Sri Aurobindo did not need Vedas, Upanishads and the Gita, etc. for formulating the Integral Yoga

Re: Sri Aurobindo and Hinduism (a speech by Peter Heehs: Hyderabad 2006)
by rakesh on Sat 27 Sep 2008 10:20 PM PDT Profile Permanent Link

My comments were directed towards Rich’s comments on the constraints of a historian writing a biography on spiritual masters for secular audience. Since this biography was written based on objective facts that the author claims to have possessed in the archives that none others have access to and his interpretation of it is not only objective but subjective there is ample scope for the historian to make wrong interpretations of the objective facts. If the interpretation of the author seems to taint the masters reputation and if the author is not sure of its truth validity of his interpretation, is it not better to leave the matter alone instead of making personal judgments on dubious matters?

I am not only questioning PH book but such books in general. Given the choice what will a disciple do in such a situation when the biography is on his master? Will he take the sides with the secular audience and go by the mob mentality in interpreting the events or avoid confusion that may taint the reputation of the guru especially when the guru does not exist to support himself.

Rich seems to suggest that no one can question a biography that is directed towards secular audience and anyone who questions it makes “truth possessing” claims. This is a good way to divert from answering the original question. There is also a confusion in trying to segregate core teachings of Hinduism like the Gita and IY which to me seem to be the same. He also seems to suggest that there is no secular teachings in hindu religion. My comments were also directed towards this confusion that is persisting from a long time on this blog postings. If IY is considered Secular and its core teachings are based on the Gita and even Hinduism considers it the Holy text can’t we see something secular in Hinduism.

Why always carp on Hinduism as Sectarian etc? I have not tried to denigrate PH book or to target Rich since he is supporting the book. That is far from my intention. There is no mob mentality in questioning the intentions. I will definitely quote some passages from PH book that are objectionable when I get the time.

Reply Re: Sri Aurobindo and Hinduism (a speech by Peter Heehs: Hyderabad 2006)
by Debashish on Sat 27 Sep 2008 10:45 PM PDT Profile Permanent Link

"The guru does not exist to support himself"? The guru not only exists to support himself but support his disciples as well. Look into yourself and if you truly feel called upon to "defend the guru's reputation", no one can stop you. But don't expect others to agree with you either that "the guru's reputation is being tainted" or that he needs your or anyone else's defense. DB

Re: Sri Aurobindo and Hinduism (a speech by Peter Heehs: Hyderabad 2006)
by Debashish on Sat 27 Sep 2008 11:38 PM PDT Profile Permanent Link

On the issue of Hinduism as a religion vis. a vis. secularism and the relationship between Integral Yoga and the core teachings of the Gita and Upanishads, to be fair this requires a long response, for which I don't have the time just now.

However, in brief, "Hinduism" is a construct which is better seen as a cluster of disparate beliefs, practices and philosophies with some common principles tying them together. It is a historical development, and is continuing to extend itself in a variety of ways in the modern period. It has elements in it which are "religious" in the narrow sense of sectarianism and these are what RC has been referring to when speaking of Hinduism as a religion.

But it also has various contrary and critical strands within it, which are geared towards a variety of forms of divine realization. The complex cluster is tied together, one may say, through acceptance of the Veda as the root revelation, the yogic axioms of the Upanishads as the accepted descriptions of reality and certain other synthetic texts such as the Bhagavad Gita as commonly held shastras.

Sri Aurobindo certainly draws on Vedas, Upanishads and the Gita in his spiritual teaching and practice, though it may be debated that he did not need these for formulating the Integral Yoga. The "religion" of Hindutva makes its own kinds of uses of Gita, Upanishads, etc. which don't have any place in Sri Aurobindo's teaching. But these same texts can be shown to describe yogic paths in consonance with Integral Yoga, and Sri Aurobindo has himself shown this through his writings. DB

Peter Heehs ridicules Indian customs as did his predecessor, William Archer

Re: The Lives of Sri Aurobindo—A Letter from a Professor
by RY Deshpande on Tue 23 Sep 2008 04:30 AM PDT Profile Permanent Link

I, on my first visit to Sri Aurobindo Ashram in early nineties, was impressed by a rule on the notice board which read, if you do not have anything good to say about a fellow Ashramite, the least you could do is to keep silent. That would be a service to the divine...

