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:
28 Jan 2016
21 Jan 2016
Praise for “The Battle for Sanskrit” by Rajiv Malhotra
“Is
Sanskrit political or sacred, oppressive or liberating, dead or alive?”
For the past sixty
years my primary activity has been to interpret Sanskrit and sanskriti. Indeed,
Malhotra and I are sailing in the same boat. This book provokes a debate
between the ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’ of our heritage. It exposes that many
outsiders pretend to be insiders, but their hidden agenda is to convince
ignorant Hindus that the Vedas are myths and that the traditional claims are
nonsensical. They pretend to know our traditions even better than our highest
exponents.
15 Jan 2016
Subramanian Swamy on "Breaking India" by Rajiv Malhotra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKDkjFc1Muc
...full text...
8 Jan 2016
Dismissal of the Scheme Suit in the Supreme Court – by Bireshwar Choudury
The Scheme Suit
filed against the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust has been dismissed on technical
grounds by the Supreme Court of India on 6 January, 2016. Unlike what
the supporters of Peter Heehs and the cronies of the Ashram Trust are
projecting on the Net, the Supreme Court has not exonerated the author of the Lives of Sri Aurobindo. The Scheme Suit has
been dismissed because the case against the Lives
of Sri Aurobindo by Peter Heehs is still pending in the High Court of
Orissa.
4 Jan 2016
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.
30 Dec 2015
The Right and Left in India - Dr. David Frawley - India Inspires Talks
https://youtu.be/EMY6lwj52dw
Published on Nov 26, 2015
In
this Talk, Dr. Frawley clearly explains the intellectual roots of "The
Right" and "The Left" in India. He states that in India, the political
terminology of right and left is defined by Marxists, who like to call
anyone that opposes them right-wing or fascists. According to their view
anything traditionally Hindu would have to be right-wing on principle,
just as only their views are deemed progressive, even if supporting
Stalinist tactics. This means that in India such subjects as Yoga,
natural healing, vegetarianism and animal rights are all automatically
right-wing because they are causes of the Hindu mind, with antecedents
in ancient Indian culture. Great Hindu yogis and sages from
Shankaracharya to Sri Aurobindo are classified by modern Marxists as
right-wing, if not fascist.
However, the Indian left is mainly the Old Left, emphasizing a failed communist ideology and state economic planning such as dominated Eastern Europe in the decades following World War II and took it nowhere. It wreaked the same havoc with the economy and educational systems of India and kept the country backward. Indian communists are among the few in the world that still proudly honor Stalin and Mao (while warning of the danger of Hindu fundamentalism)!
However, the Indian left is mainly the Old Left, emphasizing a failed communist ideology and state economic planning such as dominated Eastern Europe in the decades following World War II and took it nowhere. It wreaked the same havoc with the economy and educational systems of India and kept the country backward. Indian communists are among the few in the world that still proudly honor Stalin and Mao (while warning of the danger of Hindu fundamentalism)!
19 Dec 2015
Tarak Fateh - Partition of India and the forgotten question of Baluchistan
https://youtu.be/tlrEHJ3jlY4
Published on Dec 7, 2015
While
India is known to have taken birth in 1947 as a modern state, the
civilisational ethos of India has survived for ages. Mr. Fatah proposes
the need to develop a grand narrative of the Indian civilisation that
extends beyond the geographical boundaries of the Indian Territory.
Narrating the horror of the continuing conflict in Baluchistan, Tarek
Fatah supports the cause of Baloch nationalists to be liberated from the
control of Pakistan.
Writer, Broadcaster, a Secular and Liberal Activist. Tarek Fatah is a scholar par excellence with command over a range of subjects.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
Writer, Broadcaster, a Secular and Liberal Activist. Tarek Fatah is a scholar par excellence with command over a range of subjects.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
15 Dec 2015
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]
24 Nov 2015
The Mahabharata in Sri Aurobindo Ashram – by Sampdas
This
has reference to an interesting write-up titled The Bhishmacharya Complex
in Sri Aurobindo Ashram (posted on this site on 25 October, 2015). The write-up
has touched the crux of the matter; to me and a large number of followers of
the Mother, the legend of the Mahabharata looks as being re-enacted at the
Ashram, with variations in content and scope. While the ancient epic is largely
a legend and a symbol, when we ponder on the present state of affairs in the
Ashram, it looks that today’s Mahabharata is for real.
13 Nov 2015
Peter Heehs on the Crisis in Sri Aurobindo Ashram – by Bireshwar Choudury
Peter Heehs says
that the crisis in the Ashram can be solved by offering career “advancement
prospects” to the senior sadhaks who are unhappy with the present
administration of the Ashram. The Ashram Trust could also establish daughter
Ashrams which could provide “new job opportunities for young men anxious to
obtain leadership positions upon finding themselves blocked by a lack of
available positions, with older men holding onto their positions for life”! [read full article below]
6 Nov 2015
On the Visit of BJP President Amit Shah to Sri Aurobindo Ashram – by Sampdas
It
is both comical and ironical that the Ashram Trustees first took the BJP President,
Sri Amit Shah, to the Samadhi of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother and then to the
Archives Cold Storage, where their manuscripts are preserved. It is ironical because the very
supporters of the denigration of Sri Aurobindo posed as earnest
followers of the Master in front of powerful politicians. At the same time, it
is comical that those who insolently tamper with the writings of Sri Aurobindo
are introduced as the ones who reverentially preserve his writings. [read full article below]
25 Oct 2015
The Bhishmacharya Complex – by A Concerned Ashramite
The situation of the old guard of the Ashram is the same as that of Bhishmacharya, who was unable to use his
mighty bow in the service of dharma and was forced to fight on the side of adharma
with an anguished conscience. This inability and helplessness to stand for the
truth, this forced loyalty towards the powers that be, and the apparently
virtuous stand which actually facilitates falsehood is what I call the
Bhishmacharya complex!
[read full article below]
[read full article below]
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