February 19, 2020

Heidegger’s philosophy lacked a sense of divine transcendence


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February 07, 2020

Twilight of modern mind


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January 12, 2020

How to invite intuitive knowledge


Sri Aurobindo was an Indian nationalist but is best known for his philosophy on human evolution and Integral Yoga.[87]

Although Sri Aurobindo was familiar with the most important lines of thought in Western philosophy, he did not acknowledge their influence on his own writings.[71] He wrote that his philosophy "was formed first by the study of the Upanishads and the Gita… They were the basis of my first practice of Yoga." With the help of his readings he tried to move on to actual experience, "and it was on this experience that later on I founded my philosophy, not on ideas themselves.”[72]

He assumes that the seers of the Upanishads had basically the same approach and gives some details of his vision of the past in a long passage in The Renaissance of India. "The Upanishads have been the acknowledged source of numerous profound philosophies and religions," he writes. Even Buddhism with all its developments was only a "restatement" from a new standpoint and with fresh terms. And, furthermore the ideas of the Upanishads "can be rediscovered in much of the thought of Pythagoras and Plato and form the profoundest part of Neo-platonism and Gnosticism..." 

Sri Aurobindo's indebtedness to the Indian tradition also becomes obvious through his placing a large number of quotations from the Rig Veda, the Upanishads and theBhagavadgita at the beginning of the chapters in The Life Divine, showing the connection of his own thought to Veda and Vedanta.[75][76]

The Isha Upanishad is considered to be one of the most important and more accessible writings of Sri Aurobindo.[77] Before he published his final translation and analysis, he wrote ten incomplete commentaries.[78] 

Affinity with Western philosophy

In his writings, talks and letters Sri Aurobindo has referred to several European philosophers with whose basic concepts he was familiar, commenting on their ideas and discussing the question of affinity to his own line of thought. Thus he wrote a long essay on the Greek philosopher Heraclitus[61] and mentioned especially Plato, Plotinus, Nietzsche and Bergsonas thinkers in whom he was interested because of their more intuitive approach.[62] On the other hand, he felt little attraction for the philosophy of Kant or Hegel.[63] 

Several studies[64]have shown a remarkable closeness to the evolutionary thought of Teilhard de Chardin, whom he did not know, whereas the latter came to know of Sri Aurobindo at a late stage. After reading some chapters of The Life Divine, he is reported to have said that Sri Aurobindo's vision of evolution was basically the same as his own, though stated for Asian readers.[65][66]

Several scholars have discovered significant similarities in the thought of Sri Aurobindo and Hegel. Steve Odin has discussed this subject comprehensively in a comparative study.[67] Odin writes that Sri Aurobindo "has appropriated Hegel’s notion of an Absolute Spirit and employed it to radically restructure the architectonic framework of the ancient Hindu Vedanta system in contemporary terms."[68] In his analysis Odin arrives at the conclusion that "both philosophers similarly envision world creation as the progressive self-manifestation and evolutionary ascent of a universal consciousness in its journey toward Self-realization."[69] He points out that in contrast to the deterministic and continuous dialectal unfolding of Absolute Reason by the mechanism of thesis-antithesis-synthesis or affirmation-negation-integration, "Sri Aurobindo argues for a creative, emergent mode of evolution."[69] In his résumé Odin states that Sri Aurobindo has overcome the ahistorical world-vision of traditional Hinduism and presented a concept which allows for a genuine advance and novelty.[70]

Synthesis and Integration

Sisir Kumar Maitra, who was a leading exponent of Sri Aurobindo's Philosophy,[81] has referred to the issue of external influences and written that Sri Aurobindo does not mention names, but "as one reads his books one cannot fail to notice how thorough is his grasp of the great Western philosophers of the present age..." Although he is Indian one should not "underrate the influence of Western thought upon him. This influence is there, very clearly visible, but Sri Aurobindo... has not allowed himself to be dominated by it. He has made full use of Western thought, but he has made use of it for the purpose of building up his own system..."[82] Thus Maitra, like Steve Odin,[83] sees Sri Aurobindo not only in the tradition and context of Indian, but also Western philosophy and assumes he may have adopted some elements from the latter for his synthesis.