I felt shocked to see the excerpts from a book by an Ashramite, by implication a follower of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo... In navadhā bhakti, hatred for the divine is also a means for salvation. But the hatred of Peter Heehs for The Mother and Sri Aurobindo, Aurobindo in his language, has no such thought in it. PH seems to be a split personality who is a devotee and an enemy at the same time. He could be many more things. The carry home message from his recent book is as follows:

1. He questions the mystical experiences of Sri Aurobindo. “Perhaps they are only hallucinations or signs of psychotic breakdown? Even if not, do they have any value to anyone except the subject?” He has quoted a few persons at several places to show that Sri Aurobindo had a tinge of lunacy. Even his spiritual vision of Krishna in jail, was rubbished by his associates in Uttarpara speech. What does PH want to communicate?

2. Sri Aurobindo, “was a coward and liar … by his own account.” How deviously PH misquotes Sri Aurobindo. The statement was obviously the mannerism of a self-effacing personality. PH further writes to prove his intent, “Aurobindo failed to pass his medical examination the first time on account of ‘something found wrong with his urinary organs’. … Aurobindo told a series of lies. … He was rejected because he did not pass the riding examination.” He questions the truthfulness of Sri Aurobindo in a letter that he wrote to a disciple. I quote PH, “Years later Aurobindo observed in a letter that his advise was in effect, “the order that led to the breaking of the congress.” This gives too much importance to a single factor in a complex chain of events. .. Even without Aurobindo’s “order”, Tilak’s stance and the attack against him would have led to a free-for-all.”

PH suggests in his book that Sri Aurobindo had not much impact on India’s freedom struggle. This is in contravention to the address of Sri Aurobindo on the Independence of India. Has he not read India Wins freedom By Maulana Azad who writes that he was inspired by leaders like Sri Aurobindo, and the famous statement of CR Das in the court? Subhas Chandra Bose too admitted that he drew inspiration from Sri Aurobindo. Tagore wrote an inspired poem on him. Many other revolutionaries in later days were influenced by him. He insinuates that Sri Aurobindo was for Hindu communalism, and that he did not do enough for Hindu Muslim unity. He says, “Still, partition and the bloodletting that accompanied it were the movement’s principal failings, and Aurobindo and his colleagues have to take their share of the blame.” I really wonder! At a place PH clubs Sri Aurobindo with Extremist.

3. Sri Aurobindo married for “The usual desire for gratification…” PH implies that Sri Aurobindo’s knowledge of ordinary maithuna ananda was experiential. Sri Aurobindo has somewhere, I do not exactly remember where, has said that he lived as a brahmachari in his wedlock. PH creates distorted scenes on the basis of his own imagination quoting Nolini Kant, AB Purani and Romain Rolland. He suggests that Sri Aurobindo was willing to marry Mirra, had she wanted that. He holds that Sri Aurobindo’s interest in Mirra was responsible for the break-up of her marriage with Paul Richard. I have mentioned above the difference between the visions of a hagiographer and a pornographer. Paul Richard’s statement to Romain could hardly be accepted as sufficient proof to justify PH’s conclusions.

• Was Paul more truthful than the Mother and Sri Aurobindo?
• Granted his suggestion, what evidence has he produced regarding PR’s truthfulness?
• Are subjective and emotional statements of piddlings sufficient proof for an objective researcher?

What the men of eminence and character and the personal attendants of the Masters say, holds no water for PH. That is not objective. Gullible will be misguided by PH’s book. They may believe him to be truly objective. That is my fear.

Regarding academic vs nonacademic approach, research etc, I must say that even hard and experimental sciences are gripped with the problem of bias and confounding influences. Theories keep changing with newer paradigms. Research Methods in Psychology and Consciousness are on worse footing. Therefore till the time their Research Methodology is refined and defined and freed of individual bias, we must not attempt to demolish faith and phenomenon which surpass human comprehension, lest we destroy a great movement in our pettiness and ignorance.

