Twenty-six volumes have been issued thus far; the remaining ones will come out during the next few years

SRI AUROBINDO'S WRITINGS
In 1997, the Sri Aurobindo Ashram began publishing the Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo in a uniform library edition. Twenty-six volumes have been issued thus far; the remaining ones will come out during the next few years. Upon completion, there will be 37 volumes (originally 35 volumes were planned). The Complete Works will contain all the writings published earlier in the 30-volume Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library, as well as about 4000 pages of new texts.
Each published volume can be viewed and downloaded in PDF format. At the end of this list there is a zipped file containing all the PDFs available for download.
As volumes continue to be published, they will be made available here.
All text is copyright Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust and is only for personal use.Unauthorised reproduction or distribution in any form, including material and electronic, is prohibited.
The contents of the volumes are:

Volume 1
PDF last updated: 18 Dec 07Early Cultural WritingsEarly essays and other prose writings on literature, education, art and other cultural subjects.The volume includes The Harmony of Virtue, Bankim Chandra Chat­terji, essays on Kalidasa and the Mahabharata, The National Value of Art, Conversations of the Dead, the "Chandernagore Manuscript", book reviews, "Epistles from Abroad", Bankim – Tilak – Dayananda, and Baroda speeches and reports. Most of these pieces were written between 1890 and 1910, a few between 1910 and 1920. (Much of this material was formerly published under the title The Harmony of Virtue.)
3.70MB
Volume 2
Collected Poems (TO BE PUBLISHED)All short poems and narrative poems in English.This volume consists of sonnets, lyrical poems, narrative poems, and metrical experiments in various forms. All such poems pub­lished by Sri Aurobindo during his lifetime are included here, as well as poems found among his manuscripts after his passing. Sri Aurobindo worked on these poems over the course of seven decades. The first one was published in 1883 when he was ten; a number of poems were written or revised more than sixty years later, in the late 1940s.

Volumes 3-4
PDF last updated: 18 Dec 07Collected Plays and Stories — I–IIAll original dramatic works and works of prose fiction.Volume 1: The Viziers of Bassora, Rodogune, and Perseus the Deliverer. Volume II: Eric and Vasavadutta; seven incomplete or fragmentary plays; and six stories, two of them complete.
2.09MB
Volume 5
PDF last updated: 18 Dec 07TranslationsAll translations from Sanskrit, Bengali, Tamil, Greek and Latin into English, with the exception of translations of Vedic and Upanishadic literature.The volume includes translations from Sanskrit of parts of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata and works of Kalidasa and Bhartri­hari; translations from Bengali of Vaishnava devotional poetry and works of Bankim Chandra Chatterji, Chittaranjan Das and others; translations from Tamil of poems of Andal, Nammalwar, Kulesekhara Alwar and Tiruvalluvar; and translations from Greek and Latin. Sri Aurobindo made most of these translations while living in Baroda and Bengal; some were done later in Pondicherry.
1.68MB
Volumes 6-7
PDF last updated: 18 Dec 07Bande Mataram — I–IIAll surviving political writings and speeches from 1890 to 1908.The two volumes consist primarily of 353 articles originally published in the nationalist newspaper Bande Mataram between August 1906 and May 1908. Also included are political articles written by Sri Aurobindo before the start of Bande Mataram, speeches delivered by him between 1907 and 1908, articles from his manuscripts of that period that were not published in his lifetime, and an interview of 1908.
3.79MB
Volume 8
PDF last updated: 18 Dec 07KarmayoginAll surviving political writings and speeches of 1909 and 1910.This volume consists primarily of articles originally published in the nationalist newspaper Karmayogin between June 1909 and February 1910. It also includes speeches delivered by Sri Auro­bindo between May and October 1909.
1.66MB
Volume 9
Writings in Bengali and Sanskrit (TO BE PUBLISHED)All writings in Bengali and Sanskrit.Most of the writings in Bengali were penned by Sri Aurobindo in 1909 and 1910 for Dharma, a Calcutta weekly he edited at that time; the material consists chiefly of brief political, social and cultural works. His reminiscences of detention in Alipore Jail for one year ("Tales of Prison Life") are also included. There is also some correspondence with Bengali disciples living in his ashram. The Sanskrit works deal largely with philosophical and cultural themes. (This volume will be available both in the original languages and in a separate volume of English transla­tions.)

Volumes 10-11
PDF last updated: 18 Dec 07The Record of Yoga — I–IISri Aurobindo's diary of his yogic practice between 1909 and 1927.This two-volume record of sadhana contains fairly regular entries between 1912 and 1920 and a few entries in 1909, 1911 and 1927. It also contains related materials Sri Aurobindo wrote about his practice of yoga during this period, including descriptions of the seven "chatusthayas" (groups of four elements), which are the basis of the yoga of the Record.
5.33MB
Volume 12
PDF last updated: 18 Dec 07Essays Divine and HumanShort prose pieces written between 1910 and 1950, but not pub­lished during Sri Aurobindo’s lifetime.The material is arranged in four parts: (1) "Essays Divine and Human", complete essays on yoga and related subjects, (2) "From Man to Superman: Notes and Fragments on Philosophy, Psychology and Yoga"; (3) "Notes and Fragments on Various Subjects", and (4) Thoughts and Aphorisms. (Some of this material was formally published under the title The Supramental Manifestation upon Earth and Other Writings.)
1.46MB
Volume 13
PDF last updated: 18 Dec 07Essays in Philosophy and YogaShort works in prose written between 1909 and 1950 and published during Sri Aurobindo's lifetime.Most of these short works are concerned with aspects of spiritual philosopy, yoga, and related subjects. The material includes: (1) essays from the Karmayogin, (2) The Yoga and Its Objects, (3) writings from the Arya, such as On Ideals and Progress, The Superman, Evolution, Thoughts and Glimpses, The Problem of Re­birth, and (4) The Supramental Manifestation upon Earth. (Most of these works were formerly published together under the title The Hour of God and Other Writings.)
1.83MB
Volume 14
Vedic and Philological Studies (TO BE PUBLISHED)Writings on the Veda and philology, and translations of Vedic hymns to gods other than Agni, not published during Sri Aurobin­do's lifetime.The material includes (1) drafts for The Secret of the Veda, (2) translations (simple translations and analytical and discursive ones) of hymns to gods other than Agni, (3) notes on the Veda, (4) essays and notes on philology, and (5) some texts that Sri Aurobindo called "Writings in Different Languages". Most of this material was written between 1912 and 1914 and is published here for the first time in a book.

Volume 15
PDF last updated: 18 Dec 07The Secret of the VedaEssays on the Rig Veda and its mystic symbolism, with transla­tions of selected hymns.These writings on and translations of the Rig Veda were published in the monthly review Arya between 1914 and 1920. Most of them appeared there under three headings: The Secret of the Veda, "Selected Hymns" and "Hymns of the Atris". Other translations that did not appear under any of these headings make up the final part of the volume.
2.23MB
Volume 16
Hymns to the Mystic Fire (TO BE PUBLISHED)All translations of Vedic hymns to Agni; and related writings.The material includes: (1) Hymns to the Mystic Fire (1946): translations of hymns to Agni from the Rig Veda, with a Foreword by Sri Aurobindo; (2) "The Doctrine of the Mystics"; (3) transla­tions of some "Hymns of the Atris"; and (4) translations of other hymns to Agni. Many of the hymns in the final part are being published here for the first time.

