Disciple
MURDERS IN THE LAND OF THE NAÏVE – 4
Note: In this analysis, as in the
previous, Peter’s words are in Italics and mine are in Roman.
Peter’s
Attitude and Approach–D):
(1) I first encountered Aurobindo [in
an April 1950 photo] in 1968 in a yoga
center on 57th Street in Manhattan…I did not find it particularly
remarkable…. A few months later…I found myself in another yoga centre…on Central Park West. Here there were just three
pictures on the wall, one of them the standard portrait of Aurobindo (Figure 1).
I was struck by the peaceful expanse of his brow, his trouble-free face, and
fathomless eyes. It would be years before I learned that all these features owed their distinctiveness to the retoucher’s
art…. (2) Figure 2 is photograph of
Aurobindo taken around the same time as Figure 1. Note the dark, pockmarked
skin, sharp features, and undreamy eyes. (3) As far as I know, it did not appear in print before 1976, when I
published it in an ashram journal. (4) To me Figure 2 is infinitely more appealing
than Figure 1. (5) There is hardly a
trace of a shadow between the ears, with the result that the face has no
character. The sparkling eyes have been painted in; even the hair has been
given a gloss. As a historical document it is false. As a photograph it is a
botched piece of work. (6) But for
many, Figure 1 is more true to Aurobindo than Figure 2. (7) In later life, his complexion became fair
and smooth, his features full and round. Figure 2 thus falsifies the “real”
Aurobindo. (8) It is the task of the
retoucher to make the photograph accord with the reality that people want to
see. Hagiographers deal with
documents the way that retouchers deal with photographs. Biographers must take
their documents as they find them.
23 Jul 2013
An Analysis of the Preface of Peter Heehs's "The Lives of Sri Aurobindo, CUP, 2008 ― A Zombified Disciple
Peter’s
Attitude and approach: Biographers must take
their documents as they find them…, paying as much attention to what is written
by the subject’s enemies as by his friends, not giving special treatment even
to the subject’s own version of events. Accounts by the subject have exceptional
value, but they need to be compared against other narrative accounts, more
important, against documents that do not reflect a particular point of view.
My
Comments:
This statement authorises me to take this exceptionally
valuable preface as I find it and,
without giving special treatment to his
particular point of view, compare it against
other narrative accounts and facts that
do not reflect his version of events, and interpret the whole by my
critical openness of a disciple. The biographical story that has
emerged I call Avatars (Lives) of Marcher.
The name ‘Marcher’ is a fusion of C. Mayo (1867-1940) whose Mother India vilified Indians, and W.
Archer (1856-1924) who vilified Indian culture through his India and the Future and whom Sri Aurobindo put in his place in The Foundations of Indian Culture.
14 Jun 2013
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.
5 May 2013
An Analysis of the Preface of Peter Heehs's "Sri Aurobindo: A Brief Biography", OUP, 1989
MURDERS IN THE LAND OF THE NAÏVE — 1
Peter Heehs
wrote two biographies: Sri Aurobindo: A Brief Biography,
OUP, 1989 (Bio-1), and The Lives
of Sri Aurobindo, CUP, 2008, (Bio-2).
He also planted a life-sketch of Sri Aurobindo in an anthology of Indian
saints, maybe to test the tactic used in Bio-1
and imply Sri Aurobindo’s rank among them. This part of my article scrutinises Bio-1’s Preface, the second will
scrutinise that of Bio-2. The third
part will compare a few of the facts and interpretations in both vis-à-vis
relevant facts from what Peter calls variant
accounts.
* * *
Preface of Sri Aurobindo: A Brief
Biography, 1989, (Bio-1)
This is a
masterpiece of well-sculpted elusiveness. Peter’s full positions on specific
points are cut up, altered, implanted in unrelated arguments or explanations.
To unravel a full position and weave the pieces in an unbroken paragraph, I had
to repeat and remerge them with their soul-mates in several passages. In the
section “Peter’s attitude and approach”, his text is in Italics and mine in
Roman, hoping to make the overall reading smooth and comprehensible.
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