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January 30, 2019

Openness, transparency, sincerity, freedom of expression, and unfettered debate


They put a premium on the values of openness, transparency, sincerity, freedom of expression, and unfettered debate. 
Many of the Enlightenment’s most influential thinkers had little but contempt for uneducated people and wanted to restrict the pursuit of truth to a learned elite. 
Not all truths are self-evident, and not all facts are easily verifiable, so societies need particular evidentiary standards and forms of authority to determine where truth lies. 
Facebook and Twitter also profit from the business generated by rumor, innuendo, falsehood, and conspiracy theories... David A. Bell

Re-envisioning Development for Sustainable Community Systems: Art, Spirituality and Social Transformations
AK Giri - Transition Strategies for Sustainable Community …, 2019
… They also bring us in many different related ways to seekers and practitioners such as Tagore, Gandhi and Sri Aurobindo … But Sri Aurobindo here also challenges limited understanding of aesthetics when it is bound to senses only …
Transition to sustainable community systems calls for re-envisioning human development. Human development does not only mean economic, political and ethical development; it also means artistic and spiritual development. All these dimensions of development are interlinked, but we have not paid sufficient attention to artistic and spiritual bases and horizons of human development and social transformations. In order to develop both individually and collectively, it is necessary to develop one’s artistic and spiritual potential. The essay explores relationships between art, spirituality and human development and describes examples from histories of ideas, art experiments and educational movements for creatively cultivating cross-fertilisation among them further. Ananta Kumar Giri
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-00356-2_7
Part of the The Anthropocene: Politik—Economics—Society—Science book series (APESS, volume 26)

[PDF] Who Put the Super in Superhero
SL Ross - Transformation and Heroism as a Function of Evolution …, 2019
… The framework culminates with an elucidation of how the ordinary yet heroic individual becomes a superhero or transhuman as outlined by spiritual teacher Sri Aurobindo, through three transformations of biopsychosocial maturation and spiritual realization …

[PDF] Warp, Weft and Way: A Journey of Literature with Imaginary Maps
R Roy
… “Lightning-flame” across the “faint outline”: A 'contemplative insight' in trans-singularity is almost like Aurobindo's idea of “intuitive mind” – a mind of vision corresponding to illumination. The poet swims in such fabric … “intellect” …

[PDF] Praise for Belonging to God: Spirituality, Science & a Universal Path of Divine Love
L Vaughan-Lee, YEG O'Brian, R McDermott…
… Isn't this exactly what the world needs, and exactly what we need?” —Robert McDermott, PhD, president emeritus and chair of the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies; author, The Essential Aurobindo …

Plasim Radar

- The Somerville Times reviews Richard Oxenberg's *On the Meaning of Human Being, Heidegger and the Bible in Dialogue*. It is impossible to read Oxenberg’s ...

A Feminist Ethics of Self-Emptying? - This post is by Kris Trujillo. Kris is Assistant Professor of English at Fordham University where he teaches and researches the Christian mystical traditio...

The Need to Overcome the Refusal of the Ascetic As the Final Law of Life - Not only has religion frequently been at odds with the intellect, but it has also consistently been at odds with the vital life energy. Religious traditio...

5.5 The Mental - There is one thing certain about the mind and its workings; it is that you can understand only what you already know in your own inner self. What strikes...

Four Lessons from Home Renovation - During the months of December 2018 and January 2019, we spent about 5 weeks getting several long-overdue renovation and repair projects completed around th...

The material conditions of qualitative individualism - by Amod Lele
When I first started reading Charles Taylor on qualitative individualism in my 20s, my Marxist father complained that Taylor paid too little attention to material conditions. I didn't really get the criticism at the time, but I do now, for reasons that go well beyond reading and writing.
Taylor's discussion of qualitative individualism (or "expressivism" or the "ethics of authenticity") takes place largely in the realm of ideas, as mine also has so far. I have tried to trace the history of the ideas of qualitative individualism. But such a history is incomplete. Read more of this post

Complicating hate speech matters - Though the very term Islamophobia remains highly contested in Norway, the reluctance to define anti-Muslim speech as a form of hate speech and to include i...

Why the purity of the Savitri text is important - Evil and the Philosophy of Retribution: Modern Commentaries on the ... https://books.google.co.in/books?isbn=1317342070 Sanjay Palshikar - 2017 - ‎Preview - ...

Success, Happiness and Fulfillment–M.S. Srinivasan - [Published in Fourth Dimension Inc. Towards Integral Management. http://fdi.sriaurobindosociety.org.in/cms/index.php June 2011] (The seeking of happiness i...

Monthly updates and newsletter articles - From Jan 2019 we will not be updating this blog. Please refer to our website at https://sriaurobindosociety.org.sg/ For newsletters and articles, please r...

The Story of the Samadhi of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother - Dear Friends and Well-wishers, Wishing you all a very Happy New Year. We are beginning the new year with the publication of a very special article on the S...