At another place PH calls The Mother in a very ordinary sense a “partner” of Sri Aurobindo. PH comments on the Viziers of Bassora, “In the imaginary world of his dramas, his protagonist was never without a partner.” It is not difficult to understand his insinuation. Let us remember that Sri Aurobindo was the first to call Mirra, The Mother. She fended Him as Her own Child. Sri Aurobindo described in his letters, that sometimes his meditation was to become a baby in the lap of The Mother. PH is a good case study for a psychoanalyst.

I am reminded of a psychopath. When he was shown a square and asked what did it remind him of? He said, “sex.” He said the same for a circle, a triangle, a hexagon and the picture of a goat. When the doctor was perplexed by his single word answer, he asked the patient if the latter was a maniac. The patient was annoyed. He barked back, “What else you expect me to say when you show me such lewd images?”

4. PH ridicules Sri Aurobindo throughout. Sri Aurobindo was an ugly man (PH found that in his photographs), lusting after girls in youth (comments on Song to Myrtilla), was looking for a life partner (Sri Aurobindo was psychoanalysed on the basis of his translation of Vasavadatta) a less than mediocre poet (PH quotes one Ranjee Shahani in TLS) and a sort of philosopher whom members of philosophical profession “would loath to admit him to their club.” His description of The Defence of Indian Culture by Sri Aurobindo as “a polemic from start to finish” is hurting.

5. He calls pranams and darshans as “theatrical” and compares the commonplace godmen of India with Them in his objectivity. He ridicules Indian customs as did his predecessor, William Archer.

Anand Kumar MD, All India Institute of Medical Sciences 11:59 AM

Three transformations—psychic, spiritual and supramental—śuddhi, mukti and siddhi

The Yoga of Self-Perfection and the Triple Transformation by Richard Hartz Science, Culture and Integral Yoga Mon 13 Aug 2007 Permanent Link [2:26 PM]

In the Yoga of self-perfection as described in The Synthesis and the Record of Yoga, a purification of the Prana enabling the emotional mind to “mirror the real soul in us, the Divine in our hearts”, would be regarded as part of śuddhi. In Sri Aurobindo’s later reformulation of the integral Yoga it would come under the heading of psychicisation or psychic transformation...

In the Yoga of self-perfection, śuddhi or purification is followed by mukti or liberation, then by bhukti, “a cosmic enjoyment of the power of the Spirit”,[45] and siddhi or perfection. The order of the last two was sometimes reversed, with implications which we will see. But in the subsequent period, instead of four stages of self-perfection we hear of a triple transformation: psychic, spiritual and supramental. At first sight, the systems appear to be quite different. Yet there are correspondences between them which shed light on the continuity as well as the evolution of Sri Aurobindo’s spiritual experience.

Purification is a preparation for liberation. It can even be said that it is itself a kind of liberation:

Śuddhi is the condition for mukti. All purification is a release, a delivery; for it is a throwing away of limiting, binding, obscuring imperfections and confusions.... But all this is an instrumental liberation. The freedom of the soul, mukti, is of a larger and more essential character; it is an opening out of mortal limitation into the illimitable immortality of the Spirit.[46]

The concept of liberation, like that of purification, acquires a more dynamic sense in the integral Yoga than is conventionally associated with it—although this was amply foreshadowed in the Gita and elsewhere, where liberation does not imply cessation from action. Just as he makes a distinction between negative and positive purity, Sri Aurobindo also distinguishes negative from positive freedom, insisting in this case on the necessity of both. The “negative movement of freedom” is defined as “a liberation from the principal bonds, the master-knots of the lower soul-nature”, these bonds being “desire, ego, the dualities and the three gunas of Nature”. The “positive sense of freedom”, on the other hand, “is to be universal in soul, transcendently one in spirit with God, possessed of the highest divine nature”.[47]