R. Puligandla supports this viewpoint in his book Fundamentals of Indian Philosophy. He describes Sri Aurobindo's philosophy as "an original synthesis of the Indian and Western traditions." "He integrates in a unique fashion the great social, political and scientific achievements of the modern West with the ancient and profound spiritual insights ofHinduism. The vision that powers the life divine of Aurobindo is none other than the Upanishadic vision of the unity of all existence."[84]

Puligandla believes that the Western influence also becomes evident through Sri Aurobindo's critical position vis-à-vis Shankara[85] and his assumption that the latter teaches through his Mayavada or Illusionism that the world is unreal and illusory. Puligandla objects, "nowhere does Shankara say that the world is unreal and illusory. Quite the contrary, through the concept of sublation he teaches that the world is neither real nor unreal. That this is indeed his teaching is further borne out by his distinction between lower and higher truths." Therefore, Puligandla concludes that "Aurobindo’s characterization of Shankara’s Vedanta as a world-negating philosophy is unfounded." He believes that Sri Aurobindo in his endeavour to synthesize Hindu and Western modes of thought has wrongly identified Shankara's Mayavada with the subjective idealism of George Berkeley, "which undoubtedly stands in sharp contrast to the realism of the Western philosophical tradition in general." Nonetheless, Puligandla believes that Sri Aurobindo was "a great philosopher-mystic" with a significant vision of man and the world.[84]

Sri Aurobindo's critique of Shankara is supported by U. C. Dubey in his paper titledIntegralism: The Distinctive Feature of Sri Aurobindo’s Philosophy. He starts by summarizing what he considers to be Sri Aurobindo's most important contributions to philosophy and mentions at first his integral view of Reality. "The creative force or 'cit-śakti' is regarded by him as one with the Absolute. Thus there is no opposition between the Absolute and its creative force in his system." Next Dubey refers to Sri Aurobindo's conception of the supermind as the mediatory principle between the Absolute and the finite world and quotes S.K. Maitra stating that this conception "is the pivot round which the whole of Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy moves."[86]

Dubey proceeds to analyse the approach of the Shankarites and believes that they follow an inadequate kind of logic that does not do justice to the challenge of tackling the problem of the Absolute, which cannot be known by finite reason. With the help of the finite reason, he says, "we are bound to determine the nature of reality as one or many, being or becoming. But Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Advaitism reconciles all apparently different aspects of Existence in an all-embracing unity of the Absolute." Next, Dubey explains that for Sri Aurobindo there is a higher reason, the "logic of the infinite" in which his integralism is rooted, and expounds this concept by presenting some quotations from The Life Divine. In concluding he notes critically "that Sri Aurobindo does not explain sufficiently the nature of the logic of the infinite." Nevertheless, "the way he proposes this logic is undoubtedly his unique contribution in the field of Absolutism."[86]

InfluenceEdit

His influence has been wide-ranging. In India, S. K. Maitra, Anilbaran Roy and D. P. Chattopadhyaya commented on Sri Aurobindo's work. Writers on esotericism and traditional wisdom, such as Mircea Eliade, Paul Brunton, and Rene Guenon, all saw him as an authentic representative of the Indian spiritual tradition.[88] 

Haridas Chaudhuri and Frederic Spiegelberg[91] were among those who were inspired by Aurobindo, who worked on the newly formed American Academy of Asian Studies in San Francisco. Soon after, Chaudhuri and his wife Bina established the Cultural Integration Fellowship, from which later emerged the California Institute of Integral Studies.[92]



Savitri Era Party
@SavitriEraParty
The Life Divine by Sri Aurobindo is very much about our very life and existence, its nature and future; yet steers clear of current affairs. Being in that state of mind to probe how normal functioning of mind can be transcended so as to invite intuitive knowledge is the challenge


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Location: Shipra Riviera, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh 201014, India