Volume 17
PDF last updated: 18 Dec 07Isha UpanishadTranslations of and commentaries on the Isha Upanishad.The volume is divided into two parts: (1) Sri Aurobindo’s final translation and analysis of the Isha Upanishad. This small work contains his definitive interpretation of the Upanishad. It is the only writing in this volume published during his lifetime; (2) ten incomplete commentaries on the Isha. Ranging from a few pages to more than a hundred, these commentaries show the devel­opment of his interpretation of this Upanishad from around 1900 to the middle of 1914, at which time his final translation and analysis was first published.
2.05MB
Volume 18
PDF last updated: 18 Dec 07Kena and Other UpanishadsTranslations of and commentaries on Upanishads other than the Isha Upanishad.The volume is divided into two parts: (1) translations of and commentaries on the Kena, Katha and Mundaka Upanishads and some "Readings in the Taittiriya Upanishad"; (2) early translations of the Prashna, Mandukya, Aitareya and Taittariya Upanishads; incom­plete translations of and commentaries on other Upanishads and Vedantic texts; and incomplete and fragmentary writings on the Upanishads and Vedanta in general. The writings in the first part were published by Sir Aurobindo during his lifetime; those in the second part were transcribed from his manuscripts after his passing.
1.49MB
Volume 19
PDF last updated: 18 Dec 07Essays on the GitaEssays on the spiritual philosophy and method of self-discipline in the Bhagavad Gita.These essays were first published in the monthly review Arya be­tween 1916 and 1920 and revised in the 1920s by Sri Aurobindo for publication as a book.
1.86MB
Volume 20
PDF last updated: 18 Dec 07The Renaissance in India with A Defence of Indian CultureEssays on the value of Indian civilisation and culture.This volume consists of three series of essays and one single essay: (1) "The Renaissance in India", (2) "Indian Culture and External Influence", (3) "Is India Civilised?" and (4) "Defence of Indian Culture". They were first published in the monthly review Arya between 1918 and 1921. In 1953, they first appeared in a book under the title The Foundations of Indian Culture.
10.00MB
Volumes 21-22
PDF last updated: 18 Dec 07The Life Divine — I–IISri Aurobindo's principle philosophical work.In this work, Sri Aurobindo presents a theory of spiritual evolu­tion and suggests that the present crisis of humanity is leading towards the transformation of the human being and the advent of a divine life upon earth. The material first appeared as a series of essays published in the monthly review Arya between 1914 and 1919. They were revised by Sri Aurobindo in 1939 and 1940 for publication as a book.
3.75MB
Volumes 23-34
PDF last updated: 18 Dec 07The Synthesis of Yoga — I–IISri Aurobindo's principle work on yoga.In this work Sri Aurobindo examines the traditional systems of yoga and provides an explanation of certain components of his own system of integral yoga. There is an Introduction, "The Condi­tions of the Synthesis", and four parts: "The Yoga of Divine Works", "The Yoga of Integral Knowledge", "The Yoga of Divine Love" and "The Yoga of Self-Perfection". The material was first published serially in the monthly review Arya between 1914 and 1921; the introduction and first two parts were later revised by Sri Aurobindo for publication.
2.70MB
Volume 25
PDF last updated: 18 Dec 07The Human Cycle — The Ideal of Human Unity — War and Self-DeterminationThree works of social and political philosophy.In The Human Cycle, Sri Aurobindo traces the evolution of human society and suggests where it is headed. In The Ideal of Human Unity, he examines the possibility of the unification of the human race. In War and Self-Determination, he discusses the sovereignty of nations in the aftermath of the First World War. These works were first serialised in the monthly review Arya between 1915 and 1920; later Sri Aurobindo revised them for publication.
2.16MB
Volume 26
PDF last updated: 18 Dec 07The Future Poetry with On Quantitative MetreSri Aurobindo's principle work on poetry in English.In this work, Sri Aurobindo outlines the history of English poetry and explores the possibility of a spiritual poetry in the future. It was first published in a series of essays between 1917 and 1920; parts were later revised for publication as a book.
1.46MB
Volume 27
PDF last updated: 18 Dec 07Letters on Poetry and ArtLetters on poetry and other forms of literature, on painting and the other arts, on beauty and aesthetics, and on the relation of all these to the practice of yoga.Most of these letters were written by Sri Aurobindo in the 1930 and 1940s to members of his ashram. Only around one sixth of them were published in his lifetime; the rest were transcribed from his manuscripts after his passing. Many letters are being pub­lished for the first time in this volume.
2.44MB
Volumes 28-31
Letters on Yoga — I–IV (TO BE PUBLISHED)Four volumes of letters on the integral yoga, other spiritual paths, the problems of spiritual life, and related subjects.In these letters, Sri Aurobindo explains the foundations of his integral yoga, its fundamentals, its characteristic experiences and realisations, and its method of practice. He also discusses other spiritual paths and the difficulties of spiritual life. Related subjects include the place of human relationships in yoga; sadhana through meditation, work and devotion; reason, science, religion, morality, idealism and yoga; questions of spirituasl and occult knowledge; occult forces, beings and pow­ers; destiny, karma, rebirth and survival. Sri Aurobindo wrote most of these letters in the 1930s to disciples living in his ashram. About one-fifth of them are being published for the first time in these volumes.

Volume 32
The Mother with Letters on the Mother (TO BE PUBLISHED)This volume opens with Sri Aurobindo's small book The Mother, in which he describes the nature, character and role of the Divine Mother. The rest of the volume consists principally of letters on the Mother — on the Divine Mother and Sri Aurobindo's collabora­tor, the Mother, who was the head of his ashram. He wrote most of these letters in the 1930s to disciples living in the ashram.

Volumes 33-34
PDF last updated: 18 Dec 07Savitri — A Legend and a SymbolSri Aurobindo's major poetic work, an epic in blank verse.In Savitri, a legend from the Mahabharata becomes the symbol of the human soul's spiritual destiny. In poetic language, Sri Auro­bindo describes his vision of existence and explores the reason for ignorance, darkness, suffering and pain, the purpose of life on earth and the prospect of a glorious future for humanity. The writing of the epic extended over much of the later part of his life.
1.66MB
Volume 35
Letters on Himself and the Ashram (TO BE PUBLISHED)Sri Aurobindo's letters between 1927 and 1950 on his life, his path of yoga and the practice of yoga in his ashram.In these letters, Sri Aurobindo writes about his life as a stu­dent in England, a teacher in Baroda, a political leader in Ben­gal, and a writer and yogi in Pondicherry. He also comments on his formative spiritual experiences and the development of his yoga. In the latter part of the volume, he discusses the life and discipline followed in his ashram and offers advise to the disci­ples living and working in it. Sri Aurobindo wrote these letters between 1927 and 1950 — most of them in the 1930s.

Volume 36
PDF last updated: 18 Dec 07Autobiographical Notes and Other Writings of Historical InterestSri Aurobindo's writings on himself (excluding the letters in volume 35: Letters on Himself and the Ashram) and other material of historical importance.The volume is divided into four parts: (1) brief life sketches, autobiographical notes, and corrections of statements made by others in biographies and other publications; (2) letters of historical interest to family, friends, political and profession­al associates, public figures, etc; also letters on yoga and spiritual life to disciples and others; (3) public statements and other communications on Indian and world events; (4) public statements and notices concerning Sri Aurobindo's ashram and yoga. Much of the material is being published here in a book for the first time.
2.34MB
Volume 37
Reference Volume (TO BE PUBLISHED)Index, glossary, editorial notes, supplementary texts.This volume will include a complete index to the Complete Works, a glossary of Sanskrit and other Indian terms, a chronology of Sri Aurobindo's life, a bibliography of his works, a note on editorial method, a list of emendations and errata, and supple­mentary texts not included in the main works.

Glossary to the Record of Yoga (TO BE PUBLISHED) A glossary to and structural outline of the Record of Yoga (volumes 10 and 11). This unnumbered volume — a reference work to the Record of Yoga — will contain an alphabetical index of Sanskrit words and a structural outline of the seven-limbed yoga that was being prac­tised by Sri Aurobindo at the time. (A temporary glossary is available on this website under the heading "Research".)

All PDFs Collected PDFsZipped file of all the above PDFs. 50.00MB ashram visitors darshan selected works research music publications image gallery © 1999 - 2007 Copyright Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust. All rights reserved.