Princeton Lecture Video, “Infinite Paths to Infinite Reality: Sri Ramakrishna’s Vijñāna-Based Doctrine of the Harmony of All Religions” - As part of my responsibilities as Visiting Professor at Princeton University for 2018-9, I am inviting guest speakers for a lecture series entitled “New Di...

“Electrons Don’t Think” by Sabine Hossenfelder - The following is a comment I posted on the physicist and blogger Sabine Hossenfelder’s blog Backreaction to a post titled “Electrons Don’t Think.” https://...


The central circle represents the Divine Consciousness. The four petals represent the four powers of the Mother. The twelve petals represent the twelve powers of the Mother manifested for Her work. The central circle represents the Supreme Mother, the Mahashakti.
The 12 petals of the Mother’s symbol represent the 12 Aspects : 
  1. Sincerity
  2. Humility
  3. Gratitude
  4. Perseverance
  5. Aspiration
  6. Receptivity
  7. Progress
  8. Courage
  9. Goodness
  10. Generosity
  11. Equality
  12. Peace

Sep 26, 2017 - THE MOTHERS SYMBOL AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE - THE MOTHEROf SRI AUROBINDO ashram Pondicherry was born as Mirra Alfassa in ...

Here is a free rendering of the First Hymn of Rishi Vamadeva, Rig Veda Mandala IV Sukta 1. the First Richa, The book is available at
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1794678263


January 21, 2019

Why the purity of the Savitri text is important

Based on canonical texts, this work presents a fascinating account of how the relationship between ‘good’, ‘evil’ and retribution is construed against the backdrop of militant nationalism and the development of modern Hinduism.


This book conveys in vivid detail exactly what nonviolence entailed, and the formidable difficulties that the pioneers of such resistance encountered in the years 1905-19.

Assorted tweets:

Being excessively inward looking is the cause for downfall. Let me post my art based on Sri Aurobindo words. My art based on Sri Aurobindo words. https://t.co/MwVYfqWrlR

There is an obvious anachronism in Hindu-bashing discourse here. The first Hindu Sabha was in Panjab 1906 in immediate reaction to the Muslim League's founding. The foundational Uttarpara speech by Aurobindo equating India w/ Hinduism dates from 1909. No Nazis in sight. https://t.co/WPjtpJSwrC
https://twitter.com/Koenraad_Elst/status/1085817349335367680?s=19

"Conference on Soft Power--Indo-Pacific Region": looking forward to a scintillating dialogue in Singapore. Feel particularly privileged to be invited to speak on Sri Aurobindo & Soft Power. Surely, a first! The event it curated by the only & only @harikiranv https://t.co/IUi4hlhpbs
https://twitter.com/MakrandParanspe/status/1087000061970731008?s=19

i am sad: Last week met 4 groups of students of different institutions --all PG--nearly 90% of each group has not even heard about Aurobindo--Where are we heading --All big talk of nationalism etc Bunkam:)) RT
https://twitter.com/rvaidya2000/status/1086954217053605889?s=19

as @hesivh ji has noted so many x , "nationalists" busy propagating "their" leaders... so no time for work of Dayanand, Vivekanand, Aurobindo, BhaiP, Lalaji.. what to say abt Ram Swarup / SR Goel / Gurudatt. https://t.co/PSDHCXRUYD https://t.co/98WiFib0FH
https://twitter.com/gopimaliwal/status/1086955518545915905?s=19

they dont remember textbooks: they see curvy bodies under hypocritical societies watch on the screen and that association sticks: lovely lovely Alauddin (forget his lust for castrated beautiful boys - or maybe even that cd add to the attraction). No such spicy film on Aurobindo.
https://twitter.com/dikgaj/status/1087085974734147589?s=19

Dont be sad sir. I did 12 years college education in Pondicherry but learned nothing about Aurobindo until 30 years later..
https://twitter.com/bennedose/status/1087039425647792129?s=19

Until i finished my engineering I had never heard of aurobindo. There was aurbindo school near my lunch college I thought he must be some guru like many of those who become gurus and commit fraud I  grew up in the 90s
https://twitter.com/ashvinn15/status/1086965469561577472?s=19

Why just Bollywood ? Our text books are any less ? 
When i was in school , history books published by Vajpayee Govt had 1 entire chapter for Akbar "the great" & only half page for Pala & Sena empires together. 1 page for Vijayanagar. Only few paragraphs for Rashtrakutas !
https://twitter.com/Aban__Ind/status/1087085168655912961?s=19

That is a good news, I have read Indian leftists, and lapdog of International League of Criminals United against India-Pankaj Mishra claiming Aurobindo was Indian version of pseudo scientific Nazi. https://t.co/gpYJ2EsuAw
https://twitter.com/Ramayan_bot/status/1087011357822799872?s=19

It isn't fair to dismiss Sumitra Nandan Pant as a leftist! During course of life people get exposed to different ideologies. Later in life he was influenced by Sri Aurobindo. His contribution to Hindi literature is immense. He enriched shuddha Hindi literature by his creations.
https://twitter.com/kumaoni_woman/status/1086531180898516992?s=19