December 29, 2019

This is the real 2020 challenge

Education was designed by the Britishers, basically by Christian scholars. Thus, various strands of falsehood were fed as truth. Eurocentrism was another reason for suppression of diverse evidences and Hegel's writings on Indian philosophy and religion is one important example.
https://twitter.com/SavitriEraParty/status/1211249511307214848?s=19
Kant brought philosophical enquiry to an end but Hegel reopened it in which his reading of Indian texts have a great role. But this aspect has been ignored till date by the Western authors. Indian scholars have an opportunity in grabbing this task to rewrite history of philosophy
Once Hegel is accorded the importance he deserves, later developments based on science have to be reimagined. One such model we already have in Sri Aurobindo. Even he has produced multiple perspectives in Essays on the Gita, The Life Divine, and Savitri. The West can be bypassed.
American scholars of Indian philosophy are basically concerned with ancient texts mostly of Buddhist origin. This is a conspiracy to stall research in Modern Indian Philosophy on one hand and undermining Sri Aurobindo's epochal works in favour of other minor authors on the other.
It's not a question of philosophy alone; once this line of inquiry attains sufficient sophistication, many forts of Humanities will get demolished. There would be no East-West divide; knowledge sources and the lenses will converge. Religious and racial bias should get obliterated
This is the real #2020 challenge. Developing an integral perspective with sufficient intellectual muscle to match without compromising the highest standards of critical reason. Thinking part has been largely accomplished by Sri Aurobindo; what is wanted is just to flesh them out.
ARYA writings of Sri Aurobindo (1914-21) were meant for removing many confusions accumulated over the previous century both in India and the West. This herculean task has not been adequately appreciated during the last 100 years. Votaries of Indian wisdom and values must wake up.
Before 2019 ends, let's remember that Sri Aurobindo wrote an essay with the title 1919. Can be an occasion to examine his numerous prophecies and futuristic insights. Postmodernism and Transhumanism are passe; Cellular Transformation embarked upon by The Mother to gain prominence https://t.co/3cOb3ZoNGs
Citizenship debate has clearly taken us back to Partition questions and basis of Nationalism. Confusion is likely to be compounded and silver lining will surely emerge from the chaos. The Mother & Sri Aurobindo have indicated such tidings since India is very much on their agenda. https://t.co/tytxq6ev21
All religions are sure to collapse and nationalities will overlap or become porous. Increasingly, people are turning multilingual and using entertainment options from a basket of cultures. Difficult to prevent this trend since such hybridisation is going on since time immemorial.
https://twitter.com/NathTusar/status/1210197137771745280?s=19
[Transcendentalism in America, Theosophy, New-Age cults, new schools of psychology, body-mind medicine, alternative therapies, philosophical speculations that grew around the New Physics are inspired by Indian and Chinese thought like Vedanta, Buddhism, Yoga, Taoism and Tai-Chi.]
https://twitter.com/NathTusar/status/1210561603776569346?s=19

The term "holistic" here can be quite misleading. Here, it means taking control of the entire sensorium, which comes about as close to the meaning of "The Matrix" as anything I've come across yet.
Shoulders of giants? WTF. Personally, I don't think Wilber has contributed much more to Integral Theory than his predecessors in the field-- Jung, Gebser, Aurobindo, Rosenstock-Huessy.
https://twitter.com/fourfoldvision/status/1209951259534352384?s=19
Real genius, even historically, was more about the fecund imagination, and not about calculating, instrumentalising rationality. The "genii" of old were spirits of woodland, mountain and stream.
Very probably the four rivers are also the "Four Heavenly Kings" of Buddhism, eg, here's a relief of the Buddha receiving the homage of the Four Heavenly Kings upon his enlightenment. Similar symbolism is Christ and the Four Evangelists (included for comparison) https://t.co/LyvaD1tMXE
A similar image occurs in the Book of Revelation, where the Throne of God is described as surrounded by "four beasts". These are the same "four Zoas" of Blake's Albion divided fourfold (Zoa means "beast").
In Nietzsche's terms: the "death of God" brings about the return of the repressed -- exchange of foreground and background. Dionysus and Apollo exchange places.
David Bohm's "implicate order", drawn out through the rheomode of thinking, seems clearly to be also Jean Gebser's "pre-existing pattern" (Gestalt), drawn out also in Blake's "fourfold vision" and as Aurobindo's "fourfold Atman"
https://twitter.com/fourfoldvision/status/1210572618593517568?s=19
"The cistern contains. The fountain overflows" (Blake) is related. The origin of speech lies itself in the unoriginated (Hence "Eternity is in love with the productions of time"). "In the beginning was the Word".