Sri Aurobindo's horizontal and vertical stage models of human consciousness

Aurobindo's Model of Consciousness: A Comparative Graphic View
Posted by Eric W Thompson at 12/30/2007 5:10 AM and is filed under levels of consciousness, Spiral Dynamics, science of consciousness, developmental psychology, Vedanta, Aurobindo, Plotinus

Below is a graphic presentation based on Aurobindo's horizontal and vertical stage models of human consciousness, as compared with those espoused by Jean Piaget, Spiral Dynamics. Plotinus, and Vedanta (the koshas). The only parts of Aurobindo's vertical system not represented in this graphic are the Subconscient and the Inconscient. I also took the liberty of adding the higher cognitive levels of Commons and Richards to Piaget's cognitive stage model. For a clearer, more detailed view, press Cntrl and + to enlarge the screen.

What is this "Psychic Being"?

V. Narayanan

What is this "Psychic Being"? This is the question we have to tackle now. In this world, there are certain entities who can never be destroyed; neither do they 'die' nor are they 'created'! So, where are they existing? The answer lies in another question > "Have you ever experienced the 'infinity of Space' & 'the eternity of Time'?" . The human mind, the buddhi, can intellectually accept the concept of infinity&eternity. But it has no real time experience of it. Right? Well, the Psychic Beings are existing in that dimension, but right inside us, the humans. If you want to experience infinity&eternity, then you should bring forward the Psychic Being which should become your 'central being' in place of the 'mental ego'. The mental being is only a coordinator of your activities in mental nature. But the Psychic Being is the Boss, it possesses the 'whole of you'.

In fact, you are the Psychic Being. You have to evolve from the status of a mental being to the status of a psychic being! (If you can make any animal understand, tell them "You are a mental being and you can evolve from the status of a sense being to the status of a mental being(buddhi). The buddhi is involved in your 'manas'. Bring it forward and manifest it and become a human being")

We know that space is infinite but we are unable to experience it. Is there an 'infinite space' and a 'finite space'? Is there an 'eternal time' and a 'temporal time'? The answer is YES. In the experience of the temporal time, there is a past, present & future. But in the experience of the eternal time, there is only the 'moment'. The buddhi can tackle the experience of the temporal time, while the 'intuition' can tackle the experience of the eternal time. We may say that 'truths' are lined up in eternity and 'intuitions' bring it forward into temporal time and manifest it through 'buddhi'. Using computer terminology, we may say that all 'truths' are stored in a hard disk in eternity in a 'Server'. Intuition is the 'system software' which access these truths and bring it into the 'user software buddhi'. The human brain is the hardware of the front end terminal in material time where it gets converted to real time usage. This is what has happened in Einstein's brain when he declared his famous formula! These types of 'truth manifestations', we usually call 'genius'. But genius can be a full time faculty. It will be so for the superman... Posted by Narayanan at 3:13 AM

Global idiom that challenges Western ideas of cosmopolitanism

Guru English: South Asian Religion in a Cosmopolitan Language (Penguin, Rs 395) by Srinivas Aravamudan analyses the language of religious discourse in south Asia in the 19th and 20th centuries. Aravamudan shows how the transmission and transformation of Eastern religious discourses through the English language have generated a global idiom that challenges Western ideas of cosmopolitanism and produces a unique cosmopolitan discourse. The author studies the religious overtones of Romanticism, nationalism, postmodernism and so on and connects Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo, Mahatma Gandhi and Deepak Chopra with Kipling, Joyce, Oppenheimer and Rushdie. telegraphindia.com Friday , January 4 , 2008 Front Page > Opinion > Paperback Pickings

Where light does not depend for its existence on the shadow

The Origin and Remedy of Falsehood, Error, Wrong and Evil
by RY Deshpande on Mon 31 Dec 2007 06:16 AM PST Permanent Link

When Knowledge is veiled by Ignorance the appearance of Falsehood-Error-Wrong-Evil is inevitable. But can Knowledge get veiled by Ignorance? If so, it might not be Knowledge at all. Ignorance may have the power to lend enchantment to what is false, but whence this power? The Gita says that when intelligence has attained to Unity, there is no more sin and virtue, no more is there the troubling duality. “These are they,” says the Vedic Rishi, “who are conscious of the much falsehood in the world; they grow in the house of Truth, they are the strong and invincible sons of Infinity.” Here is the clue also,—by being conscious of Falsehood one grows in the Truth. The amazement is, falsehood can enter by taking cosmic truth either from above or from below.

Such is the scriptural basis in The Life Divine for a spirituo-metaphysical discussion of the origin of Falsehood-Error-Wrong-Evil...

In The Life Divine this is expounded in great detail in a chapter dealing with the origin of Falsehood, Error, Wrong, and Evil. (pp. 596-632) We present here a quick summary of the same.

The first question that always troubles is: Is in some manner the supreme Reality itself the originator of the contrary phenomena of evil and good, pain and happiness, sin and virtue, falsehood and truth? But it is maintained that they have no direct root in the supreme Reality, that they are creations only of the Ignorance and Inconscience, appearing somewhere in the sequence, that they are not fundamental or primary aspects of the Being, not native to the Transcendence or to the infinite power of the Cosmic Spirit. Like Truth there is no absolute of Falsehood. Naturally when Ignorance is gone, with it also goes away Falsehood.

If good, happiness, virtue, truth exist by the true consciousness, the opposite set of evil, pain, sin, falsehood survives only by wrong consciousness. Human values about them are uncertain and relative... This relativity is a circumstance of human mentality and the workings of the Cosmic Force in human life... Therefore the relation of truth to falsehood, of good to evil is in the nature of a contradiction as of light and shadow; a shadow depends on light for its existence, where light does not depend for its existence on the shadow.

In the process of manifestation of truth and good there is a possibility of the appearance of evil and falsehood. In fact if it is there then, in a way, it is inevitable also it materialises. When these opposites appear in the cosmic manifestation they take rank as implied absolutes. As soon as separateness enters in, so do these; but even this simultaneity is not inevitable.

But then where do these exist? do they exist originally in the mental and vital planes and are native to mind and life, or are they proper only to the material manifestation? It may be questioned too whether they are original and inevitable there, that they simply arose as an enabling supraphysical affirmation in the universal Mind and Life.

When one goes beyond the material plane, these things are found to exist there also, in worlds beyond us. There are powers and forms of vital mind and life that seem to be the prephysical foundation of the discordant, defective or perverse forms and powers of life-mind and life-force. There are forces that are attached to ignorance, to darkness of consciousness, to misuse of force, to perversity of delight. These powers, beings or forces are active to impose their adverse constructions upon terrestrial creatures. There are Powers of Ignorance and tenebrous Forces of the Darkness whose work is to prolong the reign of Ignorance and Inconscience.

Being vast, these Forces in their action seem often to surpass the measures of human relativity. They may create their formations in man, they may seize and drive him, they may influence his impulses or his acts or possess his whole nature. If that possession happens, he may himself be pushed to an excess of the normal humanity of good or evil. In the extreme situation if pain becomes immeasurable, it ends itself or ends that in which it manifests, or collapses into insensibility or, in rare circumstances, it may turn into an ecstasy of Ananda. If evil became sole and immeasurable, it would destroy the world or destroy that which bore and supported it; it would bring things and itself back by disintegration into non-existence.

The adverse opposites are not, then, primal powers of the cosmos, but creations of Life or of Mind in life. Their supraphysical aspects and influences on earth-nature can be explained by the co-existence of worlds of a descending involution with parallel worlds of an ascending evolution, not precisely created by earth-existence, but created as an annexe to the descending world-order and a prepared support for the evolutionary terrestrial formations; here evil may appear, not as inherent in all life, but as a possibility and a pre-formation that makes inevitable its formation in the evolutionary emergence of consciousness out of the Inconscient. ...It is as an outcome of the Inconscience that we can best watch and understand the origin of falsehood, error, wrong and evil; it is in the return of Inconscience towards Consciousness that they can be seen taking their formation and it is there that they seem to be even inevitable.

The first emergence from the Inconscient is Matter, and in Matter falsehood and evil cannot exist, because both are created by a divided and ignorant surface consciousness and its reactions. There is no such active surface organisation of consciousness, ...there is no psychological organisation, no system of conscious actions or reactions. It is only by contact with conscious beings that material objects exercise powers or influences which can be called good or evil; but that good or evil is determined by the contacted being's sense of help or harm, of benefit or injury from them... The world of pure Matter is neutral, irresponsible... The duality of good and evil is not native to the material principle, it is absent from the world of Matter.

