Wednesday, November 15, 2023

New Age is just Hinduism spiffed up and prettified for a Western audience

 Collated by Tusar Nath Mohapatra (b.1956), President, Savitri Era Party (2007) and Founder, Savitri Era Religion (2006)

Era Open Forum: Jayanti Ravi, Jayant Bhandari, and Rajiv Malhotra

seof.blogspot.com/2023/11/jayant

Collated by Tusar Nath Mohapatra (b.1956), President, Savitri Era Party (2007) and Founder, Savitri Era Religion (2006)

Savitri Era of those who adore, Om Sri Aurobindo & The Mother.

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‘Time and Cinema’...
exploring cinematic temporalities - with Deb Kamal Ganguly
25th & 26th November 2023_ 14:30 to 19:00 IST_Online.
To know more visit:
filminstitute.auroville.org/2023/11/09/tim…
@everyone please share! https://twitter.com/RichaRrivu/status/1724514439897252067?t=_CTVgDRGo3vGdamS2hk1pg&s=19

#OPINION | Combination of woman and death, a unique pairing, remains unparalleled in world literature. Bergman’s film and Aurobindo’s modern epic are discussed to highlight this uniqueness: A. Raghuramaraju #Savitri #Birth #Death #SriAurobindo https://twitter.com/ttindia/status/1723931022277165436?t=-AuhBPVTDVU9Fb_Cgv6RBA&s=19

Years ago, in a difficult period of my life, I had looked for philosophical help and explicitly found it in Buddhism and not Daoism, rejecting Daoism and its sudden-liberation views in about the strongest possible terms. But that wasn't the whole story.

I had already been trying to apply the four-stage model of skill development, taught to me by Nancy Houfek, in which one progresses from unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence to conscious competence to unconscious competence... the Daoists might have a point.

I am fortunate to see @sachin_rt practice, play and talk about cricket. No greater batsmen than Sachin in modern era..
Virat is very good player - above average bashing up pedestrian bowlers who can't reverse swing (ball change), no bouncers, power play, no macgrath (line) There has been no greater batsmen than @sachin_rt in modern era, no greater cricketer than @jacqueskallis75 . Virat is a very good player… of this generation.. that is I have seen both of them play, practice, think and talk. Aura that intimidated bowlers… Courage when being hit by balls all over body.. Single handedly destroy the best. Carry the team when 5 players took money to lose..I saw it all @sachin_rt never talks about it but we saw it it https://twitter.com/Brahamvakya/status/1724769265641721937?t=Dw94fNWgw3AXRY8U3Z0ISA&s=19

My experience of 38 years within the governments of India and Australia has been priceless. EVERYWHERE I see government corruption and incompetence. It is an instinct, now. The government is the MOST harmful thing in the world. How to minimise its harm must be our main project. https://twitter.com/sabhlok/status/1724556535341400574?t=sE2RwjpeNalCDCzCb5AibA&s=19

,,, 

Are mountains beautiful? loveofallwisdom.com/blog/2023/04/a

Interesting. Classical Indian Buddhist take might be that the only real hope for really alleviating animals' suffering is to wait the eons for a human birth. But agree this kind of suffering-focused ethics is much closer to Buddhism than is one focused on justice/rights/equality. https://twitter.com/loveofallwisdom/status/1686775622717014017?t=XNi7hjL6utPtJjzI-4TuJw&s=19

I have been writing on The Mother & Sri Aurobindo since 2005 and here on X from 2012. I have been trying to bring clarity and transparency to their complex legacy since it's difficult for any newcommer. But unfortunately, people don't read my posts and prefer their own ignorance.

Modernity, in fact, entered with the Europeans and Nehru, no doubt, nurtured it with all his might. He, however, had no means of delivering people from the clutches of religious obscurantism the effect of which we witness today. That task had been ably performed by Sri Aurobindo.

Not lost exactly but suffers from lack of deserved evaluation and dissemination. Thanks for this little help for spreading his name which is so essential for furthering the ideals Nehru represented. It's absolutely necessary to understand how the combination works for India and the world.

The penetration of modernity into Indian society was not complete. But the support of the educated people for Hindutva has turned the clock back. Proper maintenance of the foundations laid by Nehru can only be possible by following the principles of The Mother & Sri Aurobindo.

The Mother & Sri Aurobindo have gifted me the intellectual freedom from imaginary mythology and vain rituals. They have avoided empty promises or lofty miracles. They simply extend the scientific theory of evolution to show how the descent of Supramental consciousness is certain.

Savitri Era Religion is the best means for leading a modern life. No mythology, no rituals, and no traditional customs. Aspiration for Supramental consciousness and surrender to The Mother & Sri Aurobindo are the only basic requirements for being part of this worldwide community.

The philosophy of The Mother & Sri Aurobindo is meant for the whole humanity. No specific institution or location has ownership over it. Anyone living anywhere in the world can turn to them and read their books without having to depend upon someone else. It's direct relationship. https://twitter.com/SavitriEra/status/1724254565279912000?t=a3-EvflpvkQJFPdGNKB1pg&s=19

Go for original. Not their disciples, not their ashrams, not their followers https://twitter.com/B_S_Gupta/status/1724664894132543822?t=tU6NxplLSmYDN64zUsNQAA&s=19

Went to Aurobindo Ashram, advertised as a place where people can attain moksha. Was instructed to kneel before and touch my forehead to Aurobindo's and Mother's grave. Felt like imperialism to me to be honest... Yes, I was impertinently shooed away from the library because it was lunchtime. https://twitter.com/postsfromunder/status/1724461379963453474?t=49nY6OKWGCIHonXgnx3VKA&s=19 

