Introduction > Overview
We, the creators of this site, are concerned about recent actions by a vocal minority among the followers or devotees of Sri Aurobindo, and reactions by impressionable masses inside and outside the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. There are signs of attempts to turn the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother into a religion with some of the characteristics of fundamentalism.
We begin by clarifying what we mean by “fundamentalism”.
→ Fundamentalism in the broadest sense
→ Religious Fundamentalism [...]
The passages quoted in these sections make it clear that Raman Reddy, Ranganath Raghavan, Alok Pandey, Ananda Reddy, Sachidananda Mohanty, Sraddhalu Ranade, Vijay Poddar, Richard Eggenberger, and Kittu Reddy often exhibit the habits of thought and modes of action characteristic of religious fundamentalists. Whether it would be fair to apply the label of “fundamentalist” to all of them, all the time, is another question. Some of these leaders appear in fact to be followers of the others. A case could be made that Mohanty and Eggenberger are simply influenced by men with more far-reaching agendas. Both give little evidence of the ambition that evidently motivates the others.
Introduction Fundamentalism
An Outbreak of Fundamentalism? Conclusions
The passages quoted above make it clear that Raman Reddy, Ranganath Raghavan, Alok Pandey, Ananda Reddy, Sachidananda Mohanty, Sraddhalu Ranade, Vijay Poddar, Richard Eggenberger, and Kittu Reddy often exhibit the habits of thought and modes of action characteristic of religious fundamentalists. Whether it would be fair to apply the label of “fundamentalist” to all of them, all the time, is another question. Some of these leaders appear in fact to be followers. A case could be made that Mohanty and Eggenberger are simply influenced by men with more far-reaching agendas. Both give little evidence of the ambition that evidently motivates the others.
Has there then been an outbreak of fundamentalism in the Integral Yoga community? It is hard to say at this point. Clear evidence of fundamentalist thinking and action does not necessarily prove the existence of a full blown fundamentalist movement, but it has to be taken seriously. Most fundamentalist movements began as small sects within organized religions and only slowly grew to power and influence. Time will tell whether Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Yoga has the strength to reject the fundamentalist turn that has infected it. In the meantime, those of us who love him and his works must remain vigilant.
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Didn't take much charisma. It seems to me the mass surrender of the reason has already prepared the ground for a rich crop. Now all it takes is a someone with a beard or someone who knows how to keep intoning "avatar" and "asura." Re: Apocalyptic Islam and Iranian Shi'ism by book review by Ray Takeyh (NYRB) / interview with Abbas Amanat (U Tube) Debashish Tue 23 Jun 2009 10:17 PM PDT
Millenialism is the promise of an earthly paradise and a savior who will usher it in for all mankind usually under apocalyptic conditions slated for an indefinite calendar date. These elements of the savior, the date and the vision of a heaven on earth are the irrational handles exploited by religious leaders to rouse, unite and subject masses to their will. It may be useful to note that all these elements are present in some form in Sri Aurobindo's corpus, making it vulnerable to such cultic abuse by upstart gurus if they can find fertile social grounds of faithful masses willing to surrender their rationality for their authorized interpretation. DB Re: Apocalyptic Islam and Iranian Shi'ism by book review by Ray Takeyh (NYRB) / interview with Abbas Amanat (U Tube) Debashish Tue 23 Jun 2009 07:18 AM PDT
Whereas by dint of his experience, Sri Aurobindo holds out a phenomenological metaphysics relating a mental experience of time to a modality of consciousness based in omnitemporality, the reification of such an articulation, erasing the phenomenology and capturing the metaphysics as orthodoxy is a most predicatble outcome and infinitely dangerous due the very totalistic basis of its realization. This totalism becomes vulnerable to a totalitarianism without an unceasing insistence on the phenomenological practice of the alienness of the familiar. Practices of everyday life are such practices which by their invocation of the uninstitutionalizable propel the reality of Being under erasure. DB Re: Unending Desire: de Certau's 'Mystics' by Philip Sheldrake Debashish Sun 21 Jun 2009 09:43 PM PDT