Even after reading "a shelf full of books" that Sri Aurobindo wrote, it's difficult to claim any sure hints on future events or political course. Turning a supporter of Modi govt after being a critic on the basis of its non-performance and ideological ambivalence embarrasses many
https://twitter.com/SavitriEraParty/status/1086871036774240258?s=19

No one from RW camp has read Sri Aurobindo and their ignorance shows. Name dropping comes handy and mentioning Uttarpara Speech has become an empty slogan. Conflating Vivekananda with Sri Aurobindo invariably is another sign of hypocrisy. Critical appreciation of thought lacking.
https://twitter.com/SavitriEraParty/status/1087023826435756032?s=19

[all the earlier works were made obsolete as Sri Aurobindo's higher yoga was distilled through Savitri and I would be better to concentrate on Savitri. It did however give me a certain insight as to why the purity of the Savitri text was important to him.] https://t.co/u1VxLAkby4
https://twitter.com/SavitriEraParty/status/1087120587128893441?s=19

Rishi Aurobindo focusses on the yogic essence of Geeta, and not only on jargons & analysis of verses like pedagogues, that is where his work outshines the other verse based commentaries on the Geeta. Rishi integrates his own dhyana into the writing, thus Geeta flows in new meaning 
https://twitter.com/Dennis15001/status/1085031009849028608?s=19
However even then I would say bankim was great in his 'Krishna Charitra' though, if not his Geeta commentary, which he unfortunately couldn't complete due to old age & disease. 'Krishna Charitra' portrays historical Krishna as he would have been, from logical & scientific western pov.
https://twitter.com/Dennis15001/status/1085032167602716672?s=19
The only author who might outshine rishi aurobindo in his own way, bringing in ideas of modern physics, evolutionary biology to his dhyana experience & revealing a whole new frontier, is this Bengali old Kolkatan writer or rather, yogi below (sadly not for English readers) https://t.co/bJVQ0M3yDv

"Unlike later Indian commentators like Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Hegel was very clear in his mind that the Gita preached a form of yoga where the “highest grade is the achieved unity and dwelling with God devoid of works and longing.”" https://t.co/M2PMbzZ39i
https://twitter.com/KS1729/status/988473659235995649?s=19
"the editors cld well have consulted an earlier, largely forgotten, generation of Indian philosophers—equally at home with Eastern & Western traditions—who had rigorously attempted to critique Hegel...There's unfortunately no reference to this literature." https://t.co/sCUY6Yqed5

Prof. Arvind Sharma in "Gandhi: A Spiritual Biography" suggest that Tilak's highlighting of karma is a product of its times, much like Rāmānuja's and Śaṅkara's highlighting of bhakti and jñāna respectively in the same Gītā was a product of theirs.
https://t.co/Ez6VPSRzmC pg 143
https://twitter.com/longhandnotes/status/988476913873313793?s=19

Gita, Gandhi and Godse http://t.co/p2Q0A2KT1P via @venkataa Read it for the Gandhi-Tilak debates
https://twitter.com/sarkar_swati/status/561172579357323264?s=19

"Gandhi had to debunk Tilak’s call and give the Bhagwad Gita his own interpretation" http://t.co/OcHrrsxtOg
https://twitter.com/IndiaFactsOrg/status/486393097874841600?s=19

Plasim Radar

Savitri Satsang 078 pp. 138-139 - A weekly sharing on Savitri by Dr Alok Pandey (an audio recording in English). The post Savitri Satsang 078 pp. 138-139 appeared first on AuroMaa.

- What to do in San Francisco, March 12, before tea: Richard Polt on "Uprooting, Criminality and Machination: Jews and Nazis in Martin Heidegger's *Black Not...

The Building of Being in Non-Being - In today’s modern world, the predominant idea is that there has been a progression from the time of the “big bang” to the formation of universes, galaxies 

Success, Happiness and Fulfillment–M.S. Srinivasan - [Published in Fourth Dimension Inc. Towards Integral Management. http://fdi.sriaurobindosociety.org.in/cms/index.php June 2011] (The seeking of happiness i...

Heteropatriarchy, hypergamy, and what have you - A festival to remember the journey of Auroville Times of India-17-Jan-2019 The universal township built based on the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo and the Mot...

Religion and hate speech - Many recent hate speech cases involve religion either as the source of views that are alleged to be hateful or as the target of such views. The “religious”...

The Self-Emptying Subject Book Event: Angels and Flies - Beatrice Marovich is an assistant professor of theological studies at Hanover College. She works at the intersection of philosophy and theology and is cu...

Monthly updates and newsletter articles - From Jan 2019 we will not be updating this blog. Please refer to our website at https://sriaurobindosociety.org.sg/ For newsletters and articles, please r...

Dilip Kumar Roy, the Cambridge-educated elite who added melody to ...

