Even the smallest meanest work became A sweet or glad and glorious sacrament.
April 07, 2020
Chandannagar to Puducherry
March 28, 2020
Stimulating creativity as a personality asset
A momentous event shouldn't go unnoticed. The Mother arrived in Puducherry on March 29, 1914. It's not a Darshan Day but holds the greatest significance for Indians. All followers are requested to rise to the occasion so that the present crisis is averted. https://t.co/KSnsA1qpUW
https://twitter.com/SavitriEraParty/status/1243703402158116866?s=19
Two thousand years of political theory has been on society and collective life whereas the current crisis has reversed the gaze towards home and family. It has been a neglected area and many loopholes as regards loneliness and neglect need to be addressed. https://t.co/ZXkUpWxvS1
https://twitter.com/SavitriEraParty/status/1243798299968040961?s=19
The Pandemic
The Coronavirus pandemic, raging throughout the world seems to be a dance of Mahakali for reasons best known to Her. While the middle class and the elite have been mainly affected, South Asia holds its breath for if it strikes at the proletariat, the teeming millions staying in shanties and slums, there would be no end to suffering for a long time to come. The government of India has enforced lock-downs, insisted on hand washing, social distancing and early detection of symptoms. That works with the middle class up to a certain level but would have difficulties in overcrowded slums, marginalized people suffering in hordes already from tuberculosis and Adivasis prone to malaria and malnutrition. A many pronged approach working at multiple layers instead of a blanket moratorium is needed. Political Will is needed but can be unproductive if inputs are not considered from diverse strata of a heterogeneous and multicultural society.
Date of Update: 25-Mar-20
http://motsac.org/journals.php
Action-based Activities:
1. The institute will provide counseling and help to public in the light of Sri Aurobindo's and Mother's psychological system both individually and through internet.
2. The institute will be associated with Mirravision Trust's direct therapeutic activities viz. Healing spaces, Hospitals, Rehabilitation Programs, Specialized clinics.
3. The Institute will also link up with different therapeutic centers throughout the world who are working with Integral, Holistic, Global, Spiritual perspectives of health.
4. The Institute will promote play and games therapy, art therapy, music therapy, psychodrama and other such pursuits aimed at stimulating creativity as a personality asset; to promote positive recreational and entertainment programs that aim at an elevation of consciousness.
5. The Institute will conduct stress management , organizational development and creativity programs for executives, professionals and students with a spiritual and consciousness approach
Our predecessors are stalwart-scholars and yogis who had the vision and foresight of acknowledging the inherent psychological insights in Sri Aurobindo’s thought. This illustrious list begins with the late Prof. Indra Sen, who published as early as 1944 an article entitled “A psychological Appreciation of Sri Aurobindo’s System of Integral Yoga” and culminates in Dr. A. S. Dalal’s landmark publication of “A Greater Psychology” in 2001. Dr. Indra Sen used the term “Integral Psychology” in 1960 to denote Sri Aurobindo’s Psychological system but as Robert Gerard (in 1982) and Ken Wilber (in 2000) have been using the term for other things, the nomenclature “Integral Yoga Psychology” has evolved. Other predecessors include the late Kishore Gandhi who had been using class notes on this theme since 1966 at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, the late Madhusudan Reddy whose book on Integral Yoga Psychology was published in 1988, Jobst Muhling who differentiated conventional Western Psychology from Sri Aurobindo’s psychology in 1960, the late Haridas Chowdhury who with F. Spiegelberg in 1960 published a Commemorative Symposium proceedings where the term “Integral Psychology” was first used, C. R. Goswami who used this term in 1989 and Lloyd Fellows who established an Institute for Integral Psychology in USA during 1970s under the inspiration of Late M. P. Pandit. http://www.iiyp.net/Predecessors.php |
BETWEEN THE NATURAL AND THE NORMATIVE
March 22, 2020
A.S. Dalal's invaluable contribution to Integral Psychology.
The ‘Auro Ratna Award’ for the year 2019 was presented to Dr. A.S. Dalal for his invaluable contribution in the field of Integral Psychology.