The duality begins with conscious life and emerges fully with the development of mind in life; the vital mind, the mind of desire and sensation, is the creator of the sense of evil and of the fact of evil. In animal life the fact of evil is there, but the sense of moral evil is absent; in it there is no duality of sin or virtue, all action is neutral and permissible for the preservation of life and its maintenance and for the satisfaction of the life-instincts. The sensational values of good and evil are inherent in the form of vital satisfaction and vital frustration, but the mental idea, the moral response of the mind to these values are a creation of the human being. There is an infrarational truth of Life and Matter which is impartial and neutral and admits all things as facts of Nature and serviceable for the creation, preservation or destruction of life. There is too a truth of the detached reason which can look on all that is thus admitted by Nature as serviceable to her processes in life and matter. There is too a suprarational truth formulating itself in spiritual experience which can observe the play of universal possibility, accept all impartially as the true and natural features and consequences of a world of ignorance and inconscience. But there is also this other middle truth of consciousness which awakens us to the values of good and evil and the appreciation of their necessity and importance; this awakening is one of the indispensable steps in the process of evolutionary Nature.

But then from what does this awakening proceed? If we regard only the process, we may agree that it is the vital mind that makes the distinction. Its first valuation is sensational and individual,—all that is pleasant, helpful, beneficial to the life-ego is good, all that is unpleasant, malefic, injurious or destructive is evil. Its next valuation is utilitarian and social: all that is considered helpful to the associated life, all that it demands from the individual in order to remain in association and to regulate association for the best maintenance, satisfaction, development, good order of the associated life and its units, is good; all that has in the view of the society a contrary effect or tendency is evil. But thinking mind then comes in with its own valuation and strives to find out an intellectual basis, an idea of law or principle. Religion brings in her sanctions; there is a word or law of God that enjoins righteousness even though Nature permits or stimulates its opposite. There is also a feeling that there is something deeper, that there is a deeper abiding truth and something within us that can have the intuition of that truth.

But what is the value of the sense of good and evil? For much more than the mind or life which can turn either to good or to evil, it is the soul-personality, the psychic being, which insists on the distinction. It is the soul in us which turns always towards Truth, Good and Beauty, because it is by these things that it itself grows in stature. The soul's perception of good and evil may not coincide with the mind's, but it has a deeper sense, a sure discrimination of what points to the higher Light and what points away from it.

If, then, evil and falsehood are natural products of the Inconscience, automatic results of the evolution of life and mind from it in the processus of the Ignorance, we have to see how they arise, on what they depend for their existence and what is the remedy or escape. In the surface emergence of mental and vital consciousness from the Inconscience is to be found the process by which these phenomena come into being.

In its first appearance consciousness has the semblance of a miracle, a power alien to Matter that manifests unaccountably in a world of inconscient Nature and grows slowly and with difficulty. Not a miracle but the fact is, evolution can be accounted for only because there is already a concealed consciousness in things with its inherent and native powers emerging little by little.

This concealed consciousness, the secret Conscious-Force sends up to the surface the minimum of intuition necessary for it to maintain its existence and go through the operations indispensable to life and survival. This intuition can be unerring; the instinct is automatically correct as a rule, but also it can err. Here it is just the secret consciousness rendered into surface sensation and perception, the secret force into surface impulse. But here it can be fallible.

When the underlying subliminal consciousness comes to the surface, there can be a direct meeting between the consciousness of the subject and the contents of the object and the result would be a direct knowledge; but presently this is not possible because of the veto or obstruction of the Inconscience. The secret consciousness-force has therefore to limit itself to imperfect renderings. Slowly mind starts its task of disengaging itself; it still works for the life-instinct, life-need and life-desire. However, its own special characters emerge, observation, invention, device, intention, execution of purpose, while sensation and impulse add to themselves emotion and bring a subtler and finer affective urge and value into the crude vital reaction.

When human intelligence adds itself to the animal basis this basis still remains active, but it is largely changed, subtilised and uplifted by conscious will and intention. Even when there is still a strong vital intuition, its vital character is concealed by mentalisation. In mental man when the intuition rises towards the surface, it is caught at once before it reaches and is translated into terms of mind-intelligence; a gloss or mental interpretation is added which conceals the origin of the knowledge. The emergence of mind in life brings an immense increase of the range and capacity of the evolving consciousness-force; but it also brings an immense increase in the range and capacity of error. The desirable gain is accompanied by the loss.

If in the evolution the surface consciousness were always open to the action of intuition, the intervention of error would not be possible. For intuition is an edge of light thrust out by the secret Supermind, and an emergent Truth-Consciousness, however limited, yet sure in its action, would be the consequence. Intelligence would be subservient to intuition and would be its accurate mental expression; its brilliancy would perhaps be modulated to suit a diminished action serving as a minor, not, as it is now, a major function and movement, but it would not be erratic by deviation. But this could not be, because of the hold of Inconscience on Matter.

There are, in practical fact, two poles of the conscious being between which the evolutionary process works, one a surface nescience which has to change gradually into knowledge, the other a secret Consciousness-Force in which all power of knowledge is and which has slowly to manifest in the nescience. The surface nescience full of incomprehension and inapprehension can change into knowledge because consciousness is there involved in it, but still it works as an inconscience trying to be conscious. All that is unknown is met on the basis of what is known; but as this knowledge is imperfect, as it receives imperfectly and responds imperfectly to the contacts of things, there can be a misprision of the new contact as well as a misprision or deformation of the intuitive response, a double source of error.

It is in these conditions that Error is a necessary accompaniment, almost a necessary condition and instrumentation, an indispensable step or stage in the slow evolution towards knowledge in a consciousness that begins from nescience and works in the stuff of a general nescience. The evolving consciousness has to acquire knowledge by an indirect means which does not give even a fragmentary certitude.

Intuition itself is limited in the human mind by mental misprision of its intimations and is unable to act in its own right; whether it be physical, vital or mental intuition, it has to present itself in order to be received, not nude and pure, but garbed with a mental coating or entirely enveloped in an ample mental vesture; so disguised, its true nature cannot be recognised and its relation to mind and its office are not understood.

Error by itself does not amount to falsehood; it would only be an imperfection of truth, a trying, an essay of possibilities. In spite of the mixture, intelligence and reason could arrive through this mixed truth to a clearer and truer figure of self-knowledge and world-knowledge. The obstruction of inconscience would diminish and an increasing mental consciousness would reach a clarity which would enable the concealed powers of direct knowledge and intuitive process to emerge.

As mind develops, there develops also a mental individuality with a personal drive of mind-tendency, a mental temperament, a mind-formation of its own. This surface mental individuality is egocentric; it looks at the world and things and happenings from its own standpoint and sees them not as they are but as they affect itself. Here we have an almost inexhaustible source of distortion of truth, a cause of falsification, an unconscious or half-conscious will to error, an acceptance of ideas or facts not by a clear perception of the true and the false, but by preference, personal suitability, temperamental choice, prejudgment. Here is a fruitful seed-plot for the growth of falsehood or a gate or many gates through which it can enter by stealth or by an usurping but acceptable violence.

In all that is developed by the life-force there is developed at the same time a secret delight somewhere in the being, a delight in good and a delight in evil, a delight in truth and a delight in falsehood, a delight in life and an attraction to death, a delight in pleasure and a delight in pain, in one's own suffering and the suffering of others, but also in one's own joy and happiness and good and the joy and happiness and good of others. The vital being and its life-force and their drive towards self-affirmation are, in the absence of an overt action of soul-power and spiritual power Nature's chief means of effectuation, and without its support neither mind nor body can utilise their possibilities or realise their aim here in existence.