ThePrint-05-Jan-2019
Among the Great, one of his most popular books, included his interactions with the likes of Rolland, Gandhi, Russell, Rabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo.

New Year, equality and Gita

Daily Pioneer-28-Dec-2018
(Essays on the Gita by Sri Aurobindo). To understand the subtler sense of the Gita, we must disentangle our mind of the Materialistic view of the Existence ...

Being a Hindu in India: The Agony and the Ecstasy

IndiaFacts-17-Dec-2018
I am yet to come across a single western scientist-writer who has spoken about Swami Vivekananda or Sri Aurobindo and their thoughts on evolution, while ...

Musepaper: Manikuntala Bhowmick https://t.co/CP7ERdmEDV
https://t.co/6Eq9Vj45zX

Savitri Era Learning Forum: Heteropatriarchy, hypergamy, and what have you https://t.co/uqHvLRWpe6 #SriAurobindo Savitri Era of those who adore, Om Sri Aurobindo & The Mother. Posted by @NathTusar Tusar Nath Mohapatra, Shipra Riviera, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, 201014

January 19, 2019

Heteropatriarchy, hypergamy, and what have you

A festival to remember the journey of Auroville

Times of India-17-Jan-2019
The universal township built based on the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother was aimed at giving a collective form to Sri Aurobindo's vision on the ...

Use education as a means of individual empowerment, Heggade tells ...

NYOOOZ-12 minutes ago
The likes of Annie Besant and Sri Aurobindo were harbingers of change, and work of Annie Besant in women's emancipation and empowerment then lives on ...

Religion

Times Herald-Record-17-Jan-2019
Matagiri Sri Aurobindo Center: 1218 Wittenberg Road. Reading and meditation, 9 a.m. Sat. Readings are chosen from the writings of Indian philosopher Sri ...

Dilip Kumar Roy, the Cambridge-educated elite who added melody to ...

ThePrint-05-Jan-2019
Among the Great, one of his most popular books, included his interactions with the likes of Rolland, Gandhi, Russell, Rabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo.

Sri Aurobindo and India's Rebirth- A book by Michel Danino

IndiaFacts-04-Jan-2019
Most students are dimly aware that he did something for India and spirituality, but that is the beginning and end of their knowledge on Sri Aurobindo. At least that ...

Marg’s latest magazine “The Weight of a Petal: Ars Botanica”, edited by Sita Reddy is now available in select stores and online at http://bit.ly/2VAplCH
The issue attempts to decolonize the botanical art archives in India by inserting the names of hitherto anonymous Indian artists who created works for European and British Company officials.
Essays trace the multilayered histories of botanical art from decorations on architectural edifices in Mughal India to contemporary artists. The creation of botanic gardens, their archives in India and abroad and key collections in museums and universities are highlighted.

There's nothing called love!  One of the most useless emotions that envelope a sane mind n turn it to insanity n expectations.  Human love is need based.  Cut it,  scrap it,  destroy it,  live for duty!  For rarely u get similar 'love' in reciprocation.
https://twitter.com/agg_garima/status/1085075772514226181?s=19
Human love is restricting,  miserable,  brings suffering except for worldly joys like progeny or momentarily physical bliss.  Be a witness to it,  don't participate. The only true love comes from within,  the self,  the eashwra!
The male female dichotomy of creation is just that,  for creation.  It needs to b only that much pleasure.  For duty!  Very difficult to follow, very difficult to quieten the mind,  such is the power of maya n senses!
Takes lifetimes!  Need based love is selfish,  everybody ends up manipulating it...  Of course,  includes me.  The aham in man can never die,  only love in aatman can resolve that aham.  I  wish to achieve the state beyond aham.  Of nothing but silence n bliss!

If love is done expecting reciprocation, its no love. Love is the essence of our existence and a primordial force. Deep introspection may reveal that every emotion incl. haterd is nothing but distorted form of love. Love is existence longing for Union with Divine
https://twitter.com/SpiritWithBody/status/1085280427781312518?s=19

I agree with last line.  Grihasthi needs reciprocation.  That's why I called it need based love.  It has to be witnessed as duty,  is all I wanted to say.  The need for sex should not color our minds n choose defeating patterns.  That's not love!
https://twitter.com/agg_garima/status/1085372376618070018?s=19

Even worse, the idea of "romantic love" (which arises from "Romance novels" i.e. trashy works written in "Romance" aka Latin languages), according to Peck as a practicing psychologist, is hugely damaging to modern society. https://t.co/TuMaFrhyH5
https://twitter.com/sankrant/status/1073268925461344257?s=19
https://twitter.com/sankrant/status/1085287454653992960?s=19

Popular ideas about love come from the Xtian obsession with this concept of "love" when they lack the very basic understanding of the way man-buddhi-chitta-ahamkara function. Best to unlearn this nonsense & learn basics from a dharmic POV!
https://twitter.com/tweeptastic/status/1085132561041539073?s=19

