Thursday, September 30, 2021

Brahma Samaj was the origin of our resistance

Assorted tweets collated by Tusar Nath Mohapatra (b. 1956) @NathTusarDirector SELF (2005)

He was named Arabinda (meaning Lotus in Bengali) but his name appears as the editor of Arya in 1914 as Sri Aurobindo Ghose. Subsequently, however, he signed as Sri Aurobindo and his books are published under this adopted name (pronounced as one composite word, श्रीअरविन्द). So, writing Aurobindo is incorrect.
Savitri Era Open Forum: Overmind as a repository of dichotomies seof.blogspot.com/2021/09/overmi
Collated by Tusar Nath Mohapatra @NathTusar Director SELF (2005), Founder, Savitri Era Religion (2006) & Savitri Era Party (2007)
Savitri Era of those who adore,
Om Sri Aurobindo & The Mother.
Auroville founded in 1968 was evidently a dilution of the Ashram established in 1926. Sri Aurobindo wrote philosophy for public before it but switched to spirituality for disciples. His writings are unmatched as being logical but no assurances should be offered on actual results.
It's easy to quote to extol spirituality but, ultimately, it's nothing but a cult in the garb of yoga. People in general regard Sri Aurobindo as a rishi or a guru but Savitri Era Religion will keep growing around his versatile personality and The Mother's enigma and charisma.
The Mother herself was the brain behind Auroville, otherwise it would have been seen as blaspheme. No wonder, it continues to be under the mire of conflicts and controversies. Strangely, the govt doesn't take any corrective action to mend myriad imperfections of one of its wings.