Here therefore exists the origin of error, falsehood, wrong and evil in the consciousness and will of the individual; a limited consciousness growing out of nescience is the source of error, a personal attachment to the limitation and the error born of it the source of falsity, a wrong consciousness governed by the life-ego the source of evil. But it is evident that their relative existence is only a phenomenon thrown up by the cosmic Force in its drive towards evolutionary self-expression, and it is there that we have to look for the significance of the phenomenon. Emergence of the life-ego is a machinery of cosmic Nature for the affirmation of the individual, for his self-disengagement from the indeterminate mass substance of the subconscient, for the appearance of a conscious being on a ground prepared by the Inconscience; the principle of life-affirmation of the ego is the necessary consequence. But because it does these things as a separate ego for its separate advantage life-discord, conflict, disharmony arise, and it is the products of this life-discord and disharmony that we call wrong and evil. Nature accepts them because they are necessary circumstances of the evolution, necessary for the growth of the divided being; they are products of ignorance, supported by an ignorant consciousness that founds itself on division, by an ignorant will that works through division, by an ignorant delight of existence that takes the joy of division.

The true call upon us is the call of the Infinite and the Supreme; the self-affirmation and self-abnegation imposed on us by Nature are both movements towards that, and it is the right way of self-affirmation and self-negation taken together in place of the wrong. If we do not discover that, either the push of life will be too strong for our narrow ideal of perfection, or at best a half result will be all that we shall obtain, or else the push away from life will present itself as the only remedy, the one way out of the otherwise invincible grasp of the Ignorance.

There can be no artificial escape from this problem which has always troubled humanity and from which it has found no satisfying issue. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil with its sweet and bitter fruits is secretly rooted in the very nature of the Inconscience from which our being has emerged and on which it still stands as a nether soil and basis of our physical existence; it has grown visibly on the surface in the manifold branchings of the Ignorance which is still the main bulk and condition of our consciousness in its difficult evolution towards a supreme consciousness and an integral awareness. As long as there is this soil and this nourishing air and climate of Ignorance, the tree will grow and flourish and put forth its dual blossoms and its fruit of mixed nature. It would follow that there can be no final solution until we have turned our inconscience into the greater consciousness, made the truth of self and spirit our life-basis and transformed our ignorance into a higher knowledge.

But since the root of the difficulty is a split, limited and separative existence, this change must consist in an integration, a healing of the divided consciousness of our being, and since that division is complex and many-sided, no partial change on one side of the being can be passed off as a sufficient substitute for the integral transformation. To affirm our being rightly so that it may become one with all is the true principle, not to mutilate or immolate it. Sacrifice and self-giving are indeed a true principle and a spiritual necessity, sacrifice and self-giving done with a right consciousness and will founded on a true knowledge.

The true solution can intervene only when by our spiritual growth we can become one self with all beings, know them as part of our self, deal with them as if they were our other selves; for then the division is healed, the law of separate self-affirmation leading by itself to affirmation against or at the expense of others is enlarged and liberated by adding to it the law of our self-affirmation for others and our self-finding in their self-finding and self-realisation. Our oneness with others must be fundamental, not a oneness with their minds, hearts, vital selves, egos,—even though these come to be included in our universalised consciousness,—but a oneness in the soul and spirit, and that can only come by our liberation into soul-awareness and self-knowledge.

The innermost being is more causally efficacious than the unconscious

Causal Efficacy: Mind Over Matter Posted on Dec 28th, 2007 by Eric

The level of Mind alone is just not enough to do the job. The levels of Soul and Spirit, however, are capable of acting as powerful attractor fields that overcome the problems and illusions of the lower levels, and they do this by virtue of being the Reality of what is, to which there is no actual opposite.

Sri Aurobindo, who witnessed the beginnings of psychoanalysis (and was, in fact, a contemporary of Freud's), advised his students to first become intimate with the innermost being (i.e., Soul) before attempting to tackle the unconscious impulses. In his view, the innermost being was more causally efficacious than the unconscious, and was thus needed to be contacted in order to prevent the mind from being overwhelmed by the unconscious. All Rights Reserved, Copyright 2007 Eric Thompson Access: Public Add Comment Print Send views (6) Tagged with: great chain of being, integral theory, psychology, evolution, biology, physics, scientific dogma, Aurobindo, the unconscious, science of consciousness, attention, neuroscience, holarchy, cognitive behavior therapy

It took Sri Aurobindo, Dayanand Saraswati and others to bring back some dignity to the Vedas

Does Anyone Know ? Rohini Gupta Epic India Dec 21, 18:30

My own encounter with the Vedas began with a book, by Sri Aurobindo, called the Secret of the Vedas. Until then I had read many important texts but not the Vedas. Like most modern Indians I paid polite lip service to them. They are the fount from which everything comes, so we revere them in theory but ignore them in practise. I picked up Aurobindo’s book out of sheer curiosity.
Most of the translations of the Vedas came from the Indologists, who tended to be too literal in their confusion. They were academics, or they were missionaries, who could not relate to the poetry at all. The Vedas were like nothing in their experience before. They dismissed the verses as babblings of a primitive mind, created by simple tribals who did little but pray to powers of nature for cows, wealth and children.
It took Sri Aurobindo, Dayanand Saraswati and others to bring back some dignity to the Vedas. Aurobindo was himself a sage and a poet, which gave him an edge in understanding such sublime poetry. He pointed out that the verses were not literal, the flexibility of Sanskrit admitted many meanings and poetic metaphors abounded.
The translators might translate a hymn as ‘may we have many cows,’ making it seems that the sole interest was to get rich. But the word for cow, ‘go’, also means light, so the real meaning might be ‘may we be filled with light,’ giving a whole different complexion to the hymn. The primitive babblings and ritualistic nonsense suddenly morph into sublime poetry.

The Rig Veda is the oldest book and the most important. The date of its composition varies wildly, from ten thousand years ago to six thousand. The ancient sages prescribed such a strict metric system for the verses, that so many centuries later, we still have every syllable intact, unchanged just as they gave it. Brahmins over the ages have chanted it with mnemonic precision and perfection. Other, much younger texts have been garbled with time, but not one syllable of the Vedas.
Many of the meanings, however, are lost. The dictionaries, the lexicons, the compilations of words came centuries later, and some of the ancient shades of meaning have slipped like smoke into the centuries.
The Vedas are poetry and all poetry is abnormally condensed. Some Vedic verses were written as riddles, or enigmas, and forgotten over the passage of thousands of years. When the key word meanings were lost the Veda ended up as ritual. Many think it is meaningless, Indologists and others think it is rubbish, and a few, like Aurobindo, think it is poetry at a height never reached before or after.

I do not think academics can ever understand the Vedas. Their approach is too erudite, too critical. You cannot approach the Vedas with a grammar book in hand, and all the tools of dissection handy. You need to go to them as a child, open eyed in delight watching a sunrise, or a poet awed, numbed, by beauty too great for words. You go into the verses to lose yourself and be carried to a world far beyond any you could reach on your own. Drop your preconceptions and bathe in the experience.
It has been at least six thousand years since the Rig Veda and we still have no other text that can light a candle to it. The sages of the Veda spoke from a depth no one else has plunged. They spoke from the heart in a way poets struggle to emulate all their lives. The Vedas were considered ‘shruti’ which means heard, revealed, inspired, like a lightning bolt from heaven. Poetry from realms almost beyond all understanding.

Deep questions about how our world works and who we are

THIRD CULTURE HOLIDAY READING from Science, Culture and Integral Yoga™ by ronjon

This is the season for year-end lists of books in which the mainstream review media steer literate culture away from deep questions about how our world works and who we are and toward celebrations of narcissism, celebrity gossip, and literary cliques. What I wrote in 1991 in "The Emerging Third Culture", still pertains today:

A 1950s education in Freud, Marx, and modernism is not a sufficient qualification for a thinking person in the 1990s. Indeed, the traditional American intellectuals are, in a sense, increasingly reactionary, and quite often proudly (and perversely) ignorant of many of the truly significant intellectual accomplishments of our time. Their culture, which dismisses science, is often nonempirical. It uses its own jargon and washes its own laundry. It is chiefly characterized by comment on comments, the swelling spiral of commentary eventually reaching the point where the real world gets lost.