Bollywood Rom coms have destroyed mine and previous generations , and made us chase this carrot called love. Instead of educating us about the female nature of hypergamy
https://twitter.com/Twice_Borne/status/1085129863302766594?s=19

Love and romance is billed as this all encompassing feeling that lies above reason and reality. And that is why behaviour displayed due to unhealthy romantic ideals is normalised and often celebrated.
Historically women have been conditioned to aspire to marriage but not men (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie). 
Which obviously creates an imbalance where a woman's maiden stature became a trading commodity.
Dating culture has since then evolved. A lot of the variable aspect of dating - meeting someone new, striking a conversation, etc takes place virtually. As our lives increasingly become isolated and saturated, seeking a romantic partnership is another "chore"
https://twitter.com/genderlogindia/status/1085953385537433601?s=19
Partnerships take place between equals. A barely legal adult woman is and cannot be the right partner for a 35 year old. 
They aren't on equal footing and as a result the one with the more wealth, status or even life experiences inherently holds more power over the other.
https://twitter.com/genderlogindia/status/1085097640885284864?s=19
In order to understand power dynamics, an important part to keep in context is that toxic masculinity in a hetero-patriarchal structure relies on the possession and demonstration of power - real or supposed.

I've always had a dislike for the uncanny, for the middle ground--this is why I like top 40 & noise music, but hate alt rock, why I like classical instrumentation & synthesizers, but not bullshit like metal that uses symphonic elements.
https://twitter.com/yungneocon/status/1086407347608698880?s=19
It's why I find reading explicit fascists, conservatives & reactionaries (Schmitt, Strauss, Oakeshott, Gray, Benoist, etc) easier than reading gormless mealy mouthed middle ground cryptos, even as I despise what the explicits say.
But eventually one's meta- & tacit- knowledge improves enough (as a result, in part, of the content & 1st order knowledge) that one begins to see the horizon is vastly larger than what one has learned, and their knowledge/competence is far smaller relatively speaking.
Like I love modernist literature, and I love post-modern literature, but I largely dislike what lies between--the Beat generation, Hippies, literalism, and that which explicitly tries to reject them--the New Sincerity, DFW, anti-kitsch kitsch, etc  bc it feels treacly & rote
https://twitter.com/yungneocon/status/1086418386723266561?s=19
Aristotle & Maimonidies both said that if you suffer from a deficit or a surplus in a virtue/vice, you should over-perform its opposite, bc then you'll end up in the golden middle, but over shoot too much and you alter its domain, and end up failing lol.
This is why brinksmanship leads to war, by the way, and its always why small fights between romantic couples can blister into all out conflicts.

The battle of the Vedic Gods and Titans is a perpetual conflict between Day and Night for the possession of the triple world of heaven, mid-air and earth and for the liberation or bondage of the mind, life and body of the human being, his mortality or his immortality.
It is waged by the Powers of a supreme Truth and Lords of a supreme Light against dark Powers who struggle to maintain the foundation of this falsehood in which we dwell and the iron walls of these hundred fortified cities of the Ignorance.
#SriAurobindo #IntegralYoga #Vedas
https://twitter.com/integralyog/status/1086336849214242821?s=19

Cover by Tusar Nath Mohapatra (Original by Dhananjay Satpathy from AIR, Cuttack Sajafula for August 1969. Bana mayuri mo bayasi denare by Bhubaneswari Mishra was companion number besides the duet Jhumuku jhuma. Related: Bana hansi go pagala by Bhikari Bal) https://t.co/Ho90ySC3M2
https://twitter.com/NathTusar/status/1084079804117368832?s=19

Ei desha ei mati, mamatamayi maa'ti. Serendipity
Regional Songs in Oriya and Telugu, NCAA: ISO 16363 Certified Trusted Digital Repository. https://t.co/T89XPa1u4G
https://twitter.com/NathTusar/status/1086312041520852992?s=19

One thing that caught my attention is the old gramorecord by EMI -Gopalakushna Padabali.. Manasija Manamohana,Uthilu Ede Begi,Ae Ghana Dina Eka,Sangini re, Shyama Ku Juhaar,Munha Munhi Kishora,Ki Naada re,Jala Anee Jae, Shyama Apabada,Kadamba Bane etc @OdiaCulture @pattaprateek https://t.co/krTkDoR9zO
https://twitter.com/TaraniTrotter/status/1051693197875798017?s=19

A stalwart of Indian classical music who contributed immensely to Odia culture -Pandit Raghunath Panigrahi . Although I happened to discover him quite late but I was blessed enough to listen to his song in this lifetime .  https://t.co/xHxC0cgDeQ
@kansenclub #indianmusic
https://twitter.com/mallika_sudhir/status/1028489859269361664?s=19

Two decades of the 21st century have confirmed utter groundlessness of all branches of human knowledge. Eulogising ancient texts and tradition, therefore, is fraught with hazards. Religious zeal needs to be re-evaluated so that younger generation musters courage to shed blinkers.
https://twitter.com/SavitriEraParty/status/1083057380907114496?s=19