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December 06, 2019

Roots of Dharma can be traced to Veda

Interpretations of the Veda
Sayanaacharya - Ritualistic
Swami Dayananda Saraswati - Etymological
Balagangadhar Tilak - Astronomical
T Paramashiva Iyer - Geological
V G Rele - Biological
Sri Aurobindo - Esoteric, Psychological, philological (based on his spiritual realisations)
https://twitter.com/Sampadananda/status/1182816524911775744?s=19

1. I am starting the second section of धर्म जिज्ञासा which will be called Chapter 7 that begins with the recitation of OUR SCRIPTURES – VEDAS AND VEDIC SYSTEM.  It could run into few chapters.  Since this is a new section its numbering starts afresh.
https://twitter.com/Janamejayan/status/1202877244458319873?s=19
2. Vedic Systems highlights the message and meaning of Vedic sourcebooks, which are: The Vedas, Upanishads, Brahmasutras, major Puranas, Mahabharatha, Ramayana, Bhagavatham, Pancharatra-aagama, and major systems of Indian philosophy.
3. It has subsection covering Srimad Bhagavad-Gita, which is regarded as the quintessential summary of all Vedic sourcebooks. Works on Dharma Shastra, and other major works like Artha Shastra and Niti Shastra are also included.
4. The theme includes works of the modern rishi-saint, Sri Aurobindo, concerning symbolism in the Vedas.
5. The Vedas remain elusive, as they are written in symbolic language that lends more than one meaning mainly because our culture has been polluted by foreigners and the way we understand things have thus got altered.
6. None of the three great acharyas, Shankara, Ramanuja, and Madhva, wrote full commentaries on Vedas mainly because not only of its voluminous nature but that they could lend to their present day thought rather than universal one.
7. This fact is significant, and adds further mystery to the enigmatic Vedas. The main commentary on the Vedas, which most of the Eastern and Western writers rely upon is by Sayana Madhava, popularly known as Sayanacharya.
8. This voluminous work is appreciated world over for its encyclopedic coverage of Vedic texts; it is essentially a literal translation of the Vedas.
9. Its critics lament its lack of reference to the hidden meanings of the Vedic tenets, as well as its silence on the symbolism of the Vedas.
10. This is one of the reasons why the Vedas remain inadequately illuminated. Another reason is that Vedic Sanskrit is different from classical Sanskrit, the language currently taught, written and sometimes spoken.
11. It is not only the mother of the current version of the language, but the mother of a widespread group of languages, the proto-Indo-European languages.
12. The meaning of the Vedas is not easy to discern and comprehend, partly due to the system of symbolism common to many Indian scriptures, making the real import far removed from the literal meaning.
13. This led to a number of writings such as those of Aurobindo, the great, modern sage—particularly his Secret of Vedas, and Symbolism of Vedas.
14. One of the great pioneers in this field was Kapali Shastri (1886–1953), a highly respected Vedic Scholar, who was associated with Aurobindo and also Bhagavan Ramana. This theme includes references as well as some samplings of these modern seers.
15. The Rishis provided the Vedas with study tools or Vedangas, the limbs of the Veda. The understanding of the Vedangas is a necessity for the comprehension of Vedic texts.
21. A careful survey of Veda leads us to believe that apart from the above two goals, Veda also offers – guidelines to protect the Elements, purification of mind, harmony in the society, personality development etc.
22. The roots of Dharma can be traced to Veda. Until Vedavyaasa, a sage, ventured to divide, there was only a single mass of Veda. Ṛgveda, Yajurveda, Saamaveda and Atharvaveda have emerged after the division by Veda Vyaasa.
by elisa freschi

While commenting on PMS 1.1.4, Veṅkaṭanātha makes a long digression aimed at refuting every kind of intellectual intuition, especially as a source for knowing dharma. Dharma, he explains, can only be known through the Veda.
People who claim to have directly perceived dharma are, by contrast, liars. This seems consistent in most cases, but may be problematic when it comes to the Veda, who are believed (by some) to have been composed by some ancient sages of the past, the ṛṣis. Veṅkaṭanātha explains that it is not the case that out of their austerities they gained the ability to directly perceive dharma, also because this would lead to a vicious circle, insofar as efficacious austerities would need to be based on the Veda. Thus, ṛṣis are not an exception to the rule.
This means that the ṛṣis did not compose the Vedas. How comes that they could teach them? Their teaching was based on the Vedas themselves (a Mīmāṃsaka would add: because time is beginningless). Veṅkaṭanātha expresses this point in the following: elisa freschi | December 5, 2019

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