Visiting their bookshop, instead, would have been more enlightening and humbling. Mapping exercise and the right direction in life, therefore, is so important! Many people return back from Auroville thinking, mistakenly, that it's the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Yes, brick and mortar have their limitations everywhere. The Mother and Sri Aurobindo, therefore, have left behind seventy volumes of their writings to be accessed online, free. twitter.com/B_S_Gupta/stathttps://twitter.com/SavitriEra/status/1724646032792064188?t=cwYkEfmgqhm238DZXw2aMw&s=19

Well, Buddha, much like Jesus, never actually wrote anything so there’s a wide range of opinion on what his message actually was. And on top of that the Buddha seems to have endorsed a skeptical or apophatic position on a lot of metaphysical questions, so two Buddhists might… https://twitter.com/Bazoonga31/status/1724355929918046365?t=yfjhLq3O24iQWGAc1bbW8g&s=19

well, Buddhism was originally some sort of atheistic idealogy, but humans being humans started worshipping Buddha. “If you encounter the Buddha, kill him!” is an important line from some schools of Buddhism that is close to the original. https://twitter.com/tollcopier/status/1724334591467467074?t=42Di17kjcndeaFHa3bYo3g&s=19

"Eastern spirituality" concepts in the West seem more directly tied to the transcendentalist movement in Western philosophical tradition. Recasting it may be a reaction to Western philosophy being "claimed" by conservative reactionaries for much of the 20th Century. https://twitter.com/IanJSpalding/status/1724391837132005530?t=cRxu7uHnoA2PRUCzxU4RxQ&s=19

I've seen it argued that western buddhism is better viewed as a new religion which arose from spiritualism and theosophy in the late 1800s. https://twitter.com/CyberpunkPlato/status/1724386612384002353?t=wiGygVidiXunHvjAQcjoiA&s=19

interesting overlap here with Westerners treating even classical western thinking as secular - see how much of "stoicism" nowadays is basically just self help totally divorced from the religious context it originated in. https://twitter.com/orc1917/status/1724284792886513877?t=qoUB2A4c5IlhAuxhiolULA&s=19

Always entertained by the shock of some western Buddhists when they encounter what Buddhism is in practice to thr great majority of its adherents https://twitter.com/LegoRacers2/status/1724273596191879522?t=LcfaZXZjAznm1XhrUdZUbg&s=19

I think it's also that Western education about Buddhism focuses mostly on the teachings of the Buddha himself, which doesn't really tell you much about how the religion is practiced. Like you wouldn't know much about modern Christianity just from reading the teachings of Jesus. https://twitter.com/BlighttownNIMBY/status/1724593776931524875?t=T5kpLjCsC19O97T7hSl8kQ&s=19

Same with Daoism. Arguably an even greater divergence there between how it is practiced as a religion in China and how it is understood in the West via people reading the Dao De Jing as a sort of self-help text. Then again most major religions bear multiple interpretations. https://twitter.com/WarioArgento/status/1724492261033980305?t=UqymV49LTUtymrl5QY3bpA&s=19

No what this person is saying is bizarre. I've spent plenty of time in Buddhist countries, and they pray and so forth but Buddhism is completely different from the Catholic Church. It's also a bit weird to expect every Buddhist to have memorized the"wheel of mara" etc https://twitter.com/TLiterarian/status/1724430308156604876?t=77qN6RQ3qafIPsSVi0p8Ng&s=19

I’d say most of us Westerners who are into Buddhism look at it from the pragmatic dharma lens. But this is lucky because, of course, rituals and prayers are not liberative. It is insane luck to have access to the practices without the attached dogma. https://twitter.com/BeraHugs/status/1724302610159546512?t=BYX90e_AQ5JcdmLC64hliw&s=19

You nailed it. Although there are some merits to approaching a religion intellectually at first, the drawback since colonial times has been the appropriation and draining of important religious aspects of Buddhism. They tend to be looked down upon by westerners. https://twitter.com/shiladharma_/status/1724410149652050374?t=0YImxkZ3YQaOM_7RZP7uhA&s=19

I disagree with this - i think it's much more similar to newly converted Christians who've actually read theology talking to people who go to church becuase their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents did https://twitter.com/NathanB60857242/status/1724514206202896693?t=xIMXfTVP_mvWiyD2Y6aj8w&s=19

An ex-Buddhist here, and I think it's quite the contrary. *We* want to see mysticism and depth where there's none. The grass always seems greener on the other side, but when we jump the fence and look around for a bit, yup, it's the same grass. https://twitter.com/makingthematrix/status/1724467130299511169?t=iXN31AT9vKHCAsEijhDQPg&s=19

It's important to keep in mind that Buddhism has mixed with native faiths in various places it has spread to. Japanese Zen seems to be particularly appealing to Westerners due to its "minimalism", which stems from the Japanese maintaining Shintoism as a separate religion https://twitter.com/BunniNor/status/1724436723726205345?t=P0n0OlT3_fhUJMmOORwALg&s=19

It’s similar with Hinduism, I think. I’ve believed for a long time that so-called “New Age” is just Hinduism spiffed up and prettified for a Western audience. Though that, as with so many other things, may be an oversimplification. https://twitter.com/joea64/status/1724392990985097313?t=-2KkH0wbAHDa4OL8PU4T2w&s=19

Great book about this is "What Makes You Not a Buddhist" by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse. https://twitter.com/Jahaza/status/1724487476671099259?t=xnoSxdB9VO2heF7CY_qfpQ&s=19

I'm not a Buddhist so I don't want to step on toes here but I think a lot of westerners are introduced to Buddhist concepts through texts tailored to western secular sensibilities that diminish, distort, or even disparage aspects of the religion considered too mystical https://twitter.com/LegoRacers2/status/1724274549850587170?t=wNTdqW2YFz9fPl5b9vFF3w&s=19