Listen to "Ascent of Consciousness and the Descent of the Higher Consciousness Into Mind-Life-Body" by Sri Aurobindo Studies.
Sri Aurobindo on the primal secret of Reality, Overmind as a repository of dichotomies and the dilemma of the Absolute iiyp.net/lifedivinechap
While Indic thought is pluralistic, Western scholarship on Mahabharata was specifically designed by Indologists to justify colonization. Its intent is harm. Hindus understand pluralism well. Hindu Gurus have interpreted MB and Gita differently....
for eg, Sri Aurobindo had a very non-conventional interpretation of the Gita. But his intent was Decolonial. Hindus who wish to engage with that do. The way BORI is interpreting is harmful. Knowledge production cant be separated from the power structures that produce them.
Last 30 days, there have been over half dozen instance where "Auroville" was mentioned. Hence picked this book, 100+ pages, seems like a blockbuster.
I read it. It's a critique of 'blind' faith - unpleasant things that happened to 2 Aurovilians are speculated to be the result of their reliance on the advice of Mother's protege, the radical ex-Ashramite Satprem. The author says he is on the side of skeptic reason, but that he admires the 'purity' of the blindly faithful. However, there is no discussion of what distinguishes true faith from mechanical and blind worship. I think it is an objective account of the life history of the Aurovilian protagonists - but there is no insight regarding what exactly spirituality is, individually or collectively , at least to my perception. To ardent followers of Satprem, this book is an insult. Otoh, those who are ambivalent about faith, especially at the collective level, will feel vindicated. Well, more spiritual than religious - they have no bar or preference for any religion. Its a place to practice Karma yoga is how I've heard it described. Satprem is a major character - check out the Mother's Agenda at
incarnateword.in - google itI am not really aware of this aspect. I have been to Auroville many times, but my contact is because of devotees of Sri Aurobindo. Don't know much about these other things
Resiliency, diversity, perms culture, native gardens .. etc which lead to multiple good work from that village. there are good examples to learn from the transformation of degraded lands to thriving, productive, ecosystem, that support local livelihood
Make sense. I used think of spiritualism like that. But now i feel it’s major type of religion which includes the common elements of Buddhism, Jainism , Hinduism. All provides a notion of spirit, it’s life cycle, and tolerance for others views/occupation.
This will sound familiar to the Dharmic worldview folks. Of course, Ken Wilber himself (referenced extensively in this article) was hugely influenced by Sri Aurobindo. As always, reading Daniel Wahl is insightful.
Wonderful! #SriAurobindo. The left historians with all their mighty brains could not understand the meaning of Sri Aurobindo's Nationalism. They equated this with Hindutwa!
10 sentences frm #SriAurobindo n #TheMother r more useful than all the babbles of the sarkari babas and sadhus of India. They are hypocrites and rich sadhus. Sri Aurobindo is not a dead guru. He is as living as he was before 5 December 1950. One may check my claim in his words.
So before you bow your ignorant sacrificial head towards these haters, know all well that you are next in line. The book by #JyotiryamaSharma claims Dayananda Saraswati, Sri Aurobindo, Swami Vivekananda and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar -- are all founding fathers of #Hindutva!
Replying to @harshmadhusudan
English of Sri Aurobindo and Swami Vivekananda takes you closer to Dharma than the chaste Hindi of Rahula Sankrityayan, once Sitaram Goel said. Teaching science and Maths in mother tongue is indeed needed but that should go beyond the impractical 'throw English out' attitude.
I have seen many traditionalists here on Twitter canceling the likes of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar as a Trad. So who is a trad? How do u define it? What are their contributions? Would u consider Swamiji a Trad? Or does the definition keep changing? What abt Savarkar or Aurobindo?
No, he isn't. On the contrary, some folks in Trad sections accept Aurobindo more than SVN while others reject both. Without knowing Marathi or having read Savarkar's original writings ppl shd refrain. Sad part is even a part of Sangh has projected VDS as something he was not.
Replying to @rahulroushan
Are you serious? That Taklu who had twisted understanding of Gita, Ramayan, Dharma. The closest trad I could think of is Maharishi Aurobindo
This blanket rhetorical dislike of all things "western" is really something new
Even the "cultural nationalists" of the 19th/20th cen would not toe the lines of some of the trad accounts on twitter - be it Vivekananda, Aurobindo, Savarkar
Replying to @56Dbhau and @Bauddhika108
Anti-caste is too strong a term. Don't know abt Savarkar but spirituality in India was always something beyond caste. In that sense Sri Aurobindo's spirituality was also caste-neutral. Hinduism is not a proselytizing religion & caste was a means to transmit itself generationally.
Replying to @pinakasena
Please do. As an aside:you included a list of types non trad Hindu trads who's approach u dislike. U didn't mention 1 type:ppl who follow Raman Maharshi or Sri Aurobindo sincerely.These masters indeed don't gv texts a precedence in actual practice of their line of Sadhna. Views?
I always found those working in KFI schools understood very little of what he said. So, children imbibed all nonsense only. Same with Sri Aurobindo school.
Replying to @rahulroushan
Tilak should be obvious choice but much better options are Aurobindo, Dayanand Saraswati (reformist so not trad) or then directly Adi Shankaracharya!
No "Trad" Hindu ever became a freedom fighter fighting against the British.
Most were of the "reformists" & "Leftist" variety. But devout Hindus. Some of them took on both "M" leaders & the British simultaneously. "Trads" did None.
Savarkar ; Aurobindo ; Pulin Das ; Ghadarites.. none of them were Trads.
Even Lalaji or Bipin Pal were Not Trads by the standards of that generation
Chapekar brothers were pioneers. But NOT "more successful" than the likes of Rashbehari Bose. Tilak was part of Extremist group of INC; which included Lala Lajpat Rai (an Arya Samaji); Bipin Chandra Pal & Aurobindo Ghosh (Pal was a Brahmo; Ghosh from Brahmo background) As for Chandrashekhar Azad ; last night his comrade Bhagat Singh was abused by Trads
"Bengal renaissance" is incomplete without Vidyasagar, Bankim, Aurobindo, Vivekananda. There were scores of Brahmos who deserve to be celebrated ! Should we reject Rabindranath, Prafulla Chandra Ray, Satyajit Ray just because they happened to be Brahmo ?
Replying to @madversity
In fact that Sri Aurobindo found the root of His Savitri in the RgVeda.and spoke contrary to trad Hindus extolling Upanishads as 'refined n essence of veda'. Rgveda alone,he said speaks of heavenly waters drenching the earth as divinisation of matter flash/earth. @raptor_fossil
Sri Aurobindo had a strong non-denominational spirituality. He was not parochial. He did not confuse culture with spirituality. With the Mother, he ushered in modern Hinduism. Beyond the Vedas, with his own meditative insights
So before people start dissing on Bengalis, first they need to learn what exactly happened in Bengal. All the Bengali intellectual stalwarts, including Vivekananda and Aurobindo germinated from the soul of Brahma Samaj.
The fact is that none of the Sanyāsis and Gurus of the 18th century created an intellectual culture comparable to the Brahma Samaj. They were all hiding in the margins, away from the political action in the Indo-Gangetic plains. Brahma Samaj was the origin of our resistance.
Yes. Until this point, which was recounted in Anandamath by Bankimchandra, there was nothing whatsoever as resistance from the Gurus.
And Brahma Samaj was critical for this awareness to have developed.
Aravindan
@arvindneela
·
We cannot judge a personality like Raja Rammohun Rai with today's standards. He had his own conditioning of his time. But he was also way beyond that. But for Brahmo Samaj a considerable section of educated Bengalis would have converted. It would have been disastrous for Hinduism twitter.com/HindolSengupta…