To read the report of the award ceremony and see some of the photographs of the event, kindly click on the following link:
http://overmanfoundation.org/
With warm regards,
Anurag Banerjee
Founder,
Overman Foundation.
https://t.co/MAWijhE0Vq Every issue India is struggling with today was mentioned by Sri Aurobindo 100 yrs ago in his magazine 'Vande Matram ' --Shraddhalu ji from Ashram
https://twitter.com/uttrashada/status/1240946887579947009?s=19
March 18, 2020
Half-revealed stuff of the old days
Kovind, not Covid, did it
Bengal based Telegraph displays hate for Dalits, equates ...
Comparing President Kovind to Covid-19 is direspectful to Dalits
Scientists warn we may need to live with social distancing for ...
The Coronavirus Crisis Is Showing Us How to Live Online
A fiasco in the making? As the coronavirus pandemic takes ...
Assorted tweets:
This handy compilation is three to four decades old but remains neglected. Let's hope both the scientific community and those dealing with Humanities look at it for some bold pointers at this time of crisis. @NathTusar
#SriAurobindo #WorldUnion #FiveDreams
https://t.co/qteHCTeMGk
https://twitter.com/SavitriEraParty/status/1239949601836158977?s=19
Praying is the most contentious aspect since different gods and goddesses look absurd against the backdrop of a monistic virus. The Mother & Sri Aurobindo thought about all these aspects more than a century ago but educated Indians don't bother to listen to them. That's alarming!
Ultimately, it's about understanding oneself; one has to start somewhere. Sri Aurobindo enacted a Gita like situation in Kolkata but the real war he fought was against Hitler in Puducherry. Thus nationalism is not his final motive; its Evolution, and how it can tackle even virus.
Put well but your focus seems to be on the performer whereas my emphasis was on the sensibilities expected of the audience, i.e., each one of us. It's incumbent upon us to judge critically and impartially. Even a simple mention may amount to injustice to another. So no mean task.
Scores of metaphysical frameworks, theological formulations, or contesting ontologies. Myopic worldviews of science add to the woe of which people are helpless prisoners. Thankfully Sri Aurobindo provides the most stable picture of the world and a secure Evolutionary future of it.
Events unfolding and the story unrolling while watching a film feels normal but the truth is that every bit of it has been executed in advance. Life similarly is not a spontaneous or random movement as it appears superficially, writes Tusar Nath Mohapatra. https://t.co/AIw0G5KrMD
Integral yoga is about Evolution and not merely personal experience or salvation. Social dimensions of Integral yoga derive from the Vedic focus on Sangha, Samhita being a derivative. Sri Aurobindo (Bhawani Mandir) taking cue from Bhabani Pathak (Devi Chaudhurani) not improbable.
[Unlike Anandamath, he put together an alternate government in place, led by an ideal leader, steeped in Indian values, directly supported by the people.] -Wikipedia https://t.co/u89vjqsqhh
February 29, 2020
Idealism and panpsychism make easy friends
Tusar Nath Mohapatra Director, Savitri Era Learning Forum (SELF), SRA-102-C, Shipra Riviera, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad - 201014 (UP) India + 91-9650065636 Scholar profile. Savitri Era of those who adore, Om Sri Aurobindo & The Mother. Amazon Reviews - Reimagining Integral Management - email: tusarnmohapatra@gmail.comFebruary 22, 2020
Socratic irony, Galileo's error, and Gargi's silence
— Śrīpād Bhakti Mādhava Purī Mahārāja, Ph.D.
Due to this overcoming of its own limit, The Idea becomes the idea outside of itself by expressing itself in Its Other, i.e. Nature. The Idea does not exist only in the Thought, but also in Thought’s opposite, i.e. extension. Therefore Nature includes all forms of self externality.
That’s why the concept of death becomes important. Hegel says Die to Live [4[. Because Reality (Spirit) is by and for itself. When we can die in externality, i.e. in the search for so called freedom, that we actually become free for the first time. That is the Spiritual World, where truth is spontaneous, or free. There is some appearance of freedom in Nature, no doubt, but that is not in the true sublated form. Just like a prisoner is doing something in the jail, but we know that the jail is not his real home. Therefore the Spiritual world is the true home soil. Therefore everyone becomes free for the first time when they come in harmony with Reality.
Bhakti Vijnana Muni
Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Deva Goswami Maharaja, the founder of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math recognized that among all western philosophers, Hegel was very good. And we also in turn heard some of these topics from our Gurudev, Sripad Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaja Phd. And everyone can derive great benefit from his association and contributing to his service as he served many great personalities like Srila BR Sridhar Maharaja and Srila AC Bhakti Vedanta Swami Prabhupada.