Given the well-documented challenges and issues we are facing as a nation, as a culture, how can it be that there are no science books (and hardly any books on ideas) on the New York Times 100 Notable Books of the Year list; no science category in the Economist Books of the Year 2007; only Oliver Sacks in the New Yorker's list of Books From Our Pages? ...

***

Sorry! from Marginal Revolution by Tyler Cowen

By the way I regard Obama as the most intellectual candidate; having been a law professor is part of that. Of course that needn't make him the best candidate; Woodrow Wilson was an intellectual but a disaster as President. There is no doubt that Ron Paul is very widely read and is an admirable defender of individual liberty. I've also met him and I believe his IQ is high. But if you think that he is intellectual, ask yourself what standards of evidence and procedural rationality he applied when he wrote this. Sorry people, but I have to call 'em as I see 'em. As I said in my previous post, I'm still happy with the idea of protest votes for Paul.

And by the way, as long as I'm courting controversy, here's a study on how much early environment shapes the brain and IQ.

A century back at Surat

1907
January 28 -February 12
Write "Prince of Edur" (a play). Live at Calcutta with his wife. sister and two party men at 48 Gray Street /now Sri Aurobindo Sarani/.

May
Deportation of two main agitators of the party. Inhibition of the meetings for four days.

June 02
First issue of Bande Mataram.

June 05
Warning of editor Bande Mataram from the Government.

June 14
Trip to Khulna for a foundation of National School.

June 30 -October 13
Publications of Persens the Deliverer at Bande Mataram.

July 30
Perquisition at Bande Mataram office

August 02
Forsake his post of rector of the National College.

August 15
A warrant on Sri Aurobindo as a redactor of Bande Mataram.
Sri Aurobindo
August 23
A Speech for students of Bengal National College.
Sri Aurobindo
September 23
Sri Aurobindo was held not guilty on case against Bande Mataram. Sri Aurobindo acquired distinction.
Sri Aurobindo
October
Lived at house at Chukoo Khunsanse's Lane.

October 24
Trip to Deoghar.

December 07-09
Bengal Regional Conference at Midnapore. Sri Aurobindo addressed to a meeting as leader of Nationalists. It is a peak of discordance wit Moderates. Extremists left this conference and at 8 December hold the meeting chaired by Sri Aurobindo. It was the first time when they got together as a separate party.

December 14
The first public speech at Beadon Square, Calcutta.

December 21
The trip to Surat (most moderate city) for a session of Indian National Congress through Khipagpore (fires, crowds, speeches). Trip without pomp - there were few who knew him by sight.

December 22
Meeting at Nagpore.

December24-25
Surat. 2 meetings chaired by Sri Aurobindo.
Sri Aurobindo
Leaders of Natianalists
December 26
The first day of Session.
At Surat
December 27
Incident (by instructions of Sri Aurobindo who tried not allow Moderates' success) and wrecking of the Session.

December 28
Moderates signed up Convention. Sri Aurobindo direct not join to it. Meeting of Nationalists. Beginning of tightened repressions against them.

December 31
From Surat to Baroda.

SITE OF SRI AUROBINDO & THE MOTHER AUROBINDO.RU Home Page Biographical materials Some dates of Sri Aurobindo's life

Our biases stem strongly from our nationality, our language, and our cultural background

A simple theory of liberal arts education from Marginal Revolution by Tyler Cowen

At the margin, that is.
Information in the modern world is virtually free, and well-defined tasks can be outsourced very cheaply, if need be. Don't specialize in those.
Bias is everywhere, and overcoming bias yields great gains. Empirically, our biases stem strongly from our nationality, our language, and our cultural background. (It is, by the way, remarkable how much libertarianism is an Anglo-American phenomenon.)
To overcome those biases we should travel, spend some time living in other countries, and learn other languages. In other words, the more knowledge is held in the minds of other people, the more competent we wish to be in assessing who is right and who is wrong, and that requires exposure to lots of different points of view.
Judgment, judgment, judgment. That's the scarce asset which most people underinvest in, and which yields especially high returns. It can't be outsourced very well either.
Marketing is becoming all-important as well. That also requires judgment and the ability to see things from other people's points of view. Again, live abroad and learn other languages.
At the very least, date foreign women (or men).
It is in contrast a common presumption that learning other languages, for English speakers, is becoming obsolete, if only because so many other people speak English. I would think this raises rather than lowers the return to learning other languages. Last fall, while visiting at Middlebury economics, I voiced these opinions and encountered little agreement.

Dress rehearsal at Midnapore in December 1907

In the meantime, as if it was meant to be a dress rehearsal of the coming Congress session, the Nationalists and Moderates of Bengal clashed at Midnapore where the District Conference was held from 7 to 9 December 1907. The imprisonment of some of his principal co-workers in Bengal, the exile or disappearance underground of some others, and the publicity that the Bande Mataram case had given to his work, all compelled him [Sri Aurobindo] openly to lead the Nationalists at Midnapore.

Surendranath, who led the moderates, was unable to persuade Sri Aurobindo to agree to a resiling towards the moderate position. In the open session, there was a “vehement clash” between the two parties, and the Moderate leaders called in the police to restore order. After the clash, the Nationalists held a separate conference with Sri Aurobindo as President, and thereby gave a lead to Bengal and a warning to the stage-managers of the Surat Congress. The Lokamanya was overjoyed and asked Sri Aurobindo to bring as many Nationalist delegates as possible to Surat so that their cause might not suffer by poor representation.

From "Sri Aurobindo - a biography and a history" by K.R.Srinivasa Iyengar
Published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram – Puducherry SABDA

Sri Aurobindo's critique on Kapila and the Sankhya philosophy — the law of enumeration and generalisation — is thought provoking

Kuldip Dhiman's Philosophy and Psychology Blog
This blog is about philosophy, psychology, arts, and literature
Sunday, December 9, 2007

Revolutionary-Turned-Yogi by Kuldip Dhiman

The Penguin Sri Aurobindo Reader edited by Makarand Paranjape.

Penguin Books, New Delhi. Pages 373. Rs 295.

Had Sri Aurobindo boarded the ill-fated steamer that sank on its way to India from England in 1893, Dr Krishna Dhan Ghose would have lost his dear son, and India a great revolutionary, poet, philosopher, yogi and saint. It is rather ironical that the opposite happened. Dr Krishna Dhan Ghose could not take the news of the supposed death of his son, and before he could be told that Sri Aurobindo was not on the steamer, he died of a heart attack. He was denied the pleasure of seeing his son flower into one of the great thinkers of modern India.

Most of us remember Sri Aurobindo from his latter photographs that portray him as a fragile, harmless, saintly figure. Many will be surprised to learn that the man who devoted most of his life to Vedanta in his Pondicherry ashram, was once a firebrand revolutionary intent on winning freedom for his motherland. "The Penguin Aurobindo Reader", a collection of original essays, reflections and poems written over a period of five decades or so, offers the reader an opportunity to get an insight into the multifaceted personality of Sri Aurobindo.

Although the introduction by the editor, Makarand Paranjape, draws a vivid picture of the life and works of Sri Aurobindo quite well, it is the writings of the great man himself that bring out the real Aurobindo for us in flesh and blood. When the Congress Moderates were trying to negotiate some sort of autonomy from the British, Sri Aurobindo believed in purna swaraj — total freedom and nothing less than that — because

"to be content with the relations of master and dependant or superior and subordinate, would be a mean and pitiful aspiration unworthy of manhood; to strive for anything less than strong and glorious freedom would be to insult the greatness of our past and the magnificent possibilities of our future".

And Sri Aurobindo did not disapprove of armed struggle if the situation demanded it. Aggression, in his view, is unjust only when unprovoked, and violence is unrighteous when used without thought or for unrighteous ends. It is foolish to apply the philosophy of ahimsa to all situations. Besides violence has its place in society, the

"sword of the warrior is as necessary to the fulfilment of justice and righteousness as the holiness of the saint. Ramdas is not complete without Shivaji."