Monday, September 06, 2021

Absolute happiness is attainable only through solitude

HTML] Spinning Solitude: Coronavirus and the Philosopher
S Chakraborty - Sophia, 2021
… Autobiography of a Yogi was a great inspiration for many would-be yogis and solitary yoga practitioners, as were the celebrated movement and Integral Cultural Fellowships set up by followers of Sri Aurobindo in North America …

HTML] Jungian Lights on Sri Aurobindo Ssavitri
JLONSRI AUROBINDO'SSAVITRI
Sri Aurobindo was a master yogi and visionary and wrote brilliantly in various areas of culture. He considered himself to be primarily a poet by vocation. His poetry found its apotheosis in the epic poem Savitri, a work in excess of 23,000 lines. The …

PDF] Unit-10 Narrative Writing
M Sanyal - 2021
… Informed by his growing up years at Puducherry's Aurobindo Ashram school, Kapur says HiDesign's brand reflects his streak of rebellion … BRAND 'REBEL' I grew up in Pondicherry's (Puducherry) Aurobindo Ashram School and was very independent minded …

PDF] Philosophical Therapy Through Linguistic Construction
A Jadhav - International Journal of Philosophical Practice, 2021
… dogmatic religions. Some contemporary thinkers like Swami Vivekanand, Aurobindo, Rabindranath Tagore etc, re-interpreted these classical traditions to meet the needs of the contemporary man. This paper will deal with J. of …

[HTML] Biological and Ecological Bases of Behaviour
D Guis
… life on earth. Directing our collective evolution of consciousness on such a path was the mission of Teilhard de Chardin in Europe (see Bunyard, 1996) and Sri Aurobindo in India (see Cornelissen, 2005). While social scientists …

Connecting to the Spirit Through Dance
H Saumaa - Alternative and Complementary Therapies, 2021
… somatics classes. 5 SuryaSoul, a conscious dance method developed by Sabine Zweig and Philippe Beaufour, includes the ancient wisdom traditions of Tao and the integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo as the foundations. 6 The …

PDF] The coordination abilities development in female students based on dance exercises
OV Limanskaya, OV Yefimova, IV Kriventsova… - Physical education of …, 2021
… The authors emphasized the teacher's ability to move as an integral educational goal of a physical education lesson. Coordination is an important component of training in the art of dance … Use of yoga poses (downward-facing …