What concerns us here is how mukti or liberation, as a step towards self-perfection, relates to the spiritual transformation which follows the psychic transformation in Sri Aurobindo’s later accounts of the Yoga. We have seen that the purification of the nature, liberating as it is in itself, is insufficient unless it is completed by a larger freedom which universalises the soul and brings it into union with the transcendent. Likewise the psychic transformation is not all that is needed for the largest spiritual change. In the first place, since this is the individual soul in Nature, it can open to the hidden diviner ranges of our being and receive and reflect their light and power and experience, but another, a spiritual transformation from above is needed for us to possess our self in its universality and transcendence.[48]

But even the freedom that the spiritual transformation brings was not enough for Sri Aurobindo. In almost all traditional systems of Yoga except Tantra, inner liberation was pursued as an end in itself. In the Yoga of self-perfection, on the other hand, not only is the meaning of mukti enlarged to include liberation of the nature as well as liberation of the spirit, but even this leads beyond itself to bhukti and siddhi. We meet a similar situation in the case of the triple transformation, as described by Sri Aurobindo near the end of the revised text of The Life Divine and in other writings of the 1930s and 1940s. In a letter of that period, he indicates the liberating and other effects of spiritualisation, the second transformation, but also points out why a still greater transformation is needed to complete it:

Spiritualisation means the descent of the higher peace, force, light, knowledge, purity, Ananda, etc., which belong to any of the higher planes from Higher Mind to overmind, for in any of these the Self can be realised. It brings about a subjective transformation; the instrumental Nature is only so far transformed that it becomes an instrument for the Cosmic Divine to get some work done, but the self within remains calm and free and united with the Divine. But this is an incomplete individual transformation—the full transformation of the instrumental Nature can only come when the supramental change takes place. Till then the nature remains full of many imperfections, but the Self in the higher planes does not mind them, as it is itself free and unaffected.[49]

The process of spiritualisation occupied Sri Aurobindo for many years. It involved not one, but several transformations by the ever-increasing power of a series of ascending planes. On each of them “the static realisation of Infinity and Eternity and the Timeless One remains the same,” but “the vision of the workings of the One becomes ever wider and is attended with a greater instrumentality of Force”. From the point of view of knowledge, “what is thought-knowledge in the Higher Mind becomes illumination in the Illumined Mind and direct intimate vision in the Intuition”. Still higher is the overmind, which sees not “in flashes”, like the Intuition, but “calmly, steadily, in great masses and large extensions of space and time and relation, globally”. But even here there “is not the absolute supramental harmony and certitude”.[50] Sri Aurobindo saw in the end that nothing short of what he called a supramental transformation could bring about the integral perfection or siddhi “which finishes the passage of the soul through the Ignorance and bases its consciousness, its life, its power and form of manifestation on a complete and completely effective self-knowledge”.[51]

We find, then, that there is a broad correspondence between the “triple transformation” and three stages of the earlier Yoga of self-perfection termed śuddhi, mukti and siddhi, or purification, liberation and perfection—we will see in a moment why there is nothing in the later scheme that seems to correspond to bhukti. The system presented in the unfinished Part Four of The Synthesis of Yoga appears to be superseded by the three transformations—psychic, spiritual and supramental—as the definitive statement of Sri Aurobindo’s distinctive approach to an evolutionary spirituality. But just as the old triple way of Karma, Bhakti and Jnana was surpassed but kept in a new form, so Sri Aurobindo continued to speak of self-perfection as the consummation of the Yoga. In a passage in a letter summarising the Karmayoga as he had “developed it for the integral spiritual life”, he concluded:
Finally, works, bhakti and knowledge go together and self-perfection becomes possible—what we call the transformation of the nature.[52]

There seems to be no good reason to regard the Yoga of self-perfection as out of date or irrelevant in the light of later developments, even though Sri Aurobindo’s account of it published in his major work on Yoga remained incomplete and unrevised. But because the last part of The Synthesis was never revised, its terminology has to be interpreted according to the period when it was written...

