Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Recognition of finitude fosters a greater reverence for other humans, life, and the planet

Sri Aurobindo introduces the subject of rebirth with a few relevant quotations from the ancient texts of India, the Bhagavad Gita and the Swetaswatara ...
It was the ancestral home of the great nationalist and religious leader Sri Aurobindo [1] famous Indian Geographer Shashi Bhusan Chatterjee and noted ...
From devindersingh devgulati@indiatimes.com
We journey through life apparently to different destinations. Actually we share the same train. Somewhat like The Rayalaseema Express. One of the most enigmatic trains running on the Indian Railways is the Rayalaseema Express. Train number 7429 travels between Hyderabad and Tirupati and 7430 does the return. … Every day, three trains start from these stations. Each of these trains is basically in two parts… So, if you are travelling by these trains, NEVER get down at Guntakal. You never know, where you would turn up next morning!!!
I am pointing out that I see no correlation between belief in transcendent values and decreed by a divine being and recognition of the dignity of humans, the planet, and other creatures that populate the earth.
Along these lines, I’m inclined to go so far as to suggest that a recognition of finitude, that this is it, that you die and that worms will eat you, that there’s no ultimate teleology towards which history is moving, that there’s no ultimate salvation, that this planet is all we have, and so on actually fosters a greater reverence for other humans, life, and the planet. If I believe that a God is going to save me someday, that history will culminate in some final confrontation, etc., it’s easier to have no regard for the present, this world, other people, and the planet. If I believe that I am acting on behalf of a God, it’s easier to kick the shit out of a homosexual or destroy a group of people that practices a different religion. If this is all there is, however, if every life is a singularity that will never be repeated again and that utterly ceases to exist with death, if there’s no escape hatch from this planet whether through the “end of days” or interstellar travel (I’m pretty skeptical about the possibility of interstellar travel given the great distances between stars and limitations of technology), I think you tend to value life a bit more and this world a bit more. One will respond that life was cheap for the Stalinists and that they were secularists. However, that’s just it: they thought that there was the possibility of a secular salvation, a final point in history where all would be reconciled, and therefore saw anything as being justified in the present to produce that salvation. Life becomes cheap when the present is subordinated to the future in this way. Yet if we are without any ultimate future, without any final reconciliation, such a teleology becomes a little less compelling. It seems to me that without theological frameworks life is often very cheap. It’s hard, I think, to find life cheap if it is essentially rare in the universe and this is it.
To create awareness about this issue a eco rally was organised by Nidhi Mehra, a Std. VIII student of Sri Aurobindo International School recently. ...
SRI AUROBINDO SAKTI CENTRE TRUST
Besides, students eagerly participate in the bi-annual art and crafts exhibition held along with the prize distribution of Sri Aurobindo Bal Mandir where ...
Sarod recital with Tabla: on 14th July at Centre Hall from 6.30 p.m.
The occasion of Darshan Divas was celebrated with due solemnity at Sri Aurobindo Sakti Centre and Sri Aurobindo Bal Mandir on 24th April 2011 (sunday) evening.
Meditation was held at the Shrine from 6.00 to 6.30 p.m.
The programme began with an introduction on the significance of the day by Smt. Chitra Bose, the Managing Trustee. Dr. Jaganmay Bandopadhyay, Head of Sri Aurobindo Anushilan Society, Suri (Birbhum), Dr. (Prof.) Debasish Mondal, Head of the Department - Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University, Dr.(Prof.) Manoj Roy of Visva Bharati University, Shantiniketan, and Sri Bibhas Chattopadhyay, eminent singer, were present as guests.
We are organising an Integral Education workshop for students in the age group of 16 – 24 at Adyar, Chennai on 31st July 2011. … The entire workshop is based on the Telos model, which is based on the vision and teachings of Sri Aurobindo. We invite interested students to this workshop ... Warm Regards Arul
Note the following words—“presumably”, “does not seem”, “seems to have”, “may have”, “would have”. Is this history or guesswork?
There may still be those left in some doubt as to the stupidity, the arrogance and the naked disloyalty that is at the heart of this enterprise. 
Sri Aurobindo's Writings - The Mother's Collected Works

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