PDF] What the COVID-19 Pandemic Has Taught Us About Teachers and Teaching
A Hargreaves - Children and Schools During COVID-19 and Beyond …, 2021
… excess seat-time and screen time have, of course, already led to the widespread introduction of regular “body-breaks” and yoga stretches in … to in-person schooling during the pandemic led countries like Denmark that …

HTML] Touched by Touching: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Look at the Experience of Touch for Bodywork Practitioners
S Fletcher - 2021
… process and changed by it and their willingness to communicate that readiness” (p. 61). The inclusion of our own rituals, traditions, and practices in our work with our clients is integral to the experiential aspect of our participation with our clients. Therefore, I …

Sexual boundary violations in pastoral counseling.
CA Courtois, AL Steinberg - 2021
… Copyright American Psychological Association. Not for further distribution. Page 8. 164 • Courtois and Steinberg but spiritually-affiliated or -based traditions and settings (eg, meditation and yoga groups and in leader-based …

PDF] Evolutionity and the Calling of Evolutionary Suffering and Evolutionary Flourishing: Dialogues Among Epochs and Cultivating New Pathways of Planetary Realizations
AK Giri
… According to Sri Aurobindo, evolution involves involution … In his magnum opus, Life Divine Sri Aurobindo tells us: “Life is already in Matter and Mind in Life because in essence Matter is a form of veiled Life, Life a form of veiled consciousness” [41] …

HTML] Henri Bergson Biography
HL Bergson
… The integrative evolutionism of Sri Aurobindo, an Indian philosopher from the early 20th century, has many similarities to Bergson's philosophy. Whether this represents a direct influence of Bergson is disputed, although Aurobindo …

Manifesting hope in despair: Exploring prosocial behavioural outcomes of COVID‐19
H Singla, MD Mehta, P Mehta - International Social Science Journal
… Assistant Professor, Sri Aurobindo College of Commerce and Management, Ludhiana, Punjab, India. Correspondence. Pooja Mehta, Assistant Professor, Sri Aurobindo College of Commerce and Management, Ludhiana, Punjab, India …

PDF] Evolutionity and the Calling of Evolutionary Suffering and Evolutionary Flourishing: Dialogues Among Epochs and Cultivating New Pathways of Planetary Realizations
AK Giri
… According to Sri Aurobindo, evolution involves involution … In his magnum opus, Life Divine Sri Aurobindo tells us: “Life is already in Matter and Mind in Life because in essence Matter is a form of veiled Life, Life a form of veiled consciousness” [41] …

HTML] A Participatory Perspective
JN Ferrer
… Although the idea of an integral spiritual life that it is firmly grounded in psychosomatic integration can be found in the world's religious literature – for example, in Sri-Aurobindo's synthesis of yogas and the Christian …

HTML] Yoga and Mental Health
Y Magazine
… Integration. Yoga aims at developing an integrated personality of which the body, mind and spirit are integral components. It does not operate within the old mind/body dualism of Cartesian thought, which separates physical from mental health …

Domain specific association between physical activity and affect in adolescents' daily lives: an ecological momentary assessment study
M Bourke, TA Hilland, M Craike - Psychology & Health, 2021
… Highlighting the importance of understanding the acute within-person association between MVPA and integral affect, several authors have theorized … a sport or physically active game; dancing; gym or group fitness class; swimming; gymnastics or cheerleading; yoga or pilates …

PDF] Unit-4 People Management
P Kumar - 2021
… Patience is integral in corporate people management as delivery of targets on time can create a stressful situation. To be calm and help create a conducive atmosphere for others to work in is a significant component of …

Thursday, August 26, 2021

Sangha being infiltrated by Carvaka

Looking at Afghanistan: the Creator and the Cruelty in the Creation  https://t.co/RVJQVOvcm9 
Very knowledgeable and insightful article by Shri Alok Pandey of Sri Aurobindo Ashram.

