Multidimensionality and mischaracterization

Sonnet-like Passages in Savitri [Kindle Edition] RY Deshpande (Author)

By the very definition of an epic we can say that it has a rich abounding multidimensionality representing re-creatively the thousand moods and manners one witnesses in vibrancy of the life of man, its setting having the theme of men and nations or the world or the universe, or the foundational issue of the creation. There are essences of aesthetic delight or rasas, there are evocations and moods and bhāvas, there are echoes and reflections, persuasive sounds and soft winning music, there is the dhwani which only an occult ear can hear, the sound of the roots of the words, unheard melodies, anāhat nād, there are orchestral grandeurs and there are quiet concerts in well-tapestried chambers. It is these individualities that we are trying to see in that greatness, an act which need not reduce the greatness of the great. In an attempt to preserve the epic grandeur of one’s life at times one thinks of one’s qualities in pieces, pieces which shine out, diamond-like, in their distinctive facets. Our affiliation with sonnets could be of that nature.

Savitri with Accents: The Book of Yoga by Sri Aurobindo and Savitri Foundation (Kindle Edition -Oct 25, 2012) - $0.99 Kindle Edition

Savitri with Accents: The Book of the Divine Mother by Sri Aurobindo and Savitri Foundation (Kindle Edition -Oct 27, 2012) - $0.99 Kindle Edition

Savitri with Accents: The Book of Beginnings by Sri Aurobindo and Savitri Foundation (Kindle Edition -Oct 20, 2012) - $0.99 Kindle Edition Auto-delivered wirelessly

We hope that the present attempt of bringing out the text with accent-marks will prove rewarding to the lovers of poetry, and in particular of Savitri in its metrical power, its rhythm and melody, its undertones and overtones, its volume and pitch and timbre, its nāda and laya and chhanda, they carrying the “seed-sounds of the eternal Word”, they moving in the felicity of “rhythmic calm and joy”; possibly it would take us closer to the yogic source from which it originated.
Savitri Foundation is glad to put in this pioneering effort towards metrical presentation of Sri Aurobindo’s epic. It is hoped that this will prove helpful in understanding and reading Savitri possibly in its intended sense and articulation.

Welcome to the South Asia Archive

Launching in 2013, the South Asia Archive is a new, fully searchable digital archive encompassing 5 million pages of valuable research and teaching materials, providing online access to documents ranging from the mid-18th to the mid-20th Century. Featured Video An Interview with Professor Boria Majumdar > About the South Asia Archive

Incorporating 5 million pages of journals, books, reports and other documentation from the mid-18^th  to mid-20^th century across the Humanities & Social Sciences, the South Asia Archive is the single biggest digital repository of South Asian research material in the world. Its launch marks a momentous step towards the advancement of South Asian studies as an area of academic research and inquiry, and we would be delighted if you could join us on this special occasion. Aims and Scope

The South Asia Archive provides an extensive resource for students and scholars across the humanities and social sciences.

Focusing on South Asia, the Archive contains both serial and non-serial materials, including reports, rare books, and journal runs from noteworthy, rare publications. The documents in the Archive are truly interdisciplinary, reflecting the varied range of knowledge production in colonial and early post-colonial India in fields including: culture & society, industry & economy, science, technology & medicine, urban planning & administration, and politics & law.

Comprising material sourced from collectors and archivists in India by the South Asia Research Foundation, this Archive brings together a wealth of important primary content. In addition to its value in individual research, the Archive offers instructors an outstanding opportunity to include a range of primary archival materials in their syllabi.

VAAD-PRATIVAAD: SECULARISM IS IMPORTANT TO A MODERN INDIA III Posted by Jaideep Prabhu · 1 Comment Welcome to the third and final round of Vaad Prativaad (Round I may be found here and Round II here). FOR THE MOTION: Harsh Gupta

Perhaps a majority of Indian have little or no understand of what constitutional republicanism is either. And this may or may not be “decisive proof” that constitutional republicanism is wholly alien to India, but – even granting that for argument’s sake – since when is it so glaringly obvious that something is not to be adopted only because it was hitherto alien? …

As I tried to show in my second piece, Hinduism while having sublime beauty in its metaphysics has an awful discriminatory on-the-ground history. This is most obvious along the axis of caste, though some could credibly argue something similar on the topic of gender too – (that Hinduism is better than some other religion when it comes to women’s rights or other issues is hardly a consolation prize). These uncomfortable facts give me pause whether a Hindu state would be secular and liberal enough. And now that some people like my opponents are losing patience with such tolerance – is even more reason for a genuinely secular state, not less…

Not a nation where one cannot badmouth the Bhagwad Gita or disparagingly paint Goddess Sita. India does not need a proactive Hindu vanguard in the Abrahamic mould because this will end up making India more divided and Hinduism less universal. Instead we need to take identity completely out of our policies, our schools, our jobs, our tax code, our personal code – and this must include caste identity politics also over time… Looking at the forest instead of the trees, both moral and realpolitik imperatives largely coincide here. Why propose revolutions, when evolutions would do?