In the Introduction to The Synthesis of Yoga, written in 1914, “integral beatitude” follows directly after “integral purity” and “integral liberty” and precedes “integral perfection” in a paragraph giving a brief synopsis of the integrality of the Yoga. But when in March 1919 he came to the fourth chapter of “The Yoga of Self-Perfection”, Sri Aurobindo reversed the order of the last two items and listed them as “purification, liberation, perfection, delight of being... śuddhi, mukti, siddhi, bhukti.”[65]...

In a sense, Sri Aurobindo recognised a quadruple transformation as the complete aim of the integral Yoga. But he insisted that “one must pass through the supermind to arrive to the highest Ananda”.[66] Supramentalisation, the transformation whose accomplishment would constitute the next decisive step in evolution, was his immediate concern.

Prema Nandakumar's illuminating discussion on Sri Aurobindo's Savitri

Spotlight: A MAGIC BOX OF STORIES 20 Sep 2008 - The Statesman
The most precious asset of the series is the outstanding transcreation of the Sanskrit text by Prof. Lal... A review by Shekhar Sen. Prof. P.Lal - Mahabharata Katha Series:

Prema Nandakumar's introduction to the Savitri Katha is highly illuminating, though a trifle too long. Underlining the existence of a Savitri Parampara in Indian culture, she shows how Savitri has become “a role model for womankind” and how her five dharma vachanas in conversation with Yama “make a compendium for faultless living.” She has brought out the Vedic connections, referred to the Puranic versions and to the English versions of Romesh Chandra Dutta and Toru Dutta.

Her discussion on Sri Aurobindo's Savitri, arguably his greatest work, is short but illuminating. The highlight of her introduction is the section describing the Savitri traditions of women in Tamilnadu and her discussion on the Savitri Paadam (a Tamil masterpiece translated into English by her) indicating how the story has integrated “with the everyday life of women as homemakers.”

Meditations On Savitri Complete DVD-Set

SOME INTERNATIONAL COMMENTS
”THERE ARE NO WORDS TO DESCRIBE THE EFFECT 'MEDITATIONS ON SAVITRI' HAS ON MY SPIRITUAL LIFE – I DON'T KNOW IF I SHOULD SAY THAT 'MEDITATIONS ON SAVITRI' INTRODUCED A FANTASTIC CHANGE IN MY LIFE OR IF I SHOULD WRITE THAT THIS IS A NEW START IN MY SPIRITUAL LIFE OR THAT MY SPIRITUAL LIFE HAS REALLY STARTED FROM THAT MOMENT. THEREFORE THERE IS NO WORD WHICH WOULD DO JUSTICE IN QUALIFYING RIGHTLY THIS MASTERPIECE; IT IS PERFECT SPIRITUALLY, ARTISTICALLY AND TECHNICALLY. THEREFORE I CAN ONLY CONGRATULATE ALL THE TEAM WHO HAS WORKED ON IT ...“

”THE 'MEDITATIONS ON SAVITRI' MOVIE SERIES IS AN IMMEASURABLE SPIRITUAL TREASURE. NOT ONLY THAT THIS SYNERGETIC MULTIMEDIA ARTWORK OF DYNAMIC IMAGE POWER, MANTRIC RECITATION SPEECH-ACT AND NEW CONSCIOUSNESS MUSIC HAS OPENED TO ME NEW ENTRANCES AND FURTHER ACCESS TO SRI AUROBINDO'S GRAND EPIC POEM, BUT THIS AESTHETIC EXPERIENCE HAS ALSO EXPANDED MY COMPREHENSION OF MEDITATION ITSELF BY THE ART OF FILM-MEDITATION. BY SITTING IN FRONT OF A BIG SCREEN WITH A SILENT MIND AND AN OPEN HEART IT IS POSSIBLE TO TUNE INTO THESE INTENSE ATMOSPHERES AND COME IN CONSCIOUS RESONANCE WITH THE OMNIPRESENT ARCHETYPAL FORCES SYMBOLIZED THROUGH THE POETRY AND IMAGERY OF THIS MULTIMEDIA AND MULTIDIMENSIONAL ARTWORK. WHAT AN INESTIMABLE PRECIOUS GIFT FOR AWAKENING MAN!“