Savitri Era: Sri Aurobindo has envisaged a religion for humanity https://t.co/24STSvvdJ4
Tweets by Tusar Nath Mohapatra @NathTusar, Director, Savitri Era Learning Forum (SELF) & Founder-President of Savitri Era Party.
Savitri Era of those who adore,
Om Sri Aurobindo & The Mother.

[Sri Aurobindo's The Ideal of Human Unity was first issued in 1919. In The Human Cycle Sri Aurobindo foresees the present 'subjective' age culminating in a spiritual age. Human consciousness merges in oneness. R SUBRAMONY - International Journal on Multicultural Literature, 2021]

[The Mother has often been the biggest ‘stumbling block’ in understanding Aurobindo’s final vision. Troy Organ’s review of McDermott’s work takes exception to the confusion that Mirra’s ‘gnosticism, occultism, and bhaktism’ for ‘creating an Aurobindoism’ that obfuscates] WOLFERS

For all Smarthas ofcourse Puri Shankaracharya ji and Karpatri Maharaj are most respected when it comes to Dharma. https://t.co/8RCIhxStTa
https://twitter.com/HinduHistory108/status/1430876890378604549?s=19

According to some of these e-warriors there is no one else in the Hindu sphere worthy of respect other than Pujya Swami Karpatriji Maharaj and Pujya Puri Shankaracharya Ji Mahabhag.
Some of them have even cancelled Kanchi SriMatham as "British created Math".
https://twitter.com/AgentSaffron/status/1430835857917874182?s=19
Never i meant any disrespect to those great acharyas. Let the Gods be the judge but I'm commenting on the toxic environment created here by a section of people who unfortunately claim to have been inspired by these acharyas.
In fact more time is spent here by smartha traditionalists fighting Arya Samaj which is a total waste of time given Arya Samaj is nowhere near relevant in the real world.
https://twitter.com/AgentSaffron/status/1430842951496871936?s=19
Sanghis might have internalized some reformist views but core AS tenets like monotheism and non idol worship aren't followed by them
Aryas Samaj and Charvaka are kinda polar opposite philosophically. I can understand Sanghi being infiltrated by Carvaka more as some nationalist organizations tend to
You're not the spokesman of those Acharyas. I'm only characterizing what i see here. The behavior of some of their self declared followers is disgraceful and not something the Acharyas would approve.
Yes unfortunately this political muck has gone on for too long and become more toxic over time. You cannot even praise Savarkar here without getting abuse from this section of twitter and it's always this section
Charuvaks have no business commenting on Hindu issues

Rituals are a very essential part of Hinduism.
And Aagama shastras literally lay out the rules and procedures for various rituals. How can one be considered an expert if they don't follow the religion or rituals ?
No doubt Shri. KK Muhammed is a knowledgeable man who deserves our respect.
But in matters of shastra we must defer to the Traditional gurus.
Sri Aurobindo and Mother are two people whom I respect a lot. I'm not sure what purpose bringing their names into this discussion serves, madam.
https://twitter.com/AgentSaffron/status/1263479854441418753?s=19

This is really crossing the limits by these self declared trads. Mask has fallen off and clear that their gripe is not with Modi/BJP/RSS but against Hindutva. Clear now! https://t.co/61bqP8Me87
https://twitter.com/shilpa_khopade/status/1430784890451210241?s=19
He crossed the line when he abused Veer Savarkar - the progenitor of Hindutva - as Adharmi. RSS toh bahana hai, Hindutva ko gaali dena hai.
Savarkar did not eat beef nor did he advocate eating it. His statement was made in the following contexts:
1. Hindus who are force-fed beef should not lose their dharma due to that and should be welcomed back into the Hindu fold.
2. Hindu kings should not drop their weapons to protect the cow when invader armies used the cows as shields
3. It is ok to eat beef if you are starving to death and there is no other alternative
Even with these views, he was STRICTLY against allowing cow slaughter aimed at hurting Hindus. His stand was only in the context of "Aapad-dharma".