The British jailed Sri Aurobindo for revolutionary activities. They imprisoned his body, but unwittingly set his soul free, for it was during his year-long jail term that he had visvarupa darshan or the experience of the cosmic consciousness, and from then on he was a totally different man. He tells us how God protected him from the unscrupulous prison staff of the Alipore jail:

"He [God] made me realise the central truth of the Hindu religion. He turned the hearts of my jailers to me and they spoke to the Englishman in charge of the jail. . . . I looked at the jail that secluded me from men and it was no longer by its high walls that I was imprisoned; no, it was Vasudeva who surrounded me. I walked under the branches of the tree in front of my cell, but it was not the tree, I knew it was Vasudeva, it was Sri Krishna whom I saw standing there and holding over me His shade."

No doubt, Aurobindo cannot be taken lightly, but at times he does sound like a man suffering from delusions or megalomania.

Whether God really took over his life or not, Aurobindo's commentaries on the Vedas, Upanishads, and the Gita make interesting reading. His interpretation is insightful and original. But though he was seriously into Indian philosophy and tradition, he believed that in order to catch up with the rest of the world, we must not shy away from western ideas because it is a

"psychological necessity of the situation. Not only when a lesser meets a greater culture, but when a culture which has fallen into a state of comparative inactivity, sleep, contraction, is faced with, still more when it receives the direct shock of, a waking .... it is impelled by the very instinct of life to take over these ideas and forms, to annex, to enrich itself, even to imitate and reproduce, and in one way or in another take large account and advantage of these new forces and opportunities."

But if this imitation is slavish and mechanical, then it amounts to subordination and servitude.

It is interesting to compare Sri Aurobindo's commentaries with that of C. Rajagopalachari, Mahesh Yogi, Bhagwan Rajneesh, Chinmayananda et al. Aurobindo's critique on Kapila and the Sankhya philosophy — the law of enumeration and generalisation — is thought provoking.

In another chapter he talks about self-realisation through yoga. The first realisation through yoga is nitya nityanam — the One Eternal in many transient. The second realisation is the one consciousness in many consciousnesses, and the third, "the most important of all to our race — that the transcendent self in individual man is as complete because identically the same as the transcendent self in the universe; for the transcendent is indivisible and the sense of separate individuality is only one of the fundamental seemings on which the manifestation of phenomenal existence perpetually depends.

In this way the Absolute which would otherwise be beyond knowledge, becomes knowable; and the man who knows his whole self knows the whole universe. This stupendous truth is enshrined to us in the two famous formulae of Vedanta, "so ham, He and I, and aham brahmosmi, I am Brahman, the Eternal."

How does yoga make you one with the creator? First of all, anyone practising yoga has to make the sankalpa of atmasamarpana. That is, surrender yourself with all your heart and all your strength into God's hands without making any conditions, without asking for anything, not even for siddhi in yoga. As a yogi you must ask for nothing at all except that in you and through you God's will may be directly performed. The next stage is to stand aside and watch the working of the divine power in you. The final stage of yoga is to perceive all things as God.

For the ultimate realisation, a yogi could choose one of the two paths available to him. He could either withdraw from the universe, or he could take part in the creation and perfect it. By following the first method, the objective is achieved by asceticism, and by following the second the objective is achieved by tapasya. Hence

"the first receives us when we lose God in existence, the second is attained when we fulfil existence in God. Let ours be the path of perfection, not of abandonment; let our aim be victory in the battle, not the escape from all conflict".

Another interesting aspect of the Aurobindo thought is that man is not final but

"a transitional being. Beyond him awaits formation [of] the diviner race, the superman".

As man progresses spiritually and becomes one with the creator, he becomes a superman. But unlike the familiar concept of superman in our minds, Aurobindo's superman is not someone who has extraordinary strength, knowledge, power, intelligence, saintliness. According to him superman

"is something beyond mental man and his limits, a greater consciousness than the highest consciousness proper to human nature...."

The evolution of man is not yet complete because out of the seven-fold scale of consciousness he has realised only three powers, mind, life, and matter. Because man is endowed with a brain that is supposed to be superior to all other known creatures, he believes that mind is the creator of the universe. This is a great fallacy because

"even for knowledge mind is not the only or the greatest possible instrument, the one aspirant and discoverer. Mind is a clumsy interlude between nature's vast and precise subconscient action and the vaster infallible superconscient action of the Godhead. . . . There is nothing mind can do that cannot be better done in the mind's immobility and thought-free stillness".

There might be a temptation to compare Aurobindo's superman with that of Friedrich Nietzsche, but this would be totally out of context and unfair to Nietzsche because, thanks to his overzealous sister Elisabeth Forster and misguided scholars, he is a much misunderstood man.

Makarand Paranjape, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, and the publishers need to be lauded for their efforts. It is not easy to edit a book of this sort, but why have they forgotten to add an Index? The section "A New Global Agenda" should have been clustered with Aurobindo's political writings; it looks out of place among his philosophical work. Courtesy: The Tribune Posted by Kuldip Dhiman at 8:13 AM

Ancient philosophy begins with the Vedas

The Vedas are the four ancient Indian collections of hymns and ritual formulae of the Samhitā period (c. 2000–1100 BCE), works known as the Rig Veda, the Atharva Veda, the Sāma Veda, and the Yajur Veda. The word veda means “knowledge,” and the Veda, as a collective noun, has come to mean not only the four Vedas themselves, but the commentaries on them. Asian Mythology ...

The Vedas are arguably the oldest surviving scriptures that are still used. Most Indologists agree that an oral tradition existed long before they were written down by the second century BC. The oldest surviving manuscripts are dated in the 11th century BC. Radhakrishnan and Moore sum up the prevailing academic view by saying: "The Vedic Period is dimmed by obscurity, but it may be placed approximately between 2500 and 600 B.C."[4]
As used by these authors, the term "Vedic Period" includes the long period of gradual pre-literary cultural developments which eventually gave rise to written texts. Gavin Flood refers to the "more sober chronology" of 1500 to 1200 BC proposed by Max Müller for the earliest portions of the texts.[5]... In modern times, Vedic studies are crucial in the understanding of Indo-European linguistics, as well as ancient Indian history... Wikipedia article "Vedas". Read more

Indian philosophy begins with the Vedas where questions related to laws of nature, the origin of the universe and the place of man in it are asked. In the famous Rigvedic Hymn of Creation the poet says: "Whence all creation had its origin, he, whether he fashioned it or whether he did not, he, who surveys it all from highest heaven, he knows--or maybe even he does not know."
In the Vedic view, creation is ascribed to the self-consciousness of the primeval being (Purusha). This leads to the inquiry into the one being that underlies the diversity of empirical phenomena and the origin of all things. Cosmic order is termed rta and causal law by karma. Nature (prakriti) is taken to have three qualities (sattva, rajas, and tamas). Vedas Upanishads Hindu philosophy Main article: Indian philosophy ...

While there are ancient relations between the Indian Vedas and the Iranian Avesta, the two main families of the Indo-Iranian philosophical traditions were characterized by fundamental differences in their implications for the human being's position in society and their view on the role of man in the universe. The first charter of human rights by Cyrus the Great is widely seen as a reflection of the questions and thoughts expressed by Zarathustra and developed in Zoroastrian schools of thought. Main article: Iranian philosophy ...

Western philosophy Presocratic philosophers:

Milesian School: Thales (624-546 BC) Anaximander (610-546 BC) Anaximenes (585-525 BC)
Pythagoreans: Pythagoras (582-507 BC) Alcmaeon of Croton Archytas (428-347 BC)
Heraclitus (535-475 BC) ... Ancient philosophy From Wikipedia

Integral Movement page on Wikipedia seems to be shaping up quite well

Integral Movement page on Wikipedia
from Integral Transformation by m alan kazlev

I have to admit, the Integral Movement page on Wikipedia seems to be shaping up quite well. I was quite concerned about the resistance of Wikipedia to even progressive ideas like Integralism (even though it is exoteric), and saw this resistance as an example of the old consciousness against the new. Well, it is, but the new consciousness can still establish itself in the current status quo; indeed it is absolutely essential that it does so, if change and transformation is to occur.