The Mother & Sri Aurobindo have created a vast web of words in which one may immerse for years for aesthetic and intellectual pleasure. But it's necessary to remember that they are just indications and not a full-scale unveiling of the mystery of creation as the time hasn't come.
https://twitter.com/SavitriEraParty/status/1083181913207115776?s=19

For success, both Democracy and Spirituality depend upon a set of normatives supposedly opposite to human nature. Such a tension is beyond the power of human manipulation or collective motivation since imagining any nice play sans evil or vice is an irony. https://t.co/6FL5GiBb98
https://twitter.com/SavitriEraParty/status/1085454144679436288?s=19

Misgivings on Modi's performance has ensued an introspection on core Hindutva leading to tolerance of a healthy ambivalence. It also coincides with reexamination of Bengal renaissance, upon due scholarly apparatus, with the potential of Sri Aurobindo receiving deserved attention.
https://twitter.com/SavitriEraParty/status/1085052710553042946?s=19

Many are eager to stress on the Indian aspect of Sri Aurobindo but his admiration for the intuitive faculties displayed by Keats, Shelley, and Coleridge forms the bedrock of his creative output. That also drives his political stance on Nationalism later dovetailing to Life Divine
https://twitter.com/SavitriEraParty/status/1085043957338230784?s=19

Some Hindutva handles seem to be eternally gung-ho on shastra, dharma, karma, and similar regimen. Apart from delegitimising rituals, The Mother & Sri Aurobindo, thankfully, have altered received wisdom on ontological frameworks like power of stars, kundalini, or karma theory etc
https://twitter.com/SavitriEraParty/status/1083532035602305024?s=19

Those aware of Writing the Self: Diaries, Memoirs, and the History of the Self by Peter Heehs, may now relish a fresh arrival. A Philosophy of Autobiography: Body & Text by Aakash Singh Rathore probes Nietzsche, Maya Angelou, Hemingway, Elie Wiesel, Daya Pawar, Kamala Das, et al.
https://twitter.com/SavitriEraParty/status/1085801152015462406?s=19

Intellectual genealogy of Sri Aurobindo can be traced reliably by a competent scholar delineating his debts to his predecessors and contemporaries but The Mother reminds that he signifies action. It should always be remembered, therefore, that every tiny event is pointing at him.
https://twitter.com/SavitriEraParty/status/1086325930824556544?s=19

The 2018 Issue (Vol. 41, 1-2) of JCLA is dedicated to the loving memory of PROF. JOHN HOSPERS (1918-2011) on his Birth Centenary. He was a Member of the Editorial Board of JCLA for a long time & contributed one of his finest essays, ‘Art and Morality’ for its first issue (1978). https://t.co/esWT2wBdZM
https://twitter.com/jclasukla/status/1084022340940324864?s=19

Plasim Radar

Religion and hate speech - Many recent hate speech cases involve religion either as the source of views that are alleged to be hateful or as the target of such views. The “religious”...

- In e-flux Yuk Hui explains the Dark Enlightenment. Modern technology synchronizes non-Western histories to a global time-axis of Western modernity. As bot...

A Titanic Race, pp. 144-145 - In early humanity, the soul was just a little spark buried deep within dense rings of Matter. Such a humanity was more like the titans whose memory is pr...

The Field of Life Can Manifest Divine Qualities - The tension between the higher aspirations of man and the vital nature that seems to be so opposed to those higher developments, mired in desire, greed, se...

The Self-Emptying Subject Book Event: Angels and Flies - Beatrice Marovich is an assistant professor of theological studies at Hanover College. She works at the intersection of philosophy and theology and is cu...

Towards Sustainable Farming – M.S. Srinivasan - Agricultural systems are a vital link in our planetary ecology. We cannot hope to achieve sustainability without sustainable farming. This article examines...

Monthly updates and newsletter articles - From Jan 2019 we will not be updating this blog. Please refer to our website at https://sriaurobindosociety.org.sg/ For newsletters and articles, please r...

The Story of the Samadhi of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother - Dear Friends and Well-wishers, Wishing you all a very Happy New Year. We are beginning the new year with the publication of a very special article on the S...

Enzyme removes barriers and energy humps - In fact, it is more like an enzyme than a catalyst. A catalyst just hastens an existing reaction, an enzyme facilitates even those that are not possible ot...

Princeton Lecture Video, “Infinite Paths to Infinite Reality: Sri Ramakrishna’s Vijñāna-Based Doctrine of the Harmony of All Religions” - As part of my responsibilities as Visiting Professor at Princeton University for 2018-9, I am inviting guest speakers for a lecture series entitled “New Di...

“Electrons Don’t Think” by Sabine Hossenfelder - The following is a comment I posted on the physicist and blogger Sabine Hossenfelder’s blog Backreaction to a post titled “Electrons Don’t Think.” https://...