”... TO SEE THE 'MEDITATIONS ON SAVITRI' DVD-SERIES IS FOR ME A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME AND SPACE FROM THE BEGINNING OF CREATION TO THE HUMAN WORLD AND FURTHER ON TO FUTURE REALISATIONS. THANKS TO THE ARTISTS FOR THIS EXCELLENT EXPRESSION OF SRI AUROBINDO'S EPIC POEM 'SAVITRI'.“

”'THE 'MEDITATIONS ON SAVITRI' DVDs ARE A STUNNING AND PROFOUND EXPERIENCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS EXPANSION.“

I was given a book by The Mother of the Ashram when I was sixteen

Wednesday, September 17, 2008 Turning Point

My life began in an Ashram ( Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry). But yes one little thing stands out. I was given a book by The Mother of the Ashram when I was sixteen. At that age I read it but the words and the word pictures were not conveying much. The words were understood but not their implication. Specially one sentence stood out......... "Then you will see that the world is standing upside down."

Of course I could see that every one as on their legs quite upright then what was She saying. The sentence was at the back of my mind and has been. Gradually as life unfolded, I could see that people were lying left, right and centre; very often for no reason. I wondered if this is what Mother meant. Then I realised that people are maintaining a facade.

They wish to be seen as honest, hardworking, sincere, capable etc. While in their heart they were looking for shortcuts, were totally insincere and insecure about themselves as they knew well that the qualities they were expecting others to see in them were not there. They knew well that they were living a charade but simply did not have the guts to live otherwise. What an upside down way to live?! ... Posted by PK at 4:55 PM

Understanding Thoughts of Sri Aurobindo

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I was not practicing Sri Aurobindo's yoga. It was a fake

On July 2nd Serge Brelin left his body at the age of 53...

We have not understood what a collective being is. Our understanding is mostly political, and that takes over. It should not. This is what I understood. A community, or a collectivity, is just a space for the individuals to grow, but in which they are all one, thus creating a being. But this being is not political. It is not something that can be expressed in institutions, in rules and regulations and all these things.

Sri Aurobindo used to say that he had repeatedly broken all that he believed was true and started afresh. Of course, we cannot undo what has been done on the ground. But we can certainly make our mindset blank. What makes us die is this constant repetition of all that we believe is true, all our habits.

So if we would succeed, individually and collectively, just to make blank, to switch off, for a while, I believe that something will flow in. And that suddenly our relationship with all that is here will change, and that we will see new solutions, new ways of dealing with our so-called problems. And maybe, these problems will even vanish. But the machine has to stop. And I do believe that it has to stop first in our heads. If more and more individuals take it upon themselves to switch off the machine in themselves, something new will flow in.

Interview by Doris and Francis
An earlier interview with Serge titled “In relentless pursuit of Divine Anarchy” appeared in AVToday # 176, September 2003 Photo credit: Photo courtesy Doris and Francis Home > Journals & Media > Journals > Auroville Today > We are one being, feeling, thinking, living together Current issue August 2008 Archive copies The Auroville Experience

The Ashram needs people like Peter

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Extremely private, confidential and sensitive mate...": Posted to Savitri Era Open Forum at 9:21 PM, September 11, 2008

The Ashram needs people like Peter. If we are living really what Aurobindo and Mother were saying we will not be afraid of any negative publicity. This doesn't mean that a work such as Peter's is beyond critic.

The play of emptiness

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At 1:34am on August 14th, 2008, sunyalila said…

Namaskar Ulrich! I too once lived and taught in Pondicherry (at the Sri Aurobindo ashram) and am seriously considering returning soon. I was just reading the "Focus and Scope" of your Antimatters Journal and the direction and source of your inquiry sounds refreshing and undivided, especially in the light of the assumptions that have become prevalent in materialism. I hope you all have a wonderful darshan in celebration of Sri Aurobindo's birth. May all of life reveal its divinity to you. To your deepest peace, joy and fulfillment, Ellen