The subjects of Socrates' conversations often revolved around search for a definition focused on the true nature of the subject under question and not just on how the word is used correctly in a sentence. Hence our focus should be what is the true concept of the cell, rather than what we think nature should be, or what merely a mechanism should be. We must let go of our different biases and allow nature to reveal to us.
Why have we moved away from the logic of organic whole which was understood by philosophers like Kant, Hegel, Aristotle and Plato. Kant had even said that there will never be a Newton for the Blade of Grass. Then all of a sudden why the current shift of ontological thinking about the unity of the functional cell to a mechanical logic.
Why there is no result after more than 150 years attempts to manufacture even a single bacterium from de novo processes in our advanced chemical labs even after spending billions of dollars worth of time and manpower. What is the Causal principle behind the cellular function. Why is it still irreducible to linear simplicity. Cell continues to display circular complexity in its causal flow. So how can we accept the mechanical reduction of the organism.
Philosophical thought is often about frameworks and deeper principles, usually while inhabiting those frameworks and using those principles.
Philosophy is not merely an enterprise of finding answers via established methods and moving on. You are thinking about thinking while trying to think about questions that you have little idea how to answer. And this is hard. Really hard. As I often tell my students, if philosophy is not difficult, you’re not doing it right!
Gārgī is thinking about the fundamental nature of existence—what it could be, how we could know it, and whether we could put it into language even if we did know it. As important as philosophical debate has been and remains in India and elsewhere, you can’t always be worried about your next move in the debate. Sometimes you need to slow down and think rather than offer the first response that comes to mind.
I think this lesson could be especially important to people interacting online. There is a tendency to skim headlines, tweets, or blog posts and immediately rush to respond, but what if instead you thought silently before commenting? Often our initial gut reactions turn out to be wrong upon further reflection. A bit of silent thinking can help to sort out what to say and how to say it. It can help you to avoid misunderstanding others. It can get you immortalized in an Upaniṣad (at least that worked for Gārgī).
I will fall silent now so that you, dear readers, can think about this for yourselves. Cross-posted to my personal blog.
...
Dear Friends and Well-wishers, The seventh Subhash Kumar Mukherjee Memorial Oration, organized by Overman Foundation, was held on Friday, 20th December 2019, at Matru Sadan, in Pondicherry.
The speaker was Dr. Alok Pandey who spoke on the topic, “Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?”
...
Kundan Singh (HUM '08) will be giving a lecture at the Cultural Integration Fellowship entitled "Life and Legacy of the Mother of Sri Aurobindo Ashram." #fridaythoughts #CIISAlumni https://t.co/CJdqpxIxOg
https://twitter.com/ciisalumni/status/1231037861991813120?s=19
...
Economists should learn lessons from meteorologists
Weather forecasters make hypotheses and test them daily
https://t.co/5XnUD7OFKP
https://twitter.com/prasannavishy/status/1231082308645478401?s=19
Most economists (formally-trained as well as self-appointed) do macro forecasting of business cycles with fancy charts & high-sounding lingo in trendy conference halls & op-ed pages of newspapers! Ground-level realities are given a go by!
https://twitter.com/mayfair1958/status/1231084164797157377?s=19
Here is a detailed review of the book 'Galileo's Error' by Philip Goff @Philip_Goff Whether you agree with the author or not this book is important for those interested in consciousness studies and philosophy. https://t.co/AwQiyEnZD0 via @swarajyamag
https://twitter.com/arvindneela/status/1231039366157389826?s=19
In the review: It seems the Saiva Siddhanta scholars seem to have come up with a proto-variant of Mary-in-b&w realm. And Swami Vivekananda and Dr. Ambedkar had put forth an argument for ethics and democracy based on non-duality.
Akaramuthalvan In Ardhanarishvara: The Androgynous Link To Divinity And Language https://t.co/UrMzAMgTpn via @swarajyamag
https://twitter.com/prasannavishy/status/1230764907596877824?s=19
There is a category of challenges called tripāda-samasyās, which are tri-lined. This poses greater difficulty than others, for all 3 lines are disconnected, and are culled out from different poems.