Spirituality Lives in All of Us - We at Matriwords wish all our readers a very happy 2019. Last year saw sporadic activity on Matriwords, we hope to be more regular this year with monthly p...

Favorite Music Videos, 2018 - Here is a rough list of my favorite music videos for 2018. It was complied fairly casually, so I may well have forgotten something. As for the order, the t...

The case for individual teleology - The big problem with the relative lack of philosophical attention given to qualitative individualism is that the ideal has had … Continue reading →

The Bridge of Love - One more love story? Aren’t all love stories alike? Maybe. But this one is different. Pondicherry is a unique place in the world. It has beautiful villas b...

To Thee Our Infinite Gratitude (Writings on the Passing of Sri Aurobindo) - To Thee Our Infinite Gratitude Writings on the Passing of Sri Aurobindo A series of essays written in commemoration of Sri Aurobindo’s passing. The words o...

Sri Aurobindo was a universal person - It's futile to try to understand Divine Mother by recounting some of the events from her life spanning nearly a century but even that seems to take many ma...

Material Time - I’m slowly walking along the isthmus in Svaerholt, Norway. My legs are tired from climbing hills and mountains and I can’t move any faster through the gra...

Goddess Kali and the Big Destructions of Nature - Behind all the destructions - the big destructions of Nature - earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, cyclones, floods, etc., or the human destructions - wars, r...

January 08, 2019

Enzyme removes barriers and energy humps

In fact, it is more like an enzyme than a catalyst. A catalyst just hastens an existing reaction, an enzyme facilitates even those that are not possible otherwise. It removes barriers and energy humps.
https://twitter.com/CholericCleric/status/1082519592650661888?s=19

I had shared this before, but here is a delightful transcription of Kurt Vonnegut's shape of a story lecture, complete with diagrams. All those who aim to be (better) writers, must read.
https://t.co/QviG3DDedr
https://twitter.com/CholericCleric/status/1082516734756732928?s=19

Why shouldn't Indian "scientists" who propagate myths and superstitions, be sacked? Why should Indian tax payers contribute to the salaries of quacks in the education system? It is a colossal embarrassment that India continues to produce such academics. https://t.co/zPDOHpjLKL
https://twitter.com/AartiTikoo/status/1082113226047873024?s=19

How do you know what they are saying is a myth or a superstition?
There are a lot of things, still, despite a lot of progress, about nature which science does not have any clue about
Why not allow all to speak their mind?
Why curb #FOE of others? https://t.co/GtzN2GBqzk

Find out how both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata have Jain retellings, in @devduttmyth playful comparison, #RamayanaVersusMahabharata 
https://t.co/5Sjx4Gr43h https://t.co/UhLgtmX7Pj
Find out how both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata speak of actions and reactions, in @devduttmyth playful comparison, #RamayanaVersusMahabharata 
https://t.co/Gg6JOXvXMh https://t.co/qlrXq6uiuE
Both the Ramayana and Mahabharata have supernatural heroines. Can you recount how the heroines in the two epics were born?
Know more in @devduttmyth's groundbreaking book, #RamayanaVersusMahabharata, here: https://t.co/Oe7LPd5SB8    
@SiyahiJaipur
Both the Ramayana and Mahabharata value the stage of life. Can you name the stages in life that the two epics value?
Know more in @devduttmyth's groundbreaking book, #RamayanaVersusMahabharata, here: https://t.co/Oe7LPdntZI   

At mystic Kalinga festival today spoke of unique Bhakti tradition of Odisha (that few scholars talk about) and was glad to have the talented @pattaprateek sing some of the songs and explain them. Totally unplanned but magical. https://t.co/SGchOhGh7R
https://twitter.com/devduttmyth/status/1081908691304108033?s=19

Remember one thing Karna. Everybody has challenges in life. LIFE IS NOT FAIR & EASY ON ANYBODY. But what is Right (Dharma)is known to your Mind (conscience).
https://twitter.com/VandanaJayrajan/status/990222335419404289?s=19
No matter how much unfairness we got, how many times we were disgraced, how many times we fall, what is important is how you REACTED at that time.
Life's unfairness does not give you license to walk the wrong path. Always remember, Life may be tough at few points, but DESTINY is not created by the SHOES we wear but by the STEPS we take... #LordKrishna

Playing god on screen: How NTR's mythological roles shaped his political career https://t.co/sdc7MEU1FW

The time keeper: Historian-archaeologist #NayanjotLahiri takes us through India’s antiquity and values at breakneck speed in her new book, writes @ullekh #TimePieces, @HachetteIndia https://t.co/OSQmjxilMZ https://t.co/u9hxhHiVz2

Is Kautilya only the poster boy for realism? Is there an understanding of his work through other lenses? @AKanisetti discovers moral and political questions about Kautilya in Deepshikha Shahi's new book.
https://t.co/isVNP5f4xd

A new book chronicles the radically iconoclastic movement in Bengali poetry in the 1960s https://t.co/8zksU5zWvf https://t.co/7FbyugGC82