I don't know who those guys are but here you are behaving exactly like them by dragging the name of Karpatri Ji and Shankaracharya Ji. 
Not expected from you.
https://twitter.com/entropied/status/1430838936306286598?s=19
I have never seen any such person who follows Puri Shankaracharya but attacks Karpatri Ji. It'd be very strange unless they are fake profiles
It's a big mistake to think that AS is irrelevant. A lot of Sanghis have exactly same views.
They have not expressed their views clearly but their permissiveness towards Carvaka etc is clear. Also, when Hindu Mahasabha started growing in 1920s, in places like Maharashtra their entire manpower was people associated with Arya Samaj and we know how close HMS and RSS were.
https://twitter.com/entropied/status/1430853718061162502?s=19
Joker Gupta was sharing this to prove I do not what but this looks all lies. 
1. SK ji is nowhere else described as having a temper.
2. BNK is accusing SK ji of not spending time on puja! How can u take this seriously?
3. SK ji kept quiet after hearing all this from NKB ? lol https://t.co/pKJf0HkJW1
As far Kashi Vishavnath temple entry issue goes, the issue was not temple entry. Karpatri Ji hasd been doing exchange of letters with a couple of prominent Dalit leaders. A solution was arrived at that everyone would do darshan from outside Garbhagrha+
https://twitter.com/entropied/status/1430791463537831945?s=19
I recall @_Advaitwad and @vedaechoesji doing some good threads on Swami Karpatri. 
Please share so I can RT. 
Let's share all good threads on Swami Karpatri Ji today.
Before 1905 partition, Aurobindo Ghosh & other revolutionaries were trying to recruit Bengali youth to join them but didn't have much success and they were kind of demotivated for a while but then the partition happened and Bengal erupted in anger. Everything changed.
https://twitter.com/entropied/status/1430761341191540741?s=19

Yes, but such arya samaji handles are used by liberal turncoats in RW like Kushal Mehra and Harsh Gupta Madhusudhan to further malign the acharyas. Day in and day out lies are being spread.
https://twitter.com/khalsa_iyer/status/1430844083291836424?s=19
The entire fiasco started today, because Kushal mehra had to rant about a thread on Swami Karpatri ji maharaj written by Brahmashri Samavedam Shanmuka sharma garu, using lies spread by samajis. Even beef iyer mitra joined in the rant.

Many think I'm affiliated with Govardhanmath & my tweets about Karpatri ji are justifications of my own prejudices. Fwiw I must clarify that I speak as a total outsider who is himself in violation of their code of conduct. I speak only coz I find the misrepresentations repulsive.
https://twitter.com/Infinitchy/status/1430846415001907207?s=19
They've made a fetish out of this Vedas for all business. In Kashmir shaiva and shakta schools, which constitute the mainstream religious practice of our community, Deeksha is not based on birth. It is no big deal you know. So kindly spare me the lectures on 'reform'.
I had the occasion to interview him many years back and have met him several times too. This was before they became so popular on SM.

It was just a thread on Karpatri Swami which if they didn't like could have ignored but then they showed their true colors by unnecessarily dragging his name in e-fights. I was quite aware of such behaviour it is only their friends who still believe buy those stupid explanations.
https://twitter.com/adarshrjha/status/1430873224175181828?s=19

I do not follow any ritual you are liberty to brand me non You assume too much in your opinion
Your opinion on museum isn't fact fortunately
And reading further down your certification of who is a Hindu and who is not is outright narrow minded and destructive to what Hinduism is
Thank you
Doesn't change anything for me
But I urge you to go beyond your notion of definition
Listen to his talk on Bateshwar. Listen to a portion where he talks about a tree fully grown and covering a temple
That's all
The Sri Aurobindo Ashram has been my source of everything I know live or 
The Mother was French by birth. A mixed parentage of Turkish Jewish Egyptian ancestry
Few to me know about India and her systems of yoga and the aim of life better
I can't think like you
Im lucky
https://twitter.com/AloPal/status/1263479439737921537?s=19