So I've been merging material from redirect pages, and with footnotes it is looking more scholarly. So even though these conservatives annoy me, i have to admit that I do agree with them that in terms of current popular knowledge (and that is what Wikipedia represents, the status of popular Western secular knowledge as it is at present, all from a geekish perspective) one can't justify a whole string of Integral articles. But a single one, well written, on the Integral Movement, is a good idea.

So if anyone reading this wants to chip in and add to the page, please do so!

Especially important are footnotes and citations, so it is best to add stuff that can be referred to in print or in scholarly online articles.

I accept any truths discovered by science, including natural selection, but I place those facts in a much wider metaphysical context

On Sanctifying the Intellectual World from One Cosmos by Gagdad Bob

While I am greatly indebted to the "traditionalists" -- especially Schuon -- one thing I wish they would specify is exactly when they think the so-called "golden age" of mankind occurred. Sometimes they seem to imply that it was Atlantis -- i.e., a highly advanced civilization that ended catastrophically but which was the source of later ones such as Egypt.

This strikes me as an evasion, since there is no actual evidence that Atlantis existed. It's possible -- for example, the persistent rumors in all of the world's mythologies of a catastrophic flood that wiped out civilization. Look how long it took to to just find a single Coon in the Great Flood of 2007. Perhaps we have no physical evidence of Atlantis because it's under the ocean, just like Donovan said it was. And who could question the judgment of Donovan? [...]

The traditionalists are also profoundly anti-Darwinian, and in this regard -- despite the great wisdom embodied in tradition -- I believe they go too far. In my case, I would not call myself "anti-Darwinian," just "un-Darwinian." In other words, I accept any truths discovered by science, including natural selection, but I place those facts in a much wider metaphysical context that can never be explained by the empirical facts of science. To put it another way, the facts of science are only intelligible within a metaphysical framework that cannot be derived from science. In this regard, the water-tight logic of Raccoon emeritus Kurt Gödel can never be surpassed by humans.

And perhaps not coincidentally, the traditionalists are also profoundly anti-psychoanalytic. In this regard I suppose I can cut them some slack, as they all seem to share the same ignorance of modern psychoanalysis as does academia. They seem to assume that psychoanalysis began and ended with Freud, which is analogous to rejecting modern physics on the basis of Newton's ignorance of quantum physics. So the traditionalists rail against Freud -- for example, his determinism (because it erodes free will) and his hostility to religion -- even though there are almost no purely Freudian psychoanalysts anymore.

And in any event, I don't think it's particularly intellectually admirable to deal with anomalies in one's world view by simply rejecting them a priori, a strategy which is ironically shared by both fundamentalism and scientism. I cannot believe that this is what the Creator wants of us -- to bury our heads in the sand whenever we encounter a fact that seems to contradict revelation, and then turn this intellectual vice into a virtue by claiming that we are more "faithful" than the person who believes in evolution or psychoanalysis. I mean, I would actually have more respect for these people if they had the courage of their convictions and stop taking antibiotics.

Yesterday Nomo cited the well-known passage by Paul, which I will reproduce in the contemporary English translation:

"Where are the wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength."

Prior to the modern fundamentalist deviation, this was never interpreted by Christian Orthodoxy to mean that we should reject worldly knowledge, only that worldly knowledge should not be conflated with ultimate knowledge or salvation. Just yesterday I was reading about this in the new biography of the great Catholic historian Christopher Dawson. I don't pretend to be an expert in these intra-familial Christian theological squabbles, but it was his position that this error crept into Christianity with Luther, which, ironically, paved the way for both an anti-intellectual Christianity and militant secularism -- two mirrors of the same phenomenon, which ultimately comes down to failure to sanctify or "Christianize" the world. For Luther

"rejected the complexity of Christendom... and attempted to de-intellectualize the Catholic continuity with the classical. 'He took St. Paul without his Hellenism, and St. Augustine without his Platonism,' Dawson wrote. By attacking the natural laws and creating the Manichean dualism of Law and Gospel, Luther attempted to destroy the human need for mystery and 'prepared the way for the secularization of the world...' "

This false dualism argued that "man is fallen to such an extent that he can know nothing outside the truth of scripture." But "if the world tells us nothing of value, the past, equally, sheds no new light on the situation of humanity and becomes worthless."

I certainly sympathize with Dawson's view. One reason why so many people get the "Jesus willies" and therefore reject their own precious spiritual and intellectual heritage is because their only exposure to Christianity is in its anti-intellectual fundamentalist version, which I myself find impossible to take seriously. As Dawson wrote, the intellectual synthesis of Christianity and classical thought "was not a contradiction but the crown and completion of continuous effort to achieve an integration of the religious doctrine of the Christian Church with the intellectual tradition of ancient culture." On this view, the "wisdom of the Greeks" is not opposed to Christianity. Rather, the Christian synthesis was the completion, perfection, or sanctification of these other vital intellectual streams -- which is an ongoing project, since history doesn't just arbitrarily stop historing.

This is a much more expansive view of reality whereby, for example, the great wisdom of Plato and the neo-Platonists is not rejected but integrated, say, in the deeply mystical works of Denys the Areopagite (see here as well for a fine introduction to the synthesis of Christian and Greek thought). By the same token, with this time-honored intellectual approach, a Christian needn't necessarily reject the wisdom of, say, Vedanta or Taoism, for ultimately, the appearance of Jesus in the Hellenized Roman world is not essential but accidental. What if he had appeared in the Indian subcontinent? Then the task of early Christians would have been to place Christ within the context of Vedanta -- to demonstrate how he represented, say, the "perfection" or "completion" of the Upanishads, so to speak.

Indeed, what if Jesus were here today -- an absurd hypothetical, since he is. Then the task would be to integrate Christianity with current knowledge. Which I, as a Coon, believe is the whole point: to integrate wisdom and knowledge and thereby sanctify the intellect.

I don't know how I ended up down this byway. I had intended to discuss premodern childrearing practices, and how they resulted in such widespread historical craziness. Oh well.... next week. I'm sure this is enough to start a rumble in the Coonosphere. Go at it!

Sri Aurobindo wrote a thoughtful and sympathetic critique of Theosophy

Traditionalism vs. The New Age from The Stumbling Mystic by ned

Why do I feel that the Traditionalist critique of the New Age is very much the pot calling the kettle black? The perennialist approach seems to be: if your spiritual experiences are not exactly in line with some so-called homogeneous Tradition, then they are from the devil or the Antichrist. Seriously, when I read their criticisms of the New Age I get the feeling that they have paranoid personality disorders. The New Age is irrational at worst, but it’s basically harmless...

Why exactly are Schuon, Guenon, etc., so opposed to Theosophy? It seems the central idea — of common metaphysical themes running through the world’s religions — is the same in both Traditionalism and Theosophy...

I got interested in Traditionalism because I was looking at the evolution of gender, and the Traditionalist perspective, because it sees the universe as static, sees man and woman as forever irreconcilable. I’ve also noticed a fairly consistent pattern that theologies that perceive an irreconcilable duality between Creator and creation, or matter/Nature as irredeemable, also always see man and woman as two totally opposite polarities. Interestingly Harry Oldmeadow’s book The Betrayal of Tradition has a chapter on the subject.

It’s just that perennialism is easily deconstructed anyway. I mean the whole notion of a totally homogeneous “Tradition” is imaginary. For instance, when it comes to gender it’s easy to find archaeological evidence of a “third sex” being recognized in ancient India.

Schuon is definitely my favorite too, though. Second to him, Huston Smith — and he’s a very nice guy. And Nasr is a brilliant writer but his Islamic biases can be really annoying, e.g. he openly defends the verse in the Quran that condones wife-beating, and says that hitting one’s wife is allowed in order to maintain the sanctity of the family and society. So yeah, I agree with you that most Traditionalists are just more sophisticated fundamentalists, though I do get a very good vibe from Schuon.

Addendum: Sri Aurobindo wrote a thoughtful and sympathetic critique of Theosophy that was not marred by Traditionalist bias entitled The Claims of Theosophy. It’s definitely worth a read!