@PandaJay  Just received it. Went through some pages. Seems to be extraordinarily insightful. Tremendously analytical and awesomely educative. Will be a wonderful read. Thanks Sir. @biswajitmohanty @MakrandParanspe @Iyervval @otvnews @nidhi_budha https://t.co/BH44N7KIBl
https://twitter.com/ARYADASH/status/1082158078538252288?s=19

"Ready to join hands with anybody ‘committed’ to Odisha: Jay Panda" - The Hindu https://t.co/orfpQTAOSv

Most philosophers are never valued in the times they exist as their philosophies are too right brained for the left brains to understand. It’s only when we start imbibing these philosophies in daily life, we quote them. Socrates was sentenced to death and Confucius died in exile.
https://twitter.com/ZindagiRocksIt/status/1082004605465255936?s=19

"People on the left have illusions about human nature and think they prove their virtue by broadcasting those illusions. Anyone who punctures those illusions is therefore not just a spoilsport but a threat"
https://twitter.com/Scruton_Quotes/status/1081886454048088064?s=19

All belief systems are quick to dismiss constructive criticism because the introduction of contradictory thoughts leads to ego collapse. When two belief systems collide, divisiveness arises due to the threat of ego collapse, fear of the unknown.
https://twitter.com/DragonM01379699/status/1081989471116120065?s=19

They have no deep, tested,historically validated comprehensive conception of human nature but base their ideas on immediate whimsical appetites of newly born fools.
https://twitter.com/StefenRalph/status/1081983209716502534?s=19

A spiritual person isn't a politician in a common sense but he's political in another way: he throws the problematicity of reality into the face of society. To pretend that politics is something indecent for a spiritual person is the worst sophistry you can imagine. —Jan Patočka
https://twitter.com/ThouArtThat/status/1082118591015763968?s=19

“We don’t describe how the world evolves in time: we describe how things evolve in local time & how local times evolve relative to each other. The world isn’t like a platoon advancing at the pace of a single commander. It’s a network of events affecting each other” -Carlo Rovelli
https://twitter.com/ThouArtThat/status/1082425082448818176?s=19

"It’s important to keep asking yourself the question, what am I doing with my life?" The new year is a great time to read our interview with @romankrznaric on
'the Art of Living': https://t.co/91qiPQ2E1p

“Beckett was his own harshest critic.” @UniofReading Beckett expert Mark Nixon on the mutating nature of Beckett's literary style: https://t.co/9GCYKRMP4K
NEW interview: “However bad things seem to be, Beckett’s characters always find a way of carrying on.” @UniofReading Professor Mark Nixon recommends the best books for understanding Samuel Beckett, one of the twentieth century's most significant writers. https://t.co/9GCYKRMP4K
"Whenever Beckett directed his own plays, he highlighted the tragic and tended to reduce the comic elements."
ICYMI: Mark Nixon looks at Samuel Beckett, one of the greatest—and most unusual—talents of the twentieth century.
https://t.co/9GCYKRMP4K
“You can throw most labels and most critical theories and philosophical theories at Beckett and they will stick in some manner or other.”
The best books on Samuel Beckett, a #readinglist by @UniofReading Beckett expert Mark Nixon https://t.co/9GCYKRMP4K

Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit: A BBC Adaptation Starring Harold Pinter (1964) https://t.co/EnggkfeRCf https://t.co/SYe5HL0yBh

A brief but informative article on Dilip da, as he was known in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. https://t.co/D991hYWtSq

A series of essays by Dr Alok Pandey (TEXT)
"The 2nd December program, where the young and old, children and elders, students and inmates of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and the... https://t.co/YeS6qAVVxO

Daily Life Is Primarily Focused on Fulfillment of Vital and Physical Needs and Desires https://t.co/wBX0oGM4vl

There are at least a thousand books by and on The Mother & Sri Aurobindo, yet a recent compilation is being projected as an earth shaking event. In its earlier avatar, this book was responsible for spreading false impressions about Sri Aurobindo. So, beware of the author's skew !
https://twitter.com/SavitriEraParty/status/1081942565564248065?s=19

The members at Sri Aurobindo Ashram Archives have taken considerable pains to publish Sri Aurobindo's writings as impeccably as possible. A Twitter handle is persistently distorting them by inserting pictures against the author's intention. Needs to be sued. #MyTwitterAnniversary
https://twitter.com/NathTusar/status/1081969025461055488?s=19

A - Hindi
Yehi Hai Woh Sanjh
Jis din se maine tumko
Dil Dhoondta Hai
Man Mera Tujhko Mange
B - Odia
Man manena jete
Eka eka mane mane
Aji e mana chhana chhana
Thik tori pari jhiatie
C - Bengali
Emon Swapno Kakhano
Mone Koro Ami Nei
Bhalobasho Tumi Sunechhi
Hote paro tumi rajanigandha
Je Bhabe Tumi Sokal Dekho
https://twitter.com/NathTusar/status/1081994242615009280?s=19