Essential reading for understanding today's world — a list by (and interview with) @georgemonbiot: https://t.co/8zn3Gg2eHw

Friday, June 11, 2021

Rabelais, Abhinavagupta, and Sri Aurobindo

Sunday, January 24, 2021

Ideal of the overman becomes a task which the state has now to support

The Genesis of a Philosophical Poem: Sri Aurobindo, World Literature and the Writing of 
Savitri
Richard Hartz
Sri Aurobindo Ashram (India)
richardahartz@hotmail.com
Abstract. Philosophical poetry has had a long and distinguished history in different cultural traditions. These traditions have always interacted to some extent, but today the barriers between them have largely broken down. Savitri, an epic in English by 
the early twentieth-century Indian philosopher and poet Sri Aurobindo, is a notable outcome of the confluence of Eastern and Western civilisations. Based on a creative 
reworking of a legend from the Sanskrit epic, the Mahābhārata, it incorporates in its neo-Vedantic vision aspects of the worldviews represented by the great philosophi-
cal poems of ancient, medieval and modern Europe. As vast in scope as any of these works, Savitri took shape over much of the poet’s life in a way comparable to Goethe’s 
Faust. A study of the stages of its composition reveals much about the author’s artistic, intellectual and spiritual development and gives insight into the poem’s autobiographical dimension.
...
Regarded by Sri Aurobindo as «a field of experimentation» rather than something «to be written and finished» (Aurobindo [2004]: 272), 
Savitri is a poem whose genesis and development are of unusual interest and are inseparable from the evolution of its author’s philosophical vision. Sri Aurobindo’s poet-disciple K.D. Sethna first drew attention to how Savitri «moved from its 
beginning to its final shape across nearly half of the poet’s life like a grander Faust» (Sethna [1981]: 
424). Fusing this-worldly and other-worldly elements as well as Western and Eastern influences in a vision even more wide-ranging than those of Lucretius, Dante or Goethe, Sri Aurobindo’s epic seems to meet the requirements of a philosophical poem for our global age – an epic such as Santayana imagined, with the ambition to «reconstitute the shattered picture of the world» (Santayana [1910]: 85).
...

Eternal Truth and the Mutations of Time: Archival Documents and Claims of Timeless 
Truth
Peter Heehs
Sri Aurobindo Ashram (India)
peterheehs@yahoo.com 
Abstract. Philosophical texts regarded as «inspired» present special difficulties for textual editors and intellectual historians that can be mitigated by the study of archival 
documents. The works of the philosopher and yogī Aurobindo Ghose are considered important contributions to twentieth-century Indian literature and philosophy. Some of his followers regard them as inspired and therefore not subject to critical study. 
Aurobindo himself accepted the reality of inspiration but also thought that inspired texts, such as the Bhagavad Gītā, contain a temporal as well as an eternal element. 
Aurobindo’s papers are preserved in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Archives, which took shape during the 1970s. Editions of Aurobindo’s books published between his death 
in 1950 and 1977 were issued without consulting his manuscripts, early editions, etc., and therefore contain transmission errors, subjective emendations, etc. The editors of texts issued after 1977 followed the established methodology of textual criticism and 
so eliminated many obvious errors. Some of Aurobindo’s readers refused to accept the new editions, and agitated for the restoration of the earlier texts, going so far as to file 
legal cases against the editors and the administrators of his ashram or spiritual community. A nuanced approach to the editing of texts regarded by some as inspired must 
take the sentiments of readers into consideration while insisting on scholarly rigour.
Keywords. Aurobindo Ghose, archives, textual editing, biography, inspiration, Indian 
philosophy, manuscripts, Bhagavad Gita.
Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950) is well known in India as a revolu-
tionary politician, a yogī, and a spiritual leader. In academic circles 
in the West, he is best known as the author of books on philosophy, 
spirituality, and other topics. To members of his āśram or spiritual 
community, he is regarded first and foremost as a divinely inspired 
seer if not an incarnation of the Divine. I do not propose to exam-
ine the origin or applications of this belief. My subject is the spe-
cial problems that arise when a philosophical author is regarded by 
his or her readers not just as a thinker and writer but as a divine-
ly inspired sage. This attitude puts special demands on archivists
...

Purusartha and Poetics of Development: Self-Development, Social Transformations and
Planetary Realizations
Ananta Kumar Giri
Purusartha was an important vision and pathway of life in classical India which talked about realization of meaning and excellence in terms of four cardinal values and goals of life-- dharma (right conduct), artha (wealth), kama (desire) and moksha (salvation). It provided paths of human excellence and social frame in classical India. But its implication for human development and social transformations in the present day world has rarely been explored. This is not surprising as much of the vision and practice of development is Euro-American and suffers from an uncritical one-sided philosophical and civilizational binding and what Fred Dallmayr (1998) calls 
―Enlightenment Blackbox‖ which cuts off our engagement with human development off from our roots and especially our integral links with Nature and the Divine. In our seminar, we wish to explore mutually transforming implications for dialogue between purusartha and human and social development. We are challenged here to rethink both purusartha and human development. In traditional schemes, purusartha is confined to the individual level and rarely the challenge of purusartha at the level of society has been addressed.
...

The idea of further evolution of man is not only a present-day ideological 
invention, but it was also accepted and expressed by Darwin. Accepting this paradigm implies accepting the possibility of further evolution. Along these lines, Benz accepts the idea that mankind is in the middle of an open evolution, which goes further than expected. He mentions as evidence the fact that human beings are cultural beings, that they produce culture. Man is a not-yet-completed being, a being that can control of his own evolution or even to govern it. The possibilities for a new evolution of man are inscribed into his material being, in his brain, wherein the possibilities of this supposed new evolution lay154.
Other developments that point to this new era of the overman are to be found in the works and practices of Sri Aurobindo, which thought of his activity as opening new dimension of being human by incorporating supernatural elements through an integral yoga, which when applied by the whole world would produce 
the needed transformation; in this particular case the integral yoga is supposed to give man a greater openness towards the divine. 
Another realm in which the interest for the overman is present is 
parapsychology. Parapsychology is also thrown into this mix, a fact that should not wonder because it is an expression of the same tendency that created the modern world: the will to power in its technical manifestations. The core idea behind this is to search and gain control over supposed paranormal powers inherent in man, which should offer a new way of understanding things, and of communication and 
understanding between people. This should completely revolutionize society155. 
This so-called research has an important point to prove in Ernst Benz’s eyes...
Etnosfera Journal www.etnosfera.ro 
Year XI, Issue 2(34) / 2019 
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Another feature of this society is that the humanity of an individual is defined with the help of the relationships with the things, this relationship making possible 
that such an individual exists; nevertheless, the individual still depends on community and society, but the way he feels and defines itself as a social atom, this illusion is possible only based on this relationship with the things that define him161. The pursuit of richness and of power belongs to the core of this individualistic view of man. And the pursuit of the ideal of the overman becomes a task which the state has now to support. The improvement of life and the multiplication of the rights – which are power that express the sovereign will of the individual – have to be seen in the light of this ideal. 
REFERENCES 
Benz, Ernst. Der Übermensch. Grundprobleme des heutigen Menschenbildes, in Zeitschrift für 
Religions- und Geistesgeschichte, Bd. 14, Jan. 1962. 
Bourreau, Alain. La religion de l’état, Les belles lettres, Paris 2008. 
Gauchet, Marcel. De l’avènement de l’individu à la découverte de la société, in Revue européene des 
sciences sociales, T.22, Nr. 68, 1984. 
Mairet, Gerard. Le principe de souveraineté. Histories et fondements du pouvoir moderne, Gallimard, 
Paris 1997. 
Rohou, Jean. Le XVII-e siècle, une révolution de la condition humaine. Paris. Seuil, 2002.