November 29, 2015

David Frawley, François Gautier, and P Raja

Sujantra: You discovered the Vedas through the writings of Sri Aurobindo. My teacher, Sri Chinmoy, studied at the Sri Aurobindo ashram from 1944-1964.

Vamadeva: Sri Aurobindo was a spiritual and intellectual giant of the highest order. It will take decades for the world to properly appreciate his work. He could understand the most ancient Vedic teachings and at the same time had an unparalleled vision of the future evolution of humanity at the level of consciousness, which modern science still has only the most vague intimation of. If you try to read his books, his sentences are longer than most paragraphs, his paragraphs go on for pages, and he discusses all sides of a topic before coming to a comprehensive understanding and way forward. You need a strong dharana or power of concentration to connect with him, which is rare today in the era of quick information bites.

Aurobindo pioneered the whole concept of Integral Yoga, brought out the importance of life as Yoga, and created a Yoga for the modern world that we can incorporate into our work and daily lives. Simultaneously his Yoga has deep dimensions linking us beyond time and space to the very fountains of creation. It is hard to put this many-side vision into words.

Aurobindo also wrote directly in the English language, explaining the higher teachings in concepts we can grasp today, so no translation is required. In addition he wrote on philosophy, psychology, poetry, art, politics and all aspects of life and culture, so each one of us can find some angle of access to his work.

Sri Aurobindo wrote that there are three major Asuras controlling the Falsehood in the world : one that he called Lord of the Money, the other which dwells in ...

SOAS University of London
The Sri Aurobindo Trust will make three travel awards available to undergraduate students with a strong interest in Modern Indian Philosophy and the ...

P Raja - Posted at: Nov 29 2015
After moving from British India to French India, Bharati felt he was no more in shackles and his pen flowed freely. Every piece he wrote in his weekly was satirical to the core and the British, spineless moderates in politics, and self-centered Indians who still kept away from the freedom struggle, were his targets. The weekly favoured nationalism, welfare of women and mass education.

In every issue, what actually took the cake was the cartoon on the cover page. In the history of Tamil journalism, India, brought out every Saturday, was the first to enjoy cartoons and it is said that every one of these was drawn under the able guidance of Bharati. They spoke in fitting terms of the policy of the journal and Bharati’s deep involvement in Indian politics gave him the power and strength to voice his opinions boldly. India began to enjoy a tremendous popularity and its readers loved the cartoons so much that they cut the page, pasted it on cardboard and displayed it in front of their houses.

The British took several measures to stop the printing of the journal and all such efforts served to publicise the journal all the more. The French government in Pondicherry said “no” to the British ban request and the latter took the extreme step of closing the gates of Tamil Nadu for India. Circulation dwindled but with the issue dated 12 March 1910, it gave a clarion call to all devoted Indians to join hands in driving the British away and brought down its shutters.

Sri Aurobindo, “the most dangerous man”, as the British put it, seeking political asylum, arrived in Pondicherry on 4 April1910 and on 15 August 1914 he celebrated his 42nd birthday by giving lovers of spiritual philosophy the first monthly issue of his Arya. Edited by him in collaboration with Paul and Mira Richard, and printed at Modern Press, Pondicherry, Arya set before itself a twofold objective – “A systematic study of the highest problems of existence; and the formation of a vast synthesis of knowledge, harmonising the diverse religious traditions of humanity, Occidental as well as Oriental. Its method will be that of realism, at once rational and transcendental — a realism consisting in the unification of intellectual disciplines with those of intuitive experience.”

Philosophy, literature, yoga, religion, national and international politics, history and sociology, art and literary criticism, ethics and culture are the several realms of knowledge on which Sri Aurobindo gave thought to. When everyone wondered how the yogi could manage to write on several subjects at one and the same time, Aurobindo declared that if he had gone on writing seven issues of the Arya every month for a full seven years he could hardly have exhausted all the knowledge that had come to him from above. The journal enjoyed six-and-a-half-years of uninterrupted publication on the 15th of every month, with one exception of a combined issue of November and December 1920.

Other revolutionaries like VVS Aiyar and Va Ra. soon followed suit to join the band of “Swadeshis” in Pondicherry. The band had a tremendous effect on the local population pertaining to matters political and social.

Sri Swami Tatwananda Ashram: Upanishad classes by Swami Samanandar, P and T ... Sri Aurobindo Study Forum: Sathsang by Dr. Subramany, Aurolab, 

No comments:

Post a Comment