Around Samasyā-pūraṇa: Analysing Literary Creativity - 9 https://t.co/AbmywW50Qk
https://twitter.com/prekshaajournal/status/1230540214919057410?s=19
One of the most fascinating tales in the Mahabharata is the dialogue between Yudhishtira and Yama on the banks of the enchanted pool. This episode is popularly known as the ‘Yakshaprashna.
Yakshaprashna: Quenching the Thirst - 1 https://t.co/mwCJ0YPwep
https://twitter.com/prekshaajournal/status/1230785009784479746?s=19
The Esoteric Sense of the Ashwamedha, the Horse Sacrifice https://t.co/zJbog54mC4
https://twitter.com/santoshk1/status/1230860209301663752?s=19
February 19, 2020
Heidegger’s philosophy lacked a sense of divine transcendence
- The Creation of Time - Sri Aurobindo translates Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Chapter One, Section 2, Verse 4: “He desired, ‘Let a second self be born to me.’ He by mind had interc...
- COMING SOON: The 26th Savitri Study Camp - Savitri Study Camp No. 26 will be held from Feb. 22 to 28, 2020 at the Sri Aurobindo Society Beach Office, Pondicherry. The post COMING SOON: The 26th Sa...
- Flat Ontology, Questions, and Assemblages - I’ve been having a lengthy discussion with a very good friend about normativity and how we go about determining values. One of the things that keeps coming...
- Pranab Bardhan and Liberal Democracy's assless chaps. - India is not a Liberal Democracy. It is a Secular, Socialist, Republic. Its Constitution gives the Union of India substantial powers to curb any threat to ...
- Bādha from hermeneutics to epistemology - The chapter on epistemology (tarkapāda) is the first chapter in the basic text of Mīmāṃsā, the Mīmāṃsāsūtra, but was presumably the last one added to the M...
- Does the kammatic/nibbanic distinction fit the facts? - How helpful is Melford Spiro’s kammatic/nibbanic distinction in describing Buddhism? It can be tempting to line it up too closely … Continue reading →
- Blame it on the nature of politics - Hatred brigade includes many followers of Sri Aurobindo which is absurd but valid in a Democracy. Each person is a prisoner of his own circumstances, backg...
- Art for Land – String Quartet concert - On 2nd February we recorded an amazing performance held by the Auroville String quartet in Unity Pavilion. The quartet (Holger violin, Benjamin 2nd violin...
- media - Media: what a messy, capacious, contentious term, in all the ways Raymond Williams described for *Keywords*. Slipping across material substrate, technologi...
- The role of music in society - Sacred imagery: Human body as Veena - a musical instrument What we hold to be the highest ideals in life also dictate what we do in the humdrum of everyday...
- Reading the Qur’an: Repeated Reminders - [This semester, I am blogging my course on the Qur’an. You can see my previous post here and the whole series here.] We have now entered into what I consid...
- Pleasure and Pain in an Apocalyptic Age - The pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain is part of the utilitarian creed that has characterised the Modern Age and the pursuit of the self-intere...
- “Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?”—A Talk by Dr. Alok Pandey - Dear Friends and Well-wishers, The seventh Subhash Kumar Mukherjee Memorial Oration, organized by Overman Foundation, was held on Friday, 20th December 201...
- Twilight of modern mind - - Savitri Era Devotees OM Is The Eternal Brahman - The Mandukya Upanishad, while relatively short, is focused entirely on an in depth examina...
- OM Is The Eternal Brahman - The Mandukya Upanishad, while relatively short, is focused entirely on an in depth examination of OM, in both its esoteric and its outward significance. O...
- Hampi Continues to Live – Part 7 - Continued from Part 6 Chakratirtha, Tungabhadra River and Kodandarama temple (Photos by Suhas Mehra, text by Beloo Mehra) Not far from Vittala temple, a ...
- Thoughts on William James, Pure Experience, and Materialism - Idealism and panpsychism seem to me to make easy friends in the debate against materialism. They both affirm that consciousness or experience or mind in so...
- Of India’s Destiny and Indian Painting - Going through the pictures of some of my personal favourite paintings representing various Indian schools and traditions, including some by famous Indian a...
- Bengali Writings by Sri Aurobindo (translated into English) - Most of the pieces in Bengali were written by Sri Aurobindo in 1909 and 1910 for Dharma, a Calcutta weekly he edited at that time; the material consists ...