History of Indian Science & Technology: Overview of the 20-Volume Series By Rajiv Malhotra and Jay Patel

Outline: This chapter is intended to provide a background to the History of Indian Science and Technology (HIST) project. By describing the rationale and purpose of the HIST series, we hope to awaken the reader to the full implications of the series outside its scholastic usage. This chapter consists of the following sections:

Section I:   Rationale behind Infinity Foundation's Projects

Non-Western Knowledge Systems:

Modern Western technology has produced amazing achievements, but we must analyze the wider implications of such technologies and their notions of progress. These technologies often bring huge negative consequences that seem negligible in the short-term.  We need to dispassionately investigate whether there are alternative technologies that offer more sustainable progress for all, rather than only the privileged…

Section II:  Indian Contributions to Science and Technology

The depth and breadth of Indian science and technology is staggering, and this section gives just a glimpse into the genius of India's scientists and engineers…

Section III: Infinity's Book Series on History of Indian Science & Technology

An exploration free from the phobias against Indian Civilization would show that the West did not come out on top due to any inherent superiority, as claimed by Hegel and others, but, rather, due to their cunning and ruthlessness. This kind of research will establish that non-Western minds not only have the ability to contribute to original technology, but, in fact, have been instrumental in its development. India's own English-educated elite should be made aware of these facts to shed its Macaulayite complexes…

Responding to Critics:

Some critics have claimed that this series is anti-Western. Our response is that it is in everyone's best interest to have a truly global education system in which all cultures' contributions and merits are celebrated. This necessitates demolishing false notions of history promulgated by the colonizers.

Others who are deeply brainwashed in India phobia might find it convenient to dismiss this book series as “Hindutva”, “right-wing fundamentalist”, and so forth. This is completely baseless since Indian science is not about any particular religion. It is the heritage of every Indian, regardless of faith or lack thereof. Just as Newtonian laws are not Christian and Einstein's relativity theory is not a Jewish science, so also the scientific discoveries of Indians are independent of their faiths.

The importance of this work may be compared to Europe's use of classical Greek thought to raise itself out of the Dark Ages. India should also look to its own rich tradition of knowledge to move forward and complement modern knowledge.

Indian Institute of Scientific Heritage (IISH) was established on the Sravana Pournami day in August 1999 and registered as a charitable trust (328/99/iv) during the last quarter of 1999. Then onwards IISH has been undertaking the mission of learning and teaching the ultra ancient heritage of Bharath(India) using ultra modern scientific and technological tools. The ultimate aim of this mission is to make every Indian proud of his heritage.

Our aim is to inform the world about the glorious scientific, rational and logical heritage of India and also inform the world to practice and adopt these message in their life to lead a happy life in the 21st century. IISH is undertaking this mission of taking the message to 100 million people before the 31st December 2010. Hundreds and thousands of mission oriented workers are taking part in this patriotic mission of spreading the message of our motherland. We learn and teach the past glory, present achievements and future aims of Indian in each and every field, taking the inspiration for the past glory of this nation.We inform the world that this heritage of India is the property of Hindus, Muslims and Christians of India and also belongs to all beloved children of this motherland. Thus IISH spreads the scientific, technological, spiritual, sociological, anthropological, managemental messages to the world, in such a way that these messages can be adopted for the modern world.

Learning and teaching the scientific, technological and cultural heritage of Indiawith a scientific, rational and logical, patriotic and nationalistic vision.

Publishing documents like books, audio-cassettes  films, CDs, VCDS, DVDs, brochures, pamphlets, periodicals, etc for learning and teaching the heritage.

Conducting international/ national/ regional/ local seminars, study classes, academic level competitions, exhibitions, camps, study tours, etc., for fulfilling the missions of the Institute.

Giving a clear understanding of the superstitions through scientific analyses and taking the mission of eradicating the superstition from the minds of uneducated and educated people.

Giving the substantiated scientific proof on the merits of the Indian acharas (customs) and rituals through the medical research reports including psychological- sociological- anthropological- physiological and spiritual understanding .

Imparting a clear understanding on the duracharas/ anaacharas (superstitions) from the scientific acharas and explaining the merits of sadacharas and demerits of duracharas.

Bringing out the contents, facts, truths and the merits of knowing the Indian literature and giving a correct picture on the literature heritage of our nation.

Undertaking as much service oriented work like serving the poor, old aged, sick, blind, and so on through sevanam samarpanam projects. Building curriculum oriented syllabus adoptaptable for all schools world over .

We would also like to Inform the world that everything was NOT present in ancient India, but MANY things connected with science, technology, integrated life management, psychological knowledge and so on existed in ancient India. Almost all these scientific information also withstood the test of time and still survive in the practical and theoretical life/area of Indians and those who are adopting the Indian way of life. 

Reification and sedimentation of Sri Aurobindo's work Re: Reflections on THE IDEAL OF HUMAN UNITY By Debashish Banerji by Rich on Wed 25 Oct 2006 09:24 AM PDT Permanent Link Seems like we are following the usual course of misunderstanding inherent in considering Sri Aurobindo's writing in the same conversation in which other methods of intellectual inquiry are probed…  

1) To identify a manner of discourse which could be fromulated to allow the presentation of Sri Aurobindo's system of integral yoga and transformation, in a language which could be legitimized in academic situ. It was in no means an effort at reducing Sri Aurobindo's message to criterion defined by postmodernist discourse… (To me finding such methods of cross-cultural intersubjective discourse regards the yoga is a raison d'être of SCIY)

2) To address the problem of the reification and sedimentation of Sri Aurobindo's work in current doxa pervading the institutions which are founded on his vision… Hinduvta is one example… And finally there is a need to address the mischaracterizations of leftist (and or/ marxist) who deliberately falsify SA works to set up their straw man thesis of communalism in India. The work of Jyotirmaya Sharma falls into this category (although I do not wish to again appear sanctimonious, in my pronouncements I also see this as a founding vision of SCIY)  rich [8:21 AM Sunday, October